Can a C Rider SURVIVE B Category ZWIFT Race?

Loop de Loop on Zwift Games 2024 was the first B race I've ever did. Aerobically I could have done somewhat more but I was somewhat cramping since the halfway point.
My name is Adam, I am 35 years old and I am a former marathon runner who shifted his focus on ZWIFT CYCLING.
Road to A is a channel focused on INDOOR ZWIFT RACING with the ultimate goal of reaching the A+ CATEGORY. Is it progression realistic? Maybe. I'll need to train a lot and lose a lot of weight, too. However, I believe the BIGGEST LIMITATIONS riders (and athletes in general) have are those they put on themselves and this channel is my way to prove that idea. If you feel like you are riding (or living) BENEATH YOUR POTENTIAL, you need to tag along! The destination is clear but the journey won't be easy.
Currently I am racing in C CATEGORY.
SUBSCRIBE because it makes me happy :) : www.youtube.com/@RoadtoA/?sub...
As for my ZWIFT SETUP - I am riding on a ZWIFT HUB ONE indoor trainer. Steering can give you pretty substantial advantage during the racing and for that I am using the ZWIFT PLAY controllers. I use these for virtual shifting as well and to make sure I'll be covered if they run out of battery or generally stopped working, I've got the ZWIFT CLICK as well. I am running my Zwift in 4K and using the ULTRA settings.
#RoadToA
Chapters
00:00 Highlights
00:22 Intro and start of the race
01:57 Start of LAP 1, the peloton is splitting
03:22 The Esses forward
05:31 Sprint banner, Italian villas and the first loop
08:43 The Esses back
11:00 Back into the downtown
13:23 Zwift KOM 1
16:05 Descending back into downtown
20:11 Start of LAP 2
21:55 The Esses forward no.2
24:15 Sprint banner, Italian villas and the second loop
27:33 The Esses back no.2
30:00 Back into the downtown no.2, group still together
32:23 Zwift KOM 2 - "The Groupbreaker"
35:47 3 km to go
38:08 Final descent and FINISH
39:56 Dog celebration, you better watch!

[@RoadtoA]

This race was no slouch either, did my best climbing effort on it!: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jH6mmmdjpL-GpdE

[@thomasullmann7447]

the dog love is quite some reward for a hard ride, congrats!

[@RoadtoA]

I know, right? He's my best boy.

[@ZwiftingWithGranny]

You did very well for a cat C riding with cat Bs. I like your attitude. That was a great sprint at the end!

[@RoadtoA]

Thank you! I appreciate your kind words. By the way, I am a big fan of your story, I followed it on Zwift Insider.:-)

[@ZwiftingWithGranny]

​@RoadtoA thank you so much!

[@santiago0072002pr]

Good Job brother! Keep up! You got this!

[@RoadtoA]

Thank you, appreciate the support!

[@crankgreenwatts]

Well done on catting up 💪 Great push at the end as it's not an easy route 👏

[@RoadtoA]

Thank you!

[@doomguyzwifting]

Great stuff racing up!

[@RoadtoA]

Thank you!

[@gregdoucette]

If u race in smaller B races you will notice the pace a lot slower and u will keep up. THe diff is in the sprints at the end.

[@RoadtoA]

I'll be doing the Glasgow Crit Circuit tommorow, I am eager to see that!

[@brianb6611]

Great race, impressive power output on the climbs. By chance did you do the C category race earlier in the week? you would have won the race I was in with that finishing time.

[@RoadtoA]

Thank you! I did Knickerbocker in C earlier in the week (basically all the races I do are here as videos unless some technical issue happens).

[@peymojo]

Great effort! Keep challenging yourself.

[@RoadtoA]

Thank you very much! I can promise I'll never stop challenging myself!

[@em_aitch]

Parada! Len tak dalej ;)

[@RoadtoA]

Diky diky:)

[@waterdeptworker]

You seem old but strong as a bull.

[@RoadtoA]

I am not sure I still have enough time to win Tour de France, yes. 🤣 Thanks!

[@jeffcreed365]

@@RoadtoA You must have been cycling all your life to be so strong at it?

[@RoadtoA]

@@jeffcreed365 I've been cycling since August, but I've been a marathon runner for the past seven years so I've had *some* residual fitness.

[@frannyyarina]

By the way, I'm participating in the CHASING TOUR 2024

[@RoadtoA]

Is that scheduled already? Or do you refer to L'Etape?

[@ChristophVonBagel]

Ok first great job but now I have to ask you about this course profile graphic on the bottom of the screen are you using Sauce for zwift ? If not then you must of connected to the api to generate that ?

[@RoadtoA]

Hehe, no Sauce! That overlay is added in the video post production - the elevation profile is just an area chart made in Excel from the ride's data (that you can download in .csv from Zwift's activity pages) and the pointer that shows where I currently am is a custom made image that I manually animate for the whole video. :-)

[@ChristophVonBagel]

Wow really nice . Impressive . Thanks for the info .

[@Zonk3000]

Ah i was in that race, i passed you at 1min47sec. Even as a solid b rider this race was horrible 😂

[@RoadtoA]

Was rough yea! Though I feel I could have done a little better if I didn't feel cramps incoming by the end. What was your finish time?

[@Zonk3000]

36:03, straight on the bike after work. Got dropped from G1 at the first Kom. Until then the group was roughly 150 riders strong 😂

[@RoadtoA]

@@Zonk3000 Great time!

[@Zonk3000]

Thank you! You did great as well!

[@EJD2012]

Why did you choose to ride in the B category? I got about the same power numbers (zFTP 249; zMAP 295) but am 85 kg. Got totally murdered on the climbs (and the fact that I am 64 years old doesn't help with the recovery in between). Staying firmly in C catergory...

[@RoadtoA]

In order to be "counted" in GC you need to do all 5 stages in the same category. And I didn't want to do the Epic and Climb stages in C because the courses are easier, wanted full experience. Yup, it's gonna be rough, but fun! Good luck to you!

[@EJD2012]

@@RoadtoA Yes, I was a bit disappointed that the C-cat did shorter stages in Climb and Epic. Especially as my endurance is better than my w/kg relative to most C-cat riders. But not so much that I wanted to switch to B for it 😀 !

[@frannyyarina]

Chasingtour doesn't really have anything to do with Zwift, those are races over a full year, read it, maybe it's something for you

[@RoadtoA]

I'll look into it, sounds interesting!

[@hallra1970]

What indoor trainer are you using and are you using a rocker or something? I see a lot of movement, is it making it more comfortable?

[@RoadtoA]

I'm using the Zwift HUB and a Leeze Boom Board Pro. And it's way, way more comfortable, so much so that at this point I would really go all out on a rocker.

[@hallra1970]

@@RoadtoA I would be very interested in getting one as I have arthritis which makes indoor riding very uncomfortable, unfortunately they are no shipping to the UK, which is a bit problematic

[@RoadtoA]

@@hallra1970 That could really make the rides more comfortable to you. Is there a chance you could grab any other rocker? If money is not a big consideration the Saris rocker is incredible but there are plenty of other cheaper ones (as well as some DIY solutions. I really recommend it.

[@hallra1970]

@@RoadtoA I used the lifeline rocker in the past, it wasn’t that helpful and didn’t move around like the leeze boom pro

[@RoadtoA]

@hallra1970 Have you checked Leeze's official website? According to their shipping information they should ship to the UK no problem.

[@BLachance75]

What rocker are you using with the Zwift Hub?

[@RoadtoA]

Leeze Boom Board Pro!