An Ode to Tiny Races

I’m in love. I’ve been in love for 18 months. We’ve had a couple of forced breaks due to injury, but the flame is still burning brightly. High heart rates. Sweat. Back-to-back efforts. Exhaustion.

But this isn’t a secret. My wife and kids know. In fact, I can’t stop talking about this newfound love.

I’m in love with Zwift Insider Tiny Races (ZITR). There, I said it. Let the therapy begin.

For those who don’t know, ZITR is a weekly race series, with four back-to-back races within one hour. I haven’t been riding ZITR since it first started, and I don’t ride it every single week (injury and life get in the way), but I do love it.

Mind you, it didn’t start well. The first time I rode in ZITR I stumbled across one of the races (a single race, not all four), joined and rode, got DQ’d, then complained about it on Zwift forums! Eventually I rode ZITR again. Properly. All four races in a row. And the romance began.

But what’s there to love? So many things…

They’re Tiny (In a Good Way)

It’s not often being tiny is something to boast about, but let’s face it, racing is all about the beginning and end, with a whole bunch of boring in the middle. So why not get rid of the middle? ZITR gives you the opportunity to hone your endgame like no other race format.

Surprise Endings

ZITR uses custom route lengths more than any other race format. The banner might be just around a blind corner, 100m past a KOM just to mess with your mind, at the bottom of Alpe du Zwift, at the entrance to a castle, at the top of the annoying Mech Isle climb, anywhere. It makes the most well-known routes feel new. I liked this one in the desert, where it ends under a rock that resembles some kind of dinosaur (is that an Ankylosaurus?):

Clever Course Combos

One of my favorite parts of ZITR is the four-race format. The course combinations are often brilliant:

• Routes with a theme (end with a climb, end with a one-two punch, etc.)
• The same route, but getting longer each time (e.g. London Loop, getting closer to, and eventually further up, Box Hill each time)
• The same route and banner position, but with different powerups (Brilliant! Who comes up with this stuff? More on powerups in a bit, but see an example of this on Seaside Sprint below:

These clever combinations also make sure that different races and different weeks are suited to different types of riders with different strengths (not just pie-eaters like me).

Time Zone Options

There are three time zones “slots” for ZITR, and you only compete with riders in your time zone. This is great. One of the most annoying things about many Zwift general classification races is that unless you live in Europe or North America, you’re screwed because bigger fields = faster times due to the effects of drafting. I live in Eastern Australia, and it’s rare for there to be large fields when I’m awake, particularly in the ZRacing monthly race series. ZITR solves this. Simple. Shout out to Zone 3 ZITR!

Anticipation

Each week I can’t wait for the big ZITR reveal. What’s the theme? Will it have a clever name? What will the routes be? The banner positions? The powerups? Which rando will leave a bizarre comment about something that has nothing to do with ZITR? Probably me. The excitement is intoxicating.

Recognition

And if you win your Category/Time Zone? Your name goes up on the ZITR page for all to see. Of course in the old days it was even better. You’d be mentioned in the intro for the next week’s courses! But I guess the Zwift celebs of the world get too busy. Still, it’s better recognition than you get for winning Zwift TT Club for the month (*crickets*)…

Powerups … It’s All About the Timing

Powerups tend to be more important in ZITR than in most race formats, and the available powerups are generally well thought out. And they matter. If you don’t optimally use your powerup, it’s very difficult to win. I’ve heard some Zone 3 riders might even watch the Zone 1 races live just to work out the best strategy, then write up a cheat sheet with when to use the powerups and stick it to the wall, ready for race time (oh wait, that’s me).

How well can optimal powerup strategy work? The steamroller powerup on the Mech Isle climb is my favorite, especially this one. Race 4, for the race win, and overall win:

But I’ve won race 4, and overall, on this route with this powerup before, and it’s probably my favourite win of all time:

Groupies

But my love for ZITR probably comes down to the people who come back again and again. The shared pain of ZITR seems to create some kind of underground club. The banter and friendly rivalries are so fun. It’s always good to see familiar faces like the ones I’ve seen in Zone 3, Cat D over the past 18 months, including David and Issac (NZ), David (Canada), Le Fe and Rudiger (Australia), plus Ed, Jeff, John, Joshua, Leroy (and his dog), Matt, Soren, and two Todds (USA) just to name a few!

The opportunity to rest between races in the next pen is a nice side effect of the multi-race format, creating an opportunity to reflect on the last race, and worry about the next one. This is when the funniest chat happens. Who gets off their bike between races? How many fans are you using? Will a gravel bike make any difference? Can I borrow a bucket? Is Jesus Christ in a higher category, and did anyone actually get that joke?

I could go (and already have gone) on and on, but that’s the nature of love. I haven’t even mentioned:

• The AMAZING fitness benefits. I genuinely believe this is the most efficient workout you can do on Zwift
• The non-linear scoring system that encourages focusing your efforts on only the races you have the best chance in
• The craziness of race 1, since everyone thinks they have a chance
• The Zwift Insider kit being the same brand colors as my company, including the same keywords (our love was meant to be!)
• The fun of replaying all four races to your wife and kids on YouTube to reveal this week’s efforts (you see, there really is something wrong with me), and
• The fact I really don’t care if people join after the first race, quit before the last race (I’ve had to so I could take my kid to sport!), or skip a race … whatever … there are most important things to worry about in life

While recent injury and the new Zwift Racing Score have tried to dent my love for ZITR, it isn’t waning. It’s regrowing. (Just don’t tell ZITR I’ve recently finished my first round of ZRL races. It was good. Shhh!)