The Indoor Riding/ Zwift/ TrainerRoad etc. Thread

[Roady]

I just ride my bike!

Currently 4th in GC for my class (M-HAB) after stage 5 in a Stage race. Have an iTT later, after a rest day yesterday will see what my legs are like. Actually felt ok so far this week (ridden 5 stages since Saturday) so hopeful - especially as my iTT on Saturday gave me a 1st in GC and I'd gradually slipped down by a couple of seconds from riders avoiding racing against me and choosing quieter timeslots. An iTT levels that.

We have Four Horseman on sunday as a final stage... But do an extra 3km so actually lap around to make it 5 Horsemen!

Well that hurt...!

FRR Tour of Watopia 2024 Completed! Actually finished the whole Tour, riding every stage as had some good results, but it did all fall apart on the big end stage. Was in bits!

Jan 4th Stage 1 - iTT on Bologna - GC 22nd - Gap to leader: 1m 20s - went well, felt strong and a short one so went full, bumped my zFTP +4 to 266W
Jan 4th Stage 2 - iTT on Royal Pump Room - GC 1st! - Gap: 0 - went well, focussed on speed rather than power due to rolling course. Attacked up, eased down.
Jan 6th Stage 3 - Race on Out and Back again - GC 1st - Gap: 0 - went well but tired legs. Volcano very hard, held onto front to finish for my overall.
Jan 7th Stage 4 - Race on Tair Dringfa Fechan - GC 2nd - Gap: 2.6s - Tough start but managed to stay with front until the end, gapped end climb, unlucky enough to have several of GC in same timeslot.
Jan 8th Stage 5 - Race on Navig8 - GC 4th - Gap: 4.6s - Much easier stage but did mean lots of fresh legs for the end climb, got gapped again in busy evening timeslot.
Jan 10th Stage 6 - iTT on Tides and Temples - GC 11th - Gap 1m 34s - Brutal after the rest day. Legs felt good at the start so went too hard, paid for it on the climb. Several main competitors riding away from me things slipped away! Bumped zFTP +1 to 267W so couldn't have gone much harder!
Jan 11th Stage 7 - Race on Itza Party - GC 9th - Gap 1m 25s - Was good to make some time back and the fatigue didn't feel too bad. Had some help from friends closing gaps but end climb came couldn't match the front.
Jan 12th Stage 8 - Queen stage Race on Four Horsemen - GC 34th - Gap 16m 42m - Utterly brutal stage and very selective. My eGAP massive as someone strong in my race did a top time. Lots of help from friends but really pacing the Volcano and Epic was the only way to get me up the Alpe. Died many deaths there, without 2 friends helping me to the finish I'd have just got off the bike and not bothered!

Total Tour time: 9 hours 23min 36s - winner of GC (HAB) won it in 9 hours 2 mins, so I wasn't far off if I'd been able to match his end stage. He did it in 3 hours 5 mins, mine was 3 hours 24 mins.

Managed to bump my intervals.isu Fatigue to 99 and form to -34 so have been pretty sore & knackered since...! Also lost 2.5kg bodyweight, regained 1kg but I'm now 75kg while still eating everything not nailed down for the last few days

I think it is always difficult to know as before when I did random zwift events you aren’t tracking ftp. So it could be that I have been at similar levels before but most events are never intense enough to hit PBs. At some point I will do an alpe du zwift as it would be a fairly good comparison of performance and factor weight changes (read as gain!)

Zwifts recent few changes to zFTP monitor more than just a 20/40min effort to calculate an FTP. Their 'zFTP' isn't even 'FTP'. Read up on it.

Your Profile on www.zwift.com now contains zFTP, zMAP and even VO2max, but also shows you the various power metrics they're tracking - https://support.zwift.com/en_us/fitness-metrics-faq-Sk0Cebzti

Here's mine: https://www.zwift.com/uk/athlete/34a785e5-ec7d-4818-9132-c0c5f7e71218

 

[robj20]

I initially followed the build me up or FTP builder plan on zwift (6 week version first) then just cycled from there doing group rides, pacer rides and racing, i get on the bike 2-3 times per week. I have to say that ive seen the best progression by adding in 1-2 90 minute z2 rides per week, rather then the all out high effort rides.

Bores me to tears on the trainer much past 45 minutes.

 

[grudas]

I initially followed the build me up or FTP builder plan on zwift (6 week version first) then just cycled from there doing group rides, pacer rides and racing, i get on the bike 2-3 times per week. I have to say that ive seen the best progression by adding in 1-2 90 minute z2 rides per week, rather then the all out high effort rides.

appareteneyl that's where it is, z2 rides.. aka time on the saddle rather than all out efforts.

when I go outdoors I seem to cycle/push much harder but I'm okay with it as my riding time now is reduced to lunch brakes so 15-20k in, which allows me to go "hard" and get the heart rate etc going. Z2 rides in zwift are much easier, especially in EGR mode.

@dlockers I'd do just that, get your FTP setting right - do a test and go from there, take one of the fondo training plans that include some z2 work etc and it'll be a good starter.