Hi @Coach_Theia Well done on your race yesterday. That Everything Bagel course is I am lucky enough not to be racing that one. I will be DS instead.
Being a DS is something new and way outside my comfort zone. As the girls will want their music while racing I will only be sending words of encouragement via the text option. I have recently started experimenting with the OBS software, (my computer is pretty slow though so I need to play around with the settings) I might have a go at videoing the race as well.
We have gained 3 more A category riders for our team so there is a likelihood some of us B ladies will not be needed for the Thurdays TTTs so you will be pleased to hear I might actually be able to follow your plan this week
I have gone ahead and bought Favero Assioma Uno pedals. Hell will freeze over before I get my Wahoo Kickr Core It seems like the whole world wants the kickr and there are just non available at the moment. My intention was always to get both the direct drive and pedals, Iāve just had to do it in the reverse order.
Congratulations, Well Done and Ride On to all those who are racing
Ooooooh @Debbie, New York is my least favourite world, and the bagel is just awful. I will push through, but Iām not looking forward to it. Trying to stay optimistic, but at the back of my mind thereās a voice saying whyyyy oh whyyyyy did you sign up, Nina?! Iām sure it could have been worseā¦!
Wellā¦ I am not going to sugar coat thisā¦ the NYC Everything Bagel course is painful!!! I donāt mind the hills much, what I (profoundly) dislike is the glass road and this course is pretty much ALL glass roads! I donāt know what it is, I feel like I have no ātractionā (I am sure itās all in my head) and canāt go fast enough.
After the initial effort out of the gate, my already sore knee started bothering me, so I pulled the parachute and just rode the course using my endurance zones. Here are a few tips:
Tron is the fastest for this course, so use it if you have it
The reverse QOM is only 2K from the pen! The women in PL went ALL OUT from the pen and until the QOM arch. This start was harder and faster than Richmondās.
The QOMs have fast gradient changes, from 4% to 10% to 14% to 8% to 12%ā¦ so be ready to shift quickly and in some segments you might need to use the small ring in the front. 50% trainer resistance is mandatory in PL, so we all had to deal with the same gradients.
Remember to use what we practice: carry power and speed through the top and into the downhill, and accelerate from there to gain speed!! There will be lots of opportunities to practice that here.
If you are racing in a Cat above yours, watch your power zones carefully. Donāt go too much over what you know you can hold and recover from at 85%-90%, or you risk flooding the legs and having to slow down considerably to recover.
@Debbie itās great that you are upgrading your equipment! I know, itās crazy how bikes and trainers are all sold out everywhere. At least for now you can connect your power pedals.
I used to do a lot of live streaming, but never used OBS. I think itās supposed to be quite user-friendly. I use VMix. Oh and if your racers want to listen to music while on Discord, that is possible. I always have Spotify playing with Discord.
@Debbie or anyone looking for trainers.
Big Shark Bicycling in St. Louis, Mo has them in stock.
Also - I was in Springfield, Mo about a month ago and in a few bike shops and they were stocked up. Donāt remember the names, but there arenāt that many.
So that ZRL race on the Everything Bagel I stayed with the front pack until the climbing started. No way I can climb at 4.5+ w/kg and have anything left for the rest of the race. I still went pretty hard though and got my best 5 minute power. Training Peaks tells me I got 6 performance bests but since I have the free version I donāt know what the others are.
Zoomed along with a group of about 10 until halfway up the second QOM when they kept putting out 4+ and I had to back off a bit because my legs were screaming and I was having a hard time breathing. So then I was all alone for a little while trying to stay ahead of a Cryo Gen lady who always beats me. But while I was hanging out around 3.6 - 3.8, she kept putting in little surges over 4 and eventually caught and passed me. I tried to catch her wheel but it was no use. I caught a BRT lady and she grabbed my wheel. She wouldnāt trade drafts so I tried to shake her off but she kept putting out just enough to keep sucking my wheel. So I slowed way down and made her pull me along. But she slowed down so I was back in front. We played that little game until there was half a mile left and I upped the pace. She held my wheel so I slowed back down a little and drafted her until the sprint when I went hard and she didnāt have enough left to respond. So that was a small victory.
I was really happy that I did so well because I had biked home from work in the freezing rain and arrived home with me and my biked caked in ice. I had to wait a few minutes to thaw before I could get my frozen boots off and unclip my frozen backpack! After the race all the ice on my bike had melted so I got to clean and lube it when all I wanted to do was be a blob. Got to ride to work this morning on snowy/icy rutted roads. Thank goodness the bike trail was pretty clear, it gave me a nice break between having to ride on the roads. Needless to say I am pretty trashed today.
This is supposed to be recovery week! All things considered @Coach_Theia, which workout should I do Thursday, 1120.4.1 or 4.2? I had been thinking Iād do 4.1 but now Iām wondering if 4.2 would be better?
Great race report! Nice work on best 5 minute powerā¦especially after your icy ride home! I enjoyed that race. It was tough but the ups and downs were fun!
Thanks @dirtgoddess! You did great! Like our teammate said, itās kind of exciting to have so many women in one race!
Thanks @Coach_Theia! When it comes to the finish sprint I have started telling myself that itās like the sprints you put at the end of our workouts. If I am tired and can do those, I can certainly sprint at the end of a race! Iām not going to get my sprint power best, but I am always surprised what last reserves I can summon up Yes, the B teams got lumped in with the A teams to make a bigger field. There were something like 6 B teams and 12 A teams. I keep finishing in the 50s out of 80-90 racers. I feel pretty good about that. Iām hoping to make it into the 40s one of these times but I keep getting beat by a bunch of CryoGen ladies. Every one of them is listed as a nemesis in ZP
I hear you! I secretly ātargetā certain racers too when I am racing up against the A+ field. One of them is a local buddy, I am on a mission to beat her in Zwift and steal her Strava QOMs and Sprints in the area donāt tell anyone!! Only problem is she got her segments as part of group rides so she had a big draftā¦
kellynoelharman - Wow! No I donāt but we have a condo in Branson Mo. I live in St. Louis. My husband and I did the Frisco Highline Trail in mid October. We just started taking our bikes down. Would love ideas on where to ride road or gravel! I know there is lots of MTB ā But Iām not there yet. We wonāt be down over Thanksgiving but maybe Christmas or before if the weather looks good. It can be about 8-10 degrees warmer there.
Maybe we could get together for an IRL if it works out! |
Oh boyā¦the TTT yesterday. ā¦ where should I start. It was my first racing myself on the Wtrl league. Iāve just done recovery week and finally gotten out of pms week (yes itās a week now). Legs were good. We started and I got out of the saddle to sprint out, something felt off. I only really noticed in the little climb up to Trafalgar Square. Something was not tight and a big clunking sound reverberated through my bike frame. Then we lost a rider in a messy overtake up the hillā¦so I clung on with just sitting and high rpm. I was the only high b left in the group so they decided I shouldnāt pull because my trainer was falling apart. I managed to hang on the climb, drafting as much as possible when gradient was low. That downhill after the climb. Why is it so short ? Lol. We overtook teams like made women, it was awesome. On the kick out of the subway we lost another rider, so only four of us left. I knew we had to finish with me, being both a b rider and having a neo falling to pieces you could safely say my HR wasnāt just elevated because of the work done but the whole situation. We had a messy situation when catching up on a team, they geared up and caught us again so we had to dig deep to get them off our tail. Pure annoyance fueled my legs on this pointā¦ we finally got to the finish arch, I think that was my most intense and hard race ever even though I only did the close the gap job in the middle for most of it. The amazing thing is we ended up 6. Place with 44 minutes something. I do think my relatively high watts on the flat contributed to our overall average speed.
The good thing is I can borrow a neo t2 today from the cycling federation, because I voulounteer on the board of e cycling. I raised a ticket with garmin. Fingers crossed itās fixable. The whole flywheel is loose :o
@Coach_Theia.
I just finished a recovery week. I have two races this week, instead of the one I planned on Thursday. I was thinking about pushing the new plan you just loaded to next week and just racing and playing this week. I could get two workouts in this weekend. What do you think? Are we going to do Fit and Festivity in December?
I am lucky enough not to be racing that one. 
I will be DS instead.
It seems like the whole world wants the kickr and there are just non available at the moment. My intention was always to get both the direct drive and pedals, Iāve just had to do it in the reverse order.
I will push through, but Iām not looking forward to it. Trying to stay optimistic, but at the back of my mind thereās a voice saying whyyyy oh whyyyyy did you sign up, Nina?! 
Iām sure it could have been worseā¦!
