The Rad Dirt Fest | Country road | Colorado | 14.45 miles | 2,113 ft. climbing.
ROUVY SAYS: Venture deep into the rugged, untamed country of The Rad Dirt Fest. This challenging route features a formidable climb into the high country, where the views are as epic as the effort. This is your chance to experience the wild and remote spirit that defines one of gravel’s most adventurous races.
WE SAY: 1st race of the championship so its gonna be a climb! We went with the above route from the “rougher line” challenge and its a good route profile to help set the categories for the month, or so we thought…..Categories are now worked out differently by NITEOR. (more on this at the end of the blog)
So 134 riders set a time over the 9 different start times. NITEOR have now given me 3 buttons to remove all non heart rate wearer, anyone averaging over 5.0 w/kg and any males riders under 60kgs. So i now just hit those buttons and it’s done for me. All i will say is to all those Female riders who are here, please make sure your gender is set in NITEOR as this was something i was fining out wasn’t set when i use to to this manually over the last 8 months. I’d basically see a rider at 55kgs, NITEOR would have them down as a male, i’d dig a bit deeper and go to the actual ROUVY results for that rider only to find they were females. Very time consuming so i won’t be doing that anymore so please make sure you are sorted.
So after all the 3 buttons are pressed we have 103 riders in the leaderboard, I’ve re learned the categories based on this first race so the results are below and also your category for this month
LINK TO INSIDE CYCLING WORLD COVERAGE OF THE MAIN RACE:
TO FINISH OFF:
Big Change in categories at NITEOR! We’ve spent the year trying to figure out the best way to use them as a bonus points system next year, and i was really happy with a simple hard first race with less drafting, then relearn the categories based on the average w/kg put out by that rider on that race. This is now not an option.. So in official NITEOR language, it’s now: “calculated according to average of a riders normalized power (NP) in w/kg” So when i hit the update categories button it takes this and some old performances from this rider as seen in ROUVY and sets the category accordingly. This was seen as a way to stop the sandbagging, weight doping , messing with power zones etc etc etc. Sometimes its quite discouraging how much time and energy we put into trying to make things as fair as possible for everyone, just because of a minority of riders spoiling thing. So as much as I’m disappointed my way of wanting categories to work next year is now off the table, i totally understand why NITEOR felt the need to do this and the Categories should now be much fairer 🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞
So with all that in mind, what else was new? We did the first run of the “Recon” race which was a day early on the Wednesday that we were going to bring in next year but might as well get everyone use to it now as it won’t really effect the championship due to it being non-draft.. So a no-draft race to help anyone who can’t make the “official” Thursday championship day, but made non-draft as not to create a “rival” race on Wednesday to our main Thursday one. We are also thinking of making all the first race in the monthly championship non draft, for 2 reasons, first it was to get as true a figure for categories with no draft interference, and also give everyone in all the time zones at least 1 race that’s on a totally level playing field. We will still have 3 full on draft races for the next three weeks (apart from the Recon version) so we aren’t getting rid of the fun of racing, but we can’t keep things exactly the same every year or it gets boring!
I Think that’s it. Another 1st race all done and dusted and we all know from the leaderboards above what we need to do over the next 3 races! lol
Thanks everyone for the support and thanks for taking time to read the blog, especially those who’ve read to the very end…. like right here… or even here…. you still with me? even now?? you are amazing! Thank you 😉
co-founder of muckersworldwide.com and race organizer! Been into cycling since a kid and spent most of the time on BMX and mountain bikes. Took me longer than most to get the road cycling bug but I was bitten around 5 years ago when I finally got a fully fledged road bike that fitted and I let the flat handled road bike go...
Had to do the Recon race due to a gig on Thursday and quite enjoyed the challenge. Not many on it, i think we had about 12 on the start and i settled into around 7th place and tried to catch the rider up the road. the rider behind was also closing in and it was good to be caught because he was stronger and not because he was being dragged along in a draft train. he eventually couldn’t keep it up on the 2nd climb and i gradually pulled away, thinking i was going to catch the rider up the road but he had about 500ft as he hit the top so i just missed out. But really enjoyed just time trailing it as best i could and i do look forward to the first race’s next year all being this way so it doesn’t matter which race time zone you entered. Also interested to see how my month goes in A6 which has alot of strong riders in it so will be a really challenge to get top 5. bring it on!
I see we’re in the A6 together now, so I have no chance to jump into the top five 😜 We have a lot of strong riders in this category, and it’s good that I’m taking this as a test of my abilities, not a fight for places 🙂
I watched your recon race for a moment and saw the rider behind you with his big w/kg numbers. I was wondering if he wanted to catch up with you to ride together, or if he’d keep pushing until the end. It’s great that you wrote how it ended. Maintaining a constant, appropriate pace is the most important thing. That’s how I rode yesterday, at my own pace, and here I am in A6, although I’d prefer A7 🤣
😂, you and me both would prefer A7!!! I just keep telling myself we have all been subjected to the same criteria regarding category designation so we’ve just to trust the process. If it actually works like i think it will, we should always be in the same categories going forward and if you drop a cat you are starting to drop in performance, but if we suddenly find ourselves in A5, then we are getting even better. But when i saw the riders in A6, they are all ones we ride against week in week out with the odd one or two who are super strong. Lets see…..
I think the Sunday hill climbs just trains you to pace. I wasn’t even concerned i wouldn’t finish, but i also knew i would have a bit of fatigue in my legs due to a solid ride the day before for the Tuesday race. So no panic over powering, i love to pace and then see if i can possibly up it later and empty the tank nearer the top rather than at the bottom. But yeah, he came up really strong, then died off on the 2nd climb.
This week I can call the week of the longs hills… 3 day of races all with these type of characteristic. I don’t love but I want to ride well.
Nice start and good work until the first long hill, the legs work good and perhaps I can take a good performance.
I work with 2/3 mates and most of time with ValRdz… but this time I’m a little polemical with her, because don’t give me many support for all the first long hill always behind until came two riders and she started a high pace.
For my lucky in the second long hill arrived LinV and she work for all, when I catch another time ValRdz I think she was tired and instead when Michael, Steven catch us, she push and start with an height pace another time. Why don’t use before to work together? I lost they as ever near the top of hill and I work hard in downhill to catch all rider in front, I try to give some help in downhill to LinV but at the end we shoot a final sprint. A big effort for only 63th position and a hard battle in A6.
I look forward to the next, 👋🦈
Remember sharky, its race night!! not “help sharky” to the top night! 😂😉😉😉. But yes, it’s so frustrating at the time and your report describes it perfectly as we have all been there!
November we race!
It’s just folks having some fun
Allez, Allez, and Cheers!!!
Addendum 1: The race plan was simple. Go as hard as I could for the first 20 minute (as in “there is no tomorrow” effort), and then take a look around and see what was what. As the clock turned to 20:00 my average watts were 270, a new PR for me. at 10 stone ( and not a pebble more) my NP was 4.25 watts/ kg. Ahead there was a group of big dogs, not too far ahead, but not slowing down. I was in a good group of motivated folks, and so it stayed.Madein1971, Martijn1980, M-forby, Dok_ps, Dave 12, Akoval, Alex79West, Phero, and me. With a group like that who needed the other 90+ racers. At the top of the second climb I went over with M-forby and Martijn..we were there, and then I wasn’t. Neil , anything in the rules about putting rocks in my water bottles? As Mike H has noted, the big dogs are coming in from the cold. Chapeau everyone.
Addendum 2: Neil says no drafting in race1 next year. Niteor showed me at 25% drafting factor, the lowest of the top50 finishers. I think I will like this. Cheers , and thanks for the race.
Hey Paul, did you hit the youtube link and watch the race coverage?? Colin who does the amazing coverage was wondering about your age! Set him straight Mucker!!
But we cant put rocks in water bottles, but if you buy a hoodie i’ll add some ballast to anyone you ask me to 😂😂😂😂😏😉
deal..just help me figure out how to get stuff from Europe to the USA and pay for it.. .as for age, to whom to i send the birth certificate…lol, and cheers
Taking away drafting affect to ascertain power rating category is a step in the right direction. But shouldn’t we all be on the same bikes and wheels, (Rouvy), for a true level playing field.
hey Paul, thanks for the comment and i’d love to be able to implement bike and wheel restrictions but its just not an option when creating races. And you also can’t see what bikes and wheels are being used in the final standings, but if you could, then i would then implement something like that and DSQ riders who didn’t stick to the rules. At the moment i just ask rouvy when they do poles to allow more fine tuning for race organizers, or at least show what bike and wheels they used.
Really fun start of the race and was still hanging on to the front group and feeling in control halfway up the first climb … when ALL electricity in most of Roskilde went (over 20.000 households hit). Pitchblack everywhere and even some helicopters in the air. Couldn’t even do the next race since I only had electricity on my phone and not on the hometrainer (or the apple tv, fan, ipad, rizer, tv). When the electricity finally came back it was way too late to start the late race.
Right now just really pissed off (but since I’m writing this friday probably more … a ‘bit’ annoyed 😉) but so far thanx for a fun year racing with you all, guys – and I have to say congrats with a well-deserved 3. place to Velobuch – Remy and Karel are miles ahead. With the november championship gone out the window I might as well use it as ‘my month off’ so see you all in december – if I’m cooled down that is – but I guess the upcoming Kraftwerk and Radioheads concerts – or Colle del Nivolet 🤌🏻 on sunday – will do just that 😎
oh crap Mucker!! a quick look at your world championship spread sheet and your worst month was January where you got 28 points. This is 23rd place. So if you skip this month and record a 0, you’re 28 points will be added. So maybe just hold off on the defeatist attitude 😉. The question is, can you do better than 23rd place over the next 3 races? They would have to be monumental races, but if anyone can do it, you can. just for reference, we had riders finish last months championship in 8th, 10th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, and 28th place who had only completed 3 races.
I’m totally sympathetic to the power cut and feel your pain, i just wanted to maybe find you a bit of a challenge/goal/reason to show you all is not lost. Also you being up there, takes the points away from the others!
Thanx for the update, Neil 👍🏻 I’ll probably tackle november as a bonus month and will def. do the third race. The other two races are way too flat for my modest sprint. Then I’ll be fired up for december again 😎 At least it was a bit out of the ordinary this time and not the usual Rouvy glitch … or massive amount of sweat cutting the electricity just before the finish 🫣
And I also like the idea of making the first race every month without draft. A monthly Contre la montre would be nice 🤌🏻 And what about making the results every month based on the 3 best racing scores – with the worst result not counting. That way we would have more riders on a level playing field at the end of the month and you could target the races that suit your profile?
But perhaps the work associated would be way too much – just a thought and a way to avoid glitches making too much damage.
Hey Hans, thanks for the comments. Deffo doing first race as a non draft race next year but I’m not feeling best 3 out of 4 for the month however. Reasons being the admin, the fact those battling to get into the top 50 need to know the exact points they are on before race 4, those guys racing near the edges of the top 50 need the 4 races worth of points to hopefully get into the top 50 and overtake those that have only done 2 or 3 races. We want to reward those that race every week, not take away points from them.
Plus we’d never be able to get it perfect and help with every glitch. If we could that would be amazing, but its impossible. But we will have the recon race every Wednesday for those “worried” a glitch might come and at least have the chance to maybe do a training ride on the day before just to have a time on the board, plus learn the route? We have also said if we ever have one of those Thursday nights where its a massive issue with ROUVY, we will run an extra last minute race on the Friday evening to help with that. But random glitches we just can’t help.
Report from the bottom third (I finished 73rd): Wow – A6 but only 73rd. Who let the dogs out!? Only myself to blame for what I feel was a lackluster performance. I did the first climb at planned power (3.1W/kg) but then after 5 straight days of riding (and going too hard in the GWA race the day before this one), I had nothing left for the 2nd climb and only managed 2.7. Clearly a fitness issue, but it was good to be back in the mix (at least for a while) with Sharky, SLudford, Sunniva, LinV, Spartacus88, and others. Special call-out to BikeAndDogTrips – he’s a lot stronger than I, but he rode with another rider and me for quite a ways doing his best to “encourage” our progress. Hoping I’ll be able to complete all the races this month and give some of the other A6 participants a challenge on terrain that suits me better (although Thanksgiving Day will be a challenge – may have to do the recon instead for that last one).
thanks for the comment! My first reaction to the latest category calculations was quite negative, but the more i look at it and stop thinking about it in “old money” as in that the A6 is that over or around 3.0 average category, then it actually looks like a fairly competitive and interesting category. 17 of us in it right now, none of us got top 50, and our points from 1st to 17th are separated by just 11.75 points!
Also feel your pain in trying to juggle different races and championships as i’m also trying to do the GWA as well and have been battling with ROUVY on facebook over the last few weeks to please put on more time slots and not just on Muckers Race days. So fatigue in the legs is a serious consideration at the moment.
Race of the week in Colorado with strong list of riders. Mostly uphill profile, yet drafting was helpful for most of the time. I was feeling fine and could stay in front over first summit, where few riders attacked. Second climb did not taste much, i even did not notice Nelson attacked and was wondering why everyone accelerated. We regrouped, but i was on the limit already.
Another attacks and seven riders were gone. The gap was not big, but no way do anything. Markusjogge was closing gap, so it was tough till the finish. Solid watts, heart rate high, almost got cramps. Thank you all who joined us!
Well done Karel, thanks for commenting and good luck with the rest of the month! Gotta keep BareRemi behind you now so we have an even closer December championship so no pressure 😉
Neil, I like your ideas. I often experienced in the beginning of the races that I have issues staying in the draft and the first groups. And, this happened before, I suddenly had 0 watts on Rouvy but I push on my Kickr hard… so the transmission failures in this year made my Muckers Race appearances always a bit tricky because when Rouvy settled the transmission issue after a minute or so (maybe to many riders and data … does anyone have the same issue at the start? This was not the case in the Mucker races last year and all the years before) I found myself at the back of the race… so this time I felt back to position 65 and used the climb to get back to the front of the race. But the climb was often too flat and the front groups had the benefit of some drafting and some saving power. Happy with 20 in the end nevertheless. It was a great fight with so many strong riders. CU Patrick
really strong rider Mucker. my starts on the Wattbike are a lottery, but i find if i slow my cadence right down about 10 seconds before the start, but in a quite high gear, then when i see the 3,2,1 i start to wind it up and change up just as i see go, I get my best start. If i am not concentrating, mine loves to start me at around 1.5mph no matter what gear or cadence im turning and slowly speeds up even if i am doing 500 watts! So annoying and has taken me ages to work out the best starting strategy, but sometimes it reverts to the crap one and my race is ruined before it even begins. Good luck working out what works for you.
Had to do the Recon race due to a gig on Thursday and quite enjoyed the challenge. Not many on it, i think we had about 12 on the start and i settled into around 7th place and tried to catch the rider up the road. the rider behind was also closing in and it was good to be caught because he was stronger and not because he was being dragged along in a draft train. he eventually couldn’t keep it up on the 2nd climb and i gradually pulled away, thinking i was going to catch the rider up the road but he had about 500ft as he hit the top so i just missed out. But really enjoyed just time trailing it as best i could and i do look forward to the first race’s next year all being this way so it doesn’t matter which race time zone you entered. Also interested to see how my month goes in A6 which has alot of strong riders in it so will be a really challenge to get top 5. bring it on!
I see we’re in the A6 together now, so I have no chance to jump into the top five 😜 We have a lot of strong riders in this category, and it’s good that I’m taking this as a test of my abilities, not a fight for places 🙂
I watched your recon race for a moment and saw the rider behind you with his big w/kg numbers. I was wondering if he wanted to catch up with you to ride together, or if he’d keep pushing until the end. It’s great that you wrote how it ended. Maintaining a constant, appropriate pace is the most important thing. That’s how I rode yesterday, at my own pace, and here I am in A6, although I’d prefer A7 🤣
😂, you and me both would prefer A7!!! I just keep telling myself we have all been subjected to the same criteria regarding category designation so we’ve just to trust the process. If it actually works like i think it will, we should always be in the same categories going forward and if you drop a cat you are starting to drop in performance, but if we suddenly find ourselves in A5, then we are getting even better. But when i saw the riders in A6, they are all ones we ride against week in week out with the odd one or two who are super strong. Lets see…..
I think the Sunday hill climbs just trains you to pace. I wasn’t even concerned i wouldn’t finish, but i also knew i would have a bit of fatigue in my legs due to a solid ride the day before for the Tuesday race. So no panic over powering, i love to pace and then see if i can possibly up it later and empty the tank nearer the top rather than at the bottom. But yeah, he came up really strong, then died off on the 2nd climb.
This week I can call the week of the longs hills… 3 day of races all with these type of characteristic. I don’t love but I want to ride well.
Nice start and good work until the first long hill, the legs work good and perhaps I can take a good performance.
I work with 2/3 mates and most of time with ValRdz… but this time I’m a little polemical with her, because don’t give me many support for all the first long hill always behind until came two riders and she started a high pace.
For my lucky in the second long hill arrived LinV and she work for all, when I catch another time ValRdz I think she was tired and instead when Michael, Steven catch us, she push and start with an height pace another time. Why don’t use before to work together? I lost they as ever near the top of hill and I work hard in downhill to catch all rider in front, I try to give some help in downhill to LinV but at the end we shoot a final sprint. A big effort for only 63th position and a hard battle in A6.
I look forward to the next, 👋🦈
Remember sharky, its race night!! not “help sharky” to the top night! 😂😉😉😉. But yes, it’s so frustrating at the time and your report describes it perfectly as we have all been there!
Yes it’s normal what you say, but also for me the competition is always important, but Sharky try to ride for the group where I am. 🫶🏻🦈
Your race Haiku:
November we race!
It’s just folks having some fun
Allez, Allez, and Cheers!!!
Addendum 1: The race plan was simple. Go as hard as I could for the first 20 minute (as in “there is no tomorrow” effort), and then take a look around and see what was what. As the clock turned to 20:00 my average watts were 270, a new PR for me. at 10 stone ( and not a pebble more) my NP was 4.25 watts/ kg. Ahead there was a group of big dogs, not too far ahead, but not slowing down. I was in a good group of motivated folks, and so it stayed.Madein1971, Martijn1980, M-forby, Dok_ps, Dave 12, Akoval, Alex79West, Phero, and me. With a group like that who needed the other 90+ racers. At the top of the second climb I went over with M-forby and Martijn..we were there, and then I wasn’t. Neil , anything in the rules about putting rocks in my water bottles? As Mike H has noted, the big dogs are coming in from the cold. Chapeau everyone.
Addendum 2: Neil says no drafting in race1 next year. Niteor showed me at 25% drafting factor, the lowest of the top50 finishers. I think I will like this. Cheers , and thanks for the race.
Hey Paul, did you hit the youtube link and watch the race coverage?? Colin who does the amazing coverage was wondering about your age! Set him straight Mucker!!
But we cant put rocks in water bottles, but if you buy a hoodie i’ll add some ballast to anyone you ask me to 😂😂😂😂😏😉
deal..just help me figure out how to get stuff from Europe to the USA and pay for it.. .as for age, to whom to i send the birth certificate…lol, and cheers
Taking away drafting affect to ascertain power rating category is a step in the right direction. But shouldn’t we all be on the same bikes and wheels, (Rouvy), for a true level playing field.
Probably true, but when else will I ever be able to race a top end Trek bike, which I otherwise cant afford.
hey Paul, thanks for the comment and i’d love to be able to implement bike and wheel restrictions but its just not an option when creating races. And you also can’t see what bikes and wheels are being used in the final standings, but if you could, then i would then implement something like that and DSQ riders who didn’t stick to the rules. At the moment i just ask rouvy when they do poles to allow more fine tuning for race organizers, or at least show what bike and wheels they used.
Really fun start of the race and was still hanging on to the front group and feeling in control halfway up the first climb … when ALL electricity in most of Roskilde went (over 20.000 households hit). Pitchblack everywhere and even some helicopters in the air. Couldn’t even do the next race since I only had electricity on my phone and not on the hometrainer (or the apple tv, fan, ipad, rizer, tv). When the electricity finally came back it was way too late to start the late race.
Right now just really pissed off (but since I’m writing this friday probably more … a ‘bit’ annoyed 😉) but so far thanx for a fun year racing with you all, guys – and I have to say congrats with a well-deserved 3. place to Velobuch – Remy and Karel are miles ahead. With the november championship gone out the window I might as well use it as ‘my month off’ so see you all in december – if I’m cooled down that is – but I guess the upcoming Kraftwerk and Radioheads concerts – or Colle del Nivolet 🤌🏻 on sunday – will do just that 😎
oh crap Mucker!! a quick look at your world championship spread sheet and your worst month was January where you got 28 points. This is 23rd place. So if you skip this month and record a 0, you’re 28 points will be added. So maybe just hold off on the defeatist attitude 😉. The question is, can you do better than 23rd place over the next 3 races? They would have to be monumental races, but if anyone can do it, you can. just for reference, we had riders finish last months championship in 8th, 10th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, and 28th place who had only completed 3 races.
I’m totally sympathetic to the power cut and feel your pain, i just wanted to maybe find you a bit of a challenge/goal/reason to show you all is not lost. Also you being up there, takes the points away from the others!
Think about it………
Thanx for the update, Neil 👍🏻 I’ll probably tackle november as a bonus month and will def. do the third race. The other two races are way too flat for my modest sprint. Then I’ll be fired up for december again 😎 At least it was a bit out of the ordinary this time and not the usual Rouvy glitch … or massive amount of sweat cutting the electricity just before the finish 🫣
And I also like the idea of making the first race every month without draft. A monthly Contre la montre would be nice 🤌🏻 And what about making the results every month based on the 3 best racing scores – with the worst result not counting. That way we would have more riders on a level playing field at the end of the month and you could target the races that suit your profile?
But perhaps the work associated would be way too much – just a thought and a way to avoid glitches making too much damage.
Hey Hans, thanks for the comments. Deffo doing first race as a non draft race next year but I’m not feeling best 3 out of 4 for the month however. Reasons being the admin, the fact those battling to get into the top 50 need to know the exact points they are on before race 4, those guys racing near the edges of the top 50 need the 4 races worth of points to hopefully get into the top 50 and overtake those that have only done 2 or 3 races. We want to reward those that race every week, not take away points from them.
Plus we’d never be able to get it perfect and help with every glitch. If we could that would be amazing, but its impossible. But we will have the recon race every Wednesday for those “worried” a glitch might come and at least have the chance to maybe do a training ride on the day before just to have a time on the board, plus learn the route? We have also said if we ever have one of those Thursday nights where its a massive issue with ROUVY, we will run an extra last minute race on the Friday evening to help with that. But random glitches we just can’t help.
Report from the bottom third (I finished 73rd): Wow – A6 but only 73rd. Who let the dogs out!? Only myself to blame for what I feel was a lackluster performance. I did the first climb at planned power (3.1W/kg) but then after 5 straight days of riding (and going too hard in the GWA race the day before this one), I had nothing left for the 2nd climb and only managed 2.7. Clearly a fitness issue, but it was good to be back in the mix (at least for a while) with Sharky, SLudford, Sunniva, LinV, Spartacus88, and others. Special call-out to BikeAndDogTrips – he’s a lot stronger than I, but he rode with another rider and me for quite a ways doing his best to “encourage” our progress. Hoping I’ll be able to complete all the races this month and give some of the other A6 participants a challenge on terrain that suits me better (although Thanksgiving Day will be a challenge – may have to do the recon instead for that last one).
thanks for the comment! My first reaction to the latest category calculations was quite negative, but the more i look at it and stop thinking about it in “old money” as in that the A6 is that over or around 3.0 average category, then it actually looks like a fairly competitive and interesting category. 17 of us in it right now, none of us got top 50, and our points from 1st to 17th are separated by just 11.75 points!
Also feel your pain in trying to juggle different races and championships as i’m also trying to do the GWA as well and have been battling with ROUVY on facebook over the last few weeks to please put on more time slots and not just on Muckers Race days. So fatigue in the legs is a serious consideration at the moment.
Race of the week in Colorado with strong list of riders. Mostly uphill profile, yet drafting was helpful for most of the time. I was feeling fine and could stay in front over first summit, where few riders attacked. Second climb did not taste much, i even did not notice Nelson attacked and was wondering why everyone accelerated. We regrouped, but i was on the limit already.
Another attacks and seven riders were gone. The gap was not big, but no way do anything. Markusjogge was closing gap, so it was tough till the finish. Solid watts, heart rate high, almost got cramps. Thank you all who joined us!
Well done Karel, thanks for commenting and good luck with the rest of the month! Gotta keep BareRemi behind you now so we have an even closer December championship so no pressure 😉
Neil, I like your ideas. I often experienced in the beginning of the races that I have issues staying in the draft and the first groups. And, this happened before, I suddenly had 0 watts on Rouvy but I push on my Kickr hard… so the transmission failures in this year made my Muckers Race appearances always a bit tricky because when Rouvy settled the transmission issue after a minute or so (maybe to many riders and data … does anyone have the same issue at the start? This was not the case in the Mucker races last year and all the years before) I found myself at the back of the race… so this time I felt back to position 65 and used the climb to get back to the front of the race. But the climb was often too flat and the front groups had the benefit of some drafting and some saving power. Happy with 20 in the end nevertheless. It was a great fight with so many strong riders. CU Patrick
really strong rider Mucker. my starts on the Wattbike are a lottery, but i find if i slow my cadence right down about 10 seconds before the start, but in a quite high gear, then when i see the 3,2,1 i start to wind it up and change up just as i see go, I get my best start. If i am not concentrating, mine loves to start me at around 1.5mph no matter what gear or cadence im turning and slowly speeds up even if i am doing 500 watts! So annoying and has taken me ages to work out the best starting strategy, but sometimes it reverts to the crap one and my race is ruined before it even begins. Good luck working out what works for you.