I love this topic......haha...
brenny17 wrote:
Few weeks ago I did a 3 person 90 mile ride in all race gear taking 1min pulls to take out KOM's all over our area. A week later, a CAT 1 TT rider went out and took most of the harder ones all by himself. Put us to shame hahaha
I'm not a Cat 1, but I am that "guy". It is what it is, before Strava ever decides to create a "group" or "club" versus "solo" leaderboard it is a bit of an equalizer.
But in the meantime, I'll go out on some 2min and 1min segments that were pacelined by a local team and I'll put on my cyclocross cheapy skinsuit, TT helmet, and take the TT bike out for some destruction. I'll try the longer ones also, but usually the local TT guys already do those.
Some of the comments afterwards are humorous. Sometimes with "flaggings".
Given the TT bike is 20% more power efficient, assuming that's remotely accurate, and that I'm still putting out 90% the power their person pulling is.......TT bike wins.
Typically, not always, typically..........a solo TT rider should be able to be faster than equivalent category racers in a small group. My theory, not fact.
I have one longer one in town that the collegiate team went out and gang banged one night. During a 40k workout recently I got with 10 seconds of an 8+ minute segment alone on the TT bike. Full kit and a single effort and that one's done for.
It hasn't been as often lately. Been super hot and afternoon storms mean I can't venture too far from my house.
aravilare wrote:
I can't believe this thread hasn't mentioned the recumbent guys destroying KOMs. Or the motorized recumbents.
Agreed. There's a lot of ass hurt over on Bikeforums about recumbents going out and doing 120w and hitting 30mph for stuff.
On that forum over there they're like an infection nobody wants that constantly bleeds out of its own subforum to insert shitty little comments and replies in the normal forum. Then they get all pissy when folks are like "we don't come piss on your recumbent forum parade, so GTFO." It's almost like the scene from the original F&F "move along pizza boy!".
I really wish they'd moderate that forum better.
g_lev wrote:
trail wrote:
There should be no butt-hurt in Strava or Zwift. Even over blatant cheating.
I saw a really amusing one the other day in Zwift. I was in Innsbruck and riding the UCI worlds course. The current top time of the hour was something like 25 minutes. It's a 25km course, with a giant mountain in the way. But this guy somehow managed to average 60kph. I only really get *slightly* annoyed at this because I can usually manage a top-15 on any of those timed segments and I was on track for something like 10th that particular day. I was about to get all pissy and mad about it when I saw the 25:00 time when I stopped myself and laughed. I was about to get mad at someone cheating in a virtual world on something that doesn't matter in the slightest to anyone, even me.
People pay money for the "realistic" aspect of the game. Having stuff like that does damage the realism. Butthurt or not. So, it boils down to "I've paid solid money for this" for me.
I didn't pay to see super unrealistic stuff happening in the game. I don't want to see unicorns on bikes flying by at 40mph uphill. That's bullshit. I didn't pay for that.
One solid way they can police that is to ban virtual power from fluids and non-smart trainer setups from the leaderboards. It would make some folks butthurt, but if you can afford $200/year for Zwift you can afford a freaking $300 Tacx wheel on smart trainer. Man/woman up if you want to be on the leaderboard.
In other video game "worlds" people who do that stuff routinely get permanent bans not just from the game, but from the provider's platform.......like Xbox live, etc........
Zwift is a weird microcosm of the cycling world since it is a group of more rabid riders to pay for a virtual platform. So there will be more freakishly strong folks.
This is why I actually feel Strava leaderboards are more legit (barring e-bikes). Zwift lets some pretty heavy riders get away with some speeds and feats I've NEVER seen on a Strava leaderboard by people the same weight. The team I race with on Zwift even posted results the other night from a race they did. Cat C dude threw out 350w for almost an hour at only 3w/kg. My ass that speed/result would happen IRL. It wasn't even Tempus or something, there were hills.
Too much coffee this morning.