Zwifters

72 watchers

Big_G Feb 2021 8:56am, 17 Feb 2021 684 posts	0 Big_G Sounds a similar experience to me, Chrisull, when I jumped into a TdZ ride the other day Great going Fopp. Do you guys at the sharp end do much research into things like the courses and who is in the field etc etc? There's a guy on YouTube who has quite a small channel (relatively - about 1500 I think) but he goes into so much detail about what he's doing and why, and tries to understand the courses. In even what Ud call quite small races, he virtually always enters to the start pen as soon as it opens to get a a good starting spot. He's Cat A and it's very interesting for a back marker like me. Yes, I'm that sad, I have watched quite a lot of his race recaps/analysis over the last week or two. Jonathon Crain is his name. I'm hoping to do a Cat C race later. A few from my club are jumping into one, so it'll be good racing with people I actually know.
Northern Exile Feb 2021 9:08am, 17 Feb 2021 7,383 posts	0 Northern Exile I am contemplating my first cat c race. Anyone got any recommendations for a good first timer?
Gobi Feb 2021 9:10am, 17 Feb 2021 73,220 posts	0 Gobi Big_G - I have been known to RECCE courses, watch youtube videos of races on them and I look at the entry list to see where I stack up in overall power/15 second power and my ranking. Sometimes I dig deeper and actually spend time stalking an indivduals full profile.
Gobi Feb 2021 9:10am, 17 Feb 2021 73,221 posts	0 Gobi NE - Watopia Flat is a good course but there is no place quite like the Dolphin Crit race
larkim Feb 2021 9:24am, 17 Feb 2021 13,546 posts	0 larkim LOL @ Chris; funny isn't it how the ego wants you to race despite best intentions. It's just demoralising riding a TdZ event and seeing that you're 465/490, even if that is just because you've set off with good intentions to ride easy. I suppose the answer is not to ride those events to avoid temptation!! Monday night I intended to ride easy, and did most of the time, but just put in an effort on the two sprints and one short KOM which kept me sufficiently interested and probably only amounted to 1m30s of intensity in a 45 min ride, so I patted myself on the back for resisting urges to improve my overall position. I've only done one race, one of the British Cycling race series races; on that experience of 1 race I enjoyed it NE and found the level was about right though according to Zwiftpower I rode well above my normal levels during the race.
Fopp Feb 2021 9:25am, 17 Feb 2021 113 posts	0 Fopp Big G - We are doing the Zwift Racing league so we're a team of 6 and we do an easy meet-up ride of the course the day before to see where it's going to kick off and where to start the final sprint. I don't worry about who else is in the field but if I was regularly finishing in the top 5 I probably would look at marking the strongest riders. I did get a 4th early on in the league when I accidentally unclipped in the sprint but not threatened since.
Angus Clydesdale Feb 2021 9:26am, 17 Feb 2021 21,912 posts	0 Angus Clydesdale I get the same with TdZ, can’t enter one on a day I’m supposed to be riding easy.
Gobi Feb 2021 9:36am, 17 Feb 2021 73,223 posts	0 Gobi Ego is the enemy of smart training
larkim Feb 2021 9:41am, 17 Feb 2021 13,548 posts	0 larkim ^^ One for the sidebar. I'm getting better at this - honestly!
Big_G Feb 2021 9:43am, 17 Feb 2021 685 posts	0 Big_G Fopp/Gobi, interesting. Even at my level I've reconned the course and read the Zwift review of the route I should be doing later (it's a route that isn't available outside of a race Fopp, I guess the team events have different dynamic again, compared to solo riding to make it more interesting in some ways? NE, I'm not right person to reply really, having only done one race. But from the bits I've picked up it seems to be the norm to start hard, and punch it on the inclines if you can. If there are power ups, use them wisely too. i.e., if there are multiple points on the route where you get a power up, make sure you use them so you don't miss one. If you get a feather, try and use it on an uphill rather than downhill, etc. I did enjoy mine although I only finished middle of the pack. Personally, I don't quite know what my "sprint distance" is - i.e., when I should let it rip in the final. I think it's probably around 200 or 300m for me, but I guess it partly depends on what everyone else is doing. You can see how long is left of the race in the display, so I'll be keeping more of an eye on that in run in this time.