TTT BMI

We are just having a discussion about Zwift team time trial tactics.

I've proposed a simple one and it struck me that it follows a universal formula that I have applied with great success not only to cycling but all my life.

As with all great ideas it requires a TLA, so this one is "BMI".

• Baseline: Deciding where I am at the moment for whatever I want to make better, basically what exactly it is
• Measure: Just do it and find out where I am
• Improve: Improve the measure in some way. Which takes me back to B.

So for the TTT the baseline I'm proposing is we keep it dead simple and just aim that the lead rider holds 5.0 W/kg  (Baseline) for a minute(Baseline) then the next rider moves up. So everyone will end up doing 1 minute at or over FTP and 4-7 minutes under, which should be possible (and also happens to a very good workout).


Depending on whether it turns out to be easy or hard (Measure) it will be a simple matter to change either of the 2 key variable of target power or duration, hopefully in the "Improve" direction.

Zwift TT Tests

In an attempt to understand Zwift's drag calculation I ran some test on Tempus Fugit.

The timed section was 2km starting at 0.5km from the inception point and finishing at the end of the sprint. I chose this because it made it easy to log in/out whilst changing weight and height. It also has the benefit of not being completely flat but rolling slightly.

The runs were all pretty much the same, ramp up watts then start timing at 0.5km. I used manual timing for the test but those below come from a Strava segment that I setup so should be accurate. 


I tested 2 setups. 

The first was a warmup with the best TTT bike (Venge + Super 9).  The "down" runs were towards the sprint and have more drafting benefit because more riders go that way. The "up" are the reverse.  No surprise here, more draft = faster speed.

The last Venge run was at 325W the target for the test. I chose this because it should be fast enough to highlight any trends and it's the ballpark target for a TTT..

The second setup was a Zwift TT frame with Classic wheels. This setup is slightly slower than the Venge can manage (with some drafting assistance)

I also did one run with the best possible TT bike just out of interest.

The final "polarised" run was just to see if going hard when the gradient was positive and easing back when negative made any difference. It did, it's worse.

Most weight/heights were extremes just to test but a couple are for me and Ian. (Zpower seems a bit bugged as it does not show height for some riders so could not do more)

Results below. There is not enough data to work out Zwifts algorithm but there is enough to see that weight clearly does have a bigger effect than I thought even on a flat course. 

There may not be enough to work out what's going on inside Zwift but there is IMO enough to set a clear target for the lead rider and a simple basic strategy.

That is, the lead rider should target holding a steady 5.0 w/kg. I

Shifts are done using the main clock which is ofc the same for all of us, doing transition in last 10 seconds of every minute.

• Lead rider does 1 minute at 5.0w/kg
• Second rider starts slowly accelerating to 5.0 w/kg when the clock passes mm:50  so that they are level with the lead rider by mm:58
• All others pick up pace but they will not need to up their pace by as much due to drafting.
• Lead rider drops to back.
• For all riders this should mean 1 minute at or above FTP but  nowhere near red-line and 4-7 minutes under depending on the number of riders. This should be enough recovery time to allow all or at least most to get to finish.
• It should also make it as easy as possible to ride in a pace-line rather than a blob which means more recovery for all those drafting.

It will also be easy to change on the fly. If things are going well then the target can just go up say to 5.2 W/kg, if not it can come down.  The Tick Tock course is especially good for this, at the end of of the short desert climbs there is time on the descent to up or reduce the pace.


This is not the fastest possible way to ride but it will be a good baseline and we can judge how to improve it once we have seen how it goes. 

Test run results (Venge in order they were done, TT in speed order, fastest first)

Run	Lap	Frame	Wheels	Kg	Cm	Watts	Time	Dir	W/kg	AVS
1	3	Venge	Best	68	170	159	03:29	Down	2.3	34.45
2	6	Venge	Best	68	170	168	03:32	Up	2.5	33.96
3	8	Venge	Best	68	170	210	03:14	Down	3.1	37.11
4	10	Venge	Best	68	170	210	03:17	Up	3.1	36.55
5	12	Venge	Best	68	170	327	02:38	Down	4.8	45.57
8	18	Zwift TT	Worst	50	150	328	02:29		6.6	48.32
9	20	Zwift TT	Worst	50	170	324	02:33		6.5	47.06
10	22	Zwift TT	Worst	50	200	330	02:38		6.6	45.57
Best TT	30	Felt	Best	68	170	330	02:38		4.9	45.57
7	16	Zwift TT	Worst	68	150	325	02:39		4.8	45.28
11	24	Zwift TT	Worst	60	190	329	02:42		5.5	44.44
Me	14	Zwift TT	Worst	68	170	326	02:43		4.8	44.17
12	26	Zwift TT	Worst	70	180	344	02:43		4.9	44.17
Ian	28	Zwift TT	Worst	68	177	333	02:43		4.9	44.17
Polarised	32	Zwift TT	Worst	68	170	337	02:43		5.0	44.17

Feet Are Not and Are Hands

In a recent post I mentioned my Vibram Five Finger "shoes"


https://bahzobsblog.blogspot.com/2020/06/feeling-my-feet-vibram-fivefinger-shoes.html

I did so as a prelude to this post.

I've been very lucky regards aches and pains while cycling. But recently I have had issues with my right foot.

It's been all sorts of issues, I won't go into the gory details.

However, finally, thanks the Cyclefit London I got the root of the problem.

Long story short my right toe is arthritic and this means my right foot cannot make a proper arch.

Which is a lead in to my favourite scientific area - evolution.

IMO Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace were two of the greatest scientists to ever draw breath and the theory of evolution is the most beautiful thing that the human mind has ever devised/discovered.

The foot is a wonderful example. As humans we are among an extremely rare group of bipeds. Great apes our closest "cousins" (an evolutionary incorrect term but still useful all the less) can use their feet as extra hands.

We cannot.  Our feet have morphed into something unique thanks to our foot arch and, despite living with them for all our lives, we are still discovering new things about them.

https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/science-and-technology/2020/03/why-human-feet-evolved-arches-and-what-happens-if-you-lack-them

Like so many other aspects of our body our foot arch is something you either use or risk losing.

The risk is especially big since the foot is so often hidden from display. The design of many shoes exacerbates the issue, with insoles and soles that prevent them feeling the ground as they were intended to.

This is why I love my Vibrams so much. While your feet are not hands it is useful to sometimes imagine they are and practice trying to grip the floor.  

Most workouts ignore the feet, but they need tlc too. Just trying to squeeze the floor by itself is good for your feet. It is also the best way to prepare for any activity that will load up your body. 

Just like a skyscraper it is best to build on firm foundations. So if lifting anything start by

• Grip the floor with your toes, really feeling the arch lift (tip if you check in a mirror the ankle bones of both feet should be level)
• Counter rotate your feet, (so left goes anti-clockwise, right goes clockwise)

This simple act will automatically engage your entire lower body, stabilising and strengthening it so it behaves more like the Empire State than the Leaning Tower of Pisa. 

PS I could not possibly mention feet without thinking of Douglas Adams, one of the 20th century's greatest authors, philosophers and comedians. It still hurts so much that we lost him so soon. 

He came up with many brilliant notions, including the shoe event horizon, more about which here,


https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Shoe_Event_Horizon

Genius, pure genius.

The Picture That Changed My Life

This picture changed my life. To me it is a thing of pure beauty.

Actually to be accurate it was a picture like this not this one.

But it doesn't matter because the beauty lies not in the picture itself but what it represents.

Way back in 2007 I became interested in taking training more seriously and followed the blog of Flamme Rouge Tony. 

http://www.flammerouge.je/home/home.htm

He's a guy who lives in Jersey and he was way ahead of the trend in many ways. Just one was his love of sportives, at a time when most British cyclists had never heard the word and he was was on the reasons I started trying them for myself.

But the thing that was really special about him was that he was power mad. He was absolutely clear that power meters were the way ahead and his infectious enthusiasm came across in every one of his posts.

He was so convincing that I arranged to go and see him, in order to perform my first ever ramp test. He made me very welcome and also took me on a tour of the island with a couple of his mates. One of them owned a bike shop and before the trip we had agreed a price on a Powertap wheel, my first ever power meter.

After the island tour Tony opened up his lap top, connected his Garmin, did a bit of stuff then told me to take a look. This was another baptism, my introduction to WKO.

He took me through the ride we had just done, explaining the various graphs and I loved every minute of it. Seeing the long steady drags, the really tough hills and the peak when we had a sprint.

But then he showed me the picture like the one above. He explained that what it showed was something called "mean maximal power" (or MMP). This is a complicated name for a simple idea. It just captures on one line how much power you can produce and how long you can hold it for.

It's a plot of watts vs time so it starts high in the top left because you can produce a lot of power for a short time. But if you try to push for longer the power comes down. In fact it comes down very quickly. The time axis on the bottom is a logarithmic scale, so the left hand side is represents much less time than the right. (It has to be like this or it would not be possible to see any detail,)  For illustration, In the example above the line near halfway is just under 2 minutes while the extreme right is 20 hours.

As an example, at my best, if I go all out I can just about produce 800W. But for a minute the max is around 500W. For 5 minutes its around 400W, for 20 minutes 340W, for an hour 310W and for 4 hours 250W. So its very obvious how quickly power changes with time, In fact my power changes less than most others which is why I'm more comfortable doing longer events that do not involve and sprinting.

You can choose to report on any time period. So the line may just be for a single ride. Or a week, or a month.

But the magic came when Tony told me what he was showing me. He said the bottom line was this year's power. The upper line was his best ever power. He explained that he had a simple mission, every year he wanted to get the lower line to meet and ideally pass the upper line.

In plain English this meant that his goal was to set new personal bests, but seeing it as a picture like this felt so much more real than just a set of numbers.

My life changed at that instant. From then on, through to the present and for the rest of my days Tony's goal became my goal. I love going for rides, downloading my stats and seeing how close I have come to a new PB.

I reset the bottom line every birthday and the graph above is about one month in. It's obvious I still have a way to go. Still there is already good news, which the line highlights, I've already managed to a small nudge up.

One of the main reasons for starting this blog is to give me the motivation to keep pushing so I can post updates when another breakthrough happens.

Technology has moved on so now I can even see the picture when I am riding. On many occasions it has been the spur to make be push harder as it changes colour at that point which means more to me than any race finish position,

But watts are not all that there is to this picture.

The really great thing about it is the bottom time axis, because it ranges from 1s to as long as you can ride a bike. So the quest to move the entire line upwards means I have been encouraged to try pretty much every form or road bike riding from criteriums where I could try (and fail) to win a sprint finish to 1000 mile epics riding continuously for days with barely a pause to sleep.

I would never have done this or even a fraction without the drive to raise the line. I will forever be in Tony's debt for changing my life for the much much better.

Mind Game - Using The Placebo Effect to Best Effect

I took a degree in psychology so I'm biased but have always believed that as well as building physical fitness, developing mental fitness is also important in achieving one's goals.

That's not to say you can think yourself fit. You can't. You have to work. But your mentality can be a great friend or a mortal enemy in actually doing the work and in reaping its benefits.

It is obviously best to have your mind on your side so I thought I would share a bizarre but simple trick to help with this, one that I learned at university and have used with great effect in cycling.

Placebo

Most will be familiar with the "placebo" effect. This an extremely powerful though still very mysterious phenomenon where the mind can affect the body for good or ill. It is so strong that all drug or similar trials have to be done "double blind" in order that any effects of the experiment, good or bad, are known to really be a result of the drug and not just what those taking part think it will do.

What is less familiar is the even stranger fact that the placebo effect can happen even if someone knows they are being given a fake. So you can tell someone that a tablet will provide a benefit, give them a tablet, then tell them that the tablet is a fake. Still the person will get some of the benefit. It may seem stranger than fiction but its been repeatedly demonstrated.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/placebo-can-work-even-know-placebo-201607079926

Breaking the Century

So how to apply this to cycling? Here is an example from my own experience. A while back I was chasing time trial records. One ambition was to be the first person in my club to ride 100 miles in under 4 hours. I had several attempts and each time came maddeningly close, just a few minutes over.

I realised part of the problem was the pacing. Obviously the average is 25mph but it extremely hard to hold that as a steady speed for such a long time. At times you go faster and at times slower. Whenever I saw the numbers dip under 25 and especially under 24 I would get stressed and try to push harder, trying to go at 26 or 27 to even things out.

This is fine once or twice but over 100 miles this in itself became taxing and I would find myself doubting if I would make up the lost time. This self doubt is exactly the sort of thing that I meant when saying your mind can be your enemy. When time trialing it is just you and the bike. There is little by way of distraction and once the first negative thought drips into your head it can quickly turn into a torrent.

So for my next attempt I went back to my university days and tried out an experiment on myself. My speed was calculated from my wheel size. So I subtracted a few inches from this so that when I was going at a real 25mph it would appear as 24.9 or something on the display (I deliberately didn't do any exact calculations, I just knew it would be less than 25)

My theory was that this would make me more relaxed. 24 would be the new normal and every time 25 showed I would be ahead of pace but not too much so. Also I would be less likely to dip below 24.

For the race I set my display to only show speed, nothing else not even the time or distance. Then I rode, just focusing on keeping the display in the high 24s and giving myself a pat on the back every time I went into the 25s which, of course, happened a lot.

The time ticked by a lot more quickly than on previous attempts and only when I finished did I check the clock. I had smashed my PB, taking 10 minutes off it, finishing in 3:55 so it was mission accomplished. Despite the theory I was amazed but very pleased that it had worked so well.

Other Applications

I have repeatedly used the same trick since. It doesn't always work, the mind gets used to things, but it has been successful more often than not and even when it is not an outright success it still helps keep the mind occupied and is better than nothing.

But much more often than not its been a great help. Here are a couple of examples:

• Having broken the club record at the sprint distance of 100 miles my next target was a the 12 hour one. The main problem with this event is from just past 1/2 way until 3/4. At this point you are very tired but the finish still seems a long long way away (because it is!). So I paced on "chunks" breaking the 12 hours down into 24 half hour laps. Except for the early laps I didn't hit the lap button until several minutes late, again not looking at real time, just using the lap counter as information. This way I mentally thought I was still not quite half way even though I was actually well past. When, inevitably, my spirits started to flag once I was past "half" way I checked the real clock and as if by magic jumped forward an hour or so, much closer to 3/4 with spirits high, battery recharged and record comfortably in sight.
• I use pretty much the same trick when climbing high mountains. Again with these the hardest part is after half way, especially so if, as is often the case the gradient is worse there. I pace my climbs on elevation. At the bottom I work out where the summit will be based on current height. I then add 100-200 extra metres (tip climbing in metres feels easier than climbing in feet as the numbers are much less daunting). I then work out how far through I am based on this new number. Again if I feel rough (which will always be in the later stages of the climb) I remind myself that of the trick I played and whoosh I am suddenly much higher.

So in conclusion. These ideas may seem barmy but in fact they are based on hard science and they can work wonders. The mind can be very suggestible especially when under the sort of pressure lots of hard slog puts on it so it's best to give it suggestions that work in ones favour rather than allow it to come up with ideas of its own like "wouldn't it just be easier to give up now?"

Zwift Time Trial Tactics

I'll be having a go at some Zwift team time trials so I thought I would give a quick brain dump on thoughts about how to handle them.

Key thing is that it is not like a real TTT. 

There is no element of luck.

There is minimal skill, just the ability to hold a pace-line rather than a blob and to shift the lead every now and then.

So the main risk is not luck or lack of skill but mistakes and miscommunication, both can be minimised by clear planning.

This planning is easy. It simplest to think of a Zwift TTT not as a race but a combination of

• Mathematical puzzle
• Specialist roles
• Individual workouts with intervals and recovery
• Bell Ringing
• Communication

Puzzle

The puzzle is an equation where the variables are the power capabilities of all the riders. The solution is the one that uses these capabilities to produce the maximum average power for the expected duration of the ride.* 

If the team has  a mathematician they may be able to create a model that does this. If not then it will take a bit more time to come up with a solution but not that much. 

It will just involve picking a target power, say 350W and then seeing if its possible to plan individual workouts that will hit it. Depending on result then just need to increase or decrease target and reiterate.

The first time will be the most difficult thereafter it will be more straight forward.

The key information needed is the power capabilities of the riders. A simple MMP will be a good starting point.

The other vital information needed is the effect of drafting, luckily this is covered by Zwift Insider article here.https://zwiftinsider.com/speed-tests-ttt/

* The course profile is another variable but less than in real life so can be ignored on all but courses with significant climbs (not sure if these will feature in TTTs anyway)

Roles

The objective is to get 4 riders across the line at the highest average power possible. This implies at least 2 different roles.

• Finishers – who will finish the race
• Shooting Stars – who will burn themselves out during the race knowing they do not need to finish

Depending on the mix of abilities in the finishers there may need to be an additional role

• Stayer – who must finish but to do so will spend less time at the front and maybe do no pulls at all in the final stages.

According to the Zwift article the fourth rider already has a significant advantage. So my guess is that only four finishers are really needed, having more will not offer any advantage only some contingency, which should not be needed given the absence of luck.

Individual workouts

Each rider will have their own "workout". This will have consist of a series of time durations, power and position in group. (Power will either be a specific watts target or a rough zone) 

When combined all the workouts will end up with a constant seamless power in the lead position 

As an e.g. For a Shooting Star who will do 3 pulls

1 minute Tempo Postion 2

1 minute 350W Lead

3 minutes LSD Position 6

1 minute Tempo Position 2

1 minute 350W Lead

3 minutes LSD Position 6

1 minute Tempo Position 2

1 minute 350W or more Lead

Recover, stay with group as long as possible then stop

The only difference from a normal workout is that each interval shift, especially into and out of lead position will not be sudden but a ramp of around 5-10 seconds.

Each team member sign off that they can do their workout and will then be able to practice doing it individually e.g by joining any Zwift race.

Bell Ringing

This is synchronising all the workouts so that everyone knows what they are doing when and the changeover at the front is smooth. My personal opinion is that in order to minimise errors pulls should be on the long side rather than quickly alternating. The latter may be faster (depends I think on the capabiliites of the team) but the cock up potential is much bigger too.

Basically what you end up with is a spreadsheet showing all the riders, who is doing what when. If this is executed then the team will have ridden at close to optimum.

This may sound a bit complicated but it pretty much the same as ringing a peal of bells and much less complicated (thanks to Mrs M for specialist advise on this matter)

Communication

In an ideal world this will not be needed but things don't work out that way and clear communication will be needed in order to help things run smoothly and deal with issues if they crop up.

The best way to handle this would be to have a "sporting director" watching the race who is also on the discord channel. They would have the master schedule in front of them and call up the changes as they are due to happen just in case riders get confused. So if things go well and according to plan the sporting director should be the only one who needs to talk and that only to announce the changes.

The sporting director will also make calls in case of issues.

• The default in case a rider blows up early will be to call up the next one on the rota. This may mean calling things on the fly at the end of the race but with fewer riders at this point it should not be too difficult. The rider blowing up will continue to try to complete the rest of their workout.
• The default if a rider is dropped ahead of schedule will be to let them drop. Depending on the race situation some riders may then be asked to do longer pulls in order to cover for the one missing.

Other thoughts

The biggest risk of gaps is on climbs. Everyone should have the difficulty slider set all the way to the left to reduce this. It may also be necessary to compromise bike choice so that some riders sacrifice a bit of aero for a faster climbing bike especially if the climbs spend any time over 7%. Trial and error is probably the only way to find out if this is necessary and/or works.

Everyone should check their height is really what they think it is (rather depressingly I did this and found I have shrunk a couple of cm.) Smaller riders get an advantage and this is one time it's best not be a six footer. (Unlike in real life big riders do not, to the best of my knowledge at least, provide more Zwift drag protection than little ones)

Moving Goals Post

Training is all about chasing goals. But then so is life. These can come in a variety of forms and this post takes a brief look at these and what they entail.

One aspect it highlights is that goals can shift and change with time. What can start as just a hobby can become an all consuming passion. And vice versa, it is easy to be a jack of all trades but being a master of one (let alone a few) takes focus and that requires discrimination. In my case for example I had a period from 2006 to 2010 when it was all about cycling. Then my wife and I did the walk of a lifetime so cycling played a second fiddle as it continued to do so while I took gaming to the limit and explored the world of WOW. 

When I returned to cycling around 2014 or so ish it was just to lose the weight I had gained, then I tried to reignite my time trialing but failed to really do so. But instead I discovered a new world, that of VR.  This allowed me to ride the climbs I love any time of the year in my own four walls. This in turn reignited the desire to improve and the self belief that I could do so despite getting "older".  Now I fully returned, my passion greater than ever. 

Here then is my take on types of goals along with brief reflections on how they relate to my here and now.

Fun

The simplest but also most essential. It is perfectly OK to ride a bike just for the sheer fun of it and nothing more. Ditto just about anything, be it doodling, gardening, cooking, taking a walk, whatever. 

My take: Fun is funny in that it is in the eye of the beholder.  What I have discovered is that for me the fun of cycling is the buzz of riding hard. It's probably the main reason I have become as good as I am. I just love smashing myself up, picking myself up and going again.

Benefit 

The other basic goal. For cycling the main benefit is that of fitness, along with the ability a bike gives you to just blow away the cobwebs and head off in any direction seeking pastures new or familiar. However ideally benefit will go hand in hand with fun. Doing something that one hates or even just doesn't particularly like just for a benefit, no matter how important, is unlikely to be something that one can sustain for a long time.

My take: The reason I started cycling. As a way to lose fat. Spurred on by boxed sets of 24 I managed this and only then started to find the fun side.

Completion 

This is the next rung upwards. Now the goal takes a definitive form. It may be to complete a 25 mile ride. Or to climb a mountain. Or finish an event. Whatever, the satisfaction lies in a job well done and accomplishing something. This is great, the only downside is that the first time is often the best time. Reaching the summit of a climb, when all around is new, is often the best experience. The second time round does not always quite elicit the same feelings

My take: This was the vital stepping stone. I started just wanting to be able to ride 25 miles and climb our local hills without getting off to push. 

Progression

The logical follow up to Completion, this is building on success and taking it a bit further. So after riding 25 miles going for 50 and then 100. Or after climbing one mountain aiming for two.

My take: To extremes. Looking back I can't believe that I decided to go from never having ridden a 100 miles to riding the Tour de France in a few months. But I did and it was the experience of a lifetime.  

The other massive take on this was the discovery of power and the MMP curve. I'll write about this shortly but ever since discovering these my whole focus has been about progression, progression, progression. 

Exploration 

Another follow up that may involve any of the above but trying a slightly different tack. So perhaps riding 25 miles off road. Or taking part in an Audax or a sportive. Or aiming to climb 100 different mountains. Or doing any of the above on a tandem.

My take: The tour of course but more interestingly has been that my quest for progression has led to me trying to be good at every type of road bike activity that exists, from short criterium racing to ultra long endurance events and everything between.

Speed – Another logical follow up to Completion, that can also go alongside Progression. Now the goal involves an element of competition. For Completion the main enemy is bad luck. Now it is the clock, though luck may still play a its part.

My take: This was my main goal 2008-2009 and it was very fulfilling chasing and beating time trial records and entering sportives going for the top standards. However after a while it began to pall. On my return I tried to focus on time trialing but it was never really something that I hugely enjoyed and I don't miss it much. 

Ranking – This marks a step change. All the previous goals are fundamentally intrinsic. It is just about doing it.. Ranking goals bring in an entirely new element, that of judging yourself against others. This can be a double edged sword, on the one hand competition brings out the best in many and its spur can drive one on to new heights. However on the other hand ultimate sucess is now in the hands of others for all but the very best of the best.

My take: I got into this 2008-2010 as well. It's fun for a while but really I much prefer beating my own PBs rather than some stranger. Still the spur of aiming to improve ranking can help motivation so from that end I continue to use this as a way to push myself. But I don't think I'll ever get massively into things like Zwift racing. It's just a good way to train and will remain so.

Being the best that one can be – A paradox. The terms can be set as one chooses, the essential point is that one feels one has done all one can possibly do.

In one sense this is the ultimate goal, it means performing to the very best of what one is capable of while taking account of limitations such as natural potential or resources.

However it may, indeed almost always does, require accepting compromise. One may simply never be able to be the best in the country, or town, or within a group of friends. Still being the best that one can be, however defined and whatever it actually means in terms of any of the goals above (though having fun at the same time is pretty essential to achieving this) is probably the best that one can aspire to.

My take: This is it for me. My overriding goal is to use a science based training approach to see how far i can progress in terms of increasing my power and/or resisting the supposed ravages of age.