This ZWIFT RACE Pushed Me to MY ABSOLUTE LIMITS

[@RoadtoA]

My next video will be that of my wife watching the end of this video on repeat while hysterically laughing. 😵‍💫

[@brianbarnes59]

I was in this race as well. I think the reason for the big start list was due to a holiday here in the U.S. Great job staying with the lead group. The pace in this race was fire and on Wednesday we ramped it up even more and took the GC time. After that race I was upgraded to the A's and already two races in, I'll say this, the A's have been really eye opening!! Good luck to you in your races and keep pushing!

[@RoadtoA]

@@brianbarnes59 thank you!

[@blackflamesolutions526]

Only 20 seconds down on the winner in a primetime race is totally decent! I'm in the A category and I have realised that on Zwift, it's 1 minute power that separates the wheat from the chaff. If you can do 6 w/kg for a minute, and do that a few times, from threshold, also towards the end of races, you can compete for the win. For A it's probably 7 w.kg. 20 minute power only matters on the Alpe. But even so, if you push up your 1 min power, it'll nudge your FTP up too. And you'll need to do V02 max intervals to get the 1 min power up. But it's gonna be so worth it. There is an ex domestic UK pro on Zwift who wins loads of A races and his max power is basically 4 w/kg for 20 mins, 5 w/kg for 5 mins and 7 w/kg for 1 min. Plenty of B riders can get to 4w/kg for 20, but not many riders can get to 7 for 1.

[@RoadtoA]

I've been actually doing VO2max workouts lately, I noticed myself that it is going to be the key to successful racing! Thank you very much for your insights!

[@leg_snapper]

What? Top B's are doing 10 w/kg for 1min. 7 w/kg won't get you anywhere in A.

[@RoadtoA]

@@leg_snapper I don't think that's true. According to the stats on intervals.icu 10 w/kg for 1 min would put you into 95 percentile of all male riders under the age of 40.

[@leg_snapper]

@@RoadtoA Just click through the top GC guys in Cat B (e.g. Benny Axt) and look at their 1min power. You should also know that category enforcement is determined by 5min+ and not your sprint.

[@RoadtoA]

@@leg_snapper ok, but then you are saying that very top players are able to race in B category because of how the system works. Not contradicting that theory but that's kind of f-up, isn't it? 10 wkg for 1 minute is equivalent to about 5.5 wkg FTP (if we take average population power/duration curve). That's not B.

[@allanschoy2685]

What a cracking performance Adam both watt wise and also only 22 seconds the winner. One of your best races I think and yes your fitness improved when you have a harder time hit you max HR despite the legs feeling the effort which just means you are improving. Really great race imo with so hilly loop!

[@RoadtoA]

Yep, definitely one of my best performances (maybe the only one that was better was one on Glasgow Crit Reverse sometime in April but that was kind of a unicorn), even though it doesn't look like it at the end! Thank you very much, I've been training hard lately so I am eager to see where I can push!

[@CyclingwithVovo]

22 seconds in a race is a LIFETIME...Look 62 riders between him and 1st.

[@bitminerbob6731]

I won one of these races with 404w NP in B grade. We had around 45 starters. The last 1k is so brutal. It's a drag race to the line from 1k out and not a proper sprint, but I had a feather powerup so that saved me haha. I raced about 5 of these races last week on this course and they're a solid workout!!

[@RoadtoA]

@@bitminerbob6731 definitely a solid workout! Congrats on the win!

[@andymiller54]

Brutal! Surprised not to see the new update on this or was this an older video? Would have loved to see your zone %. Man, not looking forward to doing this myself, just got bumped back up to B and expecting to get murdered and dropped ☠️! Sounds like fun though 🤪

[@RoadtoA]

@@andymiller54 "Murdered and dropped" is my forte lately. 😂 This has been filmed on Monday before the update went live. I have a backlog of footage I am getting through. Good luck and congrats on your promotion!

[@youhooku]

they are super monster

[@RoadtoA]

@@youhooku Yes!

[@kawesipastorholland]

JUST A QUICK ONE. HOW DO YOU FIND THE ZWIFT CONTROLLER? I NOTICE THE LEFT ONE KEEP DYING ON MINE.

[@RoadtoA]

@@kawesipastorholland I love mine. When I bought them they were super buggy but currently they work flawlessly for me. Do you have the firmware up to date?

[@chrismadge7292]

A lower max heart rate in a short race like this is probably due to fatigue built up prior to the race. Good effort. Your facial expression doesn’t change much with the effort you are making. In a real race it would make you hard to read. 😊

[@RoadtoA]

thaanks 😁

[@frannyyarina]

👏👏💪💪👌👌

[@RoadtoA]

@@frannyyarina 👀

[@benjapolcycling]

You are doing great, but you have too much fatigue over long period of time ( i mean, weeks, months) if your HR is plateauing with hard effort. Give a good break/off season and rebuild with a higher base, might be what you really need.

[@RoadtoA]

I think I had the Covid on the race day to be honest, I felt slightly off. I didn't have more symptoms over the week but my wife was infected pretty bad, I don't think there's a chance I didn't get it. Usually it's not a problem for me to go higher with my HR.

[@skullsenna]

I agree with this comment. After multiple years of structured training, my experience goes a lot into the fatigue build up. That does not exclude COVID, but if what you say is true about the recent many VO2 Max training efforts, it is very likely that you have a lot of fatigue built up, and could do with one or two weeks of "deloading" (meaning Zone 1/2 max on all workouts for these 2 weeks). It will recharge you while not taxing your anaerobic system and cardiovascular capabilities. All that said, amazing race! Was really nice seeing the B's flying again (I used to be a mid-to-high B, stopped training for 6'ish months, back to lower C - and a few more kilos heavier to boot haha) Chapeau on the effort!

[@RoadtoA]

@@skullsenna Thank you! I mean...You guys might be right. But there's so much to do! But I might actually try to keep it down for a week to see if it has any effect! It is true my training load went up. Tommorow I am getting custom insoles for my shoes so it might be a good time to ease up.

[@mfowler4651]

I keep reading and hearing about over training. Being new to Zwift since February 2024, it has been all about the race for me. Plateaued at 2.7 w/kg., so I am now 6 weeks into the 12 week FTP builder but still wanting to race once a week in the monthly series. The last two races I hit 170 bpm at the finish line sprint. And at 67 I also see my HR at max at the half way point and so I back off to have something for the end of the race. FYI, last 3 races I’ve seen 2.8 w/kg. Next step is to give up the beer for a while to see if it helps.😅

[@RoadtoA]

@@mfowler4651 Giving up the beer? Now we are stretching it a little...😂

[@CyclingwithVovo]

What a complete sh*t show...Thank God I still have about 3-4 weeks of outside riding before I have to get back on this crap Zwift crap.

[@RoadtoA]

Why only 3-4? Do you not ride outside during the winter at all?:)

[@CyclingwithVovo]

@@RoadtoA not with 6-14 inches of snow.

[@RoadtoA]

@@CyclingwithVovo oh yea, that's bad for cyclibg. Over here we are lucky to have a few days of snow for the atmosphere.