Welcome to the InsideRRR ride through of the Ikigai series’ omnium race on RGT.
The first race was a tempo elimination race on a magic road of the Izu outdoor velodrome circuit in Japan. A rider is eliminated at the end of each lap, or when they are lapped. I got this race a little wrong. I just was not expecting to be lapped quite so early, and was eliminated at the end of the first elimination lap along with those behind me. Agonisingly close to getting another lap.
The second race was a scratch race consisting of 5 laps of the 1.1km Canary Wharf real road on RGT. Not strong enough to hold on to those infornt, I concentrated on building the gap to th the rider behind, and on attacking the short sprint on North Colonnade, which I brought down to 22.61s. I was lapped by the lead towards the end of my penultimate lap.
The third race returned to the Izu Velodrome magic road, for a single flying sprint lap. This time I went hard out of the blocks, I held back slightly expecting a lead-in lap before the flying lap, but did not fare much better, finishing a good few seconds away from significant progress up the leader board.
The final race was an elimination race on a magic road of the Herne Hill Velodrome in London. At 506m the track is considerably longer than the Izu Velodrome, and I fared a little better on it. After the group behind had been lapped and eliminated, it seemed to take quite a while before the leaders lapped me to eliminate me.
So a few reflections:
- I’m not particularly good at short duration high intensity, with almost all of the riding I have done being in endurance zones.
- I’m not especially large, but losing some weight would make a significant difference to W/kg, and to competitiveness.
- I’m also still getting used to the new Wattbike Atom, resistance and gearing – getting better at that will also make me a bit more competitive.
- Its’ pretty addictive stuff, probably more so when not so far off the pace.
Hope you enjoyed the read, see you on the road!
ZMS Livestream
Results
| Race | Tempo Race | Scratch Race | Flying Sprint | Elimination Race |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Distance | 0.8 km | 5.2 km | 0.3 km | 2.3 km |
| Climb | 0m | 26 m | 0 m | 6m |
| Time | 00:00:38 | 00:08:52 | 00:00:24 | 00:03:10 |
| Avg Power | 253 W | 221 W | 341 W | 256 W |
| Max Power | 291 W | 467 W | 480 W | 386 W |
| Avg Speed | 37.3 km/h | 34.8 km/h | 31.6 km/h | 36.6 km/h |
| Max Speed | 43.3 km/h | 49.8 km/h | 42.3 km/h | 41.9 km/h |
| Avg Cadence | 96 rpm | 90 rpm | 99 rpm | 89 rpm |
| Avg HR | 155 bpm | 167 bpm | 167 bpm | 172 bpm |
| IF | 1.34 | 1.20 | 0.00 | 1.36 |
| TSS | 4 | 21 | 0 | 11 |
| Result | 47/52 | 45/46 | 40/41 | 39/46 |
Click here [1, 2, 3, 4] to see the published race results on RGTDb.
Don’t know how familiar with the platform you are, but people often comment that the atom is a little highly geared. There is a slope intensity slider in the slope tab, sliding it to the left will give you additional virtual gears. It doesn’t “lessen” the hills but makes them a little easier on the knees. You might appreciate it with tonights Mountain Goats event.
I find that even in the lowest gear at a painfully slow cadence I’m pushing through 250W – 300W on hills 8% or higher… which is way my over FTP.
Needed a rest day today, so missed the climb, probably started training again a little too soon after bronchitis – but the Atom made me do it.
I know that Wattbike recommends a slope intensity of 85% on Fulgaz for realism, would similar make sense on RGT?
Lee