I am aiming for A+ category on Zwift. If you want to see me suffer on the way, subscribe! :)
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.
You should also test the results by covering the garmin display for stamina and once you come to the end of your own stamina… then check the garmin display.. just out of interest to see if you are slightly influenced by the display (mind over matter) 😊… I’m curious.. I might try it myself too.
I was wondering that too, but I am pretty sure I really went deep in this race. You can really see that I cannot breath properly, I almost can't talk. But it's an interesting experiment, I might do that!
The problem with W'bal is it is really difficult to properly estimate what your W'bal (or FRC) is. Garmin apparently uses slightly different algorithm for this (relationship of Power:HR amongst other things) but the concept is similar. However, that's only one part of it. The other is the estimation how long you can go at the current power and also what your total capacity is.
@@RoadtoA thanks! I’ll have to look into Garmin’s metrics more; tangentially, Stephen Seiler was on the FastTalk podcast about using heart rate reserve in combination with breath rate reserve as metric for fatigue.
@@thomasjones6776 I will try to find a white paper on how exactly the stamina works because it is super interesting to me. If I can find it I'll make a video about it.
Interesting. Did your stamina go up slightly between the 2 climbs? it would be interesting to see what it says during a workout session, like an anaerobic interval session. Did you say it had a timer next to the percentage of how long you can hold what you're doing or if you see single figures you're nearly done?
@@scottmccann4509 yes, you can see it well on the screenshot at the end - at the top it shows <5 minutes at the current effort. It basically estimates how long you can go at the current effort, whatever it is (I assume it use some sort of averaging - not sure now how long). Between the two climbs in the first half it went up slightly, between the first climb and the final climb it recovered completely (well, not completely but up the point of my potential stamina which at the time was like 69%). When you look at the part when I got dropped by the front group I show there the stamina chart for the full ride. I'm trying to figure out if there's a way I could show it in real time during races because that would be interesting.
@@RoadtoA On my local group ride today, we chatted about it and 2 people were testing it on 840s. It was quite accurate on long climbs but not so much on short punchy max effort ones.
@@scottmccann4509 Thanks for sharing! I think this cannot really work for SUPER punchy efforts like crit style sprinting, because that's more about your max power rather than anaerobic capacity AND there's a HR lag to your power output. But I don't think that's its function anyway, in such efforts you ride the red line anyway and do not need numbers to help you with that. With hard yet sustained efforts characteristic for Zwift racing though, this will be perfect I'm convinced. I toy with the idea to try Tiny races for the first time so if I do, it will be an excellent opportunity to test this.
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I also ride around these roads.😊I would recommend switching to 28 or 30mm wide tires, you will like it a lot better. Not sure why Decathlon tends to put 25mm tires on their bikes.
It's called "bonking", and yep, it's happened to me, had to stop in a "fun race" as they call them; somebody stopped and gave me some food which helped me to finish. I always ride with two full bidons no matter what ride I'm doing. I even do the same indoors :p
This was not really bonking, I am very familiar with bonking from racing marathons/racing on Zwift. Or to be more precise, bonking is a state that preceeded this. I bonked many times in my life, but this was the first time I barely saw the contours of a building in front of me.
@@jesikat Haha yea. The slushie worked though, after pretty bad half an hour the sugars started to work and my vision came back. Was scary though, and completely avoidable.
Nice ride. We have same problem with cards, usualy you can pay with card anywhere, but further you go from big city more chance that something will go wrong(card reader broken/ no internet connection or other random stuff), so i always have cash in my phone case for that.
Hi Adam! It was great racing here with you. the plus 550 racing score, makes quite a tough race, but - at least for me - with the one shorter hill in Paris doable to power through. No chance this week now with the much longer climbs in ZRacing. Hope to race with you soon again 🎉
@@GeorgAndTheBike 🤜🤛 I'm racing this week's zracing in 550+ again either tommorow 7pm european or on Friday. But I agree, that's going to be horrible and what's more, I am now in a "nowhere" weight area - heavy enough to struggle on climbs but light enough to not compete with the sprinters. 😅
@@RoadtoA ah, cool. I will have a look and might join you. Well that would be until the first climb, then I will be dropped for sure... 🤣. I did this race now in Category C twice and even in C I am having troubles on the climbs, so for sure no chance at all in the 550plus category 😉😎 I am also with the weight in the same middle ground, where you have a couple of kilos too much for the real climbs and a bit too less for the power sprinters. There are a few courses - like Rolling Highlands - where I guess the "middle weight class" isn't too bad, but mostly you either too much climbing or too little 🤷 See you in/on Zwift
⬇How to support this channel besides subscribing! ⬇ If you like my content and would like to support the development of this channel, consider joining one of five (100% optional, videos will be always FREE!) membership tiers. Get more details and join here: ru-vid.com/show-UCgqQzVp5YsE0rFysyl4yT6Qjoin Tiers and Perks: Tier 1 - Domestique: - Unique "Road to A" badge for comments and live chat (the longer you are a member, the better it will look)! - Guaranteed response to comments/live comments (limited when I'm out of breath :)) - Access to membership-only community tab Tier 2 - Super Domestique: - All Domestique perks - At least 3 hours early video access Tier 3 - Lead-Out Rider: - All Super Domestique perks - I will follow on Zwift so you can teleport to me and we can ride together (except during races)! Tier 4 - Directeur Sportif: - All Lead-Out Rider perks - Your RU-vid name in video credits Tier 5 - Cycling Legend: - All Directeur Sportif perks - Personal thanks in each video/live stream Thank you for considering the support!
Really nice finish as you played it perfectly!! Also way to push on that climb to stay relevant. Just curious on the long decent would a super tuck have stuck with the group? Just saw a lot of soft pedaling and was wondering if you got into a super tuck and rested if you could have stayed with the group. Well done!!
Of course it's an exaggeration, but generally speaking, the BCD are really hard press in the lower 500 (with Bs and some Cs overlapping into 500s/600s). Which is fine, but I would prefer if the top of B cat was somewhere around 750/800).
Difficult to understand how or what the rating is based upon , it would be interesting to get an idea of how many riders in zwift are above 800 , i personally believe they developed a process of ranking where the fields can be made competitive with a a strong attendance during certain time slots , im in sth hemisphere, Australia , my time slots poor attendance attendance , if I sign up for zwift euro peak event , way to early 😢, and I am an early riser , have done in the past , but I just can't be bothered anymore , keep riding Adam , work on your Z2 Hr outdoor rides , watched some of your 100km new bike ride , bonking experience , do not fall for the carb trap , learn about fat burning , I have no problem riding 3hrs fasted early in the morning Z2 hr , I walked away from carbs a few years , I am high protein , high fat and minimal carb diet , lost weight and feel good nearly 60 , I am not expelling carbs just adapt body to primary source being fat , lots of intetesting articles and RU-vid vlogs ,
@@lukamalic486 The problem with the ranking system right now is the base number is based off your max 30s and 10 min power. And if the riders do not have their maximums recorded at these timeframes, they are sorted into a similar band. Considering the race result shifts you few points at a time, it is very difficult to climb into a rating where you truly belong (even if you are racing a lot, you climb maybe 15-20 points a week). Basically, the 450-550 band is always full of riders and everything above is empty (see this race, 17 riders in prime time - and the upper bands had even less).
I though for sure you were going to sneak into the top 3! Strong race, Adam! Enjoyed the timeline review and would also be interested in seeing some critical power numbers next time too!
@@RoadtoA I was more think per the race via the power curve details in the next page of the ride summary. Could be cool to reference both a bit. I also did like your comments about the last time you raced that course and how you chased down the attacks. It helped me to remember exactly what you were talking about!
There's actually answer to this question in this very video! ;) Just kidding, it's called Telemetry Overlay and I add that in post processing. (So I don't have that information when riding)
Is there a way to see the points of your opponents at the begin of the race, and at the end of the race what the effect of the race is on your points standing?
⬇How to support this channel besides subscribing! ⬇ If you like my content and would like to support the development of this channel, consider joining one of five (100% optional, videos will be always FREE!) membership tiers. Get more details and join here: ru-vid.com/show-UCgqQzVp5YsE0rFysyl4yT6Qjoin Tiers and Perks: Tier 1 - Domestique: - Unique "Road to A" badge for comments and live chat (the longer you are a member, the better it will look)! - Guaranteed response to comments/live comments (limited when I'm out of breath :)) - Access to membership-only community tab Tier 2 - Super Domestique: - All Domestique perks - At least 3 hours early video access Tier 3 - Lead-Out Rider: - All Super Domestique perks - I will follow on Zwift so you can teleport to me and we can ride together (except during races)! Tier 4 - Directeur Sportif: - All Lead-Out Rider perks - Your RU-vid name in video credits Tier 5 - Cycling Legend: - All Directeur Sportif perks - Personal thanks in each video/live stream Thank you for considering the support!
Ed is incredible, but as you said, he's primarily cycling RU-vidr, not a Zwift RU-vidr. Then there are the guys like SAFA Brian, Cameron Jeffers etc., but in the Zwift community I would say Erik is the most popular.
In my opinion fatigued tests are actually best for everyone that participates in some kind of racing, either on Zwift or outside in the real world. If we exclude time trials, the most important efforts during a race is almost every time at the end of a race, so knowing your limits after a good amount of fatigue is more valuable than fresh numbers
@@Felixtr0511 Fatigued tests are excellent but not for generally available FTP models and/or amateur-level interpretation. I mean...how would you interpret a 15 min effort that is performed after two other max effort and other hard intervals? (Serious question, kudos if you can do that!)
ZA has been shrinking year by year in terms of Zwift's effort. New riders have no idea how to pace a 10 minute free ride segment so they should pick some other program. In past years it was a good introduction to doing structured workouts, but not now.
Agreed. I understand the shift towards the talent hunting aspect (afterall, the teams have money in the game) but with a minimal effort this could be a nice community event, too.
Great to see you wearing your Everesting jersey! Lecol just denied my redeem code because 'they have no single activity submission', even though its both on my lecol and strava account. Without further explanation as to why they don't have it...
I think another problematic point: finding races with enough participants. Since the academy is stretched over such a long time, like you mentioned, I guess it will be somewhat difficult to find races with a lot of people, especially if you are not a prime time rider/racer like me.
@@Nicomacchiato It's not. Looks like I've messed up my audio settings in the editor. But I don't know which one. 😂 But I will fix it for next outdoor video.
Oh my god. This thing happened once again. It always happens when I use Insta360 footage. I'll give it a focus tonight, thanks for bringing it into attention for me.
