“Flat Is Fast” ZRacing January Series Details

Zwift’s “ZRacing” is the platform’s most popular ongoing race series, with over 45,000 riders participating in last month’s races!

In January the series takes on a group of flatter routes. But the bigger news is a shakeup in how the events are categorized, which I unpack below.

Read on for details about new category ranges and top-level races, plus race routes and strategically competing in the monthly GC competition.

Category Shakeup

Beginning in January, Zwift is making major changes to the category ranges used in ZRacing events. Their goal? “Fairer, more competitive racing for everyone.”

Zwift is doing this by creating a new set of “Advanced Category” races for riders with a Zwift Racing Score of 650+. Additionally, races for riders at 700 and below will feature tighter, alternating category ranges.

Read all about Zwift Racing Score >

Advanced Category Races for 650+

One common complaint among top-ranked racers is a lack of participation in the top category of ZRacing events. Zwift is working to change this by creating a new set of “Advanced” category races targetting riders with a Zwift Racing Score of 650+.

Unlike the old ZRacing schedule with its hourly events, these Advanced races will only be held 5x per day in order to focus participation and improve competition at the top level.

Event times will be as follows, but Zwift says “We will evaluate the number of times ongoing according to demand”:

• 10:15 UTC/5:15 ET/2:15 PT
• 12:15 UTC/7:15 ET/4:15 PT
• 18:15 UTC/13:15 ET/10:15 PT
• 19:15 UTC/14:15 ET/11:15 PT
• 00:15 UTC/19:15 ET/16:15 PT

Note: you can always “race up” in Zwift, so even if your Zwift Racing Score is below 650, you can join the Advanced events.

Tighter, Alternating Categories for 700-

For riders with a Zwift Racing Score of 700 and below, ZRacing events will feature tighter categories that alternate hourly between two different sets of ranges:

• Category Range 1: 0-160 | 160-270 | 270-390 | 390-510 | 510-650
• Category Range 2: 0-210 | 210-330 | 330-450 | 450-570 | 570-700

A few interesting things worth noting:

• Riders with scores between 650-700 will have the option of racing in the new Advanced events, or in the top category of Range 2 events.
• If you’re looking for a race where you have the best shot of winning, the alternating Range 1/Range 2 events give you access to an event where you are fairly close to the top of the category range.
• Looking for a harder workout? You can always race up a category, or choose a category range that puts you near the bottom of the category.
• Category ranges flexing across events has implications for riders competing in the overall monthly GC. More on this below…

Monthly GC

Each month’s series includes a time-based GC (general classification) on ZwiftPower tracking riders’ best finishing times for each week’s race. Just like a Tour de France-style stage race, the rider with the fastest combined time across the month’s stages wins!

See January’s GC on ZwiftPower >

With Zwift restructuring event categories in January, riders competing in the GC will need to think more strategically than ever. There are now 203 weekly events being held, and those events rotate between three different combinations of categories (Advanced, Range 1, and Range 2 as explained above). Riders will need to consider:

• Field Size Matters: all else being equal, the fastest times will come from the largest fields. So riding in the most popular races can help your GC results. But also…
• Category Range Matters: a group of riders with scores between 330-450 will be faster than a group of riders at 270-390. So while Zwift may recommend either of these categories for you if your score is 350, and you may have a better chance at a race win in the 270-390 group, the upper category may very well give you a better finishing time. But also…
• Your Abilities Matter: neither of the above considerations matters if you get dropped from the front group midway through the race.

While the GC results pages on ZwiftPower let you filter by score range, those are really artificial groupings at this point since the actual events aren’t using those score ranges. It may be most helpful to see the GC as a way of ranking yourself against the entire universe of ZRacing participants, which means it’s up to you to choose your events and execute your races strategically to maximize your GC ranking.

New to Zwift Racing? Three important GC-related notes:

1. You must be signed up for ZwiftPower to be included in the GC results. Need help? Read How to Sign Up for ZwiftPower (and Why Every Zwifter Should Do It).
2. To be included in the final ZwiftPower results, you must use a heart rate monitor as well as a smart trainer, smart bike, or power meter.
3. You can race each stage multiple times to improve your finishing time.

January’s Routes

Here are the routes we’ll be racing in January:

• Stage 1 (Dec 30-Jan 5): Tempus Fugit
  • 1 lap (19.6km, 22m elevation)
  • Powerups: Draft, Aero 🛈
• Stage 2 (Jan 6-12): Beach Island Loop
  • 2 laps (26.4km, 88m elevation)
  • Powerups: Draft, Aero 🛈
• Stage 3 (Jan 13-19): London Flat
  • 2 laps (24.4km, 230m)
  • Powerups: Draft, Aero 🛈
• Stage 4 (Jan 20-26): Douce France
  • 1 lap (24.8km, 133m)
  • Powerups: Feather, Draft 🛈
• Stage 5 (Jan 27-Feb 2): The Fan Flats
  • 3 laps (19.5km, 48m)
  • Powerups: Draft, Aero 🛈

See upcoming “Flat Is Fast” events >

Get the Badge

Each month’s ZRacing series has a unique achievement badge, which you can unlock by finishing every stage for the month. There are no makeup events, so if you miss a stage, you miss out on the badge and competing in the GC.

One and Done

Zwift has planned these events to deliver a solid 1-hour workout, so each race should only take around 1 hour to complete, including your warmup and cooldown.

Questions or Comments?

Post below!