Zwift Academy 2022 Second Place Sprint...No Wait..First Place !

      First, I entered with overall poor fitness. ( I finally took off some weight, but I lost a lot of power, a whole lot of power. My ftp went from 260 to 230, seriously.) I was only practicing my sprint. I had a good sprint while training...23.23. In my baseline attempt, I did a 23.191 with 9 w/kg in the sprint section. I started super early and coasted the last 100 meters. Consider this; someone beat me with a 23.060 with over 12 w/kg. That means they started the section at a much slower speed. (42 kph vs. 50 kph) So, I'm still sitting in second place after two weeks. Kudos to Lisa Houweling for being in first place... I Rod is in third at 23.278.

News Flash.....

Currently in third place... Tilly Field at 23.243

In Second Place ..............Lisa Houweling at 23.060

In First Place....................Zee Kryder at 22.552

It was on my third attempt in a 3R Race on my tt bike. I had a 23.4 then 23.2 and I almost quit. But instead I just tried to do my 10 second sprint and see if I could hit a good speed before the start line. Then I hit the big gear and tried to mash it and of course, I was flailing with 100 to go but somehow hung on. I was shocked because I thought I lost too much time at the end. This was the culmination of three weeks of training and attempting that sprint forward too many times to count. It helped having three chances in a row to hit my mark. It is good to know that I recovered well from the first two attempts. Now I can sit back and hope that nobody outdoes me in the last two days of the academy. What a rush. I was thinking about this sprint all day. I drank four cups of coffee. I was so disappointed to only hit 23.4 on my first attempt. I'm so glad I didn't give up then.

Now, maybe I will try to crack the top ten on Titan;s Grove before the ZA closes. There are some serious fast times this year.

A New Day

     Still training to get some strength back. Making enough improvement to practice the old London 8 course. So I finally made a full on attempt to regain my qom.  Managed to get up Fox Hill in great time. I was 20 seconds down on whoever beat my old record by one second. I was trailing the whole way until two minutes until the finish. I finished hard as I could muster, and I had it by10 seconds. Ummm, it felt pretty good. I was knackered, as the Brits say. 

Has Zee retired?

      It looks like I have retired from racing. What happened to Zee? Well, I don't see a lot of the old racers anymore. It was definitely more fun going head to head with people I knew and faced in several series. I have just gotten to an age where I can't train like I use to. My power has faded in the last six months. I fear doing a ftp test. I won't be up in the top for the next Academy. While that's not all that bad, to go from nearly making the top ten selection to also ran is very tough mentally. 

     What then is my legacy? I've had good number of QOM's but most have faded. It isn't a realistic view when it comes to Strava records, way too many fake times. The qom's I have left were z-power before I got my power meter in 2017. I held some for five years. A pro race on Richmond's Cobbled Climbs beat my long-standing record by nine seconds. (Still the fastest time trial on record if there was a category for that. ) My 22 second climb on Richmond eclipsed,still top three though. My London record beaten by one second after many years. Another record was 'beaten' by a trainer that read 400 watts the entire time. 

     I'm proud of my accomplishments. I have my 5th place in the European Championship Series. I have my National title. I was elated to win the Zwift Time Trial Championship with a time that was a minute faster than I ever expected; a perfect race with great legs.

     I still enjoy Zwifting. A good number on Zwift still recognize me and say hello when I go by. I haven't written a Zwift Insider article for a long time now. My Zwift group, ZwiftOff has gotten lost with so many other groups. I applaud them rather than compete against them. I finally shed a few pounds myself but I did loose strength as well, sadly. 

     Thanks to my readers. I hope you enjoyed some insights to a racer. The days before the pros showed up were like the cowboys of the old wild west. I look forward to new expansions and ride for fun series. At least I knew my days would at some point be 'the good old days.' I held onto them as long as I could. Here's to great memories. And don't worry, I'll always be around Zwift.

Mixed Win #5 Tour de Zwift 2022

 This race was the bomb. Why? Well over 500 riders strong entered this event. To win at this level is truly an honor. I have done really well in this event over the years, especially winning the 2020 Tour (when it was a true race with a GC total). I just recently learned this course. You've got to sprint before you see the finish line. I pushed hard in the last two minutes but 30 seconds from the line, I was seeing the back of the pack of 20 riders. I hit my sprint and my aero power up early because I needed to build speed, mainly to catch the front of the group. It was hard to see since there was some lapped traffic. I saw a 2 next to my name and it looked like I passed him but I had to wait about five minutes for the ZP official results. I WON!

As it turns out the other rider was a lapped rider that accidently tripped the finish line. Zwift does that occasionally. So I actually beat the next rider by .279 seconds. I will take any win at this point. I got tired in Stage 1from staying over 4 w/kg for 12 minutes or so. Stage 2 I did good for about 16 minutes. So a race 16 minutes long was just perfect for my condition, no endurance. I had hoped to podium when I got into the final lap. Sometimes the pack will slow before the final sprint which helps a sprinter win. On this occasion, the pack built speed and I just had to hang in there and pull the rip cord early. I was amazed as I went from 16 to the front with a good bit of real estate in front of me. Fortunately, my long sprint is my specialty and I hung on to win. I am over the moon. Mission accomplished.

Finished the Tour with 76 total for eight events, averaging top ten! I'm very happy with my finishes, even without an official GC, I know I was up there with the top riders.

Herd Time Trial Series

 A series of eight short time trials on seven different worlds. How could I resist? However, Herd wanted a simple (dumb idea) points race. That will not work over six different time zones. So I am keeping the results myself.

I rode the first race a little bit slow, probably 30 seconds too slow for me. Week 2 and 3 were good efforts although I am still fighting for my spot. I went from 15th place to ninth and now sit in 5th by one second. "I'll get you BetteMidler!" It's a four way battle for fourth and tenth places. A few top twenty gals did not race all three events. You gotta do them all to count in this series. See you soon.

Week 3 Totals:                     Week 5                             Week 8

1 Lois Brewer         64:56         Irish         111:49           Irish  185:09

2 Tennile Irish         65:05        Brewer      112:07          Macrae 194:43

3 Angela Macrae     67:15        Kryder      118:13          KC        197:57

4 Katie C                 68:58        Macrae      119:02          Meskova  198:29

5 Zee Kryder           68:59        Katie         119:17          Akerblum  201:57

6 E. Akerblum         69:06        Meskova   120:42          Chalfont    202:04

7 F Vidler                 69:12        Leung       123:04          Leung      203:19

8 Zuzka Muskova     70:53        Quapp      123:26          Carden     204:56

9 Kate Lascelles       71:15        Akerblum  123:52          Scharf     206:43

10 Clare Spencer      72:11        Chalfont    124:09

11 Georgia Chalfont 72:20        Carden      124:58

12 Vicky Leung         72:23       Scharf       125:36

13 Susan Scharf        72:41

Week 4 saw three dropouts and one poor performance (moving from 6th to 10th). I put in the third best time and moved from fifth to fourth, More importantly, I am only 16 seconds off the third spot instead of nearly two minutes. There's a great battle for first place with Irish at 88:09 and Brewer at 89:26. Irish has a 314 ftp.

Week 5 had me pushing hard on those hills of Yorkshire for the third best time among quite a few in the 25-26 minute range. Irish beat Brewer by one second and it seemed the two dueled and sprinted for the line ahead of me (lol by over a minute) I moved into third place but victory is out of reach. I will still compete for the podium spot. But the big dream of winning is definitely over. 

Week 6 Myself and two others, Brewer and Quapp, bailed out on the series. I needed to take a day off and while I hate to quit. It just wasn't there and I didn't want to ride a survival race. There were other factors too. Oh well, just a race.

Week 8 Congratulations to the survivors. It was quite long. I did the eigth race and only lost a few seconds to my rivals but I was noticeably slower than average. Just a bit tired and undertrained. Time to tackle the Tour du Bore and fight for my second local legend, the very hard Libby Hill. 

Zwift World Championships

 The E-Sports finals will be in February 2022, a 50 km course. While it's a dream for all of us on Zwift, I just have to accept that I can not race a full 50 km. I am best at the 16 km mark or even shorter. Yes, I probably could qualify in a short 2 laps of London course or three laps of Watopia, But, overall, I can not make the full course. So I have decided to focus on the Tour of Britannia time trial race. I will probably be drawn to the world's qualifier anyways. I will do some of the Tri Academy workouts when I finish my planned week off after peaking for the Academy finals. I am more in time trial mode than that off and on race mode. But I am sad that I am a sprinter pure and simple and not a long endurance racer. 

I have some great Zwift memories. But, I still want more after proving that I can train and peak close to my previous best. I hit over 700 points this year. I tied my best ten seconds. I just need more short races to prove my finishing moves are world class. (It's the 48 km between the first and the last km that I am terrible at, lol.) Not many of us are still sprinting strong at 48 but I just can not retire just yet. I have the heart of a 35 year old. I still can beat the guys in some races. I still am a national champion. I still hold the Zwift time trial title. I still have that fire burning. Give me a race that suits me and I will be there. Look out gals (and guys), I am not finished yet.

Edit note: Back in the saddle and I did two workouts with sprints to take the Legend status on France Pave Sprint. Now, how high do I want to go? Maybe I will try the overall leader. I won't go slow. Was encouraged by a private email from Zwift that said I took the sprint title in this year's Academy. I had to say that was surprising and amazing. It gave me a huge boost emotionally. (Edit: I had the highest wattage on Titan's reverse but came in 7th overall.)

Tour Of BRitannia REsults

1. (at a record 4.9 w/kg and 300 ftp) Ria Mobbs 16:45

Zee Kryder                                                            17:47

Anne Nevin                                                           17:55

Good effort with just an impossible time to beat. Best of the rest, so they say.

Zwift Academy 2021

 Started with a Bang, did the sprint in 10.947 on my second attempt. (11.50 first attempt.) Take notice. I am a sprinter. My Titan's Grove Climb was 1:52, a personal best but not an all out attack. I will try that at some point. Second time hit it at 1:41 a good improvement. There's so much to do at this point. 7 workouts, a time trial up the Alp, 2 social waste of time rides, and are there races? I just want to show off my strengths. The pro workout is a 5 minute max effort. I want to show off my one minute results. I won that category two years ago and last year as well. I just haven't been training for it lately. I have been focused on short races and sprint finishes. In other words, my Alp time will be more like 58 minutes than 49. Edit: Nope 51:29 with an all out beast of a climb for me.) My 20 minute effort was 265 for a race but lately 250 has been the ceiling. But I did do 248 for the entire Alp, a great effort at real FTP. My 20 minute finishing climb up the Epic is coming. Did 22:13, not too bad. I've broken 20 in top shape. Looking for a 21 in a few weeks.

I appreciate the opportunity to show off. I stopped going to the gym since Covid started and I think that has trimmed my power down a bit. Maybe I could regain that if I had some weights. Thanks to Dig Deep coaching for giving me some encouragement despite my low endurance numbers. I would like to show off my long sprint skills by trying the other baseline sprint. But I don't want to confuse the judges either. On we go to workout #1 and another Titans attempt. Thanks for reading, love you all.

I just hit the half way point. Although I've done 3 recovery rides and only got credit for the second one. LOL. Did #3 workout in good form. I will do 4 and 5, then finishing climb before 6. Then it is back to five minute max pro workout and rehit Titan's grove climb. I doubt I can put in another 10 second sprint without a power up as they have been nerfed now. I'm just totally enjoying the Academy but I do miss having races for side by side competition. Looks like no Worlds are scheduled next week. I guess I will retain my 2019 title forever? That was my best ever 40 minute effort. Time Trials require near perfect pacing, especially with two climbs that were in it. Maybe my greatest win despite a lack of depth in the field. I just knew I had to hit it out of the park, so to speak (baseball metiphor). 

I am coming into great form. Look out. Hit 985 watts peak.

Time to conclude or at least graduate. I'm looking forward to the last Titan's climb as I am feeling ready for it now. Today I did a 332 watt five minute effort at 5 w/kg! and added a peak ten second sprint at 882. I still hope to hit that 1000 watt effort even if it is just for one last time. Tuesday will be the reverse kom where I will focus on my 20 minute power, probably hit hard after the first minute of climbing. My legs felt really good after today's workout, the way it should always be, lol.

Today was a finish ride hitting a great ftp effort and climbing the hill in 19:45. Could barely sprint at the end from holding a high level, averaging around 165 166 the first 18 minutes. My fastest was 19:43 so this was me in great form today. I held my wattage up a little past the finish but not that much more to squeeze out. I had expected to do a 21 minute effort, but under 20 is pro level baby. Yeah that felt good. I will redo this ride next week and hit Titan's climb as hard as I can. Sunday will be my first chance to do a graduating recovery ride to finish the Academy. I think I can hit near 1:30 for the climb. Rode the Aethos bike today on the Epic climb. Also hit 988 watts. Will still try to hit that magic number 1000. I think I've done it twice before 1004 or 1012 I think. Thanks for reading and all the ride ons I got in a solo ride today. This was what the Academy is all about, reaching to hit your peak at just the right time. This ride will be remembered. 

Did it! I hit 1019 watts and did a 1:31 on Titan's Grove! Follow that with a good sprint on my final recovery ride and then it is all over. Graduation paint job (sorry ugly work there) in hand. My PI number broke the 700 barrier today as well, which is great for an amateur. My numbers are great all across the board, nearly matching my previous bests. Not bad for a gal closing out her forties. I wish I was turning 28 but there was no Zwift then. I'm glad to have been on the ground floor, engaging in some of the early women's races and being part of its development. My work for Zwift has not been unnoticed. I fondly remember CC, Rachael, Casey, Beth, and some who rose for just short periods of time. Time to officially hand the baton over to the new Zwift generation. I hope there are a few like me that maybe can't win the long races against the top competitors but can be satisfied with their adventures and dominate in some fashion, such as my long sprint. (still standing at over 10 w/kg for 30 seconds.) Thanks Zwift for some fantastic memories.

Late addititon just did a finishing ride up the volcano at a great 7:41 time at 301 watts. Really hit hard from the middle where the flat section starts and just kept it rolling over at the higher pace. It was super tough for the last minute but I managed to survive and even press on during the last thirty seconds or so. Totally spent but worth it. Now what's left? Only thing I am missing is a full out minute. Dare I?

Well, the minute went very so so, just not sharp enough at the start. I did a good time trial on Bologna at 17:30.9. My ten and fifteen numbers were really good. To gather a few more Z points (for racing) I'm going to ride Titan's Forward hill. Then I should break into the top 1000. Lol, I was top 100 before so many riders joined in (and good ones at that). I plan on joining the Zipp sprint ride. All I have left is to do the Tri Academy baseline before my fall break. It has been a long summer. 

EDIT: I got an invitation to World's! Guess who had the fastest sprint and Titan's Climb? This Gal! I was shocked to be told that I hit the top spot for both segments. Even the sprint was tough, just ten seconds of hitting it hard. Had a rough week when this news came in. I'm very happy with my Academy now.