The Indoor Riding/ Zwift/ TrainerRoad etc. Thread
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Soldato
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Installed it and got it all setup.
Will give Stelvio and some of the other climbs a bash.
Will give Stelvio and some of the other climbs a bash.
I done my first RGT race yesterday and won it by 2.5KM from the guys in 2nd-4th 
I need to get used to it because on Saturday and Sunday I am doing a stage race on Paterberg and Stelvio. It's the first event from Echelon and part of their winter league /series - https://www.echelonracingleague.com/
We have a heap of weekend long stage races coming up including Tour of the Gila.
Our team kit got added to game by RGT yesterday and we all get free premium for the game at the price of having to race against domestic pro, conti and pro conti guys. Going to get my actual head kicked in.
I need to get used to it because on Saturday and Sunday I am doing a stage race on Paterberg and Stelvio. It's the first event from Echelon and part of their winter league /series - https://www.echelonracingleague.com/
We have a heap of weekend long stage races coming up including Tour of the Gila.
Our team kit got added to game by RGT yesterday and we all get free premium for the game at the price of having to race against domestic pro, conti and pro conti guys. Going to get my actual head kicked in.
GoodI done my first RGT race yesterday and won it by 2.5KM from the guys in 2nd-4th
I need to get used to it because on Saturday and Sunday I am doing a stage race on Paterberg and Stelvio. It's the first event from Echelon and part of their winter league /series - https://www.echelonracingleague.com/
We have a heap of weekend long stage races coming up including Tour of the Gila.
Our team kit got added to game by RGT yesterday and we all get free premium for the game at the price of having to race against domestic pro, conti and pro conti guys. Going to get my actual head kicked in.
I done my first RGT race yesterday and won it by 2.5KM from the guys in 2nd-4th
I need to get used to it because on Saturday and Sunday I am doing a stage race on Paterberg and Stelvio. It's the first event from Echelon and part of their winter league /series - https://www.echelonracingleague.com/
We have a heap of weekend long stage races coming up including Tour of the Gila.
Our team kit got added to game by RGT yesterday and we all get free premium for the game at the price of having to race against domestic pro, conti and pro conti guys. Going to get my actual head kicked in.
Ooo your gonna hurt
Soldato
- Joined
- 23 Nov 2004
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- 10,646
You know how I'll alays defend Zwift, but have to say I do agree with much of that. Previously they seemed reluctant to change things as it might put new people off, then it was not giving tools to organisers for being able to restrict their rides/races on fear of putting new subscribers off and even now they seem to push things out half-baked to please the 'masses' and newer riders/subscribers rather than things which will improve riding/racing for the long standing subscribers.
But equally they're not losing people, it's still growing at such a rate there's always capacity issues. Even last night, the live stream of the PL event killed the Zwift login servers so many of those attempting to join the WTRL - TTT evening events struggled and missed their starts. 7 of the 9 Teams 3R fielded last night where missing 1 (or more) riders. Admittedly most may not be due to the same issue, but I know for a fact 5 of them where in z5 & z8.
Hahaha, great solo breakaway!?I done my first RGT race yesterday and won it by 2.5KM from the guys in 2nd-4th
How is the racing on there? Good or not enough numbers? Goodluck with your series', there's more and more of those several day stage like things coming to Zwift now too.
Haha was I? Don't recall anything really apart from moaning at another TTT team? Did you see that?
Brutal but good one last night. 2 riders down and I chose to do a lions share of the work as one of the others had already ridden an earlier TTT, we had a new guy along and usual leader wasn't quite feeling 100%. Nice avg power right up there with my current performances and around my FTP. Perfect
https://www.strava.com/activities/4328956601
@Roady - the racing in the general races during day I usual do is not enough people. Probably enough for like C/B cat riders on Zwift but not for A really as you see with me just riding away.
The pro league races this weekend were nuts. I was 20th on the Patterberg course. 6 times up the Patterberg was insane.
Then 16th yesterday up the Stelvio. Only averaged 5wkg for the 44mins. Felt dreadful really, was very odd racing at 1700 on it usually my dinner time so just felt off in many ways and struggled up it.
Climbing on it is WAY better than Zwift IMO. Way more "realistic" even though indoor cycling can never be realistic. But the mechanics of it up the mountain felt much cooler than Zwift.
Racing wise in general in that pro field.... it needs a bit of work. Riders surge through at warp speed beside you in the bunch and then come to a complete halt almost. So you can barely tell who is actually riding hard and who is taking it easy.
At one point I decided to ride hard to see what happened and was doing 7.7wkg and my guy never gained any speed and the bunch behind just stayed glued to my wheel for like 5 seconds and I went absolutely nowhere. Weird.
Then if you don't pay attention even for a second you can be 5 bike lengths off the back and you WILL NOT get back on. It's almost like Zwift is way too "sticky" draft wise and RGT is the complete polar opposite.
Nice thing about it potentially (as it needs work) is the slowing down and accelerations out of sharp corners. That's cool. You can gap people and make the race interesting by accelerating out of bends as you do slow down for them (too much right now IMO). Unlike Zwift where you take bends at the 55KPH that you are doing on all terrain no matter what.
Best thing for the high quality races is breaks. They can actually go. They can actually work and not every race ever finishes in a silly bunch sprint. Tactics and actual racing are way way more possible and happen in RGT.
So there is a good few things that need a lot of work for sure, but I get impression from RGT that these guys WILL listen to racers and make this thing much better. Unlike Zwift who are a shower of incompetent tossers and continue to break/makes things worse than improve anything.
The pro league races this weekend were nuts. I was 20th on the Patterberg course. 6 times up the Patterberg was insane.
Then 16th yesterday up the Stelvio. Only averaged 5wkg for the 44mins. Felt dreadful really, was very odd racing at 1700 on it usually my dinner time so just felt off in many ways and struggled up it.
Climbing on it is WAY better than Zwift IMO. Way more "realistic" even though indoor cycling can never be realistic. But the mechanics of it up the mountain felt much cooler than Zwift.
Racing wise in general in that pro field.... it needs a bit of work. Riders surge through at warp speed beside you in the bunch and then come to a complete halt almost. So you can barely tell who is actually riding hard and who is taking it easy.
At one point I decided to ride hard to see what happened and was doing 7.7wkg and my guy never gained any speed and the bunch behind just stayed glued to my wheel for like 5 seconds and I went absolutely nowhere. Weird.
Then if you don't pay attention even for a second you can be 5 bike lengths off the back and you WILL NOT get back on. It's almost like Zwift is way too "sticky" draft wise and RGT is the complete polar opposite.
Nice thing about it potentially (as it needs work) is the slowing down and accelerations out of sharp corners. That's cool. You can gap people and make the race interesting by accelerating out of bends as you do slow down for them (too much right now IMO). Unlike Zwift where you take bends at the 55KPH that you are doing on all terrain no matter what.
Best thing for the high quality races is breaks. They can actually go. They can actually work and not every race ever finishes in a silly bunch sprint. Tactics and actual racing are way way more possible and happen in RGT.
So there is a good few things that need a lot of work for sure, but I get impression from RGT that these guys WILL listen to racers and make this thing much better. Unlike Zwift who are a shower of incompetent tossers and continue to break/makes things worse than improve anything.
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Associate
- Joined
- 7 Jan 2008
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- 279
Did my first Alpe Du Zwift last night. Pretty humbling. Did it as part of a big group and was one of the last up, in 1:34.39. Essshhh.
Oooh a bit behind in here!
Good effort on the WTRL TTT last night on a rough/tough course (3 times up Forward KOM) the team rode superb. FTP increase for me but only by 1W, but did blow myself up horribly into the finish final 200m trying to catch and outsprint our 61kg CAT A rider. Ooops!
In WTRL TTT if a Team catches a team infront (happens regularly) 'rules' are the team caught 'eases' their effort slightly while the other team comes through, especially if other riders get caught in your Teams draft. You're meant to let a gap open, then resume your effort so you're not drafting another team. Due to the draft mechanics ('sticky draft') this is harder to do than you think, especially as generally it's the riders at the front of the group who are putting more effort in, with less draft, then suddenly they get draft and fly up the road gapping their teammates. If you get split from your team moving through a group, it's really then quite hard (without putting massive effort in) to break out of that group, quick enough to get back in your teams draft, before they're gone!
I digress, the incident in mind, we (a team of 6) riding tightly, get caught from behind by a team of 4, who are split before they reach us. So as 2 come through, the other 2 get caught with us, we ease, then the guys already through ease to get their mates back (minimum number of riders required to finish is 4, so they couldn't afford to leave anyone behind). This leads to all 4 of them falling back through our Team (still easing our effort) before they regroup. By that point we've resumed our effort and gapped them. So up they move again - this time I've already commented they should've been pushing not easing... So drop a snotty comment that 'we're not going to mess up our ride and ease again, as have already done it once'
. Sure enough they push on well that time and gap us, keeping their team together. We did catch and drop them again later on as they'd split again towards the finish. Amateurs!
VenTop is worth looking at. I think generally a 90 minute climb for those doing the Alpe in around an hour. I've not finished it yet!
Good effort on the WTRL TTT last night on a rough/tough course (3 times up Forward KOM) the team rode superb. FTP increase for me but only by 1W, but did blow myself up horribly into the finish final 200m trying to catch and outsprint our 61kg CAT A rider. Ooops!
That sounds far worse than it was...Haha was I? Don't recall anything really apart from moaning at another TTT team? Did you see that?
In WTRL TTT if a Team catches a team infront (happens regularly) 'rules' are the team caught 'eases' their effort slightly while the other team comes through, especially if other riders get caught in your Teams draft. You're meant to let a gap open, then resume your effort so you're not drafting another team. Due to the draft mechanics ('sticky draft') this is harder to do than you think, especially as generally it's the riders at the front of the group who are putting more effort in, with less draft, then suddenly they get draft and fly up the road gapping their teammates. If you get split from your team moving through a group, it's really then quite hard (without putting massive effort in) to break out of that group, quick enough to get back in your teams draft, before they're gone!
I digress, the incident in mind, we (a team of 6) riding tightly, get caught from behind by a team of 4, who are split before they reach us. So as 2 come through, the other 2 get caught with us, we ease, then the guys already through ease to get their mates back (minimum number of riders required to finish is 4, so they couldn't afford to leave anyone behind). This leads to all 4 of them falling back through our Team (still easing our effort) before they regroup. By that point we've resumed our effort and gapped them. So up they move again - this time I've already commented they should've been pushing not easing... So drop a snotty comment that 'we're not going to mess up our ride and ease again, as have already done it once'
. Sure enough they push on well that time and gap us, keeping their team together. We did catch and drop them again later on as they'd split again towards the finish. Amateurs! Really good info and good to read buddy, thanks. Will probably wait until there's some push for events on there which coincide with the times I ride before trying, but at least with that info I'm at least now more keen to try racing something different!
Tough isn't it! Think my best is 53 or 56 minutes but on the old trainer, so probably around an hour right now. Have been meaning to give it another go as basically means I've not ridden it since 2017!
VenTop is worth looking at. I think generally a 90 minute climb for those doing the Alpe in around an hour. I've not finished it yet!
Soldato
- Joined
- 23 Nov 2004
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- 10,646
Holy **** an hour and a half climb??? I'll need to try that one out and also a good ride on RGT.
Nice one on your FTP increase, great time of year for it! Nobody seems to slow down for winter these days.
That's interesting with the draft mechanics. My mate tried to explain during races with people who aren't in your category. He said you have to go hard as you pass a slower group as it sort of puts you in that groups draft. Not sure how true that is.
Nice one on your FTP increase, great time of year for it! Nobody seems to slow down for winter these days.
That's interesting with the draft mechanics. My mate tried to explain during races with people who aren't in your category. He said you have to go hard as you pass a slower group as it sort of puts you in that groups draft. Not sure how true that is.
I am a total newbie to zwift. I joined up about a week ago after getting my Concept2 Bikeerg delivered. I'm using it purely for fitness really and just trying to find out how everything works at the minute.
Is there a list of ocuk riders I can add on the app, or an official ocuk group?
Is there a list of ocuk riders I can add on the app, or an official ocuk group?
Yeah "sticky draft" man. It's infuriating in Zwift.
If you are doing 4wkg and 35kph say.... and you come up on a guy doing 3.2wkg and 33kph, you often see yourself just stick to the slower rider rather than just ride by them. You need to do 5WKG past them just to ensure you go past cleanly and don't stick and they don't just ride your wheel at way less watts.
It happens quite a lot in sprint run ins. Like if the group is starting to go hard at 1KM to go and you are in the train. A guy or 4 in or around you can't live with it, they ease of slightly and you and others stick to their draft rather than riding past/through them and keeping in the bunch actually contesting even though you're doing enough to be as fast as the contesting bunch.....
It actually used to be way worse than it is now. In the TTT's is the most annoying for it now like Roady says. We are always off last in our league and 2nd last off in PL Thursdays. I think they should flip it around so the fastest teams go off first so there is none of this catching and having to pass nonsense. Not just of other teams but of dropped riders who start then trying to ride on your team for an easier life. *****.
Got on a little later than planned yesterday and found the look of a KISS '100km Race' appealing(!) on the 'Big Foot Hills' route. Might have been part guilt for not riding in the good weather saturday, while also wanting to tick off 100km (as it's been a while) and that route badge I jumped in.
Considering this ride was going to be 2.5-3 hours long the pace was HOT out the gate! I got shelled from the front group doing 4+w/kg within the first 2km. Around that point I said to myself 'there's a 3R 100km Endurance ride starting in half hour maybe I should've gone there'...! Sure enough Titans grove deep in threshold chasing wheels (as nobody seemed to want to work together in the formed group), I dropped off and left them to it. Brutal. May try that again sometime as would be a good test and a way to cross that badge off!
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=1245522
https://www.strava.com/activities/4376232363/analysis/0/1344
I jumped into the 3R Endurance ride, good fun group (as always) doing some usual sweeping, but really wasn't feeling it. Made sure I ticked over 50km before calling it and easing off. 2 hours 20mins enough for me, some saddle soreness and tightness in my knees helping me to decide 'rest is best' rather than pushing on. Think the early race effort, when barely warmed up did it for me. Still good strain/stress and hopefully the right amount to keep me on track.
It's hard to explain the mechanics as they behave slightly differently depending on situation. Basically in the TTT sense - if you're wheelsucking your teammates well, then you'll generally stay on their wheels and move through a slower team easy enough (much of our recent tactic the last few months is to increase speed slightly, blob up and then just carry momentum through, rather than chasing/surging through). But if you have gaps and surges happening already in your group as you catch another, it's very 'easy' for the mechanics to get muddled and 'attach' you to a slower riders draft, 'slowing' you on screen, before your higher effort then moves you out of their draft to overtake. But that slow & surge can be more than enough to cause a massive split for your team.
Considering this ride was going to be 2.5-3 hours long the pace was HOT out the gate! I got shelled from the front group doing 4+w/kg within the first 2km. Around that point I said to myself 'there's a 3R 100km Endurance ride starting in half hour maybe I should've gone there'...! Sure enough Titans grove deep in threshold chasing wheels (as nobody seemed to want to work together in the formed group), I dropped off and left them to it. Brutal. May try that again sometime as would be a good test and a way to cross that badge off!
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=1245522
https://www.strava.com/activities/4376232363/analysis/0/1344
I jumped into the 3R Endurance ride, good fun group (as always) doing some usual sweeping, but really wasn't feeling it. Made sure I ticked over 50km before calling it and easing off. 2 hours 20mins enough for me, some saddle soreness and tightness in my knees helping me to decide 'rest is best' rather than pushing on. Think the early race effort, when barely warmed up did it for me. Still good strain/stress and hopefully the right amount to keep me on track.
https://www.strava.com/segments/24682608 Ven-Top. Modelled on Ventoux, it's meant to be 'GPS correct' whatever that means.
It's hard to explain the mechanics as they behave slightly differently depending on situation. Basically in the TTT sense - if you're wheelsucking your teammates well, then you'll generally stay on their wheels and move through a slower team easy enough (much of our recent tactic the last few months is to increase speed slightly, blob up and then just carry momentum through, rather than chasing/surging through). But if you have gaps and surges happening already in your group as you catch another, it's very 'easy' for the mechanics to get muddled and 'attach' you to a slower riders draft, 'slowing' you on screen, before your higher effort then moves you out of their draft to overtake. But that slow & surge can be more than enough to cause a massive split for your team.
Not really, just holla in here and stuff. Or get in the OCUK Strava group, then see who from there is riding Zwift segments!
Double-draft is 'bad', but then so used to that from all the group rides I've done 'sweeping' you soon come to appreciate how important draft is. Throw into the mix a few sprints you miss due to someone riding clever and using your effort for a prime leadout (at less w/kg) to beat you in a kick to the line... Happened to me all the time for a while. But now I tend to be that clever rider!
Associate
I'm seriously tempted to pull the trigger on a smart trainer for fitness and to get into Zwift et al. Currently leaning towards the Stages SB20 over the Wahoo Kickr bike. If anyone has any experience of these or other thoughts or advice it would be much appreciated!
Soldato
Associate
Yeah, it is rather eye-watering but probably a better solution domestically as it will be indoors rather than in a garage.Get a decent real bike and a decent smart turbo and still have change from ~£2700!
It should get a lot of use so I can justify it, just...