The third race of Zwift Racing League 2021/22 Round 3 is Tuesday, April 19th. For the first time in ZRL history we’ll be racing the rather complex Makuri Islands Chasing the Sun route. Lots of sprints, with a big KOM to break up the pack – it’s going to get interesting!

We’ve put together a complex race guide including tips for bike choice, powerups, and crucial segments. Ride smarter… ride harder. Let’s dig in!

Looking at the Route: Chasing the Sun

Makuri Islands’ Chasing the Sun route begins in the Neokyo’s harbor, climbs to its rooftops, then heads to the Yumezi countryside for a trip up the Temple KOM before heading back to Neokyo for the finish.

All riders will be racing a single lap of the route for a total of 35.1km with 279m of climbing.

Let’s discuss the key parts of this route, beginning just after we blast out of the start pen:

Alley Sprint: starting less than 1km into the race, this flat sprint is fairly long at ~400m. Its effect will be to lengthen and magnify what is already a high-powered race start, stretching the effort for another minute or so before riders ease after the sprint banner. Strava Segment >

Railway Sprint: after a short climb up to the Railway level, this long sprint (~500m) is going to hurt! Thankfully it’s mercifully shortened by being slightly downhill. Strava Segment >

Rooftop KOM Reverse: this is not an official timed segment, so no FAL or FTS points. But it’s 1.3km long at a 4% average gradient, so expect attacks to happen and efforts to be higher than on the flats. You will get a powerup at the top!

Country Sprint: after a longer flat section, the Country Sprint marks the start of the longest uphill portion of our race. The sprint itself is flat and around 100m long, but expect the pack to stretch out afterward as the road tilts up.

Temple KOM: the only climb awarding intermediate points on this course, the dirt Temple KOM (2.5km at 3.6%) will prove the key selection point in many races. Riders gapped off the front group may be able to chase back in the remaining 12km, but if the front pack is large and/or strong enough they will stay away to mop up Tower Sprint and finish points. Strava Segment >

Tower Sprint Reverse: at ~300m and flat, this medium-length sprint holds an enticing pile of extra intermediate points for any riders chasing the front pack after the Temple KOM.

Lastly, the finish. It’s a flat finish, but you can’t see the arch until the hairpin turn with ~300m to go. Timing and powerups will be crucial here.

Read more about the Chasing the Sun route >

PowerUp Notes

Riders will be awarded a powerup at each banner, which means 7 powerup opportunities during the race (at the end of each timed sprint and KOM, as well as the Yumezi lap banner and Neokyo Rooftop KOM).

Every rider will receive one of these powerups at each arch:

Bike Frame + Wheel Choice

This route features flat sprints but also longish climbs, making bike choice a less-than-straightforward matter.

An aero bike will maximize your sprint speeds and let you sit in most easily on the flat roads that make up half of your overall mileage. A climbing bike would give you a slight edge on the two climbs where efforts are sure to be high. A gravel bike will give you a huge advantage on the Temple KOM, but a huge disadvantage during the rest of the race.

We think the Tron bike is the best pick here, given that it’s the strongest all-arounder now that Zwift nerfed the Chapter2 TOA.

To Swap Or Not to Swap?

Any time a route includes the Temple KOM, consideration should be given to the idea of bike swapping. Especially now with the new gravel wheelsets giving an even bigger advantage to gravel bikes on the climb, does it make sense to swap before starting the KOM?

Our timings show the Specialized Crux with ENVE G23 wheels climbing the Temple KOM 35 seconds faster than the Tron bike at 4 w/kg. The question is, how fast can you swap?

It makes good sense to swap if you’re only targeting FTS points for the KOM. But if your swaps take 15s or more, it probably doesn’t make sense to swap if you want to stay in touch with the pack you’re already in at the start of the climb, since you’ll want to swap back to a road bike at the top.

That said, lower, slower categories (D and C) will find the bike swap strategy more effective. A and B racers will find it less effective, as pack speeds are higher and gravel bike advantages thus reduced.

More Route Recon

Many events are now being planned each weekend on the upcoming ZRL route. If you’re not familiar with this course, jump into one of these events and do some recon! Here’s a list of upcoming Chasing the Sun events.

Looking for a video recon, with lovely British commentary to boot? Check out Si and Sherpa’s recons below:

Si Bradeley

See Si’s recon notes >

Strategic Options

Points Distribution, Week 3

The maximum points a team of 6 could earn in this race.

There’s something for everyone in this week’s race, so there’s no clear team strategy that applies to all riders. Here are some predictions of strategies we’ll see on Tuesday:

• All-In For the Sprints: riders who won’t survive the Temple KOM slog may go all-in for the first three sprints, and even contest the final Tower Sprint for FTS points.
• Chasing the Final Points: riders who aren’t strong sprinters may plan to save themselves for the Temple KOM, attacking hard to grab FAL/FTS points then staying away with a reduced front pack to grab Tower Sprint and Finish points.
• Sprinters Pushing Post KOM: the Temple KOM may see strong sprinters spit out the back of the front group, but watch for those wattage bazookas to put the hammer down in a bid to catch the front group and contest maximum Tower Sprint and Finish points.
• Secret Sprints: we haven’t seen the ghost used much in ZRL, but it may prove useful for riders chasing FAL sprint points.
• Bike Swaps: some riders will attempt a swap to the gravel bike before the Temple KOM begins. Due to pack speeds, this is more advantageous for D riders than C, and it’s a questionable strategy for B. A riders probably won’t be doing much of it at all. But C and D teams with strong climbers may consider the value of a TTT approach to gravel swapping, which worked for some in week 1’s Road to Ruins race.

Your Thoughts

Any insights or further thoughts on this race? Share below!

About This Series

The Giant Tips ZRL series is sponsored by Giant Bicycles and delivers helpful tips for upcoming Zwift Racing League stages so you can unleash your full potential.

Giant is the world’s leading brand of high-quality bicycles and cycling gear. Part of the Giant Group founded in 1972, the brand combines craftsmanship, technology, and innovative design to help all riders unleash their full potential. Learn more at giant-bicycles.com, or visit one of their 12,000+ retail stores around the world.

How the Race Was Lost: Greater London Flat TTT (ZRL Week 2)

The first TTT of Zwift Racing League 2021/22 Season 3 was held last Tuesday, and it was a flat(tish) and fast one. My team (the DIRT Roosters) was missing our powerhouse Clem, but we were still confident in our TTT abilities and excited to get out and suffer for virtual glory.

It was our first TTT in the B1 division, though, and we didn’t know how we’d fare against the competition in the top-tier “meat grinder” category. Only one way to find out!

Race Prep

This race didn’t require much in terms of course recon or team planning. There were two key climbs to hammer, but it was mostly about steady power on the flats, and bumping up your wattage on short climbs to keep speeds high.

We had a bit of hassle trying to put together our 6-man team, with powerhouse Clem out for the week on vacation and Arjen recovering from sickness. Eventually Arjen decided he could race, so Captain Antoine put together our pull order:

1. Sean: 30sec around 400w
2. Eric: 30sec around 380w
3. Thomas: 30sec around 370w
4. Dean: 30sec around 350w
5. Antoine: 30sec around 350w
6. Arjen: Joosse around 360w

We had our marching orders. I did what I could to be fresh and prepared for the race:

• Recovery ride the day before
• Plenty of sleep the night before
• A clean, carby oatmeal breakfast
• Beet juice two hours before the race
• Caffeine gum – three pieces (300mg), one hour before the race
• PR lotion on my legs about 45 minutes before the race. More bicarb=less burning.
• A fast virtual bike setup (Specialized S-Works Venge + DT Swiss disc wheels)
• A 30-minute warmup with the C. Cadence crew which included a few efforts to get the heart rate up into the threshold zone

My legs felt fresh, and as we chatted on Discord I clicked to join the pens with 10 minutes to go.

And Zwift crashed. Just disappeared from my PC screen entirely. Yikes!

I quickly booted it up again (a solid state drive makes booting into Zwift so much faster), then clicked to join the pens. It worked the second time. Whew. I just hoped things would stay stable for the race.

The Lead-In

After waiting 2.5 minutes, it was the Roosters’ turn to launch off the start line.

The first few minutes of a TTT are always a bit crazy. Who’s pulling in those first seconds, anyway? What is the rider ahead of me wearing, so I know whose wheel to sit on? And on the London course you have the added difficulty of a few rollers right at the start, making it hard to stick together efficiently.

But we settled in quickly enough. Our formation has the front rider calling out their pull start and stop time, with the on-deck rider sitting behind while the rest of the team is bunched on third wheel. I even got a feather powerup, perfect for use on the short Northumberland climb.

Lap 1

I scored an aero powerup through the Classique banner, and used it on my next pull, not realizing until afterward that this wasn’t the smartest use of the powerup. (I would have been better off using it to help me keep my speed high when the legs were more tired further into the lap.)

Looking at the rider list on the right, we could see we were getting closer to the team ahead of us TFC Bugatti) and pulling away from the team behind (WLC). This was a good sign. (While Zwift’s interface makes it hard to see where you’re at in relation to all the teams in the middle of the race, being able to see those ahead and behind gives you some idea how well you’re doing.)

I got the dreaded “connection disconnected” alert on my screen somewhere in the middle of lap 1, and promptly disappeared from my teammates’ screens. There was definitely some internet weirdness going on: my Discord screen showed it attempting to reconnect, and I could still hear my teammates talking while they couldn’t hear me. I could also see them just fine on my Zwift screen, but they weren’t seeing me!

This led to some chaos, with me thinking I was taking a pull, while they thought nobody was there to pull. This is the kind of thing that can really burn some legs out and cost a team valuable seconds, but they handled it like champs, rotating to the front and taking pulls until I magically reappeared 20m ahead.

We hit Piccadilly, the largest climb of the route, and hammered through a painful ~1 kilometer. I was surprised to find myself riding at or near the front of our team on the climb, which was a good sign (for me) but probably also a sign that others weren’t feeling particularly strong today.

One lap down. One to go.

Lap 2 + Finish

I got a draft powerup on the second Classique banner, and held onto it this time, figuring I could use it near the end of the lap when I’d be suffering the most.

Arjen had begun skipping pulls, and it was clear we were all suffering. Even Captain Antoine had some issues, shouting that he was putting out 6 w/kg but not being able to hold our wheels. Somehow we all magically stayed together, though.

One last time up Piccadilly, and Antoine was shouting at us to give it all we had. The suffering was real, and the finish line was so close! I used my draft powerup for a bit of relief, then it was an all-out, empty-the-tank dash to the line.

We usually have a rider or two take a suicide pull near the end of a TTT, but this week we all finished within 1 second of each other, each of us completely spent.

See activity on Strava >
See ride on Zwift.com >
See results on ZwiftPower >

Watch my race video (apologies again for the audio mix):

Team Result

As soon as we finished, we began looking at ZwiftPower times and doing the math to calculate where we placed. “How much of a time gap did the Alligators have? Why aren’t the Aliens listed in ZwiftPower?” It’s a confusing science, but we usually end up figuring out pretty well how we rank, before WTRL displays the final results on the site.

We finished third this week, just 1.5s behind second place. Congrats to INC Aliens, who hammered their way to a solid victory with some huge power numbers (average wattage of their top 4 riders: 326.5W!)

The best part is, this week’s result puts us in a three-way tie for first place in our division, with two teams just one point behind the top three. That’s some tight competition! This will be a thrilling season for sure:

Takeaways

With such a narrow margin separating us from second place, it’s easy to start second-guessing yourself. What if I hadn’t disappeared from my teammate’s screens? What if I’d pulled just a bit harder? What if we’d kept a tighter formation?

For me at least, once I’ve cooled down, showered, and eaten lunch I tend to feel like I could have pushed harder in the race. But my racing hindsight wears rose-colored glasses.

Looking at my numbers, and those of the other Roosters, I think we raced to our limits today, which is exactly what you’re supposed to do in a well-planned TTT. A couple of images to illustrate:

What About You?

How did your TTT go? Share your story below!

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How the Race Was Lost: Road to Ruined (ZRL Week 1)

The first race of Zwift Racing League 2021/22 Season 3 was held last Tuesday, and it was a doozy in several ways. First race of the season. On a challenging route (Watopia’s Road to Ruins) with mixed surfaces and no intermediate points. And the first race in the B1 division (EMEA W) for my team (the DIRT Roosters) after working our way up, division by division, in the past three seasons.

Honestly, I didn’t think I would be able to hang with the front group until the finish, given the stronger riders in the B1 division and the two climbs on the course. But I resolved myself to give it all I had to stay with the front group. Here’s how it went…

Race Prep

With no intermediates to contest, our team strategy was simple: finish as close to the front as possible!

I did what I could to be fresh and prepared for the race:

• Easy effort the day before
• Plenty of sleep the night before
• A clean, carby oatmeal breakfast
• Beet juice two hours before the race
• Caffeine gum – three pieces (300mg), one hour before the race
• PR lotion on my legs about 45 minutes before the race. More bicarb=less burning.
• Pick my bike setup (Chapter2 TOA + ENVE 7.8 wheels) and join the start pens with 30 minutes to go to save my spot in front.
• A nice 30-minute warmup with the C. Cadence crew

My legs felt fresh, but I worried it wouldn’t be enough. Still, I was ready to give it all I had!

The First Climb

The race began tamely enough, with riders taking it easy through Ocean Boulevard, knowing the fireworks were up the road.

This is something important to understand about division 1 racers, especially in the B and A categories: most of them know how to race. Because of how ZRL promotions and demotions work, division 1 is stacked with strong teams. Why is that? Because the strongest division 1 team isn’t promoted up and out of the division, like they would be if they were in Division 2. Instead, they just stay there. The only team changes are the bottom two teams getting dropped to Division 2, while the top Division 2 teams are brought up to 1.

So you end up with the very best teams in that timezone, all stuck in Division 1. In theory, at least. Riders upgrading to a new category change this, as do new teams, but basically Division 1 has a lot of strong, smart racers.

As we turned left at the windmills to head toward the first climb, the road tilted up and the pace increased. This was it: the base of the Epic KOM. My nemesis. I’ve raced this section many times, and always seem to get dropped on it, early into the race. So I had already decided I would turn myself inside out to stay with the front pack on this climb, because I knew if I got dropped here, I wouldn’t see the front again.

The first part of the climb is the steepest, and it’s where I generally get dropped. So I moved toward the front before the climb began, giving me a bit of space to “sag” if needed while still staying in touch. Then I stomped on those pedals, trying to hold a good position.

And somehow, it worked! I got to the top of the steep section in the front pack. It took two minutes at 445W, but I had surprised myself. I tried to sit in and recover as we descended to the Jungle, because I knew the dirt climb wasn’t far away.

The Jungle Climb

The Zwift gods were angry. Despite my prayers for a steamroller powerup at the Jungle banner, I received (wait for it…) +10XP. Ouch.

Somehow the powerups were misconfigured for the event, so instead of getting something useful I got 10XP – the most useless “powerup” of all, given I’m at level 50 already!

Other riders reported getting +10XP as well, so at least I can find a bit of solace in the fact that the gods hadn’t singled me out. Still, it sucks pretty bad when some riders get the super-powerful steamroller powerup heading into the race’s key climb, while you get nothing. I sure hope Zwift/WTRL fixed this for future events.

I yelled at the Zwift gods, but to no avail. And as we began the Jungle climb riders attacked hard, and I simply didn’t have the legs to hang on. Was it the first climb that had emptied me? Was it the psychological strain of +10XP? Who knows. But I was dropped, sweating my way through dusty no man’s land in 35th place.

Then it got worse: disaster struck our team captain Antoine partway up the climb when his Internet connection dropped! He was holding his own in the front group, but with no riders visible on screen and no draft benefit Antoine eventually climbed off the bike and rebooted his router to finish 57th.

In the space of just a couple of minutes, the Roosters had gone from 5 riders in front to 3. Ouch.

Trying to maximize my finishing position, I kept hammering with what I had left, chasing three riders up the road who had also fallen off the front pack. But try as I might I couldn’t catch up and grab their wheels. Eventually I just sat up and let the pack 15s behind catch me, because I knew I wouldn’t be able to stay away solo for 11km, and I wasn’t catching the riders ahead.

The Finish

Now in a pack of 11 representing places 34-44, my plan was to sit in then attempt to outsprint most of the riders and grab the 34th or 35th slot, since those slots were worth 1 more finishing point than 36th-40th. And it worked! One rider in our pack outsprinted me (nice work Andrew Hilton) but I grabbed 35th.

Teammate Dejan finished in a group just behind me, Antoine behind him, and we had three riders finish in the front group: Clem, Sean, and Thomas.

See activity on Strava >
See ride on Zwift.com >
See results on ZwiftPower >

Watch my race video (apologies for the audio mix):

Team Result

Our finish points were tied for third place with TFC Bugatti, but ties go to the team whose front rider finishes first, so TFC took third, beating us out by less than 1/10th of a second.

Another DIRT team (the Alligators) took first, so even though it hurt to lose, it hurt a bit less knowing DIRT won. Well done, Gators!

We would have easily grabbed third if Antoine hadn’t had a “mechanical” – but that’s just how these things go. Having upgraded from Division 2 to 1, I’d say we Roosters were fairly happy with our result – though not at all satisfied, of course.

Takeaways

Could I have raced this better? Only in terms of team communication, I think. My Discord comms were wacky (everyone’s voices were very quiet) and that may explain why I didn’t communicate well during the race.

And that’s an important note, because team-wise, it’s possible we didn’t play things as well as we could have. On the Jungle climb we had some riders pushing the pace at the front, which may have contributed to me being dropped. I didn’t communicate well with my team as I was struggling, though, so that’s on my shoulders. Possibly we could have eased on the climb and ended up with me in the front pack, able to sprint for a better finish.

But it’s also possible that other teams would have attacked on the climb anyway, and I would have still been dropped. We’ll never know for sure, but my takeaway this week was: do a better job of communicating with my team.

Your Thoughts

Share below!

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