Hey…I know I touched on this before, but it’s getting quite demoralising.
I race the Furture grit circuit a fair bit and tend to make the first group(b). But no matter how hard i try on the small climb every lap, i always get dropped. Bike frame is slightly better than the standard zwift set up and I use a Saris + dumb trainer.
Any help welcome.
Thanks.
I would think the issue is with the trainer, since you don’t “feel” the hills you will need to change gears to increase resistance and push a lot harder as soon as you see the incline go above 0%.
If you are using a unsupported trainer then your power will be capped at around 400w
what do cyclists push watts wise up a short hill?
That can vary depending on the cyclist, how fit they are, what type of race/ride/training they are doing (recovery day, sweet spot, VO2 max, etc.)… so many variables, this question is impossible to answer.
If I’m sitting in the draft at 200 -225, I weigh 75 kg, when I come to a small hill, like on the volcano circuit or out of the water tunnels, I’ll shift and stand and my watts will go to 270-320 for 10-15 sec.
I can maybe hack that…but still get dropped. Then have to go all out to catch back up.
It is a common place in races to attack, not sure if it’s a conscious tactical decision or something more sub conscious that just happens on hills. Either way it seems to happen all the time so prepare for it. Get your power up before you actually hit the incline so you don’t get dropped in the first place.
My tactic is usually to go up 1 gear and stand and attack just before the hill. If I’m just trying to maintain pace when standing then I usually go up 2 gears so by going up 1 and attacking just before the hill then when I hit the hill it’s sort of like going up 1 gear and attacking.
Yup, if the hill is your problem every lap you have to position yourself at the front of the group before the hill. It takes less energy to push to the front than it does to try and catch back on from the back after the hill
Also the comments about smart and dumb trainers are correct, dumb trainer users fall behind as hills go up but they gain on downhills
as much as you can :)))