New twist for this weeks TTT

[trplay]

Its looking like the WRTL might crack the 400 teams this week. They have added a new Premier League where they invite the fastest teams from each division into the same time slot. Our Coyotes declined the invite as it was 6 hours earlier than our regular time but the concept will peak the interest of the racers boys. Going to be an interesting race seeing how the regular teams do against the "elite".

 

[trplay]

Teams are in and the excitement of the Coyotes upsetting the elite start Mocha teams was squashed as our race director moved them up into the Latte Division. Jim will be the lone recumbent rep in this division while the Grizzlies have a healthy dose of 4 recumbents(Josh, Roy, Ratz, & me) in the Mocha. This will be a lot of fun, already planning how to trick Ratz into pulling us the entire route. Maria and Connie are on the same rocket pace Flamingo team. Get ready Ladies! Both the Flamingos and Unicorns have a full roster this week. Next week look for Tanya, repeat Next week Tanya will be joining the group for a third Lady recumbent racer! Benphtr, Chris, and & Joel will anchor the Bees again this week. Hang on Bees. We'll be sending Jim up after a few more races.

 

[RojoRacing]

Doubt I’ll make any of the elite teams this week, I know I don’t deserve it after my hiatus the past two months. I don’t have my name in for a spot in zone 6 in case someone drops out.

I just did a quick 20 mile race and HR just pegged at over threshold the whole time with no chance to get it to drop more than 5 bpm before the group had me a near max moments later. Goes to show how much pep I’ve lost but overall my fitness ain’t terrible for as much slacking I’ve been doing.

Tested my older wired Weston Bluetooth headphones with some microphone foam over the mic hole and the other people on the channel said it sounded great. Let’s hope she was right and not just being kind but Rojoracing strives for perfection in the audio department.

 

[trplay]

Doubt I’ll make any of the elite teams this week, I know I don’t deserve it after my hiatus the past two months. I don’t have my name in for a spot in zone 6 in case someone drops out.

Your presence is missed as a pure racer and as a developmental coach. But, yes isn't it crazy right now? There are 453 teams signed up for today! It wasn't long ago when our Herd group in Zone 6 (was zone 4 then) consisted of two partial teams and we had to beg people to come ride. Now we have the Bees, Wolves, Coyotes, Grizzlies, Yaks, Flamingos, and Unicorns and they're all full. Unfortunately, Josh had to drop today and two people were there to fill the slot. When this virus thing clears I'm sure these numbers will fall sharply but we will still keep a lot of riders.

 

[trplay]

Zone six is over and the recumbents rode right over. Good fun tonight. Maria and Connie pulled their weight with the record setting Flamingos, while the Grizzlies three recumbents and 6 rider team looked like one big blob all around the course. It takes more than power to be a fast virtual TTT. You also need to know the quirks of zwift, a strategy, and teamwork. This is the fun of virtual TT racing. When you have all four your time can be 5 minutes faster than a group with the same power but lacking the finesse. That's the fun of the TTT. The Bears got some good training on developing that finesse tonight. Ben, Chris and Joel already have this finesse and it looks like they put it together a blazing time. We'll have to see how they did once the results are out tomorrow. The Coyotes were stacked tonight with Jim included. I don't know how they did, but I do know they went screaming by us with fire in there eyes! Results tomorrow.

 

[trplay]

Results for the largest TTT ever are in. There were 405 teams, 2535 riders from 81 countries finishing in an event that lasted 18 hours. To give you an idea how expansive the event is the Flamingo Captain from Guam called out to the Rhinos to see how they did. The response was all the Rhinos are asleep now. She responded, "oh I just woke up". Anyway, its 7:30 pm for our Cruzbike girls, while it is 9:30 in the morning for their Captain. But they all race together and race the Flamingos did. I believe they may have posted their strongest performance yet. The Bees once again rose to the top of the Herd Hierarchy with a super strong showing in the Latte Division. Inside the Herd, the Bees were second only to the Lions who raced in the Frappe Division. Chris, Joel, and Benphyr did this without teammate regular Cliff who hopefully will be back next Thursday. Jim and the Coyotes were moved into the Latte Division and responded well while finding the Latte is one tough Division. And now for our Only Mocha representative this week, the Grizzly Bears. We had several rookie racers and only 6 riders for the race. The Bears did a pretty good job Dancing around the hilly course. Ratz and Rat Rider were constantly making strong pulls to keep the group from bogging down. Rat Rider was especially impressive since he is not fond of hills but easily claims the title of main tug boat for bringing us around the course. I'm sure if asked all of us Bears will say we had a great time. Sign ups start today for next week. The Cruzbike girls are excited as they anticipate Tanya joining the fray as a third Cruzbike Lady. We have room for everyone, just contact us and we'll get you started.

 

[trplay]

This closes out another TTT week. TTT #54 thread to start soon. But in closing a few musings. The new additions of the elite competition gives more reason for future Cruzbike teams. We now have the number of active TTT riders which can be formed into competitive Latte and Mocha Division teams. Thoughts to ponder upon.

 

[benphyr]

@trplay Here's my two cents. Either form a Cruzbike/recumbent team now while we have riders before things go/become a new normal. Make hay while the sun shines.
OR
You really need more than just the bare minimum before you can consistently field a team because on any given week some one or several will not be able to attend. But I don't know the number so I'm not sure if we have that or not.

Great fun everyone - follow @ratz instructions at

https://forum.cruzbike.com/threads/flight-of-the-flamingos.13245/page-2#post-160571

and get involved for a blast of an evening ride with friends.

 

[trplay]

Ben, I think you are right on with all points. If the current bees core is augmented with Jim and some of the other Cruzbike riders on the sidelines will step in (You guys know who you are) you have a Cruzbike group that could push for a top ten Latte. The main obstacle is the Latte is one big, tough Division. The other is your Bee group is a great group already. Another option is to steal your C's and have them lead a what would be fully loaded Mocha team. The Mochas are the easiest to form a Cruzbike top ten in as this Division it has fewer teams and the least experience racers. But the same situation exists where the Mocha's already have a good group. The women have the best of all worlds. When the Vienna Division breaks down into more Divisions they will be able to compete with their three riders leaving room to grow while they could actually go mixed Mocha and have a top ten Cruzbike team right now. If your Cruz Latte team had only 5 or 6 riders they would even help you out there. But like all of us, the Flamingo/unicorns is a great working group which probably needs to stay together. We are getting close, very close.