Zwift - Alpe Du Zwift PR Attempt

Рет қаралды 13,358

7 ай бұрын

I've made some good progress recently. 20 minute power is up to 4.2wkg, and my FTP is estimated to be 290w. So, in theory I can do this climb in under 50 minutes. 56:06 is my current best time, so going to see what I can do now.

Пікірлер: 59

@MarkyMarkZwifts 7 ай бұрын

Cracking effort up the Alpe Lee! Mega impressive to knock 5mins off your PR and still feel like you could do better! You're a top B cat racer now my friend, you can't say you're a low B or even a middle B any more, with a 4.2wkg 20min power! 👊💪💪💪

@lee-cycling 7 ай бұрын

Thanks Mark 👊 but I can and I bloody well will!

@peteywheatstrawz 7 ай бұрын

Awesome climbing Lee and an excellent demonstration of fitness growth! Sub 50 is right around the corner my friend!

@lee-cycling 7 ай бұрын

Thanks Charles 👊 Going to keep on working at it.

@appleseeds11 7 ай бұрын

Massive improvement, congratulations!

@lee-cycling 7 ай бұрын

👊Thanks Jonathan. Massively appreciate the help, encouragement and inspiration I've received from everyone. But in particular, you, Mark, Simon and Thomas.

@cicirunner 5 ай бұрын

Amazing especially for sitting entire time

@psymanj73 7 ай бұрын

Just incredible climbing, Lee! 🎉 💪 🚲 👊

@lee-cycling 7 ай бұрын

Thanks Simon. I think you have a PR of 51 on this, don't you?

@psymanj73 7 ай бұрын

@@lee-cycling nah. More like 53 but haven’t done it hard that often.

@ronziopilato 7 ай бұрын

Very interesting video

@everydayzwifter 7 ай бұрын

Great ride and time! A few more of these and I might get inspired to try the Alpe again one day too. 😄

@lee-cycling 7 ай бұрын

Thanks EZ. Well, I'm doing it on Sunday, and again early January, so maybe we'll see you on it soon!

@MrPedel 7 ай бұрын

You can be real proud of that, Lee. The physical toil notwithstanding, it seemed like this was just as much a mental test, and you passed with flying colors; even knowing you can do it faster if everything clicks on the day. Hope to see you on the starting line this weekend - maybe if the legs are feeling good, the occasion can help get you the last bit into that sub-50 mindset 💪

@lee-cycling 7 ай бұрын

Thanks homey 👊 Yeah, this was definitely a mental challenge. Didn't really want to even get on the bike that day. And I was on my own for basically all of the climb. Having some carrots to chase will definitely help, as well as riding with you and the dudes. Then there's the Sørensen terminator effect, too!

@MrPedel 7 ай бұрын

@@lee-cycling apart from all of us trying to breathe down your neck, now you’ve also got great segment PRs to aim for on every section; knowing that if you just beat a couple of them, you’re golden. I found that extremely helpful back in those prehistoric days when I hadn’t yet reached my AdZ peak

@lee-cycling 7 ай бұрын

@@MrPedel yup, exactly. I'll aim to match the PRs or better them. Hopefully I'll be feeling ok on the day. Bit of a anticlimax if I flunk it now after all this big talk!

@MrPedel 7 ай бұрын

@@lee-cycling banter is an important part of the lead-up. And setting new enjoyment PRs is also a valid goal! 😅 I plan to work my ass off to catch some of you guys, but even if I have another AdZ PR in me, I’m pretty sure it’s not due atm. Need a real fitness boost - maybe Tour Watopia will work 🤞

@doomguyzwifting 7 ай бұрын

You do these so I don’t have to. Thank you. ❤

@lee-cycling 7 ай бұрын

You know it's true. Everything I do, I do it for you.

@doomguyzwifting 7 ай бұрын

@@lee-cycling you’re the best! 😀 I hope you don’t go up to CAT A before we can have a race together,

@crankandsprints 6 ай бұрын

Fantastic effort. It's always a great sensation when you arrive on top and get a PB after almost an hour effort. 🙂 At the moment I am at 49mins. I'm sure you'll be able to beat it. In the meantime I subscribed ✌see you around Watopia

@lee-cycling 6 ай бұрын

Thanks man! Yeah, I find it's nice hitting that final turn and knowing it's possible. I went back at it the next weekend and did 49:18. I think I can get it under 49, but don't have the motivation to go back up it yet (did it last week again in FRR). Thanks for the sub, and hope to catch you out on the roads!

@GeorgAndTheBike 7 ай бұрын

You know that there is the Kaboom Alpe de Zwift in 6 days? For me, that would be a good enough reason to not even think about doing AdZ the weekend before.... But I am no Superman Lee 🙂

@lee-cycling 7 ай бұрын

🎵 I know I'm no superman. 🎵 Yeah, I wasn't sure if I was going to do that event or this one. But I wanted to set my benchmark whilst I still had some serious fatigue from FRR, and then hopefully improve on it soon. I've signed up for the KCM event, but I'll see how I feel about tackling it again so soon.

@RyanCondon 7 ай бұрын

Your climbing is just incredible Lee, what a video!! That sub 50 mins was so close, that blows my mind. It was also enjoyable watching you pick off those other racers on the way up. Brilliant. 💪 Always sprint for a finish line! Love it and thanks for the mention..🙌 EDIT: Edit because I also need to acknowledge the 3rd place finish up the Alpe... Crazy! Welldone mate. Amazing.

@lee-cycling 7 ай бұрын

Glad that was ok to watch. Hadn't intended to do anything with it, and I can't create a compelling narrative like you can, so I thought it might be a bit dull. I was thinking of your latest videos quite a bit leading up to and throughout this. Found them good motivation to push on when I wasn't really feeling it. So, thanks, man 👊

@RyanCondon 7 ай бұрын

They're the best achievements, when you're not feeling it. Anyone can race on the good days. Shows how good you are that you can do something like this on the "bad" days. Well done again!

@lee-cycling 7 ай бұрын

@@RyanCondon Absolutely. Afterwards, I was really glad I'd got off my keister and done something instead of moping around. I don't think 3rd was too special. I got the impression that, besides the cheating guy (who vanished around turn 10), only the front two were really pushing. And maybe that was their rest day pace! I appreciate the sentiment, though, mate. Thanks again, Ryan.

@stevej_on_your_MTB 7 ай бұрын

excellent progress, Lee. 5 mins quicker and averaged 263 watts. Plus a Silver trophy 💪

@lee-cycling 7 ай бұрын

Thanks, Steve. Yeah, I didn't pay too much heed to the silver. I only think a couple of people were pushing on this, so it felt a little cheeky to celebrate that.

@johnconarty3762 7 ай бұрын

That M dude with the crazy watts was just on an ebike haha. Nice job man over 5 mins is huge improvement!

@lee-cycling 7 ай бұрын

Thanks man. Do you know for sure that he was on an ebike, or is that a guess?

@johnconarty3762 7 ай бұрын

@@lee-cycling oh that was just me being funny, I have no clue if he really was haha.

@lee-cycling 7 ай бұрын

@@johnconarty3762 lol ok 👍

@Morehills840 7 ай бұрын

Good one.

@vincent_vega4046 6 ай бұрын

Nice low cadence work and very good stamina! I do envy low weight riders like you! :D Me being 80+ kg, I have to drop way harder watts on the climbs, if I want to keep up with you.

@lee-cycling 6 ай бұрын

Thanks man. I think Zwift is a bit biased towards heavier riders, even on the Alpe and Ven-Top. Heavier riders tend to put out more raw power, and Zwift doesn't really factor gravity in all that well. For instance, if you do 20w up the Alpe, you'll move forward. Very slow, but you will move forward. If you tried that in real life, you'd either fall over or go backwards. Add that to the more raw power, and heavier riders get a bit of free power going uphill. And get on the flat and you'll probably annihilate me!

@vincent_vega4046 6 ай бұрын

@@lee-cycling Hey, thanks for getting back to me. You are absolutely correct about the gravity statement; that is a very good point. This is going to be a bit long, but let me please pour out my heart. :D I do feel quite the opposite about the weight question both in Zwift and in real life too. When I was 85 kg I did 62 mins on Alpe, a few weeks passed I lost some weight now I am 82 kgs and yesterday I managed to do 59 mins; my FTP has not changed at all. Just 3 kgs made a huge difference. It is true that in general heavier riders tend to put out higher wattages, but I do not always see that happening; at least not with my body. The heavier you are, the less stamina you usually have. My fat percentage is relatively low, I do have some muscles on my upper body (been training with weights for many years now) so I am not generally "fat", but I am bigger than average both in height and muscle wise (I do have some extra fat too thou :D ). I can put out 400 watts for a 2-3 minutes, I can do 600 watts for almost a minute; but if I have to do 250+ watts for more than 30 mins I get very tired and winded. Bigger people are usually better in short distance races, but not where stamina comes in. Therefore in general I think that lighter riders are usually better. Looking at the pros confirms this theory as most pro riders are around 60 kgs. So I think that pro riding is a light man sport. :) Except for the track cyclist.

@lee-cycling 6 ай бұрын

@@vincent_vega4046 No problem for the long reply. I find this stuff interesting! So, in general, heavier riders do tend to put out more raw watts. It's not a cast iron rule, but it generally holds true in most cases. How that translates to watts per kilo (wkg) is the important bit. A 50kg rider doing 3wkg is doing 150w. A 100kg rider doing wkg is doing 300w. They are probably feeling a comparable amount of exertion doing this, but the heavier rider goes quite a bit faster on the flat. That's because on the flat, raw watts matters more than wkg. That's true both in Zwift and IRL. Once you start going uphill IRL (like, over 5%), that doesn't really hold true, but interestingly, it still does in Zwift. The heavier rider goes a tiny bit faster than the lighter one, even though they're at the same wkg. This is due to both the gravity issue and another thing; the bike weight. Bike weight is the same for all riders in Zwift. So, a 50kg rider doing that same 3kg (150w) + a 9kg bike is actually getting just 2.54w. At the same wkg and same bike, the heavier rider is getting 2.75wkg. There are a few good articles about this on Zwift Insider, where tests have been done with bot riders, and heavier riders, at the same wkg, come out better in all scenarios; downhill, flat, and uphill. I guess stamina is separate issue, and it may be that heavier riders tend to be less lean, and so are maybe prone to fatiguing sooner than leaner ones. I don't know about that. But Zwift is generally biased towards heavier riders. It's not a night and day difference, but it is enough that it's noticeable. Your Alpe times (which are great, btw - a lot of people aim for sub-1 hour and can't do it), we would need to look at the wkg or the average watts you held, rather than just your weight. 3kg will make a difference, but not 3 minutes, I don't think (and this is assuming you used the same bike and wheels). To get up the Alpe in under an hour, you typically need to hold 3.2wkg. At 82kg, that's 262w. So, you probably held close to that for your 59 minutes time. If you did it in 62 minutes when at 85kg, you probably held around 255. If you have Strava or Intervals.icu, you can go back over your rides and see.

@_Old_Andy 7 ай бұрын

Great effort fella. 50:57 sounded very familiar, so I immediately headed off to Zwift Power to check my best time. Turns out it’s 50:50!!! If that’s not an incentive for you to try again I don’t know what is. Maybe I need to try again for the magical sub 50 mins, and maybe FRR Tour Watopia will take us up there - I’ve noticed one of the stages (stage 5) is showing 1152m of climbing. That would be interesting (and painful). Keep up the good work and great content. Take care. Old Andy

@lee-cycling 7 ай бұрын

Thanks Andy! You must have been pedalling with one leg when you set that PR. Yup, we're going up it on Tour Watopia. It's the new Accelerate To Elevate route. Pretty flat for about 30km, then up the Alpe. But there are about 5 sprint segments before it. But did you see that GHT (men) riders now start in the A pen? That's going to be brutal.

@_Old_Andy 7 ай бұрын

I saw that they were considering having the GHT riders starting with the “A’s’”. Is that definite now?

@lee-cycling 7 ай бұрын

@@_Old_Andy yeah, it's on the front page of the main site. It says GHT men will start in the A pen, but GHT women start in the B pen.

@_Old_Andy 7 ай бұрын

Oh well, I like a challenge!!!!

@_Old_Andy 7 ай бұрын

Or I might start identifying as a woman!

@crow4868 7 ай бұрын

5 minutes is epic. Super.

@lee-cycling 7 ай бұрын

Thanks Roger. Yeah, pretty gnarly improvement. Won't see those likes again.

@mofostopheles 7 ай бұрын

Kudos! Still trying to break 60 here 😂

@lee-cycling 7 ай бұрын

Thank you, and keep at it! It's a great goal to reach for.

@RideWithGerben 7 ай бұрын

Great ride here. Very well done! What helps for me is not to negative split it, but ride steady power from the gun, like a doing a ERG mode simulation. The alpe is in essence a big TT and I treat is as such.

@lee-cycling 7 ай бұрын

Thanks Gerben 👊 I think I'll try a negative split on it, then maybe try a more steady approach. I feel like steady is probably more suited to me, too. But I'd like to give the split a try, too.

@roadcyclist1 7 ай бұрын

M. Kolorz was using sticky watts. He also is using a single crank power meter trick to add 100 watts to his output. The guy is a joke.

@lee-cycling 7 ай бұрын

Do you know that for sure? Sticky watts is normally short bursts. He does long stretches of 7-8wkg. Another comment here says he is a pro cyclist, but I can't find him on Google, and he's not on ZP, either. And that power seems too high even for a pro.

@roadcyclist1 7 ай бұрын

@@lee-cycling he was using sticky watts in that race in certain spots. Mostly at the start of the climb. He is not a pro cyclist. That other comment was complete nonsense.