Monday, I was looking for an easyish ride, somewhere around Zone 2, when I spotted this upcoming event …
I started with good intentions but was feeling strong and did push a little – or perhaps a bit more than a little.
There were a couple of noticeable hills which I did try to attack instead of selecting a tiny gear and creeping up.
I was quite happy with the power stats. which show what power levels I could maintain for different time periods.
Once I realised that I wasn’t taking this easy (Zone 2) I decided to cut the ride short and only ride for half of the planned ninety minutes.
At the end of my, curtailed, ride, I was rewarded with a banner stating that my FTP was to be increased from 134 to 137. Not a great amount but it is in the right direction, meaning that I am getting stronger.
On Tuesday, I was lured into take part in another Zwift event which promised double XP for each kilometre ride. The ride was a Cat E ride of 1.2 – 1.5Wkg (I think).
The ride was supposed to be for fifty minutes but with a cool down afterwards, I was riding for around fifty five. This time I did manage to stick to Zones two and three.
Wednesday, and I had seen and booked onto this …
This was a social ride with my favourite club and irt was also ‘banded’ meaning that as long as I kept pedalling, I would stay with the group.
I’m not one hundred percent sure how the app. manages this but I think that the speed of the group (or blob) is adjusted to account for the slower riders.
The event started and I was riding mid-pack around the group leader (yellow flag). Occasionally, I would find myself towards the back, just in front of the sweeper (red flag) and although I didn’t have to speed up, I did to try and get into the middle again.
I didn’t notice that the overall speed was low (17.5kph) and my effort definitely wasn’t (112W). I guess that if everyone sticks with the group you’ll nip along quite swiftly.
At one point, I was actually the quickest, managing to win a short sprint !
I saw the finishing arch and just pushed a little harder.
Post Script
Here’s a write-up of last night’s Wobble ride (from Facebook).
I get a mention for my quizzing ability (not cycling).
