A busy week, with the return of Ryan’s super social rides and racing on Sunday!
Monday saw a slightly earlier social run and our monthly committee meeting at the pelican. All manner of things were discussed, and the minutes will be made available in due course but some highlights included:
- Swimming Options (We may have an option going forward, as soon as we know anything we will share)
- The club race
- Finances
- Member feedback (Please, please, please keep feeding back to your member reps, it’s hugely valuable to us!)
Tuesday saw the standard coached run session at Oxstalls campus, still no photos though!
Wednesday was coached swim and Thursday…
Thursday Zwift
Thanks Matt Simkins for the writeup!
Gordon decided on trying something different for this weeks Zwift club ride (Thursdays 6.30), unbeknown to him it was also different to what he thought he was doing…
The plan was to take part in British Cyclings TT series. Usually, on the road, you’d go off at minute intervals, and try to catch your ‘minute wo/man’ and not be caught from behind. Zwift does things a little differently, presumably having 120 people entering would mean a 2 hour delay start for those at the end, so makes sense to have a rolling group start. The only difference from a normal Zwift ride and that in a TT format is the lack of drafting effect in the TT, so basically it’s you against your legs, without outside assistance.
Pete Jones, suffering from a bout of lurgy, decided he’d be best used watching from the comfort of his sofa, and commentating on everyone’s bike/wheel combo, how many watts the rider at the front was doing (5w/kg), and pointing out that if anyone else had the energy to message during the effort, they weren’t trying hard enough. Regarding the bikes, most of us had used our ‘sweat points’ to upgrade to a TT bike and aero wheels – because its all about the bike and nothing to do with the engine right?
Around 10 TTG’ers rode, with around half improving on their FTP (Zwift calculates this on an ongoing basis so the workouts are more suited), biggest gains were Adey Cole and Mike Daly, with 22 and 21 watt increases which was either very impressive training efforts or shows how hard they didn’t try last time they did an FTP test ;-), with Katie Weeks, Dave Heywood, Jon Murgatroyd, Gordon Saunders also seeing improvements.
Well done to all that joined in, great to see some healthy competition pushing up the effort levels. These sessions are great for when you need to put in a shift as part of your training. The normal format is a ‘group ride’ where everyone stays bunched together, regardless of watts, so don’t be concerned about being dropped, it literally can’t happen.
The Time Trial format is a great way to add some fun to your bike work, with weekly TT’s locally, through Gloucester City, Swindon Wheelers & Dursley through the summer. These are fun informal events, with the focus on improving your times, yes there’s a healthy amount of racing snakes, but also a decent number of everyday riders on all sorts of bikes, so don’t feel like you’d be out of place if you haven’t got a TT bike, disc wheel or tri bars, only requirement is bike, helmet, front and rear lights. Keep an eye on the WhatsApp group for announcements when the evenings get lighter.
Hope to see you either on Zwift or at a TT soon.
Please message Gordon for the link to the Zwift WhatsApp group.
Weekend!
Saturday saw another of Ryan’s excellent social rides, with a group of 8 and 3/4 venturing from Churchdown up to Tewkesbury via Wainlodes and Tredington.
I was lucky to be able to join for the first time in a while, and it was really great to see everyone out and the blur of orange and blue at a great, social pace. Coffee and Cake at the community centre on the return.
Sunday was race day for five of our TTGers, Adey, Katie K, Lee, Ryan and Katie W all braved the cold for the second race in the Tewkesbury Aquathon series and it was excellent to see some other members coming out to support and cheer on.
Our very own Ryan Green placed second overall with an absolutely storming time of 00:27:53 and Katie Weeks placing as third female.
Elsewhere, both Katie K and Adey managed to take over a minute and a half off their previous times (00:36:37.1 vs 00:35:03.1 and 00:40:38.4 vs 00:39:03.7 respectively).
Lee would have taken some time off (guestimate of about two mins), but chose instead to swim an extra 50m…
As a spectator, it seemed like a great event and the next one is in April so should have warmed up by then!
Reminders and AYB!
Don’t forget to follow the club on Facebook and Instagram, as well as join the club Strava!
If you’re planning any races, please let us know by filling in the form here. Likewise, we always love hearing what our members have been up to, so let us know!
We Need you! Make sure you add the club race to your diaries: 28th May 2023, we will need support marshalling! Also please make sure you tell everyone that’ll listen, it’s a great event and we look forward to seeing some fresh faces, as well as return visitors!
AGM!
On the Monday 27th March 2023 it is the TTG’s annual AGM to be held at the Gala Club, Longford.
It is the clubs 25th year of running so deserves celebration and we would love everyone to come and join us!
(A few very special mentions are in order)
Kick off at 7.15pm when the committee will share all there is to know about the ins and outs of the club, along with the financials, future plans moving forward and all thats in-between!
It is also a great opportunity to express any feedback and opinions you may have as the members, as well as ask any of those long awaited questions you may have!
See you all there!
Club Kit
Club kit is now available to order again. For those not in the know, we open kit ordering windows a few times a year, we do need to get a minimum of ten orders in order to ship
You need to go on and purchase the kit you want, paying on the website, orders then get delivered to one central address will then be distributed to members
I am waiting on dispatch timescales and will let you know asap, but please note that this can be several weeks (hence why you may want to order now if you want club kit for May / June races)!
https://champsys.uk/collections/tr-team-glos
Lots of members have various items so any questions on fit or style, so have a chat with others if unsure. Don’t forget that new members get £20 off their first tri suit ordered, just forward Charlie the invoice and we’ll arrange a £20 refund!
TTGYG
Next Week
| Monday | Social Run (Meet at 6.15pm in Sainsbury’s car park) Ping Pete B for details |
| Tuesday | Coached Run at Oxstalls Campus |
| Wednesday | Coached Swim at GL1 |
| Thursday | Zwift (Check Whatsapp for Details) |
| Friday | |
| Saturday | Bike TBC |
| Sunday | Bike TBC |
