@mugwump I had a similar problem where my power stopped registering after a few minutes and the avatar stopped riding. Way outside my area of expertise but I switched from ant+ to Bluetooth and that seemed to fix it for me. Unfortunately I was already dropped by the time I figured it out.

@mugwump still figuring out the strategy but the gap between me and @Jeff Condon was because of the groupings. The C Group set off I think 3 minutes ahead of the Bs and like 5 minutes ahead of the As

Strategy seems to be stay 2nd wheel until the final sprint. There is no added benefit from sitting in the middle or back of the pack. TBH I didn't even feel like 2nd or 3rd wheel was any easier.

strategy, um, pedal pedal pedal — on zwift: expect the start to be nuts hard, don’t allow gaps to open up, expect attacks on whatever is the last climb/rise, expect sprints to be 700 meters or maybe longer. 

Yeah the biggest mistake I made was treating the final like a road race (hiding as long as possible). Next time it'll be stay top three wheels until you get out of the saddle...

Yeah the start is kind of like CX. Also I think you can ramp up your speed in the starting corral (IE last 10s before the gun, start pedaling hard). There's a recent GCN video about the ins and outs of Zwift racing that might be informative. 

 I used to use an ant dongle at the end of a long USB extension cord for all indoor stuff but recently have just been using bluetooth and haven't had any issues. 

used an ant+ dongle extension cable when I started, but have been using bluetooth exclusively for the past couple of years, they clearly spent time on this, and works very reliably. 

One trick with bluetooth is that your devices (your kickr, your stage pm, hr strap, etc...) can only connect to one thing via bluetooth, and you want that thing to be zwift. So you can't use your wahoo bolt, or phone. Sometimes I have to shut off BT on my phone, and then, like magic, zwift finds all my devices.

Today I used my stages for power and candence, my tickr for HR, and the kickr for controllable trainer.

ymwv

awesome, i will give this a try. thanks for the suggestions @eloy and @RobertMullen

eloy said:

One trick with bluetooth is that your devices (your kickr, your stage pm, hr strap, etc...) can only connect to one thing via bluetooth, and you want that thing to be zwift. So you can't use your wahoo bolt, or phone. Sometimes I have to shut off BT on my phone, and then, like magic, zwift finds all my devices.

Today I used my stages for power and candence, my tickr for HR, and the kickr for controllable trainer.

ymwv

Didn't know Bluetooth receivers can only pick up one transmitting device at at time reliably. Doesn't seem like a great system if that's the case.

^absolutely nothing.

Yuppppp. Instead, throw on your favorite mix of thrash/deep house/Michael Bolton and dig deep.

to be clear bluetooth receivers can typically receive multiple bluetooth signals reliably  — ie your computer running zwift, can pick bluetooth signals from your power meter, hr, trainer, headphones, etc

most devices *transmitting/broadcasting* can only connect to one bluetooth receiver — so for example your power meter won’t be able to connect to your phone and computer at the same time via blte

there’s more nuance than that... as blte can be a two way connection, ie controllable trainer, and there are multiple blte channels, etc — but for almost all consumer cases, the above is true.

There also may be a limit on number of Bluetooth signals a device can receive. I run Zwift through an Apple TV and it can only connect to three Bluetooth devices simultaneously (and the remote counts so really it’s only 2). Because of this I connect my trainer and heart rate monitor and then let me trainer also transmit cadence. 

Results homies

 I crossed the KOM in third and immediately lost contact with the ultimate 3rd place finisher. Shoulda chased at the end but didn't think I could catch him. Oh well. #dickspot   Nice job @RobertMullen

That course was pretty rough but a ton of fun. 

The A race had the same characters from last week's. Lost the front group of like 2 or 3 dudes but settled in the chase group until the last climb to the radio tower. I absolutely cracked and just hung onto 10th for the reminder. Averaged 306w for the race. This week's longer race was more fun then the shorter ones. 

Probably wasn't an amazing idea to do a cadence over under work for thirty some minutes. Definitely fried the legs. Also 2hrs and not eating a single thing since waking up was another bad one. Oh well live and learn

Super bummed to miss this - couldn't sleep last night and didn't want to neck punch my immune system with a hard race. Pulled the plug at 3am. Looks like it was awesome

awesome racing everyone - congrats! @RobertMullen

Woo almost reintroduced to my breakfast by the end there. Also, deep down always knew my biggest cycling victory would happen in my apartment at 0mph. 

was fun, hard fun! told myself again that I wouldn't go mega deep, somehow still got a TP new heart rate notification, oh well -- we'll keep it mega mellow today. I think I too enjoyed the longer route. Really awesome to just ride with all of you even if virtually.

Here's a screen shot, Richard on my wheel, as we go chasing Jim in the group a few seconds ahead.

eloy said:

was fun, hard fun! told myself again that I wouldn't go mega deep, somehow still got a TP new heart rate notification, oh well -- we'll keep it mega mellow today. I think I too enjoyed the longer route. Really awesome to just ride with all of you even if virtually.

Here's a screen shot, Richard on my wheel, as we go chasing Jim in the group a few seconds ahead.

Damn, even these virtual shots look sharp. 

so much hotness Rob!

Damnnnn...what's your setup like?? That the 4k Apple TV rendering??

-- just an old macbook, but I don't think that has anything to do with it, a couple of silly tricks for cool zwift shots: use the drone view, then turn off all the stats windows  

what's this talk about longer vs shorter course? which was today? i love this route BTW. However wasn't expecting the "bonus hill".

Past couple of races have been like 10mi crits or flatter courses. I don't think we've raced over 30mins yet! 

RobertMullen said:

Past couple of races have been like 10mi crits or flatter courses. I don't think we've raced over 30mins yet! 

Gotcha. 

Crazy fun race- chased Yack for the entire race and he ended up winning in the two up sprint at the end.

kept an eye on the w/kg for the group Rob and Jeff were in and they were absolutely crushing! Kissena keeps showing up and looking extra sharp!

Good to see a strong group of Kissenas in the front. There were also some good midpack battles with Eloy, Rich, Yang, Thierry and I trading blows for a while but in the end they all bested me. Looking forward to the next one. 

Jeff Condon said:

what's this talk about longer vs shorter course? which was today? i love this route BTW. However wasn't expecting the "bonus hill".

Yeah, I've done that route/climb dozens of times and it always sucks so hard. The 500 > 100m signs are the absolute worst since you're crawling up the 11% grade at like 5mph.

I can't believe how strong everyone is in this club. Y'all beasts.