Just how quick are Cat A ZWIFT racers?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 มิ.ย. 2021
- I took on some A cat riders in a short race on ZWIFT - can brute power win the day?
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I am doing this race again next Tuesday, 8th June 9 pm UK time. And there are already more people signed up for it than took part in this weeks 😂👍🏼
Now you have 10k subscribers your obviously a social influencer so race will be over subscribed :-)
From 10k to 163k in a year...phenomenal job 👏
259k now.
Working my way back through clips.
Played soccer and hockey my entire life, 4 years varsity soccer, hockey, tennis in HS. D1 hockey in college. So, pretty athletic.
But occasionally you run into a guy who is simply multiple levels over you in shear physicality. It is truly something crazy to experience. Either quickness, strength or endurance.
Often there is nothing you can do. At some point greater skill alone can't overcome it.
It is so many things: impressive, humbling, inspiring.
Congratulations Mark on 10000 subscribers, I have bee recommending you to all my riding buddies here in Aus.. Yet more great content with laughs a plenty. Keep up the great work and push hard.
Great video Mark. I've recently moved from a C (where I did ok, even eventually won a few) to a B (where I'm, at best, mid-table and get the joy of watching the front pack cycle off into the distance). In addition to what others are saying, look for the very flattest courses (eg Tempus Fugit in Watopia) where pure watts will start to outweigh w/kg (Zwift Insider has a good article on this). Avoid going to the front of the pack *at all costs* (your effective/relative power will plummet and there's a lag before the drafting effect kicks back in when you'll get swarmed and left for dead). Good luck tomorrow (warm up well).
Congrats on the 10k, well deserved. 👏👏👏👏
Gratz on 10k Mark!
Fair play to you! That’s a massive effort. I’ve found with the step up from B to A is that it’s hanging on in the As and racing smarter where as in the Bs there’s more influence on how the race plays out (shutting down attacks, splitting the bunch on climbs, launching off the front etc).
Awesome as always and well above average 👊🏾
Congrats for 10k 💪🏻
Love your content ! Keep it up. Watching more and more ... I think I will try an A race !!
Lol. I always get a good chuckle from your vlogs.
Great video dude, those short races are hell
Looking forward to next tuesday!
It’s the zwift stuff that keeps me watching 👍
Congrats on the 10k subs!
Good luck in race 2! Inspiring stuff
Well done Mark! Super effort. Sorry for the long post but you seem like a chap who really considers others' experience. Couple of tips from an A rider:
1. You really have to do a proper warm up. The shorter the race, the longer the warm up. You need to prime your lactic acid system and prepare yourself to go deep. If not, you will be dropped. Build a warm up as a custom workout in Zwift and just get on your bike and do it before every race. Get in the habit of this. Your warm up should include a 5 min ramp from 100w to about 75% of FTP, then back to around 50-60% of FTP for 2 mins. Then you should do at least 5 progressive intervals of no longer than 1 min each with 2 mins of rest in between. Interval 1 is 1 min@80% of FTP, #2 is 1min@95%, #3 is45s@110%, #4 is 30s@125% and #5 is 15s@147%. You will be properly ready for what is to come. This includes a money-back guarantee.
2. The second tip is something that most riders do not know about and yet is the single thing that will determine getting dropped or being in the race: VO2Max interval workouts. Basically, all front Bs and all As are likely doing some kind of prepared training outside of competition. Doing 2 high intensity 7x3 min VO2Max interval sessions per week will take your racing to another level. The reason is that it's not good enough to be able to ride at VO2Max for 3-5 mins, you have to be able to repeat it. i.e., develop fatigue resistance at those levels. The reason people get dropped is that the pace of the front (while at or below FTP for those riders) is taking them into VO2Max land. And VO2Max land is not a happy place to be. In fact, no one can really survive there for more than 5-8 mins. That's why they call FTP a 'threshold'. So practicing being there, resting and then making a re-visit is basically essential for any level of racing.
Counter to IRL racing, Zwift always starts with a bang (a visit to VO2Max land). Those that are unprepared for this 'feature' will be dropped. So why not prepare for it? Besides, VO2Max intervals will dramatically improve your performance and drag up your threshold. You will be very surprised at what you can do if you can fit these into your week. Warning: you should feel like you are going to throw up during intervals #5, 6 and 7. Use Zwift's training feature to build this VO2Max workout - with the bike in ERG mode, you don't have to think (I often lose track of which interval I'm on). You can also slide the % down a bit if you feel you are going too deep. With 4-6 weeks of these, I could see you joining B races and scaring a lot of people. Thanks again for your inspirational videos!
All noted and will get implemented! My warm ups are shocking😂
@@MarkLewisfitness i'm just glad you'd got your shorts on!!
I would like to train with you on Zwift. Specially the VO2 thing you said, I don’t know what that is. Thanks for the info I’ll be training with that
@@alannkevin Hi Kevin. I'm happy to help you out. These are very simple (yet massively effective) ideas that are used by all racers that are at the pointy end of races. If you can fit in 2 of these VO2Max training sessions per week, I will guarantee you that you will be a BEAST before long. Your current riding mates won't know what hit them. Here's some background: The cycling world likes to partition different power 'zones' to help with training. Basically they go from easy to all out rage. There's active endurance (basically a doddle), endurance, tempo, threshold (or FTP), VO2Max, Anaerobic and Neuromuscular (all out sprint). Once you have your FTP measured (usually 95% of your best 20 min effort), then today's software like Strava and other exercise programs calculate your zones. Your zones are specific to you. FTP is what you can theoretically hold for one hour. It's your aerobic limit. Just over the border is VO2Max land. It's basically the power you can make at your maximal oxygen uptake. You can really only do this for 3-8 mins. Then you slip back to FTP land. VO2Max very often determines who wins races. Being able to repeatedly go to VO2Max is what separates the front riders from the rest. Anaerobic and neuromuscular are special zones that do not rely strictly upon Oxygen as the primary energy source and is a whole other discussion. Important but arguably not as important as VO2Max. Set up your Zwift exercise to do a warmup for ten minutes before you start the 7x3 min VO2Max efforts. The warm up needs to give your body time to prepare for the demands of VO2Max efforts. It's important that you get quality time 'in-zone' so don't skip the warm up. The warm up needs to end up being HARD. You can't just pedal and say you're warm. So try the warm up I describe above. That one takes about 20 mins but you can make the ramp up shorter but keep the intervals the same. Then just (I say 'just', you will be cursing me in agony) do seven 3 minute intervals at VO2Max. You need to rest in between each interval for 3 minutes at 50% of FTP. Make the most of the rest sessions! What is VO2Max power? About 110 - 120% of your FTP. Start interval one a little easier. Say, 107% and then slowly make each one a bit harder. Don't try and kill it in the first minute. Minute 3 will be painful. Pace yourself and make it nice and smooth. When you are done with interval #7 (and haven't thrown up yet) then you can do a warm down for 10 mins and finish. Do this 2 times a week for maximum effect. By the way, what I am finding by racing in the Zwift League is that 5 min efforts appear to win races. So you can also do 4 x 5 min VO2Max intervals but start with the 3 minute ones - they are challenging enough! Good Luck!
Ok I got everything written down on a piece of paper.
My current FTP is 234w.
With that in mind what you are telling me is that I have to do 7-4 sets or intervals of 3 minutes each starting at 107 and finishing 120% of my FTP, which is 257.4w twice a week!!!! Ok… I’ll try.
I am going to start today or tomorrow, I’ll update you at the end of this month. Thanks for that !
Was hoping you'd try this, looking forward to the next one. Like you say with a bigger group I reckon it'll be easier to hang in (and working gears).
10:23 HAHAHAH that bit is brilliant 😂😂😂
Soccer??? C'mon Mark 🤣🤣👍🏻💪🏻
Love the videos mate. Give me huge inspiration trying to get back from. Nightmare injuries. Keep it going ☘👍🏻
Can’t say football-it would confuse the Americans 😂
Mark, you are great and above average. Enjoy your videos. Thanks for the chuckle. Will I try an "A" group. Oh hell no. I know my limitations and fear death come if I tried.
Congrats on the 10k.
Congratulations 10k subs
Hats off to you for even trying! Think the Lagurdia Super Sprint race might suit you as well, it’s even shorter (4.4K) and key is to remain in the draft. As a lower category rider you don’t need to push the front. Race smart and play your sprint card in the final 250m.
Also a good way to get some good ranking points ;) I always enjoy racing the A’s as a B cat rider, with a decent sprint you’ll definitely have a good result.
you're a top ten finisher. congrats.
AMC stock holder, doesn't like football, I like this guy more with each video!
This is so epic. We're at the beach now, in our converted van. I was yelling out to the wife that you put my comment up on the screen. She just rolled her eyes and went back to reading her book lol. Pfffft. You raced against a good mate of mine there, Dean Russell. He's a cycling coach and a Masters National track champion, so no shame in losing to Dean - although I did beat him in a 50k Zwift race a week or so back lol. I knew you'd have the watts to hang in there and hold wheels. Just got to do everything you can to stay in that front group. City Crits would suit you too. Downtown Dolphin over the Bell Lap. Pity your bike gearing stuffed up there!!! Picked a good race too. I often race those 2 Crit Crusher races back to back. They're heaps of fun and great zwiftpower point sniping if you're looking to rank up. Keen to see how you go in your next A grade race!! I'll try and jump into your next race on June 8th. Look for "TEX". I'll be a friendly wheel, until the sprint. :)
You get credit for creating the whole video idea👍😂
Top effort mate
Great challenge and video Mark. Your next one is at 6am Wednesday here down under. Right on the time I have to leave for work. Otherwise I'd be in.
Call in sick😁
This would be interesting to see how you fair in pan flat race against the As. Where raw power matters a lot more than w/kg
FOOTBALL MARK !!!
Don’t want to confuse the 25% views from America 😂
Props to the Dirty Wattz rider!
Ok Mark! I’m registered for the A ride. Fingers crossed you don’t make me look too silly with those massive watts.
See you there!
Good effort considering you were stuck in a gear!
Is the replacement wahoo bike broken already then, or was a restart enough?
It’s done it a couple of times now and A restart always solves it-obviously, not ideal mid race though !!
Idea: Try to complete 1 full lap [from where you join] with the "A" Pacer Bot. HINT: proper warm-up this time. "C" Cat tries to lap it out with Anquetil!!!! It's a tad easier than racing with the "A"s in many ways but it would test your ability over slightly longer effort without too many spikes ["A" Pacer rides at 4.2 w/kg]. Pray for more than just yourself with the Pacer for obvious reasons.
Didn't even though these pacer bots existed! Just reading up on them now, sounds like a cool challenge! Daft question, how long is a "lap"? Or does it matter, at 4.2 it's more a case of how long I hang on, not whether I get a full lap! Thats over 420w for me, I have about 4 mins at that 😂
@@MarkLewisfitness Laps/routes change [weekly?] ...you can see the "routes" when you choose pace partners....they very in length and hilliness.....I find the rollers the HARDEST to hang as it is harder to maintain a steady wattage...you will have NO idea if its just you and the Pacer or if there is 4 -8 others.....The "C" pacer is the most popular....the "B" is typically the same as the "D" Pace in terms of popularity....while the "A" is often a freakin ghost town with little or no draft benefit - [which reduces, of course, your need to ave 4.2]. You could start with the "B" - just to test it out...."C" would be too easy for you....just be warmed up!!! - #NO 2-1-2!
I think I averaged 3.8 for 25 min.w the "A" pacer [I'm a B]...as I was able to draft the Pacer and the odd rider that jumped in.....
how do you get the map like that in the top right corner ?
Can you share your training plan you use?
You should do this again but in a mixed category race. I do these as a c and see how many b and a cat riders I can beat! Zwift power is a great way to find these races and ensure it is flat, because the small climbs are where you are exposed
Your soccer comment cracked me up. Howdy from Texas!
I didn't say football just so as not to confuse you guys😁 Hope you appreciate it👍😂
From 10k to 189k in nearly two years 🙌🏻
Watching this video I recognize half a dozen names when you are looking through the standings.
avg heartbeat is also interesting stat 😊
Awww he's English and he said soccer😅
Naughty
Pro tip: super tuck, super tuck, super tuck! On 6-train there's a good 30+ seconds of super tuck available, which makes a huge difference in a 9-minute race. Same for the 5-minute LaGuardia Super Sprint course.
Where???? I only supertuck coming down the Alpe😂
@@MarkLewisfitness There's Alpes everywhere if you look hard enough :-)
The main one is at the start, accelerate to 56kph (requires about a 600w start) as you go through the start banner and stop pedaling immediately, that will give you up to 17 seconds of freewheeling (don't worry what the other riders do - trust the process). On 6-train all the other spots are race dependent but most likely you can also do it on the opposite corner of the loop.
@@stevemayes ok - looked over the video of the last race.....so I stop RIGHT AT the banner? It's only -4% there....that's enough slope? And at 600w if I'm there first will that matter....is supertuck linked to drafting at all?
@@MarkLewisfitness You just need -3% for super tuck. So 56kph+, -3%+ slope and 0W. In races super tuck removes virtually all air resistance. If you're drafting while supertucked you'll get a nice sling shot, but even on its own it's as fast as pedalling 4w/kg.
Here's an example, though this race was a bit messed up by a zpower idiot making everyone go too fast at the start:
th-cam.com/video/wJdfblU_tOg/w-d-xo.html
@@stevemayes I like it! That’s the plan!!!
Just watching this as a 4 year break from cycling (im injured from running now argh!). Last time I raced I was A cat at 5.3 w/kg im probably 2-2.5 now! Should see tommorow when i get the wattbike and get my arse handed to me.
LOL, i = if your sick please come out to the ride. Your awesome. Go get em
Interesting video - shame there wasn't a bigger bunch but A cat groups do tend to be smaller - with your pure watts you probably could finish in some kind of group and beat some in a sprint.
I’ll subscribe if you get a fan, hydrate properly and take the hat off!!!!!!!
Seriously nice job mate, keep em rolling 👍
At least you play fair and square, chapeau on that 💪💪💪 Zwift it's a world apart, plenty of guys there doing world tour numbers looool we just have to accept it, it's just a game.
Good show. There are some bad arse Mofo’s riding in c, b and a. Way to hang with the big dogs. Takes courage to stare down the possibility of last place. But, I believe it makes you faster to ride with faster competition.
2:58, where did you found this site with score table?
Oh no! the dreaded gear shifter failure on the kicker bike. Was it a one-off reboot issue or is it hardware ? Good job you have a spare set of shifters.
Happened three times now I’m going to switch the shifters at the weekend
@@MarkLewisfitness Sorry to hear that are they your original shifters or the ones received with new bike ?
When you getting back on the bike Mark?
The main issue I see here is that on the little bumps you lack a bit of peak power to follow the group. If you manage 700-900w on the bumps you could have stayed with them I reckon.
Calling shenanigans on the guy doing 5.7 w/kg at 169w.
I have issues with the Zwift categories being determined on watts per kilo. I understand that weight matters on the climbs but on a flat race weight doesn’t matter that much. My numbers in races are around 3.3-3.4 watts per kilo. Weighing 70kg that’s somewhere around 230-240 watts. On flat races, riding against guys averaging over 300 watts I’ll get dropped in no time in B-category while being disqualified when I ride in C-cat because my 3.3 watts/kilo exceeds the 3.2-limit.
Therefor my only chance in competing a little bit is to race hilly races.
I guess that’s your option. Race hills. In the reverse. Getting 100kg up a hill is ridiculous 😂. I’m not sure what better way there would be for Zwift to judge it other than w/kg? (But I’m all for a better option if it’s out there!)
Subbed
See you next Tuesday!
Did you sort out your single speed Wahoo bike?
Looking at it today!
AMC TO THE MOOON!!!
🦍 🌙
AMC LOL!
I zwift on a 40 year old steel frame and I only use one gear in Cat A
Wkg are not all that matters. Actually, depending on to whom you ask you'd get different replies. Just look at the fact that you hold on to cat a riders. Which means that in cat B you'll be more than OK and on flat courses maybe winning.
Does Zwift work entirely on trusting your weight measurements then?
Similar, but not the same, give one of the Chase Races a chance. I just posted a video on my TH-cam winning one as a strong C Cat racer. D Cat goes, 3 mins later C Cat, 3 mins later B Cat, etc.
You catch the group in front and stay away from the group behind. Motivation to work on the front, but not too hard so you can still win if your group gets to the sprint first.
SUPER FUN. Olympic Virtual Series
My next race will be this. Looks 😎
Oh dear, is this start of another Kickr bike failing?
Great effort though, well done.
Hoping not-haven’t investigated the problem fully yet 🤞
If you can hang for the first minute with the A's and understand the draft effect then B can even win. I won a few that way on relatively flat races. Gotta know how to sprint and get lucky.
You are f... strong 💪 waaaww 😳
Im the sub 30k +🤩
So what was wrong with the bike?
Way above average.
I was so close to pulling the trigger on a Kickr bike until someone recommended me your video. I thought I would hold off - now I am definitely glad I did. For 3k I think it needs to be a bit more reliable. Hopefully they have a V2 in the works. Great effort in the race though. I always do that - muck about with my phone and then have a sprint to catch the group. The times I try to "keep the watts on" while mucking about with my phone I end up dragging the group along at some stupid pace. There is a lesson here...
I get dropped on the E races.
Only 7 riders ? That sucks
I would suspect that at least a few riders lie about their weight to gain an advantage? Or does that not really have an affect on speed in Zwift and is more or less just to calculate Watts/kg?
Lots lie and it makes ALL the difference!
@@MarkLewisfitness Just found your video on that actually!
@@MarkLewisfitness aren't they called out?
@@Bubbles99718 how to tell though?
@@MarkLewisfitness look at the results in the race, if you look at the watts and watts per kilo on one of the riders, he is about 35 kilos. Which is probably why he is not listed in zwiftpower results. If somebody lies by a couple of kilos it would not be so obvious. Some even exaggerate their weight to not move up a category.
Why does your bike look like it’s about to fall off?
Too many Cat As are doping in one way or another. I didn't bother entering an A-race today because there was a 60+ year old with an FTP of 444 watts on the Zwift Power details.
I know a 65 year old who races the world championship for age-groupers. Always rides in the first group in gran fondos and recorded his best FTP in his 60s after riding probably for 20 years. Rides 2-3 hours every day. So dont underestimate the older riders 🙂
A cat power, F cat preparation :-D
That’s going on a T-shirt when I start selling merchandise 😂
No one wants to be stuck in the mid 80s!
AMC = Rolex. No? Sometimes you surprise me man.
Join the ZRL homie- this is nothing!
Commenting a year later... @ 3.4 W/Kg, you'd get locked out of Cat. C these days; that's definitely Cat. B territory. Too bad you only had 7 riders to work with and a bike malfunction to boot! :-/ Assuming you got that taken care of, I'm guessing you did better in your next race. Thanks for the video; as a mediocre Cat. C there's no way I can produce the watts to keep up with those guys!
whats soccer ?
Mark you need to do this again next week please…………I cocked up, was at the front of the Group B ride tonight with 500m to go and accidentally joined a bloody group ride I’d signed up to instead of hitting “stay here”……….I need a rematch and reckon you should do cat B next week!
I’m done with Cat A 😂😂 they bought out the big guns tonight and crushed it. 950w off the start and still could only get myself into fifth place by the start banner! 🤪. I will do a B race but probably not for a couple of weeks as I have some crazy intense weekends coming up. I will definitely flag it up when I do though. 👍🏼
@@MarkLewisfitness the big guns in cat a obviously saw your video and took up the challenge……….you probably weight 25-35kg than most of the cat A riders so it was always going to be difficult, all about W/kg in Zwift
@@msjeal the guy that won had exactly the same average overall wattage as me...... but was 41 kg lighter 😂😂. I worked out I would need to have averaged 603 W to stay with him 😂🥵. Was a laugh though.
Oh happy day I hate soccer to
You did not intimidate anyone out of the race
*football
You lookliked 80kg body weight😉
To be fair your previous watts already made you a B.
Its kind of unfair. If you just did not work out your upper body would still be able to crush the power and being lighter would kill those guys.
But my wife with leave me 😂
@@MarkLewisfitness ya you married up for sure. losing the guns would make that even more obvious :)
Hi,
I've been using zwift now for a year but only full on since January
I'm a cat D rider and doing well decent average speeds (well imo)
But im a 130kg and 42year old so I was thinking of doing an experiment some might say cheating 🤔 but by temporary dropping my weight on zwift by 50kg making me 80 kg on zwift then entering a cat A race for the crack see how long I can keep up🤷♂️
Love badly played video games
Its football not soccer
just because u r too much heavier as other guys.
it's football not soccer
But then the yanks get confused.....I'm a multinational TH-camr 🤣🤣
3.7w/kg don’t think you can claim C anymore! You’re definitely a B and would be close to the top of most flattish B races with that power
Don’t forget that duration matters, the w/kg relate to what you can hold at FTP, and this was a, what, 8minute race? Not the same thing
3.2 is B, if you can do 3.7 over 8 minutes generally your ftp would be over 3.2. Very similar numbers to what I can do and I’m mid to top half of most B races
My FTP was, at my best, 320 (so just under 3.2) - Right now it's prob around 300 - I am very much a one trick pony at going quick over a few minutes.
@@MarkLewisfitness I reckon try a B race and you might be surprised 371 watts over 8 minutes is huge and you’ll stick with any group on a flat track. Just have to avoid the hill races though haha (don’t worry I’m in the same boat)
With these numbers you’re probably one of those guys that finish a minute before everyone else in C, with cat enforcement you would be a B I think. Anyway, you do you and ride on ! 😀
Great videos BUT please as an English man never ever ever say soccer again 🙏🏻
Only 30% max of views come from the uk I’m afraid, got to keep everyone happy 😃 😁
Here in CA finally, bike racing is back. I don't need to qualify that by saying "real life bike racing is back" because there is only one kind of bike racing. Zwift is a comparison of power (w/kg) over time. And there are some questionable kg entries for some of the competition. There is no real race strategy, or bike handling or tactical execution in Zwift. Zwift is so dead to me..until the next worldwide reaction to anyone with the sniffles.
Salty. Almost sounds like you got your arse handed to you in a few Zwift races 🤣
@@XX-is7ps ;) exactly.
Zwift racing isn’t anything like real racing but it can still give you a hell of a workout, even more so if people are cheating/weight doping. Some of my highest heart rates of all time have been trying to hang with breaks or splits on climbs etc in Zwift races so I get what I need from it, I’m chasing training effect not hunting for glory
If the field was as strong in RL as in zwift, I'm pretty sure the strategy would be the same, "aka hang on for dear life at the start, and dont even dream of going in a break". Real races tend to be longer though,, and with riders of more different strength. The obvious strategies of climbers attacking on hills and sprinters looking to keep things together for the sprint, are just the same in zwift as in RL. No need for bike handling is the biggest difference, cannot say I feel the need to risk my life on quick descents every week though, with zwift you can do multiple races each week without that risk.
If you have the time this one might be interesting as well, slightly shorter but typically more riders: zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=2118806
Bonus points, all cats start at the same time, so it does string out quite a bit and you always have a group to drop back to.
I did consider that-but I actually wanted a price where the categories were separate so I knew I was riding against only A's