Did You Ride Today?

[CAMPYBOB]

27 degrees today after an overnight dusting of snow. The wind was nuts today, running 14-18 MPH with gusts to 25 MPH.

I rode a 42-minute session on the trainer doing Zwift's Watopia Hilly Loop for a few laps. Tried a little Rouvy...some Giro stage climbing of a mountain pass...not impressed so far. I went back to Watopia and did a second, 46-minute workout on the Flat Loop.

Decent intensity as my Garmin racked up 26 miles. I could tell the legs were lacking some fire power after the first session.

The coming week's weather looks bad for outdoor work...cold, snow tomorrow evening, more cold, continuing snow. Meh. Zwift is OK, but basements aren't the place bikes were made for.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Steve, I keep my Garmin, Strava, BikeLog, Cateye Atlas private. One of the reasons I haven't yet raced on Zwift is they want a public, linked STRAVA account, Zwift verified power history, racing with a power meter as a requirement for higher Cats...it all just gets to be too much bother for me. Old age caught up with me! LOL! I'm happy with a track bike on a trainer that rocks from side to side.

I think for the younger generation of cyclists no longer bother with blogging or web forums a direct link to STRAVA, Garmin Connect, Garmin Express, etc. is a great idea. Hell, do you have an app for iOS and Android yet? All of the you guys I know more or less ditched PC's, laptops and tablets and only use a smart phone.

And honestly...I'm not even going to TRY and watch Zwift on a 4.7" screen. That's nutz! I'm more in line with the guys buying the new Apple TV 4K box and a 55" monster screen to sit in front of my trainer.

Seriously, if you're on Zwift you know how many people around the world use a dinky iPotato to do serious gaming. And most of the 'social' aspect seems to be on FaceBook.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

2 hours and 10 minutes on Rouvy.

I entered the 'Win a Kurt Kinetic Rock & Roll Smart Control Trainer' contest. Ride a mere 30 Km / 18 miles in one session.

Child's play. Right?

How about 36 miles later and 4,500' feet of virtual climbing later I hit the 19.21 mile mark of the Agnello Nieve final Giro d'Italia stage finish climb course. Holy ****! Damned near TWICE the real world miles to log a measly 30 Km on Rouvy! Ain't nobody got time fo' dat!

My take on Rouvy so far? Beautiful scenery, but boring riding. Let's see...I saw one other cyclist come cruising down the mountain as I was headed up. I got passed by 4 or 5 cars. I saw a half-dozen trucks come down the climb. The high point? Swerving around a flock of goats on the right side of the road. Boring.

I'm telling you...even the virtual worlds are boring compared to real road riding. It was 30 degrees and overcast today with the wind going 8 to 10 MPH. Cold with light snow that moved in late afternoon.

Back to Zwift tomorrow. At least there's lots of other people to suffer the tedium of indoor training with. And my legs will be SHOT!

Oh Well. At least I qualified for the contest. Looks like 600 or so of us qualified so far with 12 days remaining. Wish me luck! LOL!

 

[CAMPYBOB]

It's 13 freakin' degrees outside. Where do you think I rode? Light snow on and off all day and into the night. Sucks.

I started out on Rouvy, riding a 10-mile loop in Concord, Massachusetts (running East on Route 225, Zipp!) and then 13 miles on Zwift's Watopia Flat Loop.

Rouvy was boring. Zwift was fun. I got into a dogfight with what looked to be another Master age rider. We took turns hammering each other for about 5 miles. I had him on the little climbs. He was killing me on the flats. A good little set of intervals on that lap when I was looking for recovery from yesterday's fiasco of doing 36 miles just to get entered in that dumb contest.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

19 degrees and light snow on and off all day. The wind was pretty stiff at 15-17 MPH all day. The roads were a frozen mess at noon.

I did 1 hour and 10 minutes on Zwift playing a game trying to stay away from everyone I caught and dropped...and getting my ass run over by hoards of guys flying by at light speed. I rode Watopia's Hilly Loop again and by 'hilly' they have about 900' of virtual climbing on the course...a KOM and a sprint segment. Ya ever sprint on a track bike?

The Kurt Kinetic Rock & Roll with the Turntable Riser under the front wheel is working out well, as are my remote controlled fans and Bluetooth headphones. Winter training is definitely less boring.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

19 degrees today and light snow flurries all day. The wind was 7 to 9 MPH and it's headed down to 11 degrees tonight.

We got 4" of new snow last night and the wind last night drove into drifts 1' to 2' deep across my road. 4-wheel drive to get to work this morning.

The roads are still a complete mess of slush and grit and salt with lots of icy spots.

The Rock & Roll Trainer was on the menu this afternoon and it was a Zwift workout for 1 hour and six minutes worth of the Greater London Loop. Only a few guys passed me going up Box Hill and I passed my fair share of slower riders.

There was only 1450 riders on the various London routes when I was on the program. Pretty much a solo workout. I either passed guys or they passed me. I rode with a Korean rider, a Norwegian and two guys from the States, but each for only short periods of time.

The trance and techno tunes kept me going, but I can feel this week in my legs. There's no coasting or slowing on Zwift and the track bike keeps me on a decent tempo from log on to save ride.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

23 degrees and light afternoon snow moved through. Just a dusting, but the road are still trash.

1 hour on Zwift. Legs are dead, London Loop with Box Hill and something like 2,250 riders in the game today. A damned good workout.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

It got up to 42 degrees today with beautiful sunshine, but the roads are way too trashed to ride on. Runoff and slush are everywhere. After one good snow the grit is so deep in spots a gravel bike would be more suited to these conditions.

An hour on Zwift going 20 actual miles and 23+ Zwift miles. Dead legs so I just did some pacing and recovery work until about 6 miles to go. Shoved the track bike's throttle wide open and buried myself behind some guy flying on his virtual TT bike in Workout Mode. That hurt.

Stepped off shaking and covered in sweat. I had replaced my main fan the is mounted directly in front of me, just behind the 15.6" laptop with a new 32" TV running out of the laptop via HDMI. Dumb move. Yeah, the TV view of Zwift is a bit brighter and shows more of the virtual details, but I'm going back to cooling air over 'game immersion'. The laptop will be good enough.

 

[Uawadall]

It's been a while since I've been on. Moved closer to work and can't wait for spring. I'm now 7 miles from work(as opposed to my previous 30) and will start bike commuting when it gets warmer. I've been mostly riding on Zwift, 3-5 sessions a week in the 45 minute to 1:30 range.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

37 degrees, cold, a light rain falling and the wind at 8 to 9 MPH. Very overcast.

I hit Zwift for an hour and a half. Did the Volcano Climb Loop and the Flat Loop. 3,050 riders in the game when I logged on.

That's 10 consecutive days on Zwift and my legs feel it.

Hey, U! What's your rider name on Zwift? I'll look for you.

 

[Uawadall]

37 degrees, cold, a light rain falling and the wind at 8 to 9 MPH. Very overcast.

I hit Zwift for an hour and a half. Did the Volcano Climb Loop and the Flat Loop. 3,050 riders in the game when I logged on.

That's 10 consecutive days on Zwift and my legs feel it.

Hey, U! What's your rider name on Zwift? I'll look for you.

Usman A. OCBC. is my user name.

Just did my first 50 miler on Zwift, using dual monitors has helped. I find it hard to engage in Zwift alone for more than an hour-an hour in a half, but I managed 2 hours and 20 minutes today. The goal will be to do at least 1 50 mile or longer ride a week on Zwift.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Nice! I meant to say "PM me your user name". I'll PM you mine.

I extended my time on the trainer with the Kurt Kinetic Rock & Roll. The rocking motion is much more comfortable and natural than my old fixed trainer. It makes standing, sprinting and climbing easier and the added out-of-the-saddle time helps control 'trainer ass' from sitting and sitting and sitting.

I think that 36-mile session on Rouvy was my longest so far. To me, Rouvy is pretty boring. The best thing about Zwift is the constant flow of faster and slower riders I engage with on the road. I haven't found an 'A' I can hang with yet and 'B's only for short periods. The track bike just isn't geared for top end work on the flats.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

40 degrees and rain today with the wind running 9 to 13 MPH. I hit Zwift for the Richmond UCI course and was expecting a boring recovery ride.

Well, there is NO recovery on Zwift! Just Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!

I started off sane and picked up a group just after the start area that was moving about the speed I wanted to warm up at. That didn't last long. As groups were passed and groups passed us the mix of riders constantly ebbed toward higher speeds.

The next thing you know I was on lap number 2 and flying.

This was the first Zwift ride I actually felt like attacking and I had them lined out at several points around the 10-mile course. I'ld kill it and drift back and recover and hammer it some more. Dunno who all was with us, but one dude and I traded of killing each other. I dropped him on the climbs and he would claw his way back to me on the flats. He took the first lap sprint easily as I was just gassed going up the last climb to the line.

Some guy on Zwift Rider's FaceBook page said Richmond is a good course for an honest race. I think I understand what he was talking about. The miles flew by and I finished the workout feeling like my legs finally came around. I'm liking this track bike-in-a-road bike-world. My spinning to close gaps was actually effective this afternoon. Usually I'm just plain dropped like a stone.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

46 degrees and sunshine with the wind at 13 to 14 MPH steady with gusts running 22 to 25 MPH. Windy!

The roads were still wet so I hit Zwift for an hour an twenty-five minutes. I did the Mountain Loop with the Radio Tower Climb with 2200' virtual feet of climbing topping out at 500 meters above the virtual sea level around the virtual island of Watopia.

1550 riders in the game and I worked hard up the climb, but not at maximum, keeping all but a few riders that passed me behind my slow ass.

There are no easy days on Zwift and there is no coasting on a trainer.

Things got real as I hustled down the descent with the usual 100Km Per Hour drop away from the Radio Tower. I rejoined the main Island Loop and headed for home.

I got passed by a bunch of guys in matching lime green jerseys. Looked like a workout group of some sort. Definitely racers.

I jumps and soon figured out I was in the breakaway group of maybe 15 lime green dudes and a couple other free ride guys interested in going fast. No problem! Let's see how long I can hang onto these high-Watt dudes. I quickly ran out of gear and was spinning too fast, but hanging on for dear life.

I actually passed them all as they slowed to gather themselves up for the last couple miles before the line. There was typing-messaging that the group was coming back together and this caused a pickup in the pace. I got dropped on the last little climb before the kick back into town.

No worries! Along came the closing pack and I jumped in with them and hung on to the line with them.

If nothing else, you get a great workout on Zwift and get to have some fun try to run with the big dogs when you're feeling frisky.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

36 degrees and falling rapidly. Cold, but sunny. The snow is still melting and the roads are still trashed. Pre-drove a short road course I had time to do in order to check out the roads, but the run off was still everywhere so I hit Zwift and rode the Road To Ruins Loop and then did the Flat Loop before bailing out.

The legs are dead...'Track Bike Legs'. Couldn't get them revved up for **** and even when I did I couldn't hold power for long. Dead.

A nice ride and the end power numbers looked better than they had the right to. The only place I even tried was the climb to get into the ruins. After that I was just going through the motions.

Still, a better workout and longer one at an hour and a half than I would have done on the road.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

34 degrees when I threw a leg over and 32 degrees when I climbed off. Cold, overcast and the wind was a mild 8 to 9 MPH.

Just a quick 14-mile run on the shortest day of the year. 375' of easy climbing and shifting gears again felt great. A Winter temperature road ride is a recovery ride compared to Zwift! LOL!

Two passengers in cars that passed me rolled down their windows to wish me a Merry Christmas! And with that, I wish you all a Merry Christmas too!

 

[CAMPYBOB]

50 degrees today, but light rain fell from just after sun up to dark. The wind was 10 to 12 MPH.

I ducked into the basement for some Zwift. London, Greater London Loop. Try as I might, I can not seem to break my Box Hill record run. I cam within 15 seconds today on an entirely solo effort. My personal best run was set with the help of pacers that had me going deep, deep into the red all the way up.

A nice hard effort from start to finish, as is the usual for a Zwift workout.

I left my phone upstairs and could not search to see if 'U' was riding. I'll look for him tomorrow afternoon.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

42 degrees this morning with a cold rain falling. From a drizzle to moderate, it never let up until it turned into snow around 1 PM. The temperature started to drop and ended up at 32 degrees by dark around 5 PM.

I hit Zwift's London, Greater London Loop. Legs dead, I was passed by three females as I went up Box Hill. I re-passed two of them in the second mile of the climb, but one of them was going at 3 Watts/Kg and left me in the dust.

Another good workout in the books as an hour an fifteen minutes went by.

I hard-wired the laptop into my ADSL Router today for a little more reliability over my WiFi connection.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

U...looked for you today, but did not see you in the game. Marked you as 'Following'.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

33 degrees and overcast. The wind is only 7 MPH, but the roads are still wet from yesterday's snow and more snow is on the way at 5 PM. There's rain to the South of me and snow moving in from the North.

I hit the trainer for 1 Hr. and 12 Min. Hard workout. Did the Road To Ruins Loop plus some extra miles. Had a great time riding with some random guy. Dropped him on the climb out of the ruins and he came back about a mile before the finish of the lap. There's always someone to ride with on Zwift.

I look at the stats and it was a much better workout than I would have done out on the crappy roads right now.

I used Zwift Mobile Link to scout for 'U', but I did not see him in the game anywhere.