Frequently Asked Questions

You are committing to improved fitness.

Specifically, the expectation is that you will do at least the core rides plus the associated 5-minute stretch. Competitive teams that are aiming for high leader board performance expect the Accelerator (AC) ride to be completed as well.

The usual time commitment:

• 3 rides - 1 core 60-minute, 2 core 45-minute ride, AC - 30 minutes
• 4 rides - 1 core 60-minute, 3 core 45-minute ride, AC - 30 minutes

Mid challenge - week 5/6 - you are usually given a 60-minute choice for one of the core 45 minute rides. As this attracts more points, teams going for max points will expect this option to be taken. 

The challenge starts with relatively easy PZ endurance rides, then builds in intensity through the mid-phase before tapering off in the last week. 

Sign up is through the PZPack.com website. It is free to do the challenge and sign up to the website is free for the basic functionality that enables you to do the challenge. There is a fee for the enhanced feature set.

Useful Facebook pages to join our Power Zone Pack and Peloton UK Power Zone Riders. 

Make sure you are keeping an eye out for Angie Verbeck’s trailing of the next challenge. She regularly posts to the main Power Zone Pack Facebook page.

Once you have signed up to the PZPack.com website you will see a Challenge sign-up menu. You will be asked which team you wish to join. Select Kilted Riders to join this team

N.B. Please ensure you choose the right team. If you do make a mistake, you can for a period of time leave the group and join another, but there will be a cut-off point. 

It is helpful to have done your test, so you have a baseline measure of your current fitness, you know what your zones are, and your zones reflect your current fitness level.  

The next challenge is the Zone Age  Challenge which is 8 weeks long and starts 27^th September 2021. 

Challenge rides are usually posted about a week in advance on the Wednesday of each week on the PZPack.com website - see link https://pzpack.com/members/challenges/current

We also post them in the Kilted Riders PZ team page. You should however make sure you are familiar with the PZpack.com website because this is where you mark off you have completed the ride, and this is our only source of data around completeness of rides.  

THIS IS IMPORTANT

You need to synch your PZpack.com profile with Peloton to ensure all your rides are captured in the PZPack.com website.  You also need to tick off that you have completed the ride in the Challenge section of the PZPack site. This will record you have taken the ride and will show your % completion for that week. 

We rely on this information to assess team performance and it is how scores are calculated so it is very important to record the hard work you have done. 

If you go a full week without logging a ride, you are automatically removed from the Challenge. 

The 5-minute post ride stretch is considered part of ride completeness and is obligatory. There are a number of points here:

• You can do a 5-minute stretch from any PZ coach. 
• To get maximum benefit and avoid injury you should do the stretch immediately after your ride - this also means you are unlikely to forget it J
• If you are stacking rides - i.e., doing two or more Challenge rides together - you only need to do one 5-minute stretch at the end of the session. 

Generally, the rides are ordered in intensity with the first one - Core1 or C1 - being the most intense. However, it is up to you in what order you perform the rides and when, as long as you get them done by midnight, UK time every Monday.

We encourage riders to space their rides as you need to factor in rest time too - especially during the mid-phase of the programme when the rides are harder.

Riding ahead for example - doing week 5 rides in week 4 as well as week 4 rides is permissible especially if you are planning for when you know you will not be able to ride - such as holidays, personal challenges, social commitments etc

You can only ride ahead for one week and be aware of overtaxing yourself or over-training. Be sure to factor in rest time.   

• There are 4 categories of performance:
• Platinum - 98% - 100% point per rider (PPR)
• Gold - 90% - 97.99% PPR
• Silver - 80% - 89.99% PPR
• Bronze- 79.99% and below PPR

Points are scored as follows:

• 45-minute ride - 10 points
• 60-minute ride - 15 points
• 75-minute ride - 20 points
• 90-minute ride - 25 points
• 30-minute ride- 5 points (AC)

You must have completed your core rides for the AC ride to contribute to your score.

The strength of PZ training is - once you have done your FTP test - your zones are set to your personal level of fitness. There are 7 zones, with 1 being a low effort recovery zone and 7 being all out peak effort, only sustainable for 30 seconds to a minute. 

 You will then be riding in particular zones as designed by the PZ Coaches and depending on the type of PZ ride:

• PowerZone Endurance - focus on zones 2 and 3
• PowerZone- focus on 3, 4 and 5
• PowerZone Max - zones 3 through to peaks into 7

By definition, the challenge cannot be too hard for you. Team scores are only assessed based on completeness of ride, not output or any other measure. By completing your rides, you are doing your bit for the team. 

Our team philosophy is Health over Points 

With sickness or injury, you are the best judge of whether you should be riding or not.

You need to prioritise your health and not ride if it will aggravate your condition or if your doctor has advised rest.

If you go a full week without logging a ride, you are automatically removed from the Challenge. 

Just let us know, so we know what to expect with your ride completion. 

There are a number of ways to ensure you are riding with a supportive group of high-fiving Kilted Riders:

• Add the hashtag #KiltedRiders to your profile
• Change your profile picture to your  Kilted Riders  badge
• Filter the ‘here now’ on #KiltedRiders, you are good to go.  
• Take check the Facbeook page for clan rides! 

In certain circumstances live rides can substitute for the scheduled Challenge rides:

• Live substitutes must be done either live (at the scheduled time) or on the day following the live ride, so must be completed by midnight the day after. 
• Live substitutes must be the same type of Powerzone ride and at a minimum a similar TSS (Training Stress Score) - so a scheduled PZ Endurance ride of 45 minutes and a TSS of 45 can only be substituted by a live PZ Endurance ride of 45 minutes or greater and a TSS of 45 or greater.  

Every week we will post allowable substitutions. 

Firstly, thanks for reading this far!

If you still have questions, please feel free to post it on the Kilted Riders page. Either of us, sub-team leads or another Kilted Rider will pick it up and respond.