Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
 |
| 04/27/2020 10:47 AM |
|
LO, OC...good for you!!
So I had a nightmare scenario yesterday. On Zwift you can earn "badges" for riding all the different routes in game. Dunno how many there actually are, but a lot...maybe 50+. I have ridden them all except for the the PRL Full ride in the London map. It is a whopper of a ride.....107 miles and 8K feet of climbing (11 times up Box Hill for those that know it).
So there was a group ride organized yesterday to tackle it....200+ riders signed up. Thought "great....I can have some company and ride wheels to save some energy / time." Was doing great....riding my pace (~200w avg, 220w on the climb). Right where I wanted to be....feeling great and eating / drinking well.
Got 85 miles done....9 climbs completed and only 2 to go......and my computer crashed. It occasionally runs into a situation where it runs off battery power even though it is plugged in. BOOM....computer shut down and I wasn't able to complete the route.
So I have to start all over again on that ride, and this time I will have to do it solo since there is no upcoming group ride for it.
*sigh* |
|
| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
|
|
|
Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
|
| 04/30/2020 10:56 AM |
|
Got the ride done yesterday....108 miles in 5:14. Given al the climbing on the course (almost 8K feet), I was pretty damn pleased with that, especially since I was doing it solo and not with a group.
Went back and checked my buddy's time from Sunday and I was only 1 minute slower than him....not bad. Very happy with my power / pacing. Could have ridden longer if I wanted to (and I absolutely did NOT!!)
All Zwift routes have now been completed....and with the weather improving this weekend, hopefully I can now abandon any longer rides on the trainer. |
|
| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
|
|
|
Orange Crush
Posts:4499
|
| 04/30/2020 01:02 PM |
|
Dang CK, that beats my ride from last week by 8 miles and is an hour shorter (my time showed on Strava as 6:45 but was actually 6:15 moving time). Impressive.
I spent some time fixing a seat post issue. Had put on a quick release clamp so the shorter segment of the family can easily drop the post and use the torture machine, but the clamp proved to be not a perfect fit and my post kept dropping during the first half hour. So I got out the tools and put on the old clamp.
My 100 miler was done in the span of listening to 8 records. Some were massively better for keeping cadence going than others. Other than that I had no distractions, just a constant resistance, no uphills, no downhills. Major butt hurt. |
|
|
|
|
longslowdistance
Posts:2886
|
| 04/30/2020 08:20 PM |
|
| Good for you getting by with music. I must be weak, but I need a good movie or similar visual stim. |
|
|
|
|
Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
|
| 05/18/2020 11:13 AM |
|
As I have still been spending a fair amount of time on my trainer (combination of crap weather, social distancing and not wanting to ride too much solo on the roads), I built a rocker panel / plate. Pretty simple design....top and bottom plates, mini-bosu balls for suspension and uses a 2x4 (rounded on the bottom) for the rocking motion.
Done 3 rides on it so far and it actually works really well....but the motion out of the saddle is a weird. It is actually the complete opposite of how the bike rocks when you are outside, so it takes awhile to get used to.
Top plate with the 2x4 rocker
Bottom Plate with suspension balls. Note the blocks at the top and bottom to keep the two panels aligned, front-to-back.
Assembled down in the Pain Cave
 |
|
| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
|
|
|
Orange Crush
Posts:4499
|
| 05/18/2020 04:59 PM |
|
| Haha. Nice CK. |
|
|
|
|
Dale
Posts:1767
|
| 05/19/2020 04:28 PM |
|
Nobody cares and it only mildly interests me but I've done Alpe du Zwift a few times and been right at an hour but never really made a concerted attempt to beat an hour until last night.
Did the run up to the base and focused on keeping my watts/ power-to-weight ratio where they needed to be and came in at 56:57 Gave myself a weight penalty of 2# and had the trainer set at 100% just to prove a point that my gearing would work in real life. Got the notice that my ftp is 211 which is funny since the data said I averaged just shy of an hour at 219...
anyway, that's that. ~3.5 watts/ kg which qualifies me to be a low end Cat 3
|
|
|
|
|
6ix
Posts:485
|
| 05/19/2020 04:36 PM |
|
That's a SOLID time there, Dale. I've done Alpe d'Zwift and the virtual Alpe d'Huez on Fulgaz. Times were comparable between the two but since it's close enough to an hour, wouldn't you think that whatever your average wattage is for the climb would be a true representation of what you can really hold for a full hour? I mean, FTP is supposed to be what you can hold for an hour less 5% since they somehow think that we'll only lose 5% of our strength over the remaining 40 minutes. And that's just silly. My 20-minute FTP can be over 300 but I was nearly dead averaging 256 going up Alpe d'Huez (virtual) for an hour. Those numbers are useful for training, I suppose, but it's just plain silly to think you'd only lose 5%. And on top of that, there is no way in hell I could average close to 300 for an hour. 20 minutes, sure, but not an hour.
|
|
|
|
|
Dale
Posts:1767
|
| 05/19/2020 05:11 PM |
|
I take FTP with a grain of salt. Seated, standing, combination of both?
I probably stood 1/3 of the time but get told to do the legit ftp test seated. Standing I can generate more watts but if you've going any speed at all it's counter productive (cue up CK to elaborate on at what speed to stand vs seated and in the drops). |
|
|
|
|
79pmooney
Posts:3189
|
| 05/19/2020 08:51 PM |
|
Posted By Dale Dale on 05/19/2020 05:11 PM
I take FTP with a grain of salt. Seated, standing, combination of both?
I probably stood 1/3 of the time but get told to do the legit ftp test seated. Standing I can generate more watts but if you've going any speed at all it's counter productive (cue up CK to elaborate on at what speed to stand vs seated and in the drops).
Or - stand in the drops. like a 79pmooney going uphill and upwind or (for far more style points!) like a certain Marco P.
|
|
|
|
|
Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
|
| 05/20/2020 12:02 PM |
|
Cracking an hour on the Alpe is a solid effort, no matter how you slice it....which is why there is a badge for it in Zwift. 56' is excellent.
And yeah, i would take your average power for that climb as a real indication of what your FTP is. Little over a month ago, after a poor Ramp Test, I decided to do a race up the Alpe to check my FTP on a longer effort. My 20' Avg was ~270w and my total avg up the climb was 256. Take .95 of my 20' power and you get....256w.
I have zero idea on what the breaking point is for standing vs. sitting and the associated increase on power vs. aero drag. Way too many variables....but standing is just not an efficient way to generate watts on an extended basis. So regardless of the increased watts, it should be used sparingly, IMO. |
|
| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
|
|
|
Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
|
| 05/20/2020 12:03 PM |
|
And hard pass on doing the Alpe at 100%....i usually have mine set at 50% (but then I am also big ringing it up the climb the whole way).
*shrug* |
|
| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
|
|
|
Orange Crush
Posts:4499
|
| 05/20/2020 12:26 PM |
|
You boys make my slo mo adventures among the bears sound patently docile lol.
With search for remoteness any structured (climbing) efforts have gone out window. |
|
|
|
|