Week Three of the INEOS Grenadiers Training Camp is one for the sprinters. Earlier in the week, I tried Ben Swift’s training programme called “The Swift” which involved multiple sprints, at max effort. The event was only 36 minutes in duration, but I was left physically and mentally drained.
The alternative offered is called “The Pidcock” and looks equally as hard but slightly longer in duration.
David Lipscomb (Director of Diversity and Inclusion USA Cycling) leads the group for an hour’s ride on the R.G.V. course in France. Lisa Bourne, Senior Director of Diversity, Inclusion and Social Impact has recently interviewed David and the podcast can be heard here.
My very first group rides were with the L’Equipe Provence, and it’s good to see them going strong nearly 2 years later. Their group rides are always well-led and now with two different paces to ride, more accessible than ever before! This weekend, the team is helping people earn the “Mega Pretzel” badge, which is 111km in length and includes the Epic KOM climb.
This is a race up the mountains, using the “Quatch Quest” route. I raced this route for the first time recently and thoroughly enjoyed it because it was very tactical. You have to pick your moment to attack – go to soon, like I did, and you leave yourself a difficult solo climb up the mighty Alpe du Zwift!
Using AI to Predict Zwift Race Results: the ZRace App
If you’re anything like me, there are two questions on your mind as you enter a bike race:
How well will I do today?This is the personal expectation piece. Do I anticipate a shot at the podium? Or will I be getting dropped at some point for some reason, and this is more of a workout or team effort than a win attempt?
Who are the strongest riders in this race?If I’m contesting the finish or working for a teammate, who are the key riders I need to be watching? If a weak rider attacks I don’t need to waste my watts, but if a strong one does, I may want to respond!
Back in early 2021, one Zwifter created ZRace – an app that answers both of these questions with impressive accuracy. The app predicts the finishing places of riders signed up for Zwift races, and according to its creator, the tool’s Top 5 prediction is quite accurate, with a 95% probability that 3 predicted top 5 athletes will indeed finish in the top 5.
How It Started
In early 2021, Bruno Gregory had already created racedata.bike, an app that analyzes and predicts races across all categories of cycling in the US. Then Covid happened, sparking Bruno’s interest in Zwift and his subsequent participation in Zwift races.
He quickly learned there was a wealth of Zwift racer data available: power, heart rate, weight, age, sex, historical results, and more. And he realized that, given this additional data, analysis and predictions could be made much more accurate than the initial version of his app.
The “Random Forest” decision tree algorithm is used in the machine learning which powers ZRace
I won’t go into detail how exactly ZRace calculates its predictions, because those details are above my pay grade. But it uses machine learning (a form of AI), and the more races that happen, the more accurate it gets. (To read how the project unfolded, including Bruno’s iterative approach to selecting the best predictive models, read his post on Medium.com.)
What It Does
Bruno describes ZRace like this:
ZRace analyzes all athletes registered in a race and predicts possible winners. It also analyzes each category and presents the average power required for you to have a good result. In addition, athletes with specific profiles are identified, such as climber, sprinter, and time-trialist. This way, depending on the race’s course, it is possible to predict who will have a better result or even who you should keep an eye on for a certain part of the race.
Let’s dig into each of those features, which all live on the Race Predictor screen.
The Race Predictor
While many Zwifters simply visit ZwiftPower and sort the signup list by rank to find out who the top riders are, the ZRace Race Predictor is much more precise, using multiple variables plus a robust machine-learning algorithm to predict each rider’s finishing position.
From the ZRace.bike homepage, select any race. This will load up the Race Predictor for that event. In a multi-category event it defaults to showing the A category predictions, but you can select the category you’d like to view from the “Category” dropdown. Here’s the Race Predictor screen for an upcoming KISS Race:
Along the top you have a summary of each category’s signup list, including the number of riders signed up and the FTP average of the field.
You also have top riders selected by profile: a top sprinter, climber, and break away rider. Depending on the route profile and race situation, these would be good riders to watch.
List of Past Races
Curious how accurate ZRace’s predictions are? Click “Past Races on Zwift” on the left, choose a race, then click Results to see actual results and ZRace’s prediction.
Predict Me
Click Predict Me, select your race category, and enter your Zwift ID. The app will predict your result in the next hour’s Zwift races. (Not sure how to find your Zwift ID?) Here’s what it predicted for me, entering the B category:
Race Statistics
This portion of the ZRace app is quite interesting. It displays stats for:
Most popular days of the week and time to race
Winners by country
Most popular race events
Most popular race routes
Toughest races (based on power numbers)
Winner profile of men and women in all categories
Winners Ranking (top-ranked riders in each category based on ZRace’s algorithm)
A Few Gotchas
ZRace only lists ZwiftPower-registered riders, so it’s possible you could enter a race and get beaten by someone who hasn’t signed up for ZwiftPower. Then it’s up to you to wrestle with that age-old Zwifter question… if they aren’t on ZwiftPower, did they actually win?
The ZRace algorithm works well for iTT races and standard scratch races, but doesn’t work for handicap (chase) races. It also can’t predict the winner of a points race with intermediate point segments, since it is only predicting the finish order.
The system can take a bit of time to make its prediction, because it has to process rider data when you view an event. Be patient, it’s worth it!
As my Zwift sessions were getting longer and longer in preparation for Randonneurs Brevets in 2022, I began seriously considering getting a rocker plate. My main aim had nothing to do with a “more realistic” ride indoors, but with having a more comfortable one with less saddle pressure, as some tests seemed to demonstrate.
I laughed at the “friends” suggesting a DIY Rocker Plate, as the only DIY things I am able to perform are undisclosable publicly.
Following some exchanges with teammates and Eric, who is a rocker plate evangelist, I received the Lifeline Rocker Plate on January 17th, 2022. At that point I still did not know I was about to enter the fourth, fifth, or maybe sixth dimension. These can only be reached by taking the red pill or, as I learned, getting a rocker plate.
Don’t worry, they said, mounting the rocker plate is so simple, it takes max 5 minutes. Well, 5 minutes for a common mortal is equivalent to 2 hours for “Worthless Hands Luciano”. I will not detail the entire adventure but it was very far from “nothing can go wrong”. I’ll let your imagination work, knowing that it will be very far from the burlesque of what actually happened, no matter the creative effort you put into it. Hint: it seems inflating balls to similar PSI is a very challenging task for me.
In addition to being useless with my hands, I am utterly impatient. That is why I immediately started my first rocker plate Zwift session at 1:30am. Disastrous. I felt almost seasick, nothing was in its right place, I could not properly coordinate my movements and had the impression I was going to fall all the time.
The First Date With My Rocker Plate Did Not Go Well
At that point I was cursing Eric with the worst maledictions ever, ranging from “I hope from now on you always and only get the anvil powerup” to “I pledge you lose all your Zwift bikes”. I was THAT angry.
Editor’s note: the anvil powerup I can deal with. But all my Zwift bikes? I thought we were friends, Luciano!
I decided to interrupt the workout and go to bed to give it a night. However, I “discovered” that going to bed infuriated is highly counterproductive. Your brain begins a negative loop to finish fuming. There is no other outcome possible other than acknowledging you are not going to be able to sleep. Therefore it made absolutely no sense to stay in bed…
So my second Zwift rocker plate session started at 4am that same night (morning). It was now a matter of honor between the rocker plate and myself. I would not retreat.
This time I adopted a totally different approach: a very long Z1 spin running into a Z2 warmup to feel and understand the rocker plate dynamics and motion. I was psychoanalyzing my rocker plate, empathizing with it. Allowing an alignment and finally a common understanding of the situation took a while. But I became The Rocker Plate Whisperer.
From then it was a steady and short learning curve. In two days I no longer noticed or remembered I had a rocker plate, and the blisters and sore b**t I was experiencing after long sessions almost disappeared (I have also changed to Chris Horner Noxzema bib short moisturizing procedure and maybe that helped too).
Don’t Touch My FTP!
One of the fears I had before BRPE (Before Rocker Plate Era) was caused by some owners reporting a loss in FTP of close to 5% attributed to the rocker plate motion. Watts were mystically disappearing from their cleats to the smart trainer. That would have been inconceivable, an absolute no-go for me. I would rather lose an arm than 5% of my FTP. For real. In fact, I had already decided that if this happened, I would recycle the rocker plate plywood to feed my fireplace or the barbecue. Rocker plate barbequed steaks would have been a solid consolation prize and the perfect destination for any kind of object threatening my FTP.
During the first week, the workouts seemed more difficult: l felt I needed more effort to produce the same amount of watts compared to BRPE. I attributed it more to an adaptation to the rocker plate than to a real power loss.
My structured training plan had a 5-minute max power test the 24th of January 2022, just one week after the rocker plate arrived. I beat my all-time 5-minute personal record by 17 watts. From 406w to 423w. +4.2%. Hallelujah!
I have also used Assioma power meter pedals to compare with the smart trainer and the average power for the session was 0.2% difference (1 watt), meaning the same kind of differences I had before the rocker plate. We are safe. I can now enjoy my rocker plate without fearing a drop in my power output. It’s a wonderful life.
A 10k vEveresting Accompanied by Walter
The ultimate test for the rocker plate was my vEveresting attempt on January 29th. That’s another story which you can read here, however, from a rocker plate perspective there was a huge difference compared to my last year’s vEveresting attempt: a much more comfortable ride and substantially improved figures.
As it was clear it would be part of the family forever, it was time to give my rocker plate a name: Walter.
All in all, the experience is extremely positive. Only two weeks into the Rocker Plate Era I can say I would never go back to BRPE.
What About You?
Have you tried a rocker plate? What was your experience? Share below!
How the Race Was Won: Temples and Towers Team Tactics (ZRL Race 5)
Yesterday’s Zwift Racing League event on Makuri Islands’ Temples and Towers route was the climbiest race of the season so far. Without a single sprint point to be had, my team (the DIRT Roosters) knew we’d have to ride hard and ride smart in order to keep our winning streak alive.
What transpired was one of the most well-executed team races I’ve been a part of. Here’s the story…
Race Prep
I’ve developed a bit of a ZRL race prep formula, and this week was no different:
Recon race or rides in the days before, just to refresh my knowledge of the route
Easy effort the day before (spun with C. Cadence and did some sprint baseline testing for my Sprintbooster program)
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 (Scott Addict RC + 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, the team was chatting on Discord, and we had a plan. Let’s do this!
Starting off with some giggles
The Temples and Towers route is basically three KOMs, each harder than the one before. In between those climbs you’ve got flat roads, including an 11km run in to the finish. Smart racing here is about knowing when to go hard, and when to recover.
Climb #1: Rooftop KOM
Team captain Antoine had proposed a gutsy plan in the days before the race: a hard team attack in the final ~50s of this first climb, in an attempt to raid the FAL and FTS points.
And that’s exactly what we did. As we neared our launch point one rider jumped off the front, and the pace picked up a bit. Then we went through the arch at 4.6km as Antoine counted, “3, 2, 1…” and the Roosters launched!
Rooftop Rooster attack!
The attack splintered the group to pieces. We had a few riders mixed in with us at the front, but the Roosters came across the line in places 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8, grabbing fastest thru segment points for places 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.
We couldn’t do the math, obviously. We were just trying to breathe. But we knew the attack had worked perfectly. (After the race I added up the points we grabbed in this 50s attack: 93!)
Once thru the KOM banner we basically sat up. No reason to put in extra work, when the groups would be coming back together anyway. Eventually a front blob formed of around 45 riders.
Climb #2: Castle KOM
The Castle KOM is my nemesis. In the handful of races I’ve done here, I’ve always been able to hang in until the lefthand hairpin when it gets steep. Then things blow apart.
This time didn’t feel much different. Admittedly, this was largely the Roosters’ fault. Clem, Antoine, Arjen, and Thomas were all near the front, stretching the group out as they pushed for segment points. Although this might mean other Roosters getting dropped, it was acceptable trade in our book.
I was in 18th by the time the road leveled out at the top of the climb, and I used my aero powerup for a bit of a boost on the flat section. But the group was strung out up the road. I sat in some friendly wheels, then gave a hard push on the slight incline to bridge up to the front group, who clearly weren’t pushing the pace.
Bridging to the front group
Then I tried to rest as much as I could. The dirty Temple KOM was just up the road.
Climb #3: Temple KOM
I didn’t hold out much hope of finishing the Temple KOM in the front pack. I hadn’t been able to do that in last season’s Countryside Tour race, and that was in a lower B division! So my goal was to reach the top in a decent position without blowing up, then hopefully chase back onto the front group.
Dropped by the front group
The climb was a sufferfest. It always is. I hadn’t landed a steamroller powerup (*shakes fist at Zwift gods*), so I just tried to ride smart. Draft on flatter portions. Go hard on steeper bits. Crossing the KOM banner, I surveyed the situation: I was in a pack of three riders (places 19-21), with more about 12s up the road, the front group even further away, and more chasing on behind.
I didn’t have the legs to bridge up to the group ahead, but I hoped my group would swell in numbers enough to put in a good chase.
The Finish
As the packs coalesced on the descent and flats, there were basically four groups within striking distance of the front:
Front group of 7, containing Roosters Antoine and Arjen
2nd group, containing Thomas
3rd group, containing Clem
4th group of 9, containing myself
Thomas would eventually bridge up to the front group. Clem almost made it, pushing his group to within 6s of the front. My group didn’t want to work, and neither did I, so we just sat in and waited for the final sprint.
As I approached the sprint, I heard Antoine and Arjen executing their finishing plan. First Antoine surged to the front of the group, then with 400m to go he said, “OK, go Arjen!”
Arjen sprinted past Antoine as Antoine activated his burrito powerup. In my ears Antoine gleefully exclaimed, “I burritoed them!” It was a picture-perfect burritoing, too. As the other riders began sprinting they had no draft benefit since Antoine was holding his position in front of the group. Brilliant.
TFC’s Liame Dunne put in a massive sprint and almost caught Arjen at the line, but Arjen crossed it first, taking his first-ever ZRL win! Watch it on Antoine’s stream below:
30s behind, I was waiting for the right time to activate my aero powerup and sprint. One rider jumped, and I followed, crossing the line 2nd in my group for 17th place.
Between our Rooftop KOM attack, Arjen’s win, and finishing with three riders in the small front group, we were confident we had taken the win. But we were amazed when the results showed us scoring 322 points overall, with the second-place team scoring 169!
That makes four wins in four races for the Roosters
Takeaways
While my personal performance wasn’t podium-worthy, I was happy to see two Strava KOM segment PRs and some power bests, including a 3-minute PR at 423W thanks to the Rooftop KOM attack. I also felt like I had more punchy high-end power than usual, probably due to a combination of recent sprint training and finally getting over Covid symptoms.
The Roosters are really working together well these days. After 4 seasons we know each other’s strengths, respect each other’s opinions, and can successfully strategize how to maximize our team points. This race was probably the best-executed team effort I’ve ever been a part of – and I’ve been in quite a few!
To honor Antoine’s masterful burrito drop, I ordered this carne asada-stuffed beauty from the local Mexican restaurant:
Some ZRL racers have complained that segment points are too heavily weighted, causing races where everyone goes all-in on segments, easy in between, and the finish isn’t as hotly contested as it should be. But I disagree. I think riders will always fight hard for the finish, and the intermediate points make the race more interesting, with riders attacking harder on segments than they would otherwise.
Your Thoughts
How did your Temples and Towers race go? Share below!
How many of us have seen a movie where one of the characters is about to fall from a skyscraper, and a miraculous hand appears out of nowhere to save them at the last second?
What I experienced during my vEveresting’s 7th ascent of Alpe du Zwift on Saturday 29th January 2022 is proof that this sort of things also happens in real life.
Saved by Christian
As I was being swallowed by a mental black hole and ready to throw the bike off a Watopian precipice, Christian Wieland saw my struggle and decided to continuously write to me through Zwift Companion while maintaining a steady but affordable pace. It was just the time I needed to forget about the pain and rebuild some strength to overcome the last 2k of elevation. Christian stayed by my side until 8848m and created something bigger than just me against ADZ. From then I knew I had won. I just can’t thank him enough.
Why vEveresting, again!?
Back in October 2021, as most IRL Gran Fondo events I was supposed to race were canceled because of COVID, I agreed with my coach to prepare for a new vEveresting attempt, this time consciously preparing it.
(Last year in January 2021 I joined a group of riders attempting the challenge together. Although I did finish, I could not help but think that with better preparation I could do much better.)
With tons of Z2 hours and tens of thousands of meters of elevation accumulated in the last three months, I had hope that this time, my legs would be good enough to continue up to 10k elevation once the Everesting completed.
We agreed on a target power (3-3.2 w/kg) and also a nutrition plan. Taking into account that following my bypass surgery I have a reduced stomach we had to adapt carbs, proteins, and liquid intake. To make sure I was not dehydrating I would weigh myself after each climb. I started at 79.5 kg (175.2 pounds).
The Figures
Saturday 29th January: here we go. I summarized everything in a table:
You can easily spot the crisis during the 7th ascent, which required me to rest for a while.
8.5 ascents of ADZ, with a sub 60 minutes average per climb. I could not be happier. I pushed to 10k elevation in “cool-down” mode at 2.5 w/kg 😂.
Started at 7h30 AM, finished at 21h30. 14 hours overall. By then a lot of people were congratulating me saying I should feel proud. However, at 21h35 I rather felt like s**t.
Throughout the challenge, I was never by myself. I received tons of cheering messages, thank you all. Special thanks to Coalition riders joining me on ADZ’s slopes (Nils, Francesco, Maxime), and of course Christian.
Post Mortem: Will I Do It Again?
Sunday 30th in the morning I am surprisingly in good shape. I can almost walk as any human being would.
Looking back at the key success factors, without a doubt the preparation made me enter the challenge with a very solid physical capacity. Having a plan to stick to definitely helps.
Second success factor: having a community supporting you is a winner.
Third item: after Amanda (Kickr V4 Smart Trainer) and Hector (Kickr Climb), Walter the Rocker Plate has now joined the paincave family. And Walter is a life changer on longer rides.
Despite the preparation and everything you can imagine, in the end this is still a freaking crazy challenge. The conclusion is therefore super easy: I am never doing it again… am I?
Coming Soon: Changes to Supported GPUs for Zwifters
Last week, Zwift announced via a forum post that certain older integrated graphics processing units (GPUs) will no longer be supported for PC or Mac users starting in March 2022.
This deprecation announcement comes soon after Zwift ended support for old operating systems in December 2021 and January 2022, including Windows 7/8, macOSX 10.11, iOS 11, and Android 6.
Deprecation Details
Starting March 2022, Zwift will no longer run on computers using the following integrated GPUs:
Intel HD 2xxx series
Intel HD 3xxx series
Anyone Zwifting on a computer using these GPUs will begin to see messaging in-game with the February game release v 1.22, and should also receive notification via email. Starting with the March release of game version 1.23, the Zwift game app will no longer function on affected computers.
Integrated vs Dedicated
An “integrated” GPU is one built into the CPU, which is your computer’s main processor. An integrated GPU shares some of your main system memory. The other option for a GPU is a dedicated GPU, which is a standalone card that plugs into your motherboard and contains its own processor, memory, and cooling system.
An Intel processor with integrated GPU, installed on a motherboardDedicated GPU (the lovely Nvidia 1660 Super)
Computers with integrated GPUs will typically cost less and consume less power than those with dedicated GPUs, but dedicated GPUs offer better graphics performance. That’s why computers called “gaming systems” tend to have dedicated GPUs, while budget laptops tend to have integrated GPUs.
What GPU Do I Have?
If you’re unsure which GPU your Mac or PC is using, follow these links for instructions on how to find out:
It’s possible that you’re using a computer with multiple GPUs. Sometimes a PC is sold with integrated graphics, then an aftermarket dedicated GPU is added. And sometimes PCs are sold with integrated graphics, and a dedicated GPU installed.
While Zwift has historically supported a wide range of devices, they cannot support aging hardware forever. Deprecation decisions like this are standard practice in the gaming industry, as supporting old hardware requires additional development time and can hamstring the implementation of new features.
Intel ended customer service support for HD 2000 and 3000 GPUs on June 24, 2016, having ceased manufacturing them years earlier. As we said about Zwift’s recent OS deprecations, software companies have to eventually stop supporting hardware when it is no longer supported by the manufacturer themselves.
Integrated HD 2000 and 3000 graphics power many of the computers Zwifters affectionately call “potatoes”. These are the computers many people have around the house that work just fine for web browsing and word processing, but really have no business running a 3D, real-time video game.
Upgrade Recommendations
Most Zwifters probably have a device in their home which will run Zwift after the deprecations kick in: a newer iPhone or Android phone, a tablet, AppleTV, or a decent desktop or laptop computer.
If you need to purchase an upgraded device for your Zwifting, here are two recommendations at different budget levels:
Most affordable: 2021 Apple TV (32GB, 5th Gen): only $144USD on Amazon, the latest AppleTV is the most affordable Zwift device on the market today. It’s not perfect – the remote can be a bit of a pain. But it’s dead simple to use, and quite stable. There’s a good reason why a huge number of Zwifters use AppleTV!
Best gaming experience: Windows PC with a strong graphics card, fast single-core CPU performance, and an SSD drive. Zwift will run on just about any PC that can run Windows 10, but for premium Zwift performance (ideally connected to a big screen TV) you’ll want a dedicated Nvidia graphics card (1060 or higher), an Intel CPU, and a solid state drive. Here’s one tower on Amazon that would deliver great Zwift performance without costing an arm and a leg. (For more info on Zwifting on a PC, read “Zwift on PC: The Ultimate Guide to Running Zwift at Its Very Best“.)
Zwift’s own Lisa Bourne (Senior Director of Diversity, Inclusion and Social Impact) sits down with David Lipscomb (DEI and Organizational Development Consultant at USA Cycling and early Zwift adopter) for this special BCS episode.
Together they explain DEIB (Disability, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging) within cycling and the workplace, as well as looking at how Zwift and USA Cycling are using their platforms to inform change in the cycling industry.
About the Podcast
The Zwift PowerUp Cycling Podcast features training tips from host Matt Rowe (Rowe & King), with regular co-hosts Greg Henderson, Rahsaan Bahati, Dani Rowe, and Kristin Armstrong.
Have you ever wanted to see how long you can hang on with the pros?
Starting on 17th February, Zwift is hosting a monthly race called the ELITE Pro Series. What makes this series special is ELITE inviting professional cyclists to line up and race shoulder to shoulder with fellow Zwifters, giving riders the special chance to measure their ability against the best.
While the events feature standard categories (A/B/C/D and women-only E), all categories will start together, allowing even lower-category riders to ride with pros… at least for a bit!
For the professional riders and their teams, this is a chance to connect with their fanbase and race not only the global community, but fellow pros. The competition will be intense and fun and even though I don’t expect to be anywhere near the front, just being in a race with a host of pros is exciting enough.
Courses and Schedule
Courses will vary from month to month, ensuring that everyone will be able to race on a route best suited to their strengths. This includes having to race up a big mountain climb!
The first event kicks off on 17th February at 6:30pm GMT/1:30pm EST/10:30am PST and will be hosted on Watopia’s “The Magnificent 8” course (28.6km, 131m elevation). Subsequent months’ events will also be on Thursdays at the same time. Here is the complete list of series events (click to sign up):
Season 2 of the 2021/22 Zwift Premier League runs from January 10th to February 14th. As a quasi-contributor to Zwift Insider and a rider/director of a newly promoted Premier League team, I wanted to give an unfiltered behind-the-scenes look at the action. Look for a recap each week here on Zwift Insider.
Team Time Trials. They look great in pictures. A team lined out, aggressively positioned on a billboard of carbon. Aero helmets floating just above fields of flowers, speeding through the French countryside. Fans across the world asleep on the couch, enjoying a nice nap with the race dreamily playing in the background.
Carbon and Flowers
It’s hard to make these races captivating, compelling. The Premier League had a plan to spice things up this season. This plan would be the destruction of my Velocio team.
The race was mostly flat, but it had some tricky rollers and a KOM segment for team bonus seconds. Each team’s fastest rider on the Aqueduct KOM would give their team a 10, 5, or 3 seconds bonus. In an event that can often be separated by a second, it sounded like a fun play.
My Velocio team’s best event is typically the team time trial. We have never had a guy that can win races, but we have lots of strong guys that communicate well. This race was our best shot to give us some breathing room from the relegation zone.
Great view from the broadcast of the draft zone in the TTT
The week before the race in the WTRL series, many Premier teams raced the Thursday TTT to practice for the upcoming race. Saris crushed the race and set a course record but Velocio finished second. I felt great and had one of my best TTT performances ever, completing all 10 of my pulls well above 500w.
The best thing we could have done for the race is do what we know: execute a dialed TTT. But the allure of those bonus seconds was strong, very strong. In the starting pens, Ryan, an actual World Champion, said “you know, trying new things for the first time in a race is always a bad idea.”
I might have said YOLO.
Instead of our typical 30 sec pulls, focusing on pulling through with momentum, conserving draft and staying lined out, we decided to change some of the pull lengths, and then planned on doing a leadout for the KOM. Stick with our theme of aggressive racing. Risk it for the biscuit.
This was absolutely a mistake and was 100% my fault. The race started well and we were close to pace with Aero and WeZ, the teams ahead and behind us in the start order. Leading into the KOM segment, things started to fall apart. I made our strongest TTT rider Dan Cassidy sit on the front too long because I misjudged the start of the KOM. Ryan, our leadout guy, got confused about the start of the segment and jumped early. To fix these mistakes I sent Charles to the front to glue us back together. We finally hit the KOM and Ryan did a great jump to lead us out, but then our sprinter Jason came off my wheel. I held the sprint to the line and we actually crossed with the fastest time at the time. Perhaps a success but nearly all the teams were still to come.
Behind me was absolute carnage. We detonated the team. We could have jumped from 5 different planes and parachuted in and landed closer together than how we were spread out on the course. Charles was gone and Dan was 15 seconds back. It took a long time to get everyone together.
Purple: Saris. Blue: WeZ. Orange: Velocio Community Team. Oops.
We regrouped and tried to recover our rotation with four riders. It became clear everyone was cooked except for Ryan. He held us together but it wasn’t long before we were down to just three. The team that started behind us was getting closer and closer. We literally sprinted to the line to not get passed:
Velocio 20m from being caught on the line
That team was WeZ. Not a team I get along with. I knew they were gunning for us and would have thoroughly enjoyed passing us. WeZ has had something like four annulments this year. They firmly believe it is unfair and they are being targeted. I am not making the rules, just saying what happened. If you listen to Nowhere Fast Podcast you will recognize some of their club’s members such as Tamper for his Zpower disqualification tag and the guy that got DQed from the playoffs for not following power meter rules. I see a pattern of rule-breaking and have no patience for it. After the race, the team director made sure to rub in the fact that they almost passed us.
Our team was ready for a good ride and we rode our faces off but I did a terrible job at strategy and ruined it. We finished 14th of 15. We did get second in the segment to score 5 bonus seconds. We gave up probably a minute to get those bonus seconds. You don’t have to be good at math to know that’s not a good trade. I would say “lesson learned”, but we are highly unlikely to be back to try again. The team is now 14th overall.
Saris, the team that won to break the NeXT Enshored win streak, raced amazingly. They are a team packed with big FTP guys and have made an art of keeping team speed, using the draft well, and getting seconds through incredible execution. All the teams in the top 5 have incredible watts. Winning also means mastery and kudos to them for a well-executed ride. Inspiring.
Saris looking perfect
Next week is Temple and Towers and it has a gravel climb. Pretty sure a gravel bike is 100% the wrong move but we will have all week to think about making the wrong decision. Just like I did with our team’s TTT. Don’t be me. Don’t overthink it!
Recently, after losing yet another Zwift race which finished in a pack sprint, I had an epiphany: my sprint sucks.
It’s all relative, of course. ZwiftPower shows my 15s power today as 878W (10.7 w/kg.) If you look at the top 20 B racers on Zwift, they probably average around 1150W, and around 13.5 w/kg. That’s a big difference.
This first epiphany was followed by a second: I’ve never really trained my sprint. Sure, I lead the Pacific Sprintapalooza ride every Friday morning. But that has always been more about timing my sprint, drafting smart, and using my powerup at just the right time. I’ve done a lot of aerobic endurance, VO2, and sweet spot work. But I’ve never actually trained to improve my sprint power or duration… and it shows.
My current ZwiftPower phenotype numbers. #sadsprint My current power curve
The Big Idea
So I’ve decided to start a training project, and I’m calling it “Sprintbooster” since the goal is to increase my maximal and 15s sprint power by 20%.
Boone is riding next to me as I write this, and he says 20% is too much because I’m already well-trained. He says 10%. I guess we’ll find out soon enough…
To meet my goal, I’ll complete a variety of workouts and training including:
Gym work (strength training): deadlifts, squats, and anything else that will help my sprint
On the bike work
Cadence: power is a product of torque and pedal velocity. Being able to pedal at a higher cadence increases the velocity side of the equation.
Force: working on pure pedal force (low cadence work like standing starts or tractor pulls) increases the torque part of the power equation.
Form: working on seated and out of the saddle form to maximize sprint power.
I’ve already done a fair amount of research on the topic of sprinting, and have identified key areas of improvement including increasing my cadence in standing sprints, “exploding” faster/harder, and strengthening my core.
While the project is underway I’ll continue researching all things sprinting by talking to coaches, reading articles, and watching videos. The information is out there – I just need to find it and apply it. And you’ll get to benefit from my research, as I’ll share the useful stuff I find in upcoming posts!
4-Week Sprintbooster Plan
Phase 1 of the project will be 4 weeks long. Here’s the plan:
Week 1 (Feb 7-13)
Baseline tests for maximal and 15s power (including video recording)
1 gym strength session: 3-5 reps in 3-5 sets at 85-95% of my one-rep max
Bike workout: 5 sets of 5×30/30 (30s maximal, 30s recovery), with 4 minutes of recovery in between each set.
Bike workout: standing starts. Start in a decently hard gear at 0 rpm, then spin it up at maximal effort to 100 rpm. Repeat 3x seated, 3x standing.
Week 2 (Feb 14-20)
1-2 gym strength sessions
Bike workout: jumps. Start in an easyish gear and spin it up to my maximum cadence, then hold that for 10 seconds. Repeat. Mix standing and seated.
Bike workout: 5 sets of 3×15/45, where each set of sprints is followed by 4 minutes just over FTP, then 3 minutes of recovery.
Bike workout: torque intervals (4 sets of 4 minutes at FTP at 50 cadence with 5 minutes recovery in between each set)
Week 3 (Feb 21-27)
2 gym strength sessions
Bike workout: jumps. Start in an easyish gear and spin it up to my maximum cadence, then hold that for 10 seconds. Repeat. Mix standing and seated.
Bike workout: torque intervals (4 sets of 4 minutes at FTP at 50 cadence with 5 minutes recovery in between each set)
Bike workout: standing starts. Start in a decently hard gear at 0 rpm, then spin it up at maximal effort to 100 rpm. Repeat 4x seated, 4x standing.
Week 4 (Feb 28-Mar 7)
2 gym strength sessions
Bike workout: jumps. Start in an easyish gear and spin it up to my maximum cadence, then hold that for 10 seconds. Repeat. Mix standing and seated.
Bike workout: 6 sets of 3×15/45, where each set of sprints is followed by 4 minutes just over FTP, then 3 minutes of recovery.
Finish line tests for maximal and 15s power (including video recording)
This will evolve as time goes on, but I’ll document all of that in upcoming posts.
Questions, Comments, Tips?
Got anything worth sharing? I’d love to read some sprintboosting tips you may have! Want to join me on my Sprintboosting quest? Comment below.
