My g%}}%^dam computer decided that it was going to shut itself off 40 seconds before the start.

So I get the thing restarted and I was sitting there alone at the start, and my devices had unpaired.

Stupid effing toshiba. Hate that piece of junk.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

well, that first race kicked my ass. placed 58/88 in the C's - clearly I am NOT ready to race. hung onto the second pack as long as I could, around 25th spot, then I just blew....

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

My FTP is right at 4.0 and I’ve always just done A races. I usually hang with the front pack a bit then fall back and duke it out for top 20 or so.

Then I jumped in a B race thinking I could get top 3 maybe... turns all the guys A racers thinking same thing . They were quick!

i'm not sure why zwift doesn't block sandbaggers. clearly zwift has all the power data from historical rides, so if a guy is pushing 4+watts/kg for an hours, zwift should prevent him from entering D/C races. race your level or don't race at all. i think they should award class licenses based on current fitness levels. incentivize riders to move up and prevent them from entering a class below their fitness.

They are developing anti sandbagging protocols as we speak. It’s in beta and being used in some select races. Expected to be rolled out to all races sometime in May. From what I’ve read about the current beta tests, it works relatively well, but there are still some things that need improvement. It’s a start though

They get easier 😁

Was it a hilly course, or flattish?

pretty flat - Crit City. ouch.

I've signed up for one of the training plans (FTP builder or something like that), I think I'll do that while racing 1ce or 2ce per week.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

This

There are a few crit cities each day, I did a C race yesterday it was brutal, I'm a dirty sand bagger though ha, as I got filtered out on zwift power and have to go get smashed in B.

Crit city think they key is staying connected to the bigger riders on the down hill bit after the short climb or gapping them enough on the way up

here's the main thing to know about racing in zwift. beyond everything else. and i think you figured this out. whatever you do on your bike, with your legs, shows up in zwift 3sec later. it takes awhile to figure out when you need to step on the gas. you need to see some very subtle changes and know what they mean. you need to know that there's no free lunch, and if you're in a pack and you're pedaling 220w, and you back off to 170w, and you think you're good because you're still in the pack, no, you're not good. you just haven't yet seen the results of your backing off 50w yet.

once you see that you're starting to fall off, it's like the covid virus statistics. you only see a part of the damage. it's worse than you think. because there's 3sec more to come that you haven't seen yet. so, you start pedaling like a sonofabitch and, yes, you eventually catch up. but once you're attached - on the screen - and you start to back off the pedals a bit, your avatar still has 3 more seconds of pedaling like a sonofabitch. so you're soft-pedaling while your avatar moves right thru the pack and off the front. now you're coasting. in real life. and the pack catches up to you and you start pedaling right when you're at the place you want to be. but your avatar will soft-pedal for 3sec more. and you're off the back again.

this is the single biggest reason zwift events are hard for newbies. you have to develop a whole new set of instincts, that are timed appropriate to the tech.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Excellent tips, thank you!

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Yeah, I originally signed up for the 8:45 Atlantic time start, but then tech happened, I waited an hour and got into the 9:45 race. The nice thing is that there are so many races to choose from.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Dan makes a good point and in racing I watch the actual pack like a hawk and if I can stay in that keep an eye on the data of those in front of me.

This is all bloody hard while full gassing and having sweat burning in eyes.

What I liked about C is at lead I can keep up for the first 2 minutes of madness in B I accept I am second pack. In zwift I can beat local road racers who kill me in normal races

in my opinion, the very best thing we do every week is the hilly vanilli. we just had it last night. we had about 60 riders just in the D group alone. this group goes first, and we have the BEST ride leader in all of zwiftworld leading that group, jimmie will richey. i'm about to publish a profile of this guy on our front page. he's just terrific.

the D group rides for 65min. 5min after this group leaves, the C group goes. and they know if they don't ride as a group they'll never catch the D group, which is the point. and the B group leaves 5min later yet, so, they ride 55min total. all groups end at the same time. the goal is to either not be caught, or to catch, depending on who you are.

there's really not enough time between these groups, and the C group usually catches us, and the B group as well, tho if it's an entirely flat course jimmie does such a great job of ride leading that he can keep the D group out front. this isn't a race, tho now we've flipped this into a race 1x each month, and it remains a ride the other 3 or 4 weeks each month. but it's as hard as any race, because the groups are pretty well forced to stay together, since it's really not the D group racing among each other, it's the Ds trying to fend off the Cs and so forth. so it's harder to get dropped, which means you're less likely to throw in the towel. i got severely thrashed last night, because i just... wasn't... ever... quite dropped, so i hung around riding hard for the whole 65min even tho i was thrashed a half-hour into it.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

sounds like fun - I've added that to next week. fortunately it's at a fairly good time for me. I'd prefer if it were 15 minutes later, but 7:55 should be OK to get kids in bed and get ready to ride in time to join.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

IMO you are missing EVERYTHING (ok, maybe not everything but at least 80% of the fun) about Zwift with a dumb trainer. I hated training indoors (used old school TrainerRoad videos, etc. in the past) but knew that indoors would be a necessity a few years ago when I was training for Ultraman Florida. The race was in February and I live in the northeast. I tried to ride outdoors on weekends as long as I could, but i couldn't stay out longer than 4 hours in 30 degree weather- so indoors I moved.

I started using Zwift in fall of 2016, and have done up to 7.5 hour indoor rides. Don't get me wrong, those long days - I had Zwift up on one computer while streaming movies on another.

The smart trainer was a game changer for me. The trainer adjusting resistance based on the visible terrain can let you forget for a split second you are actually inside stuck in place. I really like the option for group rides, races, and when I'm "just riding" - the opportunity to go for QOM or sprint jerseys.

I used a wheel on Kickr Snap since the beginning (nearly 4 years now) and it has treated me extremely well. I recently purchased a Kickr Core for myself. It's still in the box waiting to be lugged to the basement. I will say - if you are strong and can push out the watts, it's worth it to spend more at initial purchase for the wheel-off trainer. My husband didn't last as long with his Kickr Snap because he had too much wheel slippage. For me that only happens if the incline is like 19-20%.

Get a smart trainer, you won't regret it.

An Ode to Zwift Racing
I wasn't planning on racing until my neighbor said something. I was just sitting at my desk, minding my own business.
I looked on ZwiftPower and saw a race in 30 minutes. Quickly, I rushed to finish work and get out there. I made it with 6 minutes to spare.
Had to shovel my way to the garage as my warm-up. Thanks Boulder for the 15" of snow .
Signed up for B's and was toward the front when we hit the climb.

I felt good and I was up there, so I decided to "go for it". The map only had 1 climb and it said 1 lap, so I went all in for the 20 minute effort.
I made it over the climb and was with an A rider... I was pushing it to the finish.

When, all of a sudden we rounded a corner and we were going back up the climb again!
Another 20 minutes! (This time slightly demoralized).

But I'm still in first place (B) by a minute, so I can't give in.
Except I'm hurtin'.
Big time.

But I'm still winning, so I'm turning myself inside out, paying for the first climb with interest...

I finish the race, 1st in the B's, 307 watts for 55 minutes: my best effort in years.
Until... I look at the results...
And zwiftpower bumped me to the A's.

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I talk a lot - Give it a listen: http://www.fasttalklabs.com/category/fast-talk
I also give Training Advice via http://www.ForeverEndurance.com

The above poster has eschewed traditional employment and is currently undertaking the ill-conceived task of launching his own hardgoods company. Statements are not made on behalf of nor reflective of anything in any manner... unless they're good, then they count.
http://www.AGNCYINNOVATION.com

I don't do a ton of Zwift races...I actually prefer the group rides more....but with no fence for quite a while I would say even group rides 98% of the time turn into races.....and just as hard of you want them to.

Being able to read that 3 second delay is key....keeps you from falling off the back as well as overshooting the front of a group as well.....then you slow to get into the group only to figure out you are heading out the back again. I'm getting pretty good at keeping a consistent 3rd wheel in groups.

Last...do many of you end up yelling at your TV? I don't use any text/communication during events (mirroring my iphone to TV so just impossible for me), but I see a lot of stupid chasing or blowing up a nice group that is catching the group ahead and end up yelling at my TV asking riders to stop riding like an idiot. I know it's stupid in itself, but just can't seem to help myself.

SMan wrote:

"it's worse than you think. because there's 3sec more to come that you haven't seen yet. so, you start pedaling like a sonofabitch and, yes, you eventually catch up. but once you're attached - on the screen - and you start to back off the pedals a bit, your avatar still has 3 more seconds of pedaling like a sonofabitch."


Sounds like my first years of road/crit racing.

That's one of the things that I sometimes dislike about road racing/ crit racing and zwift riding, as compared to triathlon, esp. age-grouper, long-course triathlon.

With tri racing, for the most part, you really are doing your own race. Those other things on the race course (participants) are extraneous to your performance. Keep your form, listen to your body, respond to the course and the conditions, in your own way, on your own time. Steady as she goes !

Zwift/crit/road racing, for the most part, you are really responding to the actions of others. You really have to pay attention. Kind of like driving in Riverside, or Calgary. Brakes! Gas! Repeat! You don't want to be that chump caught napping at the back when a break goes, or at the front giving those wheel suckers a rest.

BTW, any Bushido users here? Tips? Advices?

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http://www.fitspeek.com the Fraser Valley's fitness, wellness, and endurance sports podcast

I enjoyed that 😁

I did my first Zwift ride Friday. I connected Zwift with my TP and GC accounts before the ride. I did not start a Bike Indoor activity on my Fenix. DC Rainmaker had just posted an article about broadcasting HR info to 3rd party apps using the Virtual Run activity and then discarding after the activity is complete. I used that method during the ride and linked my speed sensor and Fenix OHR to Zwift.

After the data was uploaded, I noticed that the "Load" number on GC did not increase at all. The Load number also affects the High/Low Aerobic and the Anaerobic numbers and I am trying to use those to help me back off from hard training.

So...to you Zwift riders who are also GC users (Forerunner/Fenix/Edge or other owners), do you start an indoor biking activity on your watch and not upload to GC from Zwift? What other method do you use to ensure your activity level is increasing on GC? Or do you care?

I can’t decide if I care or not. I end up recording the ride on Zwift and on my Edge 530. I let them upload to TrainingPeaks, Strava, and Garmin Connect, after which I delete the Zwift activity from GC and keep the one recorded by the Edge. I also then have to make sure only one version is saved to TP and to Strava and end up doing some deletion on those apps too. A bit of extra manual work for something I’m not sure I care about or not. ;)

I don't mind a bit of manual work to delete the Zwift-based uploads. On my next ride, I will start a Bike Indoor activity on my Fenix as well as let Zwift upload. Do you also pair your HR monitor and let it broadcast to Zwift?

I don’t care about GC stats at all. The only thing I use it for is as a conduit to TP. On zwift, if you’re a TP user I’m not sure of the benefit of recording the ride on a Garmin device at all, zwift will put everything on TP, which is where I will tend to put everything even if it isn’t recorded on my Garmin.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

I view my Edge recording as a backup. I’ve had Zwift crash or otherwise not save/ upload a ride that I’ve found it useful to use the Edge too.