How the Race Was Lost: Crit City Christening (Bell Lap)

It was killing me: Crit City had been live for a two days, and I still hadn’t raced it! (Sure, I’d pedaled around a bit, but that was for research so I could write insightful blog posts like this and this.)

You see, I’d fallen prey to some sort of cold/flu bug a couple days before Crit City released. With a sore throat, runny nose, and nagging cough making things generally miserable I took the adult approach and reduced my cycling efforts, knowing that hard rides stress the immune system.

But after a few days I was on the mend, so last night when my local buddy Zane asked if we were doing our regular early-morning Monday Zwift ride, I proposed a Crit City race. Zane was in–let’s rock!

Wake Up/Warm Up

My alarm sounded at 4:45AM: time to wake up, kit up, and warm up. It was too early to eat, and the race was short. So I followed my usual pre-race ritual: a piece of caffeine gum and some PR lotion on the legs. Then it was off to Fuego Flats for a warmup in my ugly Christmas kit.

Get advice for pre-race warmups on Zwift >

With plenty of time before the race began, I ramped up my effort slowly, letting my legs wake up after a few days of essentially zero effort. They felt good! I kept my cadence high, put in a few digs to get my heart rate up into the 160s, then it was off to the Crit City start pens.

The Start

The start pen was lively, with 40 B’s ready to race the new course. At least several riders were racing it for the first time, as I was. We engaged in the usual banter…

Then the clock hit 0 and it was time to go!

It’s been a long time since I’ve done a short race on Zwift. I typically prefer longer efforts, something in the 75-90 minute range. But this was just 8 laps of Crit City’s Bell Lap route, which I knew took around two and half minutes per lap. That means the race would only last about 20 minutes–a less miserable FTP test format, perhaps?

I thought the first lap would be pretty brutal, with riders trying to split the group. But it actually wasn’t bad at all! My guess is many of the riders were more interested in sightseeing than racing.

That’s not to say the start was easy! It wasn’t. As one Zwifter recently said:

So it’s like a typical Zwift race, right?

Big effort at the start…
Max wattage in the middle…
And a sprint to finish it off!

The Middle

The group quickly settled into a rhythm with its efforts–go harder up the twisties, descend the bricks easy, ramp it up again on the false flat leading to the eSports stage, then keep it steady through the start/finish and do it all over again. With the laps being so short (our lap times were consistently 2:34 to 2:36), this simple rhythm kept things mixed up nicely.

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After just two laps our group of 40 was whittled down to 27. On the third lap I decided to pop my feather powerup and put in a small attack up the twisties, trolling for others willing to work together and split the pack apart. Unfortunately, nobody went with me! I got a gap of a few seconds on the group, but I knew I couldn’t stay away on my own for 5 laps, so I sat up as we descended the brick section.

My lungs were starting to burn, and coughing was beginning to set in. Was I clearing out this sickness for good, or making it worse? No time for silly thoughts about personal health, Eric. We’re racing!

I defaulted to my standard race strategy: sit in until the end, chasing any substantial attacks, then see what I had left for the final sprint.

The Finish

When the final lap began I could sense the group surging ahead as the power ramped up. A rider or two immediately popped aero powerups heading into the twisty climb. Like the last lap of many outdoor crits, this was going to be a test of who still had big sprint power after holding on for a fast lap.

I got an aero helmet through the arch into the last lap, so I was happy with that. My legs were burning, and so were my lungs–and as much as I love the drama of a MVDP-style long attack, I didn’t think I had enough to stay away. So I decided to sit in as long as I could, then go hard and use the powerup in the final stretch.

The Bell Lap finish is actually very crit-like: it reminds me of some races I’ve done where you recon the course and make a mental note that I need to be 3rd wheel or better going into this last turn to have a chance at a win.

Unfortunately, I was sitting around 15th going into that turn, because the pack was going all-out and I was gassed. I activated my aero powerup, shifted, and got out of the saddle to hammer to the finish. 8th place out of the finishing pack of 26.

The final lap was 2:27 long, a full 7 seconds faster than any other lap of the race. My average power in that final lap was 364 watts.

Bonus: I hit the highest 20-minute power number I’ve seen in months (309 watts)!

See it all on Strava >
See results on ZwiftPower >

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Takeaways

After every race I try to debrief a bit, analyzing how things unfolded and what I could have done better. Being a brand-new route, this was definitely a learning experience for me! Here are a few takeaways I’ll use in future Crit City races:

• Mind your position in the finish: positioning is everything in crit racing, and while we can’t choose our left-right position in Zwift, we can modulate our power to determine how far back in the pack we sit. Especially on the Bell Lap route, if you’re not right near the front going into that final turn, you’re off the podium. From the final turn to the finish was only 5 seconds in today’s race, so my sprint needs to begin well before the last turn.
• So many powerups: while we didn’t get powerups by going through the prime segment banner, we still got them at the start of every lap. That’s a lot of powerups! This glut of powerups means I can use them freely throughout the race: popping a van to recover a bit in the group, or an aero or feather to attack off the front on the twisties.
• Thin the herd: in more competitive races, I can see the first 600 meters of the first Bell Lap being very decisive. This initial stretch immediately sees you on the biggest “climb” of the route (up through the twisty rollers until you pass virtual Zwift HQ on your right). Crit City is a fast course with no substantial climbs, making it easy for strong sprinters to sit in until the finish. Non-sprinters would be wise to put in some hard attacks on the inclines to drop sprinters early.

Ideas for the New Course

Crit City is full of corners, which combined with the short lap length really make the course special. But could the corners be improved? I think so.

Cornering Lines

Most crits feature multiple tight corners, and your ability to position yourself properly and take the best line play a huge role in determining how much speed you’ll carry through the corner (and therefore, how much you’ll have to hammer after the corner to get back up to speed).

I really enjoyed the many corners of Crit City–they gave the course a completely unique feel compared to other Zwift routes.

You know what I’d love to see, though? I’d like to see my avatar (and the pack as a whole) taking more realistic lines in the corners. That means hitting the apex, instead of staying in the outside lane on a left-hand turn.

With no other riders visible on course, it seems silly to leave an entire lane empty.

Auto Braking

As already mentioned above, the course’s small climbs, short laps, and abundant powerups help keep the race from turning into the steady threshold effort that some Zwift races can become.

That said, I think a bit of automatic braking into (at least) the two sharpest corners on the course would add another level of crit-like realism to Crit City races.

There are many ways this could be done, and I’ll probably focus an entire post on this topic soon. But just a basic “slow every rider to a maximum speed” on the two sharpest corners would be a great place to start. (Zwift already does this on one turn of the London Classique route, so we know it can be done.)

On the Bell Lap route, slowing the hairpin just after the start banner would really turn the uphill twisties into an attack section, as riders would need to hammer and regain speed after slowing on the corner.

Looking Forward To It

I thoroughly enjoyed my first Crit City race, even though I was a bit under the weather. As a bigger rider (~83kg) with a decent sprint, the course suits me nicely since it doesn’t have long/steep climbs. Plus there are lots of powerups available to allow for strategic attacks, which I enjoy.

Well done, Zwift HQ. I’ll be racing again here very soon!

What About You?

Have you raced Crit City yet? What are your first impressions?