"Winter" - Cruzbike Virtual Time Trial Challenge

[LarryOz]

Here is my TT for week #8. I improved my PB by "only" 23 secs. Guess you beat me Jason. https://www.strava.com/activities/2205814847
I tried what Jason suggested last week: Setting Zwift trainer difficulty to 100% for this try. Hills were oh so hard to go up. I did try shifting some, but would rather just power through them. I was able to put so much more power into the hills than if I left trainer difficult at 0%, so it does work better I think. I managed 23 seconds faster on only 4 watts. Interestingly Jason managed 25 sec faster than 2 weeks ago on virtually the same wattage with whatever his "latest" technique was??
With these kinds of "differences" and others I have seen, I am guessing that there may even be some atmospheric "differences" that the game puts out at difference days, times, etc. Doesn't matter for a race because everyone experiences the same weather. But for a TT like this, it might explain some of the variations. I guess I could ride the "segment" under a fixed wattage "workout" in ERG on different days and either "prove" or "dis-prove" this theory.

I usually don't post our results for everyone to see - but since Jason posted his, I figured I would post mine too. Now the rest of you have something to shoot for between now and the close of the week this Sunday.

 

[RojoRacing]

Larry at 100% setting on the climb into the volcano and the climb out of the tunnel I drop only one gear and increase my power to hold my cadence. On the other two shallower climbs I don’t even shift and just power through. So I let the game bring me the power instead of actively shifting for it like you need to do at 0%

 

[bazzawill]

Here is my TT for week #8. I improved my PB by "only" 23 secs. Guess you beat me Jason. https://www.strava.com/activities/2205814847
I tried what Jason suggested last week: Setting Zwift trainer difficulty to 100% for this try. Hills were oh so hard to go up. I did try shifting some, but would rather just power through them. I was able to put so much more power into the hills than if I left trainer difficult at 0%, so it does work better I think. I managed 23 seconds faster on only 4 watts. Interestingly Jason managed 25 sec faster than 2 weeks ago on virtually the same wattage with whatever his "latest" technique was??
With these kinds of "differences" and others I have seen, I am guessing that there may even be some atmospheric "differences" that the game puts out at difference days, times, etc. Doesn't matter for a race because everyone experiences the same weather. But for a TT like this, it might explain some of the variations. I guess I could ride the "segment" under a fixed wattage "workout" in ERG on different days and either "prove" or "dis-prove" this theory.

I usually don't post our results for everyone to see - but since Jason posted his, I figured I would post mine too. Now the rest of you have something to shoot for between now and the close of the week this Sunday.

Here is my 3rd ride managed improvement this week Delta 126 seconds. It helps that prior to this challenge I was just glad enough to get out on the bike as a tired old dad. I was just keeping my legs warm until I could ride properly again. This challenge has shown me their is life in the old legs after parenthood .

If possible @LarryOz I would like to see a Delta from everyone's first ride to see how each rider has improved overall

 

[LarryOz]

If possible @LarryOz I would like to see a Delta from everyone's first ride to see how each rider has improved overall

Quick rundown week by week:
Week #2: snapshot of the week #2 results (below), and you can see that Jim Finger beat his week #1 time by "351" seconds. Josh was 2nd best improvement at 75 seconds.
Week #3: no PBs
Week #4: 71 secs by Jim Parker
Week #5: 56 secs by Rob Llyod
Week #6: 57 secs by Jason, (this was his 2nd week in the challenge)
Week #7: 30 secs by Larry
Week #8 (so far): 126 secs by Barry (as his 3rd week in the challenge)


You can see all the data from all the weeks for everyone in this spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kilJTgu9K6IJ1G2txDnmhJi_6-_U2I54vdxf4hinBJU/edit?usp=sharing

 

[Robert Holler]

Did my 2 laps last night whilst suffering from horrible allergy attack from all the tree pollen. Yikes. Still did OK I think.

 

[LarryOz]

Did my 2 laps last night whilst suffering from horrible allergy attack from all the tree pollen. Yikes. Still did OK I think.

Thanks Robert - I saw it on your Strava feed! #9 down - only 1 more to go - rest up and kill it next week!

 

[anotherbrian]

The weather was too nice not to ride outside here in Northern California so I did a 200K on the S40 instead.

Earlier in the week I’d tried manually controlling the Wahoo to flatten out the hills, but then discovered on my next ride the trainer went completely nuts with Zwift see-sawing the resistance up and down. I suspect buggy firmware and some weird feedback loop due to my power meter being used for “power matching.” Everything went back to normal after doing a spin down ... normally power matching prevents any need for spin downs.

 

[benphyr]

Only a 200km ride! Huh, shame on you for not adding the TT to the beginning or end of your ride.

 

[LarryOz]

Week #8 Results - Sorry for the delay:
9 riders competed this week.
Barry Williams takes top honors of the week with a 126sec improvement of his personal best! Congrats.
4 of us also recorded new personal bests:
Jason 27 secs
Larry 24 secs
Cliff 21 secs
Rob Lloyd 2 secs
.....
Larry strengthened his lead over Rob by 8 points


Only 2 more weeks left of our 10 week Challenge! Keep up the great work. It is great to see everyone getting stronger and faster as we go along.

Notice - Just heard from Maria: Winner of this challenge will receive: A new Cruzbike cycling cap and a Rakk feedback stand to.
It has also been decided to start the "Summer Cruzbike TT Challenge the week of June 17-23 (First official week of summer). It will last 15 weeks and end the last full week before the Cruzbike Retreat.
Winner of the Summer Challenge will receive custom one-of-a-kind Cruzbike Summer TT Jersey. (I was pulling for an S40 frame, but ... no go )
..
Headed off to the airport to fly to San Antonio to ride in the Texas RAAM Challenge with Jim & Maria on Sat. I looked up the records on the current course, it appears that since 2014 there has been only one bent attempt this course and it was a DNF.
Should be interesting with 10000' climbing and morning and afternoon thundershowers forecast.

 

[RojoRacing]

Larry so per my proposed point system it would be

Barry 126 seconds 5+2=7 points
Jason 27 secs 6 +2=8 points
Larry 24secs 7+2=9 points
Cliff 21 secs 8+2=10 points
Rob Lloyd 2 secs 9+2=11 points

With their bonus 2 points for PRs

Then 4 points for Robert the next closest person to their PR. Had someone finished 26 second slower then their PR they’d fit between you and I collecting 6 points total with me at 5+2=7 points

 

[RojoRacing]

Ok week #9 is done for me just in time to ease up before this weekends double century. Another new PR by only 20 seconds this time from a mere 9 watt increase but at this level 3% gains are still massive. So now @anotherbrian and I are tied for most watts, what say you Brian, care to raise the bar?

 

[anotherbrian]

Probably Sunday night -- I've got a camping trip to Diablo with sons/Boy Scouts this weekend and doubt I'll have a chance to ride so should be fresh to put in a legit effort. I did hear it is legal to ride in the park when the gates are closed if camping, so there's an allure to take a bike.

 

[Pollock]

Did my 2 laps last night whilst suffering from horrible allergy attack from all the tree pollen. Yikes. Still did OK I think.

I was similar today. With my allergies kicking up this week, I was having a harder time pushing my HR to where I would usually ride this. I can at least say I finished it this week unlike the last two

 

[anotherbrian]

Diablo camping trip left me in no condition to try the TT, but I did ride the loop at 200W ERG to burn off some of the accumulated camp food, so can post a time for the week.

Strava counted the wrong lap again for the 2-lap segment, but based on the second two “fast” laps my time should be 42:04 @ 200W.
https://www.strava.com/activities/2238911224

 

[LarryOz]

Week #9 results:
9 of our 14 riders completed their TT for week #9.
5 set new PB's, with Maria Parker leading the way with a 98 second improvement. Way to go Maria! You are the week #9 victor!

New PB's:
Maria - 98 secs
Cliff - 25 secs
Rob L - 21 secs
Jason - 20 secs
Larry - 2 secs

Interesting factoid: Larry and Rob L are the only 2 riders who have ridden a TT for 9 consecutive weeks. Is it a coincidence that they are #1 & #2 in the standings? (this is a rhetorical face if you didn't know)
Rob L has inched closer to Larry and is now only 6 points away with only 1 week to go in our Challenge.



This week between (Mon)3-25 and Sun(3-31) will be our 10th week of this Challenge. Everyone has done great. Lets see if we can get one final TT out of all 14 of us this final week!

 

[RojoRacing]

Ok final week is in the books for me with a 27 second PR with 317 average watts. That’s a 3.5% increase in power and my highest recorded 20 effort in the last 3 years I’ve own a power meter.

Thanks Larry for egging me on to join and even though it’s been super hard to motivate myself to get on the trainer for a hard effort after 10 hours on my feet at work everyday I did manage to do it each week without fail. I wouldn’t have made these gains these past 4 weeks without pushing after PRs each week. Good luck to those of you in this final week of the challenge.

 

[LarryOz]

Ok final week is in the books for me with a 27 second PR with 317 average watts. That’s a 3.5% increase in power and my highest recorded 20 effort in the last 3 years I’ve own a power meter.

Thanks Larry for egging me on to join and even though it’s been super hard to motivate myself to get on the trainer for a hard effort after 10 hours on my feet at work everyday I did manage to do it each week without fail. I wouldn’t have made these gains these past 4 weeks without pushing after PRs each week. Good luck to those of you in this final week of the challenge.

Way to go Jason! I really hope all of us can post a PR this final week! Thanks for putting a target out there for the rest of us to shoot at. For those of you who don't remember, Jason joined us in week #5 and averaged "only" 297 watts for that first TT - He has improved virtually every week in either power or speed or both - now power up to 317w, and continued to find ways to go faster on the course. Pushing for a goal or a PR in a safe environment helps you get stronger.

Jim, Maria, & I also had a pretty "hard" Saturday with our race in Texas. It will be interesting to see how it translates to our Zwift ride around Watopia. (As an aside, I did "try" and ride the Hare & Hounds race yesterday (would have been a 1HR TT), but I stripped the pedal out of my right crank about half-way through the race! Pushing the pedal too hard I guess! haha - Maybe I am stronger too! - I plan on riding my TT tomorrow once I put a new crank on.

 

[Pollock]

@LarryOz , that is an impressive feat stripping a pedal during the race!

 

[LarryOz]

Week #10 (and the end of our challenge) ended last night at midnight.
Please get your results loaded into Strava, and/or to me as soon as you can.
Note: BrianV - I do not seem to have you email so cannot contact you except for here.

 

[anotherbrian]

Week #10 (and the end of our challenge) ended last night at midnight.
Please get your results loaded into Strava, and/or to me as soon as you can.
Note: BrianV - I do not seem to have you email so cannot contact you except for here.

Hi Larry.

No TT for me this last week.

I think I did one ride up Alpe du Zwift early in the week, but that was it for Zwift. After _9 months_ I finally put bar tape on my S40 for the Davis Bike Club's 300K that was Saturday, so I did get some Cruzbike riding as well. Sunday I was a useless blob, and while I had good intentions to just squeak out two laps at Z1 pace, that didn't even happen.