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I'm very much a maybe for this evening so if there are more potential riders for Team MoreSTW then I'm happy to step aside rather than sit on a slot.
Don't worry @ivandobski, there's no slot blocking going on. In fact there's still room for more. If/when your maybe becomes a definite (either way!) tell me though?
Will do!
Anyone live-streaming it?! 😃
@zilog6128 I think you can just enter, join the event and fan view sitting in the start pen - which (if it works) would also allow you to move between the two teams. No turbo required. But if you have to sit on one in front of whatever screen you run zwift on...don't pedal!
Right, I'm a no for this evening I'm afraid - good luck all.
@savoyad cool might give that a go - so if you see me in the pen I'm just lurking 😃
It’s ok zilog we aren’t used to you starting the same time as everyone else anyway 😉
Haha pretty sure I’ve only done that once 😀
Oh dear, a beasting ahead I fear.
I shall endeavour to be a useful engine, but more likely an old Mark 2 passenger coach, towed to its final resting place.
Sorry everyone, I'm going to have to duck out as I'll miss the start time, even for the morestw slot.
Will try to get my avatar into the pen and join zilog watching you towards the end
Hope this gets to someone in time for any team switching that might be needed
☹️
WiFi cut out at the bottom of the hill 1st time just as we made the pass. Hooded it up and rebooted the connection got everything back only 12s down but everytime I got within 4s someone would Welly it and pull the gap out again. After 15 minutes of solo TTing at 300W I decided to call it a day.
Looks like a good ride from STW, loads of overtakes though so no doubt hard work!!
Cheers guys. Not sure what was going on with comms but I could only hear savoyad and no one else. We got a bit split on one of the overtakes but I felt pretty strong tonight so happy with the progress. Enjoyed it - hope you all did as well! Lots of dropouts from paino and woodster but you always seemed to drop back into the group!
My passenger coach is fully parked up, in a siding.
Kept getting dropped just over the brow of the big hill as the lead takes off, even a slight gap is too much to make up - several hard minutes of playing catch !.
Lost comms on the third lap, think that was my own fault as it looks like my headphones were on discord mute until i noticed. Apologies if my name was being used in vain. Was calling a bit to slow down but not sure i was getting heard :^(
People were teleporting around quite a lot, I was dropped on my own ready to die, and then suddenly Phil was there from nowhere. We passed at least 6 teams I think.
Thanks for the ride, enjoyed it.
We were seeing avatar dropouts as well. Didn't seem to loose draft though.
WiFi cut out at the bottom of the hill 1st time just as we made the pass. Hooded it up and rebooted the connection got everything back only 12s down but everytime I got within 4s someone would Welly it and pull the gap out again. After 15 minutes of solo TTing at 300W I decided to call it a day
If you were More STW, I heard you say your WiFi dropped and that's the last I heard or saw you.
Mind you my TV decided to go into setup mode so I was squinting at the laptop on the floor trying to hang on.
I don’t know about anybody else but I’m cream crackered. Sorry we left you behind Chris, I’m not sure if anybody else could hear you. Once we we were down to four I focused on just trying to finish so apologise for not being able to do any of the work on the front.
Can confirm I was there all the time! Woodster had an invisibility cloak on for a while, lost Phil for a while too. Was thinking, does the draft effect still work even if we are ghosts?
Sorry for the drop @mrhoppy. Saw you drop back so I dropped of the back to offer a tow back on, then you disappeared again. Don't think I saw you again in the ride list after that.
Thought we settled into quite good group after we finally separated from that passing team. My coms are useless for road captaining after the start. Don't know how Phil does it all so effortlessly!
I figured my discord was playing up if I didn't have a connection.
At the top of the hill I was 12s down, by the bottom I was back to 4s back by the bridge at the bottom. By the Italian Villas you were back up to 10s, had you down to 4s by the end of the sprint bridge then it went back up on the climb as I was breathing out of my arse by that point. At the end of the esses I decided to sack it off as I just didn't have the legs to close up having averaged 110% FTP for 15 minutes.
40s PB on up and down the hill including stopping to reset my WiFi connection.
At the top of the hill I was 12s down, by the bottom I was back to 4s back by the bridge at the bottom. By the Italian Villas you were back up to 10s, had you down to 4s by the end of the sprint bridge then it went back up on the climb as I was breathing out of my arse by that point. At the end of the esses I decided to sack it off as I just didn’t have the legs to close up having averaged 110% FTP for 15 minutes.
40s PB on up and down the hill including stopping to reset my WiFi connection
Ouch! Nice work. I think I was a bit of a lead weight.
Struggled with breathing/coughing, Hr didn't get above 154. If the team didn't need 4 I'd prob have quit out
Paino, I think the draft was still ok. Where I went invisible to you guys I was sat on the front with you behind me. We were both taking it relatively easy, 3.1w/kg for me and 2.7 for you.
I was always in my list of riders and visible on screen, very strange.
So could anyone on the STW team actually hear me/each other apart from Savoyad? That is my highest average Watts for a TTT I think so don't think it was a bad ride but without the comms couldn't really tell!
Looks like the World Championships may go ahead @savoyad - it is marked on their website as so. The banner shows height and weight verification as well. Worried I might have over egged my height by 1 or 2cm lol and my avatar should in fact be a dwarf!
I couldn't hear you Robbo, I could before the race, but not during it.
What was your power for the TT? Mine was fairly low, 242 watts. Does it take the average power from when we push off or from the event start?
Think I will go back to using my phone and a standard set of Apple Headphones in that case.
Average power was 277w, NP was 285w. It is from when you start pedalling until the end of you are going by zwift power, The wait at the start shouldn't affect it.
There were quite a lot of technical issues last night. w00dster and @paino were invisible for long periods (sorry I kept checking on you!). I'm sure from your answers, and from the way you kept reappearing in the group, that the draft was working fine from your end. I could hear everyone @robbo1234biking. I have a recording (video + comms audio) if you want to see what you missed.
My highlight was @phil56 "persuading" us to do that mad last pass at 6w/kg into the finish. ("only 800km to go guys!")
@w00dster (On my data at least...) the ave power is suppressed by minutes 20-25, so lap 2 after the climb when we eased up and took a while to regroup. This happens sometimes.
Our first lap was really amazing. That was a tough course to stay together, and we were really really tight, perfect almost. It was always going to get harder. We improved though: climb 3 (@haloric pacing us up) went better than climb 2 (where I am sure the real issue was the traffic, not the split; once there's traffic between us at a moment of pressure it always goes wrong).
I'll sort entries for the worlds...
I have a recording (video + comms audio) if you want to see what you missed.
Might be interesting to see/hear! Hope I was doing what was being shouted at me then as I couldn't hear a thing! I just tried not to be on the back once the comms had gone. I think I seemed to be in sync most of the time. The difficult bit was when we split after the second climb and got tangled up with the other group.
I think It was Ant who made me laugh out loud at the wrong time, coming to the top of the hill, Phil shouted “Woodster where’ve you been?!!” The reply from Ant “Sir, he’s been hiding in the bushes sir!”
(You had to be there....but it made me chuckle and gag on my drink!)
You had been gone for so long, I think you skipped a lap. !
I was leading up the final climb because I was so petrified of being dropped on the other side like on the 2nd lap, fear adds watts !,
FB is full of stories of riders and even teams disappearing and re-appearing.
Seems like Zwift had a mare, had lots more problems recently since they have 'upgraded' their servers.
Looks like STW got the much coveted 214th/256 position in Frappe, and MoreSTW 115th/224 Latte.
The team just 3 secs above us (Herd of Cheetahs) has a team mate from ZRL (Thomas Kroeber) who is streets ahead of me, 8 riders with 6 B's, so we must have been pushing hard to be that close - thanks Phil.
It's tough for Zwift, but they should be aware that as the northern hemisphere goes into winter, more people ride... That's been the case each and every season.... Why are they not learning this lesson. In simple terms "oh we need more hardware"... Yes, well, you've had more subscriptions, more people, more money, use that for more/better processing/servers/capacity. It shouldn't be impossible.
Looks like STW got the much coveted 214th/256 position in Frappe, and MoreSTW 115th/224 Latte.
Don't think we will be troubling the top step of the podium at the World Champs then! I thought we seemed pretty fast yesterday.
I love the team element of it though - def try harder with that and look forward to working as a team. Cycling can be a bit of an individual sport so that team aspect is good and replaced playing rugby for me.
Looks like it is Magnificent 8 for the World Champs next week. Pretty good route for us I would say.
really frustrating when this happens! Like weeksy says, surely this was predictable, and solvable simply by chucking money at it (which they must have these days surely?)FB is full of stories of riders and even teams disappearing and re-appearing.Seems like Zwift had a mare, had lots more problems recently since they have ‘upgraded’ their servers.
Just joined the Facebook group for the WTRL TTT. The requirements are quite in depth for the upper classes - dual power meters required?
Our class needs height and weight videos prepared to send in if you are in the top 3 but no requirement other than that and you only send them in if you come in the top 3. Videos should be done before the race due to weight loss.
Do people put their weight in their kit on? My zwift weight reflects that from my smart(ish) scales but that is me weighing in my pants on a Saturday morning. And I don't update hardly ever so it would prob fluctuate +/-2kg over the year (well plus 15kg from last summer!) Do other people put weight in bibshorts and shoes? Bib shorts weigh nothing but guessing I should prob add another 1kg to account for shoes and (more) clothes!
A video of me weighing in my cycling shoes would prob be more appropriate for You've been framed as I slide of the scales and fall over!
My weight is full nude. I’ll have to wear clean y fronts for the video I suppose!
@savoyad is it worth entering a 3rd team (assuming that the paperwork in minimal) - most weeks we are getting close to two full teams (14ish riders) and with it being a world champs we might drop into 3 teams if everyone who has ridden before wants to ride as it might be popular!
OK here's the plan.
We will enter the worlds. It's just the normal event, in the usual format, at our normal time, so nothing unusual in practical terms. We'll field as many latte teams as we can get riders - so probably two but yes possibly three. For that to work, we need lots and lots of C's really. If that doesn't happen, we'll field a good latte and the rest will end up riding (but slower!) in frappe.
There is a requirement for verification videos, but it's quite relaxed for latte: only the top 3 and they must simply be prepared to send one in after the event. Fine, if we top three can do that then.
I'll post properly later.
Fine,
ifwhen we top three can do that then.
FTFY 😉
Just looking at the WTRL site and specifically the coffee classes.
As we are A and Latte, does that mean our team has to look like this:-
Zero A riders.
A maximum of 3 Bs.
5 C or D riders.
Yes @w00dster, that's right for latte. I normally fudge, or don't care, about the categories (like last night 4xB pushed STW up into frappe, but it doesn't really matter). I have a soft spot for latte because we are good at it. But it's better to make it work best for the available riders usually.
But next week I do plan to run our strongest latte team alongside whatever else we have the riders for.
Do people put their weight in their kit on? My zwift weight reflects that from my smart(ish) scales but that is me weighing in my pants on a Saturday morning. And I don’t update hardly ever so it would prob fluctuate +/-2kg over the year
I weigh myself in shorts and t-shirt. My weight fluctuates almost as much as that in a day!
Just checked, 95.3kg.
Oh yeh - never weigh in the evening! What I meant is that during lockdown my weight has stayed pretty stable within about a +/-2kg region. Quite lucky really - without zwift I would be back up to last summers weight! Still need to lose more but this year with everything going on maintaining weight is a win in my opinion! Lucky I haven't had anything that has kept me of the bike this year.
Just reflecting over yesterday evening’s ttt and I think we rode it pretty well considering we were down to four riders and were a team of relative ttt novices + yanboss. Shame we lost Mr Hoppy but kept pretty well together after that so excellent pacing from those at the front. The sequence of events during the race is a bit of a haze but comparing more stw to stw we were down by 37 secs at split 1 having slowed for a period while we worked out was happening with MrHoppy then lost a further 25 seconds by split 2 but only a further 11 secs by split 3 so must have kept the pace up well.
Our average speed was 1.22 km slower than stw and we finished just over 1 minute 27 seconds down on their time. Not a bad effort at all. ( no responsibility accepted for the accuracy of these figures and I could be completely wrong as it seems too close ).
must have kept the pace up well.
Our average speed was 1.22 km slower than stw and we finished just over 1 minute 27 seconds down on their time. Not a bad effort at all. ( no responsibility accepted for the accuracy of these figures and I could be completely wrong as it seems too close
That's not bad all things considered. T.Rollo had quite a pace, we did get split at one point during an overtake.
I think the other team gassed it as myself and T.Rollo passed (a screen message said as much), so we dropped back to regroup.I think Ive worked out my breathing issues. Had the fan flat out for the 15 mins before the start, whilst sat on the bike back pedalling, my core got cold and that was that.
Was still good though.Sweating on my phone made discord unusable.
Would anyone like to do a recce ride on Monday? Haven’t ridden this course for a long time.
I can do 6.45am, midday or after 4.30. Not too many work meetings on Monday so can be pretty flexible.
https://zwiftinsider.com/wtrl-ttt-84/
No-one up for tomoz? If not I’ll prob do it early on.
Team entries are in. 2 for now. I'll happily put in a 3rd team if there is a lot of interest by Wednesday evening.
Riders, enter category A here: https://www.zwift.com/events/view/1263288
Once round The Magnificent 8. So 28km in total, over the reverse (i.e. not that hilly) KOM in the first third of the race, then flat flat flat. It suits us: that hill at that point is a good TTT test and we have a history of doing well on it (we've been top 30 on this course and it featured the week we qualified for the PL). We rode 44:13 as a latte team of 5 last time out and zwiftinsider is projecting 43:20 for the top 10 this week.
The format, time, rules etc are all the same as a normal week. It's just designated the world champs this week.
To do well, especially with more than one team, the bottom line is that we need extra C's to ride this week if possible. 5 per team ideally. So everyone sign up, but especially C's. Those C's who used to ride but haven't for a while, it would be great to have you back (if you are reading...if you aren't I will find you!) and @robbo1234biking maybe stalk some C's from the race thread? Let's see how it goes to start with.
Anyway get signed up.
Just watched the replay from savoyad of last weeks TTT (quite entertaining whilst doing some mundane work tasks). I couldn't hear anything after the first hill (apart from Adam which makes no sense). Couldn't hear Phil at all. The visual drop outs are pretty clear as well. To say all that was going on we actually rode together as a team very well! I didn't miss too much luckily!
For Thursday other than the one hill (which is very short as it rises, plateaus and then rises again so the efforts are less than 1 minute) the course will suit the heavier higher power riders!
Signed up and ready to go for Thursday (once Tuesday is out the way!).
We're ticking over nicely at 11 riders so far.
Still plenty more space, sign up to category A here: https://www.zwift.com/events/view/1263288
After the weeks eat:drink:exercise ratio I might manage to fill one of those C spots for you this week
We're on 12 entries. Anyone else thinking about it?
Can I tempt you into riding the world champs? I think we need some or all of @weeksy (just this once?), @ivandobski, @ljarch, @zilog6128, @mbs, @mrhoppy, @retrorick, @oopnorth to sign up and it would be a good week for @peesbee, @slowpuncheur, @andeh or @v7fmp to join us.
I'm probably missing some other possibilities. I'll remember who in tonight's race probably. @tomlevell I assume you are riding elsewhere?
I am aiming for 3x latte teams this week. We'll definitely have 2 teams. But we're a bit short of the riders needed for 3 (for now...?)
Sign up to category A here: https://www.zwift.com/events/view/1263288
Cheers @savoyad but I'm back off the mental work thing and 6:15 generally works better so I'm back with BRT now. Mrs is racing at 7:40 anyway.
I'm almost certainly a no for the next 3 weeks, best to assume I'm out unfortunately.
sorry, thought I'd signed up already! just done it now!!
@zilog6128 hope your network cable connections are good and you don’t get any dropouts!
😬 no cables... because I have neither wifi nor wired internet where I Zwift I've always used mobile hotspot from my iPhone! That said, it's normally excellent and any kind of dropout is very very rare. Although it sounds like all bets are off at the moment due to how busy it is (not actually Zwifted for a couple of weeks now!)
Ah I assumed with all the network cabling questions there was some sort of pain cave going up in the garden!
Aaaaah yes lol that is all in the works, won’t be finished this week though!! Better not get any bloody dropouts, the amount of thought I’ve put into it 🤣
@savoyad Sorry but I can't make it due to family commitments and late working. I only manage one Zwift night and I'm concentrating on the Race series currently.
Robbo has been trying to persuade me out of retirement so he is doing his duty 🙂 But unfortunately I can't commit at this point.
I'm in work till 8pm on Thursday. Unlikely I'll get out early enough to get home on time but if I do I'll try and enter on Thursday late afternoon. 👍
@savoyad I am flattered - and sorely tempted but I go running with a few mates on Thursdays. At the minute, it's our only chance for a catch-up each week. If u get desperate, I could make both work but would be bit heavy legged for the TT.
Just renewed my subscription after a 2 year break! TT was something I used to be OK at on Zwift back then but never tried a TTT. No idea of procedure/etiquette or how to go about joining in the fun? I used to rank well in Cat C stuff until I got bumped into Cat B and then languished at the back. After my hiatur I guess I am well back in the CAT C groupings again. I guess I will do a couple more weeks of condition training and see how it goes, but would welcome the chance to join a TTT one day if I can work out what is involved. I will keep an eye on this thread from now on.
zwiftinsider is projecting 43:20 for the top 10 this week.
@savoyad - I think Zwiftinsider might be a bit out here. The course record in Latte is 41:19 on the 25th June. I think this will be pretty fast! I think he is basing this on the 25th June race on this course but I think the competition will be stronger tomorrow.
To get the best out of it I think we would need to be a bit more ruthless with the team 🙂
Have recently joined the Tuesday night races which I’m enjoying. Keen to give these a try. Is discord required or is it possible to ride without? I use Apple TV and companion app. Not sure how easy to get discord although not tried. I’m a B on zwift power, although been classified as A on Robbos tue night races.
Using the companion app on your phone? Really easy to get set up with Discord as well. You’ll probably want some kind of headphones with a built-in mic too. It’s not essential but I’d really recommend it - the key to the TTT is co-operation, it’s just not really possible without voice Comms.
Thanks zilog. I will have a play tonight and join TT if I get it working.
You’ll need this link to join the STW Discord (only valid for 24hrs)
https://discord.gg/2PcYFy9c
Ive been struggling on my last couple of outings on Zwift due to a breathing issue. Plenty left in the legs but lungs say no, so if there's a shortage of space, happy to bow out.
No idea how much planning goes into the teams but I'd go off my most recent performance on Tuesday rather than my FTP.
I've signed up for the race tonight. Let me know which team you want me to be in.
I’m signed up for this evening. I’m probably the weakest C taking part and have had a demanding week so am happy to be substituted in favour of a stronger C if needed. I might well struggle in a smaller 3rd team as opposed to a larger 2nd if that makes sense.
Morning all. It's TTT World Championships day. So that'll be the 2nd coolest neon start banner I've ridden under this week. And ever. We'll go with...
Team STW
Start delay 1 minute makes 19:41, Discord voice TTT (STW)
@phil56
@dangeourbrain
@paino
@robbo1234biking
@zilog6128 - sort your tag!
@haloric - change your tag!
@mbs - change your tag!
@drew = change your tag!
Team MoreSTW
Start delay 1.5 minutes makes 19:41:30, discord voice TTT (MoreSTW)
@savoyad - change your tag!
@w00dster - change your tag!
@munkeymadness - append the tag "(MoreSTW)" to your zwiftpower Rider Name.
@scaredypants
@yanboss - change your tag!
@trolo1234
@jamesoz
There is room for one more rider to join MoreSTW. Enter Category A here: https://www.zwift.com/events/view/1263288
- STW are riding in latte. MoreSTW in frappe. If anyone in STW can't make it, let me know. I'll move a rider across if I know in time.
- in the pen by 19:40 then we have very short start delays. Short is good news. The separation between us is not ideal - I doubt we'll catch you, but 30 seconds is not a great gap. We'll just have to deal with it. STW you are off first and it's a one lap affair, so you have a clean road ahead of you (and assuming you stay away, so do we!).
- the usual otherwise: dress up as bumblebees, ride a road bike (@dangeourbrain if you are still on the MTB you were flaunting off the front for the first 5km on Tuesday, put it back in the garage!)
- tactics: I think there is scope (as @robbo1234biking said yesterday) to be slightly more ruthless than usual here, and I think this week most of us will come to terms with being left behind if that happens. BUT don't forget one reason we usually stay together is that a bigger group is faster, and staying tight is often the best policy. A long regrouping is not great, but managing the effort to stay tight at a tricky section has yielded great results for us in the past.
Today in particular, the fastest way up the reverse KOM itself is together, and the next 15km through the desert, the more the merrier. So my suggestion is that the first 2/3 we aim to stay tight but then anywhere from 22km onwards, for one week only, it's OK to push on a bit and risk burning people out. The time is taken on the 4th rider. @phil56 will take charge of this (and he's under no obligation to follow my suggestion!) for STW. I'll try to make the decisions in MoreSTW.
That's all. See you in the pen!
I'll change my tag. STW team don't feel any obligation to slow down for me. I'll try to keep up as long as I can but if/when I drop off the back just let me go!
I don't think I was on a mtb, it just felt like I was!
Looks good - cheers Adam.
The only place I was thinking that we should drop anyone if towards the end of the dessert when there is the small uphill. We want to take at least 5 to the line in case of any dropouts in the final 5 but happy to do whatever think is best.
I like the nice short start delays - how did you swing those?
Also on the WTRL Facebook page people put up there team selections on fancy posters! Time to enlist binners perhaps to produce a STW TTT poster?
Cheers Adam! Magnificent 8 has the ‘only’ climb at about 7-8km in-the one where Nixie & Phil sportingly destroyed everyone else on Tuesday? I guess we stay together up there and give it full chat in the last 10k!
I assume as MoreSTW are frappe, on paper they are the stronger team?? Going to be good motivation for you guys having us 30s up the road!
@paino...
I assume as MoreSTW are frappe, on paper they are the stronger team??
Despite the coffee-categorisation it's not clear to me that MoreSTW are stronger. I rather think STW will be. Admittedly I'd prefer a bigger start gap between us so I didn't have to think about it. But it is clear that STW are a stronger latte than MoreSTW are a frappe.
The only place I was thinking that we should drop anyone if towards the end of the dessert when there is the small uphill
I should have said, that is the feature which I had in mind when I mentioned 22km.
I don’t think I was on a mtb
Exhibit A:
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I like the nice short start delays – how did you swing those?
Obviously, there's a weird story. There was some issue with the entry system (see the new popup here https://www.wtrl.racing/ttt/TTT-Event.php) which meant we ended up down in the organisers' system as riding late tonight (the 12:35am zone). The fix was a manual change to our start delays squeezing us in at the start.
@savoyad tag updated! (I only removed it as I was spectating last week and didn't want to balls anything up 😃)
Happy to be dropped near the end if necessary for a quick time!! Think it makes sense for the fastest to push on regardless if others are flagging near the finish (I will try my best to hang on obviously!)
there's cake?! 🍰towards the end of the dessert
Cake isn't dessert! Its an afternoon spirit lifter!
if there is cake in the little town at the end of the desert I don't think any of us will make it to the end lol
Let's not get carried away with the dropping people thing. Tolerate it, not aim for it! @phil56 knows how to keep you attached.
Most importantly: STW must get a C over the line. So "I'm a C, you guys push on" is not a safe strategy...