This is the way...

Good news, I have another two KOMs with little effort and getting used to seeing PBs on the way home, although this is helped by the wind.

Bad news, I was feeling great, muscles were sore on Friday so decided to rest over the weekend. Went out to do some gardening today, right knee done something funny, almost popped out and I am hobbling. Hopping it is just a stretch rather than anything to worry about it.

First club league race done. Managed to pick an unpopular race so over half the field was part of our league. Miss timed my warm up but ended up just north of 30th in the first few 100m. Unfortunately I dropped a wheel on the first climb and couldn't muster the will to bridge over. Ended up around 35th after the climb but doing well the whole way round. Second time up the climb and I was a bit closer to 30th and I could see a few slowing ahead. I felt good so thought, let's do it, let's bridge over. Upped the gears, felt the bike strain, but ignored it. Out of the saddle and then I got thrown off as my bike got thrown from the trainer. I got sorted but had dropped from close to 30th to close to 40th. I settled in with 3 others but one wanted rid of us so I decided to let them go. Ramped up the power and seen a clubmate was only 25s ahead. I stopped paying attention to anything else and rode to bring that number down. I caught him and rode through. There was an American just up the road and I dragged the two together. We would remain together for the most part but we were all trying to break each other. With a few km to go we were starting to slow and watch each other. Club mate and myself upped the pace to burn off our American friend. Two km to go and we were back to watching each other, he took a few fake digs to draw me out but I held back. 300m to go and the pace changes were hard to counter, 200m to go and he opened up, I let loose, far too early but I had come round so just started mashing. 100m to the line and I could see his head on screen, 60m to go and we where beside each other but I would not yield. 40m and he had a wheel on me, 20m and he had a bike length. 0m and he had me bet. He would later WhatsApp me to apologise. I have yet to accept :P

So another few races down. Have to say, the big issue is recovery afterwards. it is not like a race or siomething where you have given it your all, my legs are perfectly capable of walking and riding the next day, no pain as such, they just feel dead and I can't get my HR rate up at all on my commute which is weird. If anyone has any tips for Zwift ride recovery, they are much appreciated.

So first the CI round 3 race, done inside instead of outside with the new fan. I arrived 25 minutes early and there were already a few 100 there, so no benfit there. Got my new watch that measures my BG levels so I don't have to panic mid race. Really happy with how the race went overall. Finally started to see some benefit to using Zwift tactics. I got in with a group that a team mate was in adn the two of us broke away far out and settled in with an American rider, worked really well although our avatars started shouldering each other on the descents which made it look like he was trying to pu me in the ditch as we descended at 60kmph. We worked to gether anyway and dropped the American close to the end but got swarmed with 3km to go by a large group. Held in their for the sprint but no idea where I came in it. I did throw up in my mouth mid race which is something I haven't done for a long time.

Club league round 3 was on Thurday last, bloods were a bit iffy before the start so I brought a packet of jaffa cakes I found with me. Intresting fact, if you eat Jaffa cakes and then throw up into your mouth, it just tastes like Jaffa Cakes and not like vomit at all. A tough race on the reverse Richmond circuit. I got gapped from the main bunch near the start but made graeat use of the downhills but couldn't quite make it. Seen a clubmate near me so worked with the group for a long time. One Blanch rider in D though took off like he had a few blood bags on board and TTd away from us in the second half of the race, averaging out 4.2w/kg for a long time, he put a minute into our group in half a lap, and I could see the english A/B riders commenting on the superman bridging across to their group. He caught them and kept goign and dragged most of them along for a few minutes. It would turn out he got new sensors and there was cross talk between the BLE and ANT+ and seemed to add his power from both together. Anyway, in the last 7 km our group grew and grew as we piicked up dropped riders, we went from a group of 12 to nearly 30. The pace started to ppick up and it was tough going. The Avatars did not like the cornering and I kept getting bumped to the front on every corner but I had manners and tried ot ease off and settle right in. I stayed in the top 20 of the group for the last 2km but the legs were aching savagely. 400m to go and we were just under 300w, 300m to go and I was at 400w to hold on, 200m to go and I was up at 500w and still in the top 20. 150m to go and I put the hammer down as I started to lose spaces to my teammate, spiked upto 800W. 100m to go and I had dropped my teammate, just barely holding 600w and emptying the tank. Crossed the line at 600W, 3rd place in Semi Scratch, we had lost the first two to the mian group at the start so pretty happy with that. Best my teammate as well, which is the first time that has happened.

Finally the Ci round 5 (I seemt o have missed a round somewhere). All good, set up early, went to the startline with 29minutes to go, already 100 people there, FFS but I was close to the front. 11minutes to go and my HR disappears. trying to reconnect but no luck. In the end have to log out and log back in, 4 minutes to go. 3 minute to go and Zwift is stuck on the loading screen. 1 minute ot go and it brings me to Richmond. "Your race starts in 28seconds, would you like to join?". I get to the line with 12seconds to spare. Hit the hammer straight away but cross the start line in the 980 position. I realise that there is no point blowing up now, it is going to be a TT ride for the most part. Head down and I attempt to hold threshold. For the first 4km I did, held it 320W and made my way back up over 250 places. Then the climb began, this was tough, I was gaining places but kept getting gapped by the riders just in front losing wheels so had alot of micro surges, I learned quickly to just raise it a bit and do a short TT over rather than a spike. I gained anoter 50 places over the 10km. caught my teammate from Thursday night in one of the small villages and decided he was a good marker for pace, alas at some point he glitched off my screen as the groups seperated and I couldn't tell if I dropped him or he dropped me, it would soon become clear it was him who dropped me, a small group put in a dig and I didn't even see it happen. Anyway, I didn't know and climbed as if he was just behind me. Eventually the descent began, I made one last dig to get up to a good speed on the descent and then settled in. There were a few false climbs mid descent, one I missed coming up and had to spike over 800w as I went from going downhill to climbing 10% without noticing and I powered past a few more riders. By the bottom of the descent I had gained another 30 places. Just as we entered the Jungle bit, I seen a few swapping bikes but figured the time gained would be lost. I caught B McCrystals wheel, he had a steady pace so staye on his wheel for the entire jungle section. He tried dropping me, and almost suceeded a few times but thankfully Triathletes don't know anything about drafting. We caught a group and he settled in for a break, but we took off and dropped most of them before the end. As we came into the final few km, the pace increased, only slightly but I could feel it. 3km out and my HR was starting to increase and the wheel watching began so I was jumping front to back very quickly. 1.5km out and I was starting to feel the burn. 1km out and it was like there was no end in sight. 200m out and the speed was ramping up, I was jumping up in pace as i could see I would be dropepd if i didn't push now. Held over 600w for 150m but had no real power to ramp it up. Didn't get dropped but nowhere close to the pointy end unfortunately, probably mid pack.

Seriously though, any tips on sprinting in zwift or recovery, all are welcome.

So I haven't updated this in awhile, mainly been posting on the Zwift Spins thread. I still find it very hard to consider it real racing but it has knocked the competitive humiliation craving on the head temporarily.

The good news is that looking at Zwift, I am improving dramatically week on week, being actually competitive in the short B races, as well as week on week finishing higher and higher up the ladder on the long races.

I've gotten better at sitting in, and matching power although I am still getting caught out on the longer races by riders making a break on the climbs. It is the weirdest thing, everything that was a strong point on the road is a weak point in Zwift and vice versa.

On other positive notes, only two more weeks of the CI league left, by the looks of it, they are just going to leave it at the Thursday night sprint races after that which I seem to be OK at, even staying up with the as for nearly half the race before being dropped but this leaves you in a decent position for B placings.