Have you tried Club Ladder racing? Last week, I jumped into my first Ladder race in almost two years. The concept is simple: two teams battle head-to-head, 5v5. Riders earn points based on finishing position, and the team with the most points wins. moving up the ranking “ladder.”
It’s such a strategic and engaging format; a tactical Zwift race experience that’s wholly different from what ZRL, ZRacing, or any Zwift scratch race. Read this post to learn more about Club Ladder racing, or visit the Club Ladder website (in particular the Rule Book) to learn all the nitty-gritty details.
This would be my first race with a new Ladder squad, Coalition’s Taraxyl. We were racing the new London Uprising route, with a custom finish near the bottom of the Fox Hill descent over climbing Box Hill. Interesting. Let’s go!
Race Prep
Heading into the race, we were doing what Ladder racers do: chatting on Discord to formulate a plan! Looking at power numbers, we thought we would have the advantage on the climbs, while our opponents (Coalition Nezerium, aka “Nez”) would have the pure watts to do well on flats and descents. So our plan was to make them work hard on Fox Hill, without breaking the race apart. We could then stay together for the descent and flats that followed, then go hard on Box Hill to (hopefully) drop some opponents.
The Club Ladder site produces lots of cool charts to help you plan your race. Here’s the data for this match:
On the morning of the race, one of our riders had to call in sick. Without a sub on hand, our captain reached out to the Nez squad to ask if we could make it a 4v4 race, and they agreed to do so (#sporting).
With that, our squad of four was finalized:
- Louise Deak
- Ed H
- Claire Martin
- Eric Schlange
We would be racing these Nez riders:
- Mike
- Martin
- Matt
- Tom
The Start: Fox Hill
Sitting in the London start pens, my team chatted on Discord as we spun our legs to stay warm. One of the Nez riders was wearing the wrong jersey (our jersey), and we messaged a request for him to change to his team’s kit… but that never happened. (This may seem like a small thing, but in a Ladder Race especially, wearing the right kit is important. Those visuals help you make split-second decisions and, in fact, this would cause issues later in the race.)
With DS Beccah in our ears, we headed out of the pens and turned left to cross Tower Bridge, go through The Underground tunnel, then start climbing Fox Hill.
The pace was easy until we hit Fox Hill, then it picked up predictably. Our group strung out into a single-file line, but I was able to stay in the wheels where I wanted to be, in that “comfortably suffering” place bike racers know so well.
Five minutes into the climb, we were nearing the top. Nez’s Mike was clearly struggling near the back, and Martin seemed to be hanging back to assist him. With those two dangling off the back, things felt like they were going our way.
Then suddenly, everything exploded!
I went from being well-positioned to being gapped in the span of a few seconds as Nez’s Matt (wearing our team kit) sprinted me off his wheel. By the time I realized what was happening, a sizeable gap had opened, and Claire was on my wheel, and DS Beccah was telling us not to drop Claire!
So I made the split-second decision to ease a bit to make sure Claire stayed on my wheel, because we didn’t want her in a 1v2 matchup against two bigger guys heading into the descent and flats. I figured we’d catch the group of 4 up the road on the Box Hill descent.
But I was wrong.
At the start of the descent, we were just 4 seconds behind the front group. But the two Nez riders in that group (Matt and Tom) wisely began pushing to keep their speeds high descending Box Hill, and even though we put in some digs, we weren’t able to close down the gap. In fact, it grew to 10 seconds by the bottom! Fox Hill had taken too much out of my legs, and I just didn’t have the gas in the tank to pull us back.
The Middle: Flat and Chill
With our teammates not pushing the pace in the 2v2 front group, and the Nez riders in our group not working to bridge up, Claire and I tried to keep our speed steady and high enough to chase back to the front on the flat Classique section that followed. But the Nez riders in front weren’t having it, putting in strong pulls that kept pushing that gap out. Smart.
Eventually, Claire and I pulled the plug on the chase. The race would be two groups of 2v2.
Claire and I tried a little attack on the Classique hairpin (where riders are slowed), but Mike and Martin clearly had the pure watts to hold our wheels on flat roads, and we didn’t want to burn out our legs heading into Box Hill.
With a small number of riders in our group, and no chance to bridge up to the group ahead, strategic decisions crystallized. We were confident Claire had the w/kg to drop the two Nez riders with us. And I figured I could at least drop Mike, based on how he struggled up Fox Hill. My only question was, had Martin hung back with Mike just to help, or because Martin was struggling, too?
We would know soon enough. My plan was to let Claire attack first and get a gap while I sat back and made the Nez riders chase. Then, closer to the top, if I felt up to it, I would attack and try to drop both Nez riders as well.
The Final Climb: Box Hill
Each team’s final strategies would be put to work on Box Hill. Up the road, Ed and Louise were playing chess with Nez riders Matt and Tom, each team trying to figure out how tired the other riders were, who should follow who on attacks, etc.
My group started the Box Hill KOM together, then as we turned right and began the steepest part of the climb, Claire ramped up to 4.5-5 W/kg. Martin was trying to chase, but he was slowly losing her wheel. I was sitting on his wheel, benefiting slightly from his draft while he was forced to work a little extra if he wanted to close the gap to Claire.
After a minute or so, Martin gave up the chase. We hit the hard left turn and the road flattened a bit, so I activated my draft powerup, grabbing just a bit of recovery and steeling myself mentally for my planned attack.
We turned the next hairpin, and as the road ramped back up to 5%, I attacked hard from Martin’s slipstream, with Claire 35 seconds up the road. I quickly opened up a gap of 10, 15, 20 meters. It was working! I gritted my teeth, trying to keep my power steady and high to the top.
Beccah was in my ear, cheering on the effort and letting me know I had to beat both Martin and Mike for us to win. Ed chimed in, “You’ve broken them Eric, keep going.” I could see the gap growing behind me, and I kept pushing, wanting at least 10 seconds once I hit the flats so they wouldn’t have time to work together and pull me back.
The Finish
Through the Box Hill banner, I was now 30+ seconds ahead of Mike and Martin, who seemed to have given up the chase. Up the road, teammate Louise was facing off with Tom to see who would take 1st on the fast downhill finish, while Nez’s Matt was solo in the 3rd slot, and Ed and Claire were working together in the 4th and 5th slots.
In Discord, I heard the action as Louise executed a perfectly-timed sprint to take the win. Chapeau!
I hammered up the little kicker after Box Hill, keeping the power up until I could stop pedaling and supertuck. All that was left was to coast across the line near the bottom of Fox Hill…
(As it turns out, my “overmuscled cyclist” physique and masterful (lazy) supertucking served me well, and I flew past Ed and Claire just before the finish, landing 4th overall.)
See final result on the Club Ladder site >
See my ride on Strava >
Watch the Video
Takeaways
It may seem counterintuitive, but these Ladder races with 2 teams and only 8-10 riders often feel like they have a lot more action than a typical Zwift race with 50+ riders. I think it’s because you’re noticing more of what’s going on, and every rider’s actions have real implications for the race. It’s a super engaging format, both mentally and physically.
While I kicked myself a bit for being inattentive and getting gapped near the top of Fox Hill, it turned out to be a mistake that worked in our favor. (Or at least, didn’t hurt us.) Apart from that little snafu, this race had everything that makes bike racing fun for me:
- hard efforts that put me on the rivet
- teamwork
- a successful attack
- a team win
I think this is my first time riding in a mixed-gender Ladder squad, too, and that was a cool experience as well. Claire and Louise are both significantly lighter riders than the six guys in the race, and that really changes how you approach things strategically.
The Club Ladder website delivers cool post-race charts as well:
And here are the final placings and points:
Lastly, of course, we have the traditional team shot!
Your Thoughts
Have you tried Club Ladder racing? Share your thoughts and questions below!
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