This week’s Top 5 Zwift Videos lineup starts with videos about Zwift race mistakes and lessons learned. Then we move on to advice for completing the PRL Full route in London, and get some ideas for a quality Zwift setup on a budget.
Why my most heartbreaking Zwift race ever… is also my most important
When a race doesn’t go your way, you might be able to learn something from it. Jake Sanderson (Snowman Cycling) analyzes a race where he came close to victory but missed out in the end.
How to get dropped in Zwift – an amateur learning lessons
Mostly Cycling also shares lessons learned from a Zwift race where he made mistakes.
Stop Doing This In Zwift Races
Oli Chi (ZRace Central) gives tips on what NOT to do in a Zwift race. Do you have any of these habits?
PRL Full badge – the Longest Route on Zwift // Tips and Strategy
Still need the PRL Full badge? Emile Mint has some advice to help you complete this tough London route.
Quality Zwift Setup on a Budget: My Top Picks For One Heck of A Zwift Setup
Ali Tariq from Smart Bike Trainers gives some helpful suggestions for a good Zwift setup on a budget.
Got a Great Zwift Video?
Share the link below and we may feature it in an upcoming post!
Zwifters love a good Strava challenge, and we’re also big fans of discounts and prize drawings! It’s rare that we see a Strava challenge sponsored by Zwift, but on Saturday a new one went live: the Zwift: Hub Challenge.
Completing the Challenge
Completing the challenge is quite easy: just ride 25km between Jan 14 and Jan 29, 2023. Qualifying activities include Handcycle Rides, Outdoor Rides, and Virtual Rides.
Your Reward
Finishing the challenge earns you a unique digital badge in Strava (of course) but also a coupon code for $50/£50 off the new Zwift Hub trainer (retail price $500USD). That’s 10% off what’s already the most affordable direct-drive smart trainer on the market!
Once you finish the challenge, you should receive an email with a link to redeem your reward. You can also just visit the challenge page and click “Redeem Reward” to register with Zwift to get your coupon code. Here are the three steps to get that $50 discount through Strava’s site:
Click “Redeem Reward”Enter your email and check the boxesAll done!
Swift Zwift Tip: Using Apple TV Picture-in-Picture With Zwift
Many Zwifters like to watch movies or TV while Zwifting. Personally, I’m not one of those Zwifters – I like to interact with other riders and see where I’m riding in Zwift. But if you’re an AppleTV user looking to watch TV while Zwifting, AppleTV’s picture-in-picture mode may be just what you’re looking for!
AppleTV has supported picture-in-picture mode for a few years now, and our favorite Lama from down under recently posted a quick tip explaining how it works:
A few notes:
You can’t run Zwift in the small window, and your other app as the large window. This is because only certain apps support running in the small window, and Zwift is not one of them.
That said, most modern TVs have a picture-in-picture mode that operates outside of AppleTV (for instance, it may use two different HDMI inputs). You may be able to figure out a way to make Zwift on your AppleTV be the smaller window, while watching a show from another source outside of AppleTV in the large window
It appears that YouTube can only be used as the small video source if you airplay it from your Phone/iPad
Audio can be a bit of a hassle, but Shane explains how to set it so you hear the audio from the smaller video source
If your TV has built-in picture-in-picture (#2 above) and you Zwift using a PC/Mac or other non-AppleTV device, you can use your TV’s built-in picture-in-picture to achieve a similar effect.
This week’s notable events include a ride with a very notable pro, and selections from a variety of group rides and races.
🤝 Sir Chris Hoy Doddie Aid coffee and cake ride No 2
This Sunday, Sir Chris Hoy will be leading a group ride for Doddie Aid. Not only is this a ride with a former professional cyclist, but a ride for a good cause. The goal of this ride is to raise money for cures for MND/ALS. The ride organizers would greatly appreciate any donations to the JustGiving page linked in the event description. Louise Minchin, another very notable name, will be present in this ride. In addition to this, over 400 riders are already signed up for this event, making it the largest community-organized event this weekend!
This group ride takes place over one lap of the Eastern Eight course in Watopia. The ride is openly paced, but most riders will likely choose to stick with Sir Chris Hoy for the duration of the ride.
The HERD Climber’s Gambit series is a race series built around a series of different hill climbs. The series consists of a variety of different routes with different climbs. This week, riders will be contesting on an especially short course in Yorkshire. The unique thing about the HERD Climbers Gambit series is that the series revolves around riders’ times on the KOM segment included in the route. Riders are ranked for the overall series based on their time relative to the other competitors.
USMES (US Military Endurance Sports) is hosting a quicker-paced group ride for those who are looking for a climbing training ride over the weekend. The ride will be paced at 2.5 w/kg on the flats, and up to 4 w/kg on the climbs. Included in this group ride are several climbs, most notably the Epic KOM. The goal of this ride is to push yourself to the limits on the climbs and enjoy the company. USMES asks that riders follow the leader’s instructions at all times, as there are no sweepers to help riders off the back.
This week’s group ride will take place on the Climber’s Gambit course in Watopia – a course that features a three different climbs.
TBR’s Enduro Race takes on a new format that I have not come across on Zwift. In this event, TBR is offering both the traditional categories, along with a category for riders who would like to race this event as a mass start iTT. In addition to this, this race is much longer than the traditional Zwift race at nearly 100km in length.
The race takes place over 10 laps of the Innsbruckring course, and it’s also a great opportunity for riders who want to get a head start on previewing the course for week 3 of Zwift Racing League.
Join the team at Endure IQ for a long endurance workout. Here is what Endure IQ says about it: “From a physiological perspective, these sessions help build power and strength but also promote fat oxidation and structural changes at a muscular level, such as increased mitochondrial content and capillarization while providing a strong O2 competent as well.” As with all group workouts, rubberbanding will be enabled to prevent riders from being dropped.
This group ride takes place on the long, hilly Four Horsemen course in Watopia. Because of the rubberbanding riders will not likely complete the route, but riders can earn the route badge by continuing the route post-event. The workout is 220 minutes long!
Zwift Grand Prix Tomorrow: “Last Team Standing” Race Details
Tomorrow (Friday) at 7pm UTC the Zwift Grand Prix’s final round kicks off with the men’s teams racing the “Last Team Standing” format. Women will race the same format next Friday. Here are the current men’s rankings:
And the current women’s rankings:
It’s important to note that only 5 men’s teams and 5 women’s teams will move on to the finals, so the big fight of this final round is to get (or keep) yourself into the top 6!
“Last Team Standing” Race Details
Previous Grand Prix rounds consisted of multiple smaller races, but this final round is just one race across 3+ laps of the Watopia Hilly route, ending atop the Hilly KOM. Total course length is 29.4km with 384m of elevation gain, but many riders will be eliminated before completing the full course.
60 riders (12 teams of 5) will take to the start line. The overall aim of the race is simple – make sure your team gets to the finish line without being eliminated, because the finish line is the only place where riders can score points.
There will be 6 elimination arches – at these arches, teams must ensure at least one of their riders is highly paced over the line, otherwise the entire team will be eliminated from the remainder of the race.
During the first lap of the race (arches 1-3) there will be no eliminations. From there eliminations will occur as follows:
Arch 4 (KOM) – must get a rider in the top 9 or whole team eliminated
Arch 5 (Sprint) – must get a rider the top 8 or whole team eliminated
Arch 6 (Downtown) – must get a rider in the top 7 or whole team eliminated
Arch 7 (KOM) – must get a rider in the top 6 or whole team eliminated
Arch 8 (Sprint) – must get a rider the top 5 or whole team eliminated
Arch 9 (Downtown) – must get a rider in the top 4 or whole team eliminated
After arch 9 the remaining teams will race to the finish line (Zwift KOM) where 10 points scoring opportunities will be available.
This race format is interesting on several levels:
More than one team can be eliminated at any arch, so riders must push to finish highly at arches 4 and following
Placing more than 1 rider from your team in the required top riders at an arch effectively eliminates other teams
While the maximum number of teams that can fight for points at the finish line is 4, the race can end before the finish line if one team takes all the top spots at arches 8 or 9, becoming the “Last Team Standing”
Watch Live
Each Friday’s races are livestreamed with commentary on Zwift’s YouTube and Facebook channels. Watch tomorrow’s event below:
The women’s race on January 20th can be watched here:
Last week’s Tiny Races and their “Uphill Finish” theme were especially hard, thanks to racers’ love of going all-out on inclines. A perfect VO2 workout!Congrats to #1-ranked Kristen Kulchinsky of Team Twenty24, who took home the win for the ladies in zone 2.
We’ve got another themed week this time around, but it’s a bit friendly to the “overmuscled” among us.
A: none B: Brenda Merritt (SISU) C: T Sperry (ATP Racing) D: Sophie Stallasch
*Lucy tied with Jamielee Wright for points, but Lucy had the highest finish, and thus got 1st place.
This Week’s Route(s): Rollercoasters
Last week’s races featured painfully slow climbing finishes. This week we’re going the other way, racing routes that remind us of rollercoasters. Up, down, twist, turn… you’ll have to keep your wits about you and know your route so you can time your finish to perfection!
Approaching Serpentine 8 finishSerpentine 8 finishApproaching London Loop finishLondon Loop finishApproaching Island Outskirts finish
Race 1: Neokyo Crit Course (4.7km, 1 lap) We start off our shortest and flattest route of the day, just to get the legs churning and hearts pumping. Will you go early on the Castle Park rise, or save it for the finish?
Powerup: Aero x2
Race 2: Serpentine 8 (5.5km, ends on rise climbing out of Mayan cutoff) This route is tricky in terms of bike choice, because it begins on pavement, is mostly dirt, but finishes on bricks! There’s even a bit of wood thrown in for good measure. Each of these surfaces rolls differently on different bikes, so you need to decide where you want your advantage. Read more about Crr on Zwift for details.
Powerup: none
Race 3:London Loop (6km, ends in tunnel exiting Underground) The short climb up Northumberland Ave will stretch out the pack and provide a place for climbers to drop some sprinters. Then we’ll dash past Big Ben and over the bridge into pell-mell chaos in the Underground finish!
Powerup: Feather
Race 4: Island Outskirts (6.2km, ends on boardwalk after descent) Race from Mech Isle up to the Shisa Sprint, where you’ll grab an anvil then descend to the boardwalk for the final sprint. Timing is everything!
Zwift displays preliminary race results in game when you cross the line, but points are computed after all four races are finished, with final results on ZwiftPower. (We have to do some data processing on our side to compute results, so if your rankings don’t show up right away, be patient.)
Riders will earn points based on finish position in each of the 4 Tiny Races. The category winner of each week’s series is the rider with the most points across their timezone’s 4 races. Here are the links for each timezone’s results on ZwiftPower:
Tiny Race rules are simple. Four races, four rules:
You must have a ZwiftPower account, because final results are processed by ZwiftPower (learn how to sign up)
No skipping then returning. These races are meant to be raced as a set of 4. If you need to leave early, that’s fine… but once you miss a race in your hour’s set of 4, don’t come back and race another or you’ll be disqualified from that race since you rested while others were racing! (Example: racing only races 1 and 2 is fine. Racing 1, 2, and 4 is not – you will be DQ from race 4. And if you race 2, 3, and 4, you’ll be DQ from all those races, since you skipped race 1!)
Heart rate monitors are required for podium finishers
ZPower/Virtual power is not allowed. Smart trainer/smart bike or power meter required.
Join a Chat & Chill Cooldown
Immediately following each hour’s racing, we’ve scheduled 30-minute “Chat & Chill” events where riders from all categories can spin out their legs together and have some fun chatting about how it all went down. Find them at zwift.com/events/tag/tinyraces.
The second race and first TTT of Zwift Racing League 2022/23 Round 3 happens Tuesday, January 17th on Watopia’s “The Magnificent 8” route. If you’re a ZRL veteran, you may have raced this route as a TTT twice before: once in the very first round of ZRL, and again in the third round. Now we’re here on our ninth round, racing it with TT bikes for the first time. Course PRs will certainly be set.
Let’s dig into the race, including looking at crucial sections of the route and tips for bike choice and strategy.
Looking at the Route: The Magnificent 8
If you’re a ZRL veteran, you may remember that we’ve raced this route as a TTT twice before: once in the very first round of ZRL, and again in the third round. Now we’re here on our ninth round, racing it with TT bikes for the first time. Course PRs will certainly be set.
The Magnificent 8 is 29.1km long, with 155m of elevation according to WTRL. It’s a fairly flat course, but there is one proper climb and a few other bumps you’ll need to be aware of.
Here are some DS notes, taken straight from a previous recon post from good ol’ Sherpa Dave:
This week, bike choice is easy: grab your most aero TT setup! The newish CADEX Tri is the fastest frame in game by a solid margin, and the DT Swiss disc wheels are the fastest wheels. If you don’t have access to that setup (level 42+) then see this post to determine the fastest TT setup available at your level.
CADEX TriCanyon Speedmax Disc
Whatever you do, do not use a road frame. Even a “slow” TT frame is faster than a road frame, so now that we’re able to use TT frames and get a draft in TTT events, you’ll want to take advantage of that!
More Route Recons
Many events are now being planned each weekend on the upcoming ZRL route. If you’re unfamiliar with this course, jump into an event and do some recon! Here’s a list of upcoming Magnificent 8 events.
Flatter courses like this week give valuable seconds to teams who can keep their speeds high over the short rollers and false flats that pepper the route. Staying in formation while surging your power for these rises is a challenge, especially if riders use various Trainer Difficulty settings.
Extended climbs like this week’s Hilly KOM Reverse also present an opportunity to gain or lose lots of time over a short distance. You will want a target pace and attack plan for this section, to ensure your team is climbing as fast as possible.
Your goal in a ZRL TTT is to get four riders across the line in the shortest time possible. That means every team’s pace plan will be different, based on the abilities of each rider. We highly recommend having an experienced DS on Discord directing your team, especially if your team contains some inexperienced TTT riders.
On the Hoods, In the Drops: How Zwift Determines Avatar Hand Position
Zwift automatically changes your rider’s position on the bars between the hoods and drops based on two factors: drafting and speed. (Your rider’s posture and hand position will also change for out of the saddle efforts and the supertuck but those have been covered in other posts.)
On the hoodsIn the drops
Drafting
Zwift uses the visual cue of sitting up as a drafting indicator. Others around you may also be drafting, but Zwift only has your rider sit up (ride on the hoods), so you know you’re drafting. (Yes: what you see on Zwift is slightly different than what everyone else sees.)
In the screenshot below from Shane Miller you can see our avatar sitting up in the RoboPacer draft, while everyone is in the drops.
Speed
Removing drafting from the equation, your rider will sit up and ride on the hoods at slow solo speeds, then move to the drops at faster speeds, much like you might naturally do when riding outdoors.
When riding solo, you will begin on the hoods. As you speed up, when you hit 32-33kph your rider will move to the drops. If you are in the drops and begin to slow down, your rider will move to the hoods as you drop to 29-30kph.
Does Hand Position Affect Rider Speed?
Does changing from hoods to drops change your speed in game, like it does outdoors? That is, does it make your avatar less aerodynamic?
It does not. Rider posture is only used as a visual cue at this time.
The Tron Exception
One notable exception to the position “rules” above is the Tron bike, which only has one hand position and hence doesn’t show your avatar sitting up in the pack. For this reason, some racers prefer not to use the Tron bike, since there is no way to see your drafting status in game.
Conclusion
Your rider will only be in the drops when you are moving at least 32-33kph and not drafting. In all other situations (as long as you aren’t out of the saddle or in the supertuck) your rider will be on the hoods.
Zwift’s recent race calendar cleanup announcement has racers discussing the merits of various Zwift races. Particularly, some riders are saying they prefer the smaller races which Zwift’s cleanup may remove from the calendar.
(I should mention that James Bailey, the former community race organizer and now Zwift employee tasked with cleaning up the calendar, has stated that this won’t spell the end of small races, women-only races, or events in less popular timezones. So I don’t think it’s time to pull out the pitchforks just yet.)
Some riders are concerned this will result in overly large race fields with 100 or even 200 riders per category. One reader commented:
When we speak of quality Eric, most of your Zwift Insider Tiny races are boring. Sorry to tell you that. You have large attendance of 100+ racers in each category but 95% of races end up with mass sprint no matter what route is chosen. I participate in them just to improve my race score but from the entertainment point of view, experience and overall satisfaction these races highly predictable…
A fair comment, and I don’t disagree that the Tiny Races have large turnouts, are fairly predictable, and often end in mass sprints. But this got me thinking: is this a bad thing? And if it’s so bad, why do so many people keep showing up?
Put another way: is a race’s predictability inversely proportional to its quality? Are mass sprint finishes indicative of “lower-quality” events?
What are the factors which make a race higher or lower quality, and who determines what quality is?
I think it’s worth discussing.
Viewing vs Riding
On the bricks of Champs-Elysees
Let’s get this out of the way early: the races I like to watch aren’t the races I like race. And I’m quite sure I’m not alone in this.
I love watching action-packed, drama-filled IRL bike races. Paris-Roubaix is a favorite, while flat TdF days are low on my list unless we’ve got crosswinds. I want to see riders attacking, making mistakes, getting shelled off the back then battling to stay in contention. All of this makes for good viewing, as any cycling fan will tell you.
But usually, when I take on a Zwift race, I’m looking for something predictable on a flat or rolling course. That’s because generally when I race, I want to have a shot at winning. And I’m not winning any climbing races as a B rider with an FTP of ~3.75 W/kg.
For the purposes of this post, I’m looking at race quality through the eyes of the racer – not the viewer.
Quality Factors
Is race quality something we can measure objectively before a race begins? ZwiftPower tried to do this with their race quality rankings years ago (read more about it here). But ZwiftPower’s ranking is just a measure of the rankings of riders who are signed up for the race. It certainly isn’t a standalone number that says “this is the right (or wrong) race for me.”
A more holistic view of race quality, from a rider’s point of view, probably requires a combination of several discrete factors including:
Participants: “the racers make the race”, as they say. How many riders are in the race, and what are their abilities?
Animation: how excitable are the riders? How steady is the pace? Course choice is a factor here, but so are the riders themselves.
Predictability: does everyone know how the race is going to unfold before it even happens? Or is there a level of mystery heading into the event?
Course: how long is the race, what climbs are involved, and how does the finish lay out?
Race Type: is it an iTT? A scratch race? A team points race?
Schedule: when does the race happen?
Powerups: a Zwift-specific factor, for sure, but some racers prefer races with powerups, while others prefer no powerups.
It’s quite possible that I missed some factors above (feel free to comment below). But the bigger point I want to make is that even if you could measure every race based on these factors and display some sort of “race rating” graph for every event, it wouldn’t give us an objective score that says, “This is a high-quality race” or “This is a low-quality race” for everyone.
I would submit that racers look at the factors above, even subconsciously, to determine which race they will take on. And it’s that subjective determination which largely defines race quality for the individual.
If I’m looking for a hard effort where I can work on my VO2 power and be pushed until I blow up, I may race in Yorkshire, even though I never come close to winning in Harrogate. But if it meets my goals, I’ll pick it and be happy with the experience.
Or maybe I’ve grown tired of getting my butt kicked around the ZRL B1 Division, so I head to Crit City for a 12-lapper that’s right in my wheelhouse. I know I’ll probably finish in the top 10, and will almost always have a shot at the win.
What one rider chooses on one day may not match what they’d choose on another day. So of course, the preferences of two different riders won’t always match either.
Race quality is subjective, not objective.
So how can Zwift measure it, in hopes of improving the Zwift race experience for all?
Descending Libby Hill
Quantifying Quality
If Zwift can’t measure quality based on the same factors racers use to subjectively decide which races to join, how can they measure quality in any objective way? Here are a few ideas:
Post-Race Surveys: ask racers to rate their experience after the race. (Zwift already does this, but rarely and randomly.)
Returning Riders: while a high number of signups or finishers doesn’t mean everyone enjoyed the race, when those riders return to the same event again, that’s a good sign.
Starter and Finisher Counts: how many racers started the race, and how many finished? Interestingly, Zwift says “finishing %s are one of our clearest measures of race quality.”
In an increasingly AI-driven world, it’s worth pondering how these three measurements could be combined to create a “Satisfaction Score” for repeating race events on Zwift. It would work for group rides as well. This score could in turn be used to automatically increase or decrease event exposure on the public calendar.
Wrapping It Up
In conclusion, I believe race quality is subjectively determined by each racer, but it can be objectively measured post-race by Zwift. I’d love to see Zwift start to use those objective measurements to help racers find the best races for them on any given day.
Your Thoughts
This article was meant to be a brain dump, not a manifesto. I’d love to read your thoughts on this topic, so please share below.
“Peak Zwift” refers to the time-honored tradition of watching the Companion app’s “Zwifting Now” number and spotting when it hits its apex for the year.
In the past Zwifters have had a fun time guessing what that number will be. It hit an all-time high of 49,114 thanks to Covid traffic on January 19, 2021, but last year we only just broke 42k.
What will we hit this year? Barring another global pandemic, Peak Zwift should happen tomorrow (January 10) or next Tuesday (Jan 17) around 7pm UTC.
Here’s Shane’s video, which includes predictions from Shane as well as Nathan Guerra, Anna Russell, the great Simon Schofield, and myself.
What About You?
What’s your Peak Zwift prediction for 2023? Comment below!
