"Winter" - Cruzbike Virtual Time Trial Challenge

[RojoRacing]

I don't know if I'll be able to participate every week, but I thought I'd give it a try after Jason mentioned a "Cruzbike TT" when I saw him on Innsbruck a couple nights ago.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2202635820

I haven't done any TT'ish rides in a long time and it was poorly paced, so that's probably where I'd make the most gains going forward. I'd probably also gain by setting the trainer to a linear resistance and ignore the hills on Zwift.

You should read my previous 2-3 post on here about how responding to the little climbs in game are the secret to gaining time over those who trying and dumb it down and ride it likes it's flat. The slower your moving the more power you should put out, the faster you're cutting through the wind the less value those extra watts are going to net you in speed.

 

[RojoRacing]

Yeah what are the odds I'd see your name in my feed when I logged in for my cool down ride, glad I motivated at least one more person to give it a shot.

 

[anotherbrian]

Pollock, even if you are racing against yourself, reducing the variables will make being consistent easier. At this point, pacing for even 30min is hard for me, and I don't need to blow myself up on the first hill I come to, or the first group I see off in the distance. And unless I do the next ride having taken the prior day off and binged on Five Guys instead, I don't know if I'd be able to improve my time.

I completely agree Rojo. But turning off Zwift's resistance doesn't prevent you from conserving energy on the downhills and going all out on the uphills like ERG would. While you aren't forced to respond to the environment/other riders like you would in real life, this is closer to a bracket racing. My only goal this spring is a sub-24hr 600K (well, full 60% brevet series), and that "only" requires making enough power to go 16mph on a recumbent without stopping.

 

[anotherbrian]

And a comment on the Strava segment; 2Laps-Watopia starts and finishes at the spawn, hundreds of meters before the arch. If people are having trouble getting the segment to show despite having done two laps it is likely because they spawned in after the segment start.

The “Zwift Insider verified” segments all line up with the obvious start/finish markers in my experience. For my ride I did a full warmup lap and came through the short tunnel after the turnoff from the volcano at full gas knowing the start was somewhere close by. At the end of my second lap I continued on full power to the finish arch because I wanted to also be able to see the effort on the Zwift Insider single loop segment.

Anyone who was using the arch as the start may have short changed themselves by not settling in to their effort earlier if the 2Laps is used.

Huge gains/losses week over week could also be attributed to starting the segment with a standing vs rolling start, and for consistency the rules should specify which to use (I like rolling since there is no risk that you are on the wrong side of Strava’s start line and wasting time stopped).

 

[LarryOz]

I don't know if I'll be able to participate every week, but I thought I'd give it a try after Jason mentioned a "Cruzbike TT" when I saw him on Innsbruck a couple nights ago.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2202635820

I haven't done any TT'ish rides in a long time and it was poorly paced, so that's probably where I'd make the most gains going forward. I'd probably also gain by setting the trainer to a linear resistance and ignore the hills on Zwift.

Brain,
Glad to have you in the TT - Please email you weekly result to me at larryoslund@gmail.com, with the segment you are using along with you the result that you see: your time.
This helps me double check what I see - plus Zwift has quite a few segments (2 lap) versions and I want to make sure to use the one you are using.
Thanks.

 

[LarryOz]

Anyone who was using the arch as the start may have short changed themselves by not settling in to their effort earlier if the 2Laps is used.

There is another segment called "Volcano Flat 2 laps from Arch". This is what I use and I make sure I don't pass the arch at all on my warm-up so I don't have to crop my file for the segment to get "sensed" correctly.
I also used my Garmin and hit the lap button on it as soon as I pass the Arch. I also have avg lap power list on that screen so I can keep tabs on my segment power.

I think I found your lap on your Strava feed: Looks like you used "2laps-Watopia, Time was 35:43 and you avg power was 305W. Congrats. Highest avg power and 2nd fastest 2 lap speed so far during the challenge! Great job - I guess the gauntlet has been laid down Jason! You big power guys are making me feel like a weakling!
Not sure what you weight, but I don't think you should have a problem doing a sub24 hour 600k!

 

[Pollock]

No TT numbers for me this week. I planned on it for Sat, but did not feel well at all. Today, I already planned to ride the Zwift Fondo (done). Now to ride outdoors while we have 70F and no rain for a change!

 

[RojoRacing]

There is another segment called "Volcano Flat 2 laps from Arch". This is what I use and I make sure I don't pass the arch at all on my warm-up so I don't have to crop my file for the segment to get "sensed" correctly.
I also used my Garmin and hit the lap button on it as soon as I pass the Arch. I also have avg lap power list on that screen so I can keep tabs on my segment power.
View attachment 7641
I think I found your lap on your Strava feed: Looks like you used "2laps-Watopia, Time was 35:43 and you avg power was 305W. Congrats. Highest avg power and fastest 2 lap speed so far during the challenge! Great job - I guess the gauntlet has been laid down Jason! You big power guys are making me feel like a weakling!
Not sure what you weight, but I don't think you should have a problem doing a sub24 hour 600k!

Actually the fastest time on the two lap route is 34:45 so Brains 35:43 is on par with my first week but we saw my time drop a whole min during the second week so I'm sure Brian will continue to get closer unless I can find something special. Brain is a bit heavier then me so I'll be happy if I can match his watts.

 

[ccf]

Last week I was recovering from 9 hours of jet lag, and the grey, gloomy weather from the "atmospheric river" was making the recovery slow. But I felt strong at the start. However, just 3.5 miles in I started picking up a side stitch. My fitness right now isn't great, and being off the bike for more than a week didn't help. By the start of the second lap I was feeling really lousy, but I soldiered through. As @LarryOz pointed out, my little Grinch-sized heart was red-lining at 187 bpm at the end of the second lap. Plenty of suffering, but no PB.

I only got a couple of flat commute rides in this week, so no fitness improvement. Plus my weight is up week over week. I figured I needed a tactic to improve my time. I took a queue from @RojoRacing and @Mixerman, and I set Zwift from 50% to 100% so I would get a stronger feel for the gradients. Then I pushed significantly harder on the climbs and got off the gas on the descents. I did feel that at 100%, the 1% climb up the switchbacks felt steeper than 1% on the road, but the feel of topping the hill definitely felt more like the road. Average HR was down to 175 bpm, but the tactic appears to have produced the desired result.

Now time to start working on the fitness and the weight.

 

[anotherbrian]

Actually the fastest time on the two lap route is 34:45 so Brains 35:43 is on par with my first week but we saw my time drop a whole min during the second week so I'm sure Brian will continue to get closer unless I can find something special. Brain is a bit heavier then me so I'll be happy if I can match his watts.

Ya, I thought I was a minute behind the time I saw for Jason.

I’m 6’1”/185lbs but all of that is 49 year old baby fat. I need to lose 10lbs to be 4W/kg by this years hilly doubles, because they’ll suck being overweight.

Given Zwift’s dynamics I don’t think I’d ever be faster than Jason in game, except on the downhills (more donuts!), but I should be able to get more consistent with practice.

 

[LarryOz]

Actually the fastest time on the two lap route is 34:45

Sorry about that - corrected in my initial post.

 

[LarryOz]

Actually the fastest time on the two lap route is 34:45

Sorry about that - corrected in my initial post.

 

[anotherbrian]

There is another segment called "Volcano Flat 2 laps from Arch". This is what I use and I make sure I don't pass the arch at all on my warm-up so I don't have to crop my file for the segment to get "sensed" correctly.
I also used my Garmin and hit the lap button on it as soon as I pass the Arch. I also have avg lap power list on that screen so I can keep tabs on my segment power.

I found the above segment, though it is counting my first two laps (warmup + TT effort) instead of the faster second and third. I've seen that before on a local loop I've created (5x times around) and it seemed to be fixed by randomly cropping off a couple seconds at the start, end, or both of the ride (data that was way outside the segment). I'll poke around with my existing ride and see if I can get it to appear, as I'd like to use the same segment you are since the arch is a much more obvious start and finish point.

 

[bazzawill]

No improvement today due back to what I call the glass sealing where I cannot seem to break through and generate more power (or increase my heart rate, no power meter). It was only this challenge that enabled me to smash through that and generate some half way, decent numbers.
I started with tight legs, due to being figuratively old (raising 2 little boys = physically and mentally exhausted), and apparently standing around all day at sports day is hard work
I had decent. not great numbers in the beginning with a tail wind however that started to tapper off long before I turned around to face the wind. Going into the wind I had no motivation to exert effort although I tried. It ended up being a leisurely pedal interspersed with failed attempts and increasing effort.
I am not sure what it is that stops me but my body will physically not allow me to over exert myself. Perhaps more coffee is needed
Better luck next week

 

[RojoRacing]

No improvement today due back to what I call the glass sealing where I cannot seem to break through and generate more power (or increase my heart rate, no power meter). It was only this challenge that enabled me to smash through that and generate some half way, decent numbers.
I started with tight legs, due to being figuratively old (raising 2 little boys = physically and mentally exhausted), and apparently standing around all day at sports day is hard work
I had decent. not great numbers in the beginning with a tail wind however that started to tapper off long before I turned around to face the wind. Going into the wind I had no motivation to exert effort although I tried. It ended up being a leisurely pedal interspersed with failed attempts and increasing effort.
I am not sure what it is that stops me but my body will physically not allow me to over exert myself. Perhaps more coffee is needed
Better luck next week

What you lack is external motivation much like myself, I only seem to shine when I have someone to chase. Look at my post in the Bent vs DF thread yesterday, like you I've hit a ceiling on my own with this TT challenge but yesterday with 4 other to chase I smashed that ceiling.

 

[bazzawill]

What you lack is external motivation much like myself, I only seem to shine when I have someone to chase. Look at my post in the Bent vs DF thread yesterday, like you I've hit a ceiling on my own with this TT challenge but yesterday with 4 other to chase I smashed that ceiling.

I agree external motivation definitely helps. I forgot to star the segment so my Garmin could show me my progress against my self. Digital motivation but at least something.
I did have an opportunity to chase down a couple of riders that should have been easy pray for the yellow V but even that was not motivation enough (I did catch them but only because they stopped).

 

[RojoRacing]

I agree external motivation definitely helps. I forgot to star the segment so my Garmin could show me my progress against my self. Digital motivation but at least something.
I did have an opportunity to chase down a couple of riders that should have been easy pray for the yellow V but even that was not motivation enough (I did catch them but only because they stopped).

You need DF riders so fast that even your bent cant catch them, that's what I have found out here.

 

[anotherbrian]

I found the above segment, though it is counting my first two laps (warmup + TT effort) instead of the faster second and third. I've seen that before on a local loop I've created (5x times around) and it seemed to be fixed by randomly cropping off a couple seconds at the start, end, or both of the ride (data that was way outside the segment). I'll poke around with my existing ride and see if I can get it to appear, as I'd like to use the same segment you are since the arch is a much more obvious start and finish point.

Weird. I cropped the start of my ride so my warmup lap would be excluded, and did get those other 2 lap segments showing up properly, except my ride moved a day into the future.

"Volcano Flat 2 laps from Arch", "Cruzbike Volcano Flats 2X TT", and "Grand Flat 2x" are all essentially the same. "Grand Flat 2x" shows 0.02mi longer, but my time in seconds was identical for all of them.

"2Laps-Watopia" is in very much the wrong start/stop place and I doubt people are actually riding it.

I judiciously hide segments on Strava (81 pages, at 20/per = 1600+ hidden) -- for a _single_ Volcano Flat there are almost 200 segments. For me the only segment that had been worth looking at was the "Volcano Flat Forward 1 Lap (Zwift Insider verified)". Now with the 2 lap TT I've added the "Volcano Flat 2 laps from Arch". End result is _543_ segments are hidden ... that's the only way I can find Strava + Zwift to be pleasant to use (see attached pic).

 

[RojoRacing]

My last TT ride also uploaded into the future

 

[LarryOz]

Results for week #7:
We had 2 new participants this week: Welcome Alex H. & Brian V. - who obviously set new Personal Bests!
That now brings total participants to 14! Wonderful.
5 of us managed to set new PB's too: Cliff, Jim F, Larry, Robert, and Hardy - way to go everyone.
I (Larry) managed to win my first weekly challenge this week by setting a new PB by 30 seconds. I also wrestled the Overall 1st Place from Rob Llyod who has held it for the last 2 weeks.
Interesting enough there has been a different weekly winner each of the weeks so far - which is pretty cool.
Here is a view of the current times and standings.


As always, please let me know if you see any errors - This is a lot of data!

p.s. There are only 3 more weeks left in this challenge. Then we will start the "Summer" challenge probably around the 1st week of April and it will last considerably longer (25 or 26 weeks) - and go through the end of Sept - right before the Cruzbike Retreat the 1st week of October. I am pulling for us to have an "live" TT event at the retreat - possibly some kind of "final", so stay tuned.