If you pay attention to Zwift group rides and races you have certainly seen those hosted by ODZ. They’re some of the most creative rides on the Zwift calendar: the Coffee Rides, Cat & Mouse, ODZentury, and a recent Game of Thrones-themed team race.
Quan Nguyen is part of the ODZ group organizing these rides, and I chose to interview him because most of the other ODZ organizers like to remain anonymous. (Members of the group go by aliases including: Bond/James Bond, Baby Maker, Professor of everything Chamois cream, Le H4x0r, Lefty/Wannabe Pro, Numbers dude/Eye of Sauron, Sexy Secretary, El Chapo’s Fit Nephew, Pumpkin Patch Ging, Honey Badger, and Obligatory tri-guy.)
As you can see, the ODZ group has an excellent sense of humor and a creative flair for ride planning. Read on to learn more about Quan and ODZ!
Tell me a little about yourself–how long you’ve been riding, what sort of riding you do, when you discovered Zwift, where you live, etc.
I am an optometrist, husband, and father of a two year old. I live in Southern California where there is massive traffic in the mid day, and bro trucks will try to run you over. I started riding in 2005 working on old school road bikes, fixies, and finally made the switch to a Cannondale Caad 9 in 2010. In my past, I’ve participated in events such as the Wolfpack Marathon crash, El Dorado crits, but my favorite type of events are hilly 1 day road races like Boulevard and UCLA road race.
I first heard about Zwift in January 2015, which happened to be the same time that I bought a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine 2.0. It completely changed my life because I was finally able to work full time, train in the morning, and still have time for my family. I watched steadily as my wattage increased, and my HR was dropping. Everyday, I thank my wife for gifting me an avenue for getting in cycling without having to go outside.
How would you describe your philosophy as a race organizer? What is most important to you when organizing Zwift races?
I must add that I am just one of the many organizers of the ODZ rides. They wish to remain anonymous, but go along with several aliases. We have a co-founder and CEO, Bond/James Bond, Baby Maker, Professor of everything Chamois cream, Le H4x0r, Lefty/Wannabe Pro, Numbers dude/Eye of Sauron, Sexy Secretary, El Chapo’s Fit Nephew, Pumpkin Patch Ging, Honey Badger, and Obligatory tri-guy.
My personal philosophy is to challenge yourself, but in moderation so you can stay in the cycling game in the long run. Create a set of reasonable and flexible rules that like-minded people can follow. Have like-minded participants help you so you can control the chaos, because there will always be some sort of chaotic event in Zwift, just like in real races in real life.
As a whole, ODZ organizes races as a way to promote teamwork and develop members of Team ODZ. We want the C/D riders to count just as much as the A/B riders. Our A/B riders will sit on the start/finish line to cheer on the C/D riders at the end. Team ODZ also does a couple ODZentury rides during the week to develop endurance fitness. We have several variations depending on who is leading them, but there are quite a few 2.5 w/kg steady and 3.0 w/kg steady rides. These conversational “club rides”…..sometimes have a live gameshow thrown in!
What race(s) are you currently organizing on Zwift, and how long have you been doing them? What makes these races different than other Zwift races?
ODZ has been organizing the Coffee Rides, Cat & Mouse ride, ODZentury, and special events such as Star Wars and Game of Thrones. I believe the co-founders started with Coffee rides in August, and as we added regulars to the group, we thought of adding the other events to mix up training and provide options for riders in different time zones and abilities.
Coffee ride is our “Entry level” race for someone that is not familiar with ODZ racing to give it a try. The ride is pace controlled until the “expresso lap”, where anything goes. The Cat and Mouse ride uses rider segment times to “handicap” their start time based on segment time on Strava. You need to work as a group within your category to avoid being caught by the cat riders (A category)… it is very much like a group FTP test. We laugh on Teamspeak because the end of the race is very quiet because everyone is pushing their group so hard.
These races are a bit different from other groups because they’re not just individual time trials. Participants are beginning to get a feel for drafting, conservation of energy, and the added social aspect from TeamSpeak adds a huge benefit to “connecting” to our riders. We cheer each other on like real teammates/friends would in real life.
What suggestions would you give to someone interested in joining your races for the first time?
Show up to one of our coffee rides, and see what kind of pain you can dish out to some of our regular riders. After we recognize your name on Strava or Zwift, we will let you into our more exclusive ODZ group on Facebook where we plan special events, talk smack, etc.
If the folks at Zwift HQ could add one feature to Zwift to make your job easier, what would it be and why?
Personally, I would love to see a race module where one or more leaders can control timing, position, start/finish points, bonuses for KOM/sprint/lap jerseys. The current races have leaders who have labeled names (leader markers), and rely mainly on chatting (which can lag) or TeamSpeak (which not everyone utilizes). There is definitely room for innovation for group rides on Zwift.
ODZ would love to see a “Horse race” with starting gates that would allow the ride leader to release a category of riders at a time to start group event races. Neutral start races are tough because there is influence from other riders on course and folks get frustrated when there is a standing start race. Currently, race participants have a hard time latching onto their group because they can’t get into the draft of the target group.
