My plan for today was racing.
I was going to do my own race like I did last time. An advantage of Training Peaks Virtual is the ability to set up your own on-demand races and fill the field with bots.
Today, I saw an upcoming race on the list that was racing the Coastal Loop – the route I had in mind – and was starting in about 20 minutes time. Ideal.
So I signed up to that, and then joined a pace bot ride to warm up. This all went swimmingly.
When the time came to join the race there were ~19 other riders in the pens. I do remember a few more joined after me, so lets say a human field of ~25 all-in.
What Training Peaks Virtual then does is split the race automatically into smaller, more competitive fields. I got put in pen 4 of 5. Not sure if that’s done on ability or just random numbering.
Once done, I was on the start line with a minute to go, with 50 other riders in the field. Now, I know for a fact most of these, statistically, were bots.
But how many, and who?
Well, that I am uncertain on.
During the race I decided that anyone with a four letter team tag must be a human. You can see this on the right of the HUD where four capital letters appear under the person’s national flag.
In hindsight, I am now a lot less confident of this guess.
From the start I put in a big surge, ala Zwift racing, and just like my previous race. Only, this time I went right off the front. Whoops.
The pace was fairly high, but after yesterday’s tweaks, I was far more competitive. So much so that I had to reign it in a handful of times to stop myself going off the front again, or chasing people who went up the road.
It was definitely a novelty to find myself leading a race and not just because of the odd draft physics that sometimes propel you to the front for seemingly no reason, only to be quickly swallowed up by the next person in the rotation.
There were several attacks, and though at one point a ~10 second gap formed, I and others were able to reign them back in.
Then it was my turn.
I decided to make a break for it on the ~1km climb that comes at the half way point of the map, so 8km in.
By this point I was in a bunch of about 8 riders who had already distanced the peloton by about 20 seconds.
What I was hoping to do here was to push up the hill, and – ideally – someone would come with me. I could then work with them, and either establish a breakaway, or more likely, just tire out the competition by making them work to chase, and then putting me in a better position to recover and then re-apply the pressure and establish the pacing.
Instead, I found myself at the top of the hill, alone.
And I already knew my weight would put me at a disadavntage on the descent.
Sure enough the ~10 second gap I had established at the top was whittled away, and three of the riders behind caught me at speed, forcing me to go at it again to remain in their draft.
By this point, three of us were 20 seconds up the road. Then one rider put in a push and, thinking I was probably best pushing on to get on his wheel, I went for it also.
I did catch him.
But the rider in my draft flew past the pair of us, and that was it.
He established an insurmountable 25 second gap and it became a fight for second and third.
What I will say is I am convinced Arthur Parry was a bot. Either that, or Training Peaks Virtual speed readings are … weird.
I say this because, aside from having no team tag, Arthur matched my pace down to the tenth of a KPH. This wasn’t a one off, it happened several times. I’d speed up, and lo-and-behold, he would increase exactly in line with me.
Anyway, regardless he – or it – kept me honest. I really did put in a stint here.
The one gotcha today would have been the red pyro marker signifies the “1km to go” point, not the end of the race. Whoops.
Coming over the line, I finished second. Easily my best ever placing in any kind of cycling race. Though of course I do suspect it was a bot heavy field up front.
Still, very pleased with the efforts I put in. It’s a shame I couldn’t make stick my attack on the ‘climb’.
I was expecting to get a big bump in all my stats as a result of the pedal change yesterday, and that did happen.
What I also noticed, which I haven’t done before, is that Training Peaks Virtual gives you an interesting post ride analysis, which in my case came with a suggestion to work on my maximum 8 minute power.
I was pleased to see the estimated FTP of 224w. I think that puts me back, roughly, to where I was pre-xmas, and post crash. So overall, pretty pleased with that. Far more motivating than where I was with the pedals down by 10% anyway.
Definitely glad to be going into a couple of rest days now. Man, that was absolutely brutal at that end. I flogged myself.
