Zwift - Pacer Group Ride: Volcano Flat in Watopia with Bernie

Zwift - Hard 20:00

Zwift - Watopia

With Roz driving home, and me cycling, I had picked a route to include a few of the harder hills in the area. I had targetted Nevill Holt (from Medbourne), Kings Hill, and the climb out of Harringworth as places to try hard and where, as the wind was favourable, I might be able to improve my PRs. It would also give me the opportunity to continue gathering power data for outside riding. Although I was going over the Lyddington climb, and Stockerston Hill, I decided to not do them full gas, but save the energy for elsewhere; I was never going to set good times given the direction of the wind. I hadn't realised at the time but, as I was using a course on my fenix Live Segments would not activate which was a minor handicap.

First up was Nevill Holt. I chose to try this on the big ring which, although it would leave me cross-chained, would stop me bailing out onto a small gear. This generally worked well, although I did bog down somewhat on the right-hand bend, and struggled to get back on top of my gear as the gradient slackened off on the run to the gates. I hadn't done this climb for a while, but knocked 28 seconds off my PR from 2014. I was happy enough with 422 watts for 3:40 and, at 71.1 kg, a decent 5.94 W/kg. At the time this placed me 6/2386, so round about the top quarter of a percent. It is a pity I didn't know about "The Holt" segment. I'd stopped riding at the top of the climb but it would have been an easy KOM, even having to slow down for pedestrians on the fastest part of the drop into Drayton.

I just rolled over the Lyddington climb, and up Stockerston Hill. Even with an unfavourable wind I still ended up setting my 3rd fastest time (out of 37) and being only the third time I've done the climb in under five minutes, as well as recording a VAM of over 1000. As I was rolling down Belchers Hill I decided to turn off the course so I could see Live Segments. As it turned out later on it still wasn't much use as it was all but impossible to read the display on my watch working at zone 6 sort of efforts.

Originally I wasn't going to bother with the descent of Knob Hill as I already had a really good time along there. Still, with the wind being favourable I decided to have a crack anyway. Some parts of the road being re-patched helped with confidence. I topped out at 47 mph as I improved the KOM time I did have on one of the two segments, and picked up the KOM on the other. I think if I'd had a 53 ring on the front, rather than the 52 I did have, I might have been able to get 50 mph.

the next part of real interest was Kings Hill. I very nearly didn't do this full gas as I wasn't feeling too great but cracked on anyway. Again, I went up on the big ring to remove the option of changing down onto an easier gear. This was generally okay. Cadence was somewhat lower than I would have liked, but not disasterous at around 80 rpm at the hardest parts. Although I couldn't really read the gap to the VP on my watch I could at least see where the segment started and finished, which was a help. It was pleasing to take three seconds off of what was already a good time with wind assistance from last year. It was also 15 seconds faster than I managed in 2014. The time improvement was enough to gain me many places on the leaderboard but 17/4686 and well inside the top half a percent is pleasing enough. At an average power of 397 watts I was in excess of 5.5 W/kg for in excess of 4:00 which is good for me. I was also surprised to see HR hit 170 bpm; mine rarely gets that high, even on hard efforts.

The last climb of interest was out of Harringworth. Much like with Kings Hill I wasn't feeling great so nearly didn't bother with an effort. Also like Kings Hill I eventually decided to stay on the big ring. This had dropped my cadence into the mid 70s on the steeper part which was enough to make me thing the small ring would have been a better choice for me. Once again Live Segments at least allowed me to see where the segment finished, which was a lot further along Deene Road than I had realised. Power was down here as a result of the previous efforts, and I could "only" muster 5.44 W/kg. That was still enough to go 10 seconds faster than last year, and 44 seconds or about 15% faster than in 2014. It was also enough to put me at 6/3717 on the leaderboard, or inside the top quarter of a percent. This one is possibly a bit misleading though as I would guess most people who have put some effort in on the hill would not have continued riding so far along Deene Road.

The rest of the ride was then typically done at a steady pace with one exception; I decided I would try to do the short hill up Gidding High Street at a good pace. It started off well enough, holding 400 watts as I climbed out of the saddle for once. Frustratingly, I noticed a horse and rider ahead, which I needed to slow for. After that I just cruised the rest of the way to the turn for the Giddings. Even so it was still enough to set a PR by one second.

Looking back through some historic data shows this ride has the best power I've held for anything between 30s and 5:00 for the last six weeks, both in terms of absolute power, and power to weight. It is also the best power I've had for anything between 2:00 and 4:00 this year, including racing on Zwift in January, in both absolute and power to weight ratio. Power data for between 2:00 and 3:00 is also comparable with the best I've ^ever^ held, even including all those short efforts on Zwift, which surprises me a little.

All in all a very successful ride. I gathered the power data I wanted, and it turned out to be some of the best I've recorded particularly on the road. I set PRs on the three segments I targetted, which includes getting some good placings on categorised climbs. I should probably start doing some road races on Zwift again...

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Mark Roberts

Day 952 - Ride - Wind Assisted PRs On Some Actual Hills

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Zwift - Pacer Group Ride: Volcano Flat in Watopia with Bernie

Zwift - Hard 20:00

Zwift - Watopia

Zwift - Pacer Group Ride: Volcano Flat in Watopia with Bernie

Zwift - Pacer Group Ride: Volcano Flat in Watopia with Bernie

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