Would like to see D+ rides

Seems that most D rides are 1-1.5 w/kg and most C rides are 3+ w/kg. That’s a pretty large gap. I’m not able to keep the C pace but find the D rides too slow. If there are a lot of riders I can join a group that goes off the front in the D ride and stick with them in the .2.5w/kg range but I understand that the ride leaders want everyone to stay together. If I could keep pace in C I would join C rides and not go off the front in the D rides. It would be nice to have rides in that mid range but I understand that there may not be enough riders to accomplish that. Maybe the leaders of the large rides could sanction splitting the group into a base and a plus category.

It’s funny, because I seem to have stumbled across ‘D+’ rides not infrequently.
Check out SZR D rides like the Evening Joyride each Monday (which I remember last year being around 2.2 W/kg with a 79 kg leader), or tomorrow’s Knightrider (1.8-2.2 W/kg).

And just yesterday evening I joined the D ride with ZSUN, called Sunday Social (Great Group Rides: ZSUN Sunday Social | Zwift) in which the goal pace is 2.2-2.4 W/kg with a leader around 80kg - and which was consistently at the upper end of that range.
There are indeed many D rides like you described, but you can find some excellent D+ ones with some searching.

And from my (admittedly limited) experience, most ride leaders’ biggest bugbear is seeing fliers going off the front. I can’t see many happily sanctioning splitting in a single ride. It would also play havoc with the chat.

3 Likes

The Herd Bull Run might be what you’re looking for:

1.8-2.1 w/kg D group, 2.3-2.6 w/kg C group.

The Herd’s Bull Run

2 Likes

The Experiments tab on the Zwift Hacks events app has a slider for searching events by a w/kg range, and it seems to work.

5 Likes

Thanks for all of the suggestions.

2 Likes

Hi @Paul_Schack please try my rides below:

SZR Joyride D 6pm BST Monday
SZR “Almost” Flat ride 6:30pm BST Tuesday
SZR Bumps and Grinds 6pm BST Thursday
SZR Endurance D Ride 7am BST Saturday

2 Likes

I wanted to leave a shout-out to @Craig_D_Mart for his suggestion of HERD’s “Bull Run.”

I participated in yesterday’s ride and it was absolutely perfect for me, pushing me into Z3/Z4 and (according to Garmin) giving me a great “sweet spot”, high-aerobic/threshold workout. (for context: I’m about 73kg, 180cm)

The leaders and sweeps were engaged and chatty and while I couldn’t stay in the main blob up ahead, we got a couple of good mini-packs farther back. (shoutout to E.Thier for smoking me at the finish arch with a very well-timed powerup)

TL;DR: if you’re a “D+” rider looking to push yourself a bit, HERD’s Bull Run is great. I’ll be sure to try SVR’s rides sometime as they look well-organized too.

1 Like

I am (in my opinion) a D+ rider with a weight of 99kg at 1.92m tall. An avarage output of 152 watts will not put my heartreate above Z2 (around 120bpm). Probably nothing for me

What on earth was the point of this comment?

1 Like

Just pointing out it looks like nothing for me

Just for your info, on the flat you’d need 190W to do the same speed as @Otto_Destruct @152W given your height and weight and his.

I don’t understand what you’re trying to accomplish with these comments in general though.

1 Like

Riding for more than 1,5 hour with Diesel yesterday I was doing an average of 150 watts and my HR was Z2. In draft height and weight do not matter much on the flat IMO.

In regards to you’re second point I am also looking for D+ rides and was considering HERD rides, but seeing these numbers I do not think I will try them. That is all I was trying to point out. I am absolutely not trying to be disrespectfull

I’m pretty sure you’re wrong that height and weight don’t matter in the draft. You get a % savings on aero resistance - but CJ had the same % savings.

Bull Run has 2 groups - if you think the D looks too easy, sign up for the C next week.

2 Likes

I’m sure this is not the case. You may not find an ideal ride every day at your preferred time, but there are rides out there at all levels. Don’t fixate on the categories which don’t mean a lot outside of racing. Did you see my suggestion about using the w/kg slider on the Experiments tab of the Zwift Hacks events app? What would be your preferred w/kg for a group ride?

2 Likes

Thanks, missed that search option

1 Like

Disclaimer: I sometime sweep for Google’s Social Rides.

If you are looking for almost C like D rides, our Google Wednesday Social D ride might fit your bill. We do not impose a barrier and we don’t ask people to slow down and join the lead and the front riders are going at about 2.8 for our 45-min ride that including the yellow lead. We also have 2.0 and 1.5 groups on the same ride.

I am not a strong rider but what I do is to do 2.8 for the first 15-20 min, then fall back and hop on other smaller groups that naturally form.

What time are they?

Google’s Weekly Social Ride

1 Like

Looks good, middle of the night for me.

Yes, it is WED 4:45 PM Google HQ Time which is Pacific Time. Hope to see you there!
Since this is a corporate sponsored event, if WED falls on holidays, leads may not show up or change to a volunteer (ride will go on).

We have been using the “Waist Band” course. Low elevation. If you are on a heavier side and can put out watts, you will have a good time up front! For a 65 Kg novice, if I relax even for a second, I fall behind.

1 Like