Starting January 18, Zwifters can join the Wahoo Climb Mission by signing up in-game from the homescreen. The mission runs for a 5-week period from January 24-February 26.
Mission Goal
The ultimate goal of the Mission is to climb 20,000 feet (6,096m) between January 24-February 26. But there are milestones along the way… with unlocks and prize entries!
Mission Milestones (Unlocks and Giveaways)
Climb 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) for an entry to win a Wahoo Bolt bike computer. This is equivalent to 3x up the Alpe du Zwift. When you’ve completed the task, you’ll also unlock the in-game Wahoo socks.
Finishing this mission is equivalent to summiting the Volcano almost 32 times! You’ll be rewarded in-game with a Wahoo kit unlock.
In-Game Kit Previews
How Does This Work?
Zwift hasn’t had in-game missions since the CeramicSpeed Mission in May 2020, so many Zwifters will be unfamiliar with how Missions work.
Simply put, Missions are temporary challenges. Sign up, then all your activity in-game goes toward completing the Mission. Whether your elevation is gained in a workout, free ride, race… it all counts. The Mission badge on your homescreen will track your progress.
Missions are sort of like Zwift’s three Challenges (Climb Mt. Everest, Ride California, Tour Italy) except they are only active for a short time period, usually a month. If you have a Challenge and a Mission selected, your mileage and elevation will go toward completing both the Challenge and the Mission at the same time. It’s like earning extra credit!
Elevation Tracking Seem Off?
Astute Zwifter Aoi_Niigaki made the observation that:
It looks like Zwift adds up the total, works out the percentage completed, rounds it to the nearest whole number and then multiplies it by 60.96 (1% of the total elevation needed) to work out the total elevation that is displayed in the home screen in the Zwift app.
This does indeed seem to back up the numbers we’re seeing, so if your elevation numbers seem “off”, this may be at least part of the issue.
Zwift Premier League, Week 1: How the Race Was Participated In
Season 2 of the 2021/22 Zwift Premier League started this past Monday. 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.
The Road to the Premier League
The Velocio racing team first started racing in the Community League in Season 2 of the inaugural 2020/21 Zwift Racing League. (In the very first season of ZRL racing I competed for ATP after failing to convince enough friends from my outdoor racing team to join me.) For season 2 I managed to talk enough teammates, as well as some well-known friends of Velocio, into joining us. This included the likes of cycling legends Ted King and Geoff Kabush as well as all-around fitness badass and Stanley Cup champion Andrew Ference.
This added some credibility and spice to our ragtag IRL racing team. We started in the America East A4 division and had to work our way up to A1 through promotion. To move up to the Premier League we needed to place top 3 in the A1 “world playoffs”. After 3 seasons of racing, this past December we placed 2nd in the “world playoffs” to earn our Premier League upgrade.
Although qualifying was a large challenge, what has turned out to be an even bigger challenge is getting everyone on the start line. The Premier League races on a different day, at a different time, and has different rules than the Community League. So instead of racing Tuesday night after work, we all had to figure out how to be available on a Monday during the workday. Additionally, everyone needed a trainer with 2% accuracy and be able to dual record with a second power meter.
This is good, as we want everyone on the level, but $1000 trainers and power meters don’t grow on trees and not everyone had invested so heavily into their indoor racing setup. For some guys, what started as a silly experiment, suddenly got serious. Lastly, everyone has to complete an extensive ZADA questionnaire with a power test and ideally have some outdoor verification numbers.
By the time all these demands were met, my potential team roster of 20 became 5. The hardest of all these, was of course, getting time off work. Each team can race 5 riders per week and pull from a roster of 10 guys. We just have the 5, no bench, no subs.
The Roster
Ryan Atkins
Jason Frank
Charles McCarthy
Dan Cassidy
Kevin Bouchard-Hall
The star of the team is Ryan Atkins who is the World Spartan race champion. He comes from a unicycle trials background (seriously) as well as mountain bike racing, but his athletic career took him into adventure and Spartan racing where he turned out to be literally the best in the world. He has a house near me and we have become friends doing long gravel adventures in the Adirondacks. He is Achilles, Hercules, or even Zeus reborn, but is also the nicest and most positive person you will meet.
The next two racers on our team are college teammates of mine from the University of Vermont, from 20 years ago. Dan Cassidy is an Air Force Clinical Psychologist in Texas and in his prime was one of the best climbers in the Northeast. It is a shame Strava didn’t exist when he was smashing hill climbs because I think even Erik Levisohn from Saris-NoPinz would be challenged by his times. Charles McCarthy is a dad, writer, skier and has been MTB racing since before it was cool. It is too bad that taste in music doesn’t add to his FTP because he would be the next Tune-gels…
The fourth team member is Jason Frank who is a banker from Vermont and a former triathlon pro. We had many great battles a decade ago. Father of three and probably nicer than Ryan, his enthusiasm is infectious. So infectious he actually raced Monday with COVID. Seriously, his whole family had it. They are all vaccinated and okay now.
Last and least of all is me. A former under-23 aspiring pro who failed out of Europe and gave up the dream to go back to graduate school. I work as a physiotherapist and a father of two amazing boys.
White Shorts
One of the largest motivators to get to the Premier League with Velocio was to get one of their amazing kits in-game. When submitting the kit design from Velocio it included a white set of shorts that was used for clear logo placement. When Zwift Event Director Charlie Issendorf, who has a history of white kits with GS Mengoni, asked if we wanted white shorts I said YES! He sent the proofs to run by Velocio and I fell in love.
When the powers that be saw them they made the correct fashion decision to switch to navy bibs, which is what we actually wear outside. As Dave Towle said in the broadcast “you have to be either be very new or very good to wear white shorts” and since we are neither we are going back to Navy. It’s the fashion-responsible thing to do. But since there wasn’t enough time to swap the kits before the first race we got one glorious race in the white bibs. It was the only notable thing we did!
The Race
Before the race, much of the team was excited and had high hopes. The more grizzled team members on the team, however, were pretty sure we were in for a rude awakening. Plans of “go for the sprints!” were talked down to “try and finish”. For myself, I had hoped to keep my nose dry until the KOM and follow the inevitable Tuegels attack.
The race started fast, like any other Zwift race, and after 700m when the pack formed there was a tiny lull. I literally yelled “YOLO” in the team Discord and I attacked. I didn’t make it 60 seconds before I abandoned my plan. I had just finished, the day before, the Project Echelon Racing League Tour of the Gila. I won three stages and the overall, putting out some of my best power ever over three days of racing. I was beginning to think efforts had no consequences.
My attack turned into a short-lived break of three and then a counter went before the first sprint. I tried to bridge back across and I just led out the sprint. A beginner’s mistake of panic. Pack regrouped and another attack went from Jamrozik of Restart, the team I raced Gila with. I figured two is better than one and jumped to bridge to him, but after about 30 seconds it became clear I was screwed. The legs started to run dry and I couldn’t make it across.
McGlinchey bridged to me and I was useless to help him. We hung on to take the second prime points but I knew right there I was in trouble. My lungs seized up, my legs felt empty and I struggled to get back on to the draft of the pack. Going up the small incline before sprint three I was gapped. I used an aero and made one last effort to get back on and I failed. Dropped. My Premier League debut started off getting dropped and limping home for literally last place. I made it 12 minutes and 35 seconds.
This is not sitting in or following the plan
Something that was new for me and certainly a mistake was dealing with the weigh-in. In the Premier League you need to do a weigh-in within 2 hours of the race. I typically weigh myself in the morning and it is when I am at my lightest. Midday I can gain 2-4 pounds because of food and water. Knowing this, I went light on breakfast and fluid intake with the plan of weighing in while still at work exactly two hours before the race and then eating my pre-race meal.
But my last client went late and I was behind schedule and it was a race just to weigh in, eat, get home, and be online 30 minutes before the event started. I think all I did was deplete my glycogen stores and set myself up for failure. This behavior is already really close to disordered eating and something that was difficult for me 20 years ago when I was racing in Europe. Certainly a part of e-sports racing that is a problem for a lot of athletes. Moving forward, I am going to take the kilo of coffee and granola and plan on not getting dropped because I am stronger.
After getting dropped so early I cheered my team on and watched the stream while I pedaled in to finish almost 11 minutes down. One of my favorite parts of the race was seeing Teugels attack where I thought he would and watching Seggebruch of Canyon do exactly what I had hoped to do. Tuegels is 10-20% stronger than everyone in the Premier League. No one comes close. But bike racing has a strategy called “drafting” and riders are rewarded for savvy racing. Tuegels forgot about this and got played hard as Spencer timed a perfect sprint to take the KOM points.
Afterward, Teugels was not impressed. He is a daring and gutsy rider, but here, he forgot it’s still a bike race, not a TT. Maybe he was hoping for some of that Spirit of Gravel chivalry.
The last bit is something full of drama that is still being sorted. The finish was exciting as Gavin Dempster of Saris-NoPinz made a late move and got caught with 26m to go. The drama however was that some people in the race had an older version of the game that had a DIFFERENT finish line that was something like 50m earlier.
So when the results popped on the screen and the replay was played, the obvious mismatch was, well, obvious. The rules state you must use the most recent version of Zwift, and I bet most people wouldn’t even know how to start an older version of Zwift, but somehow it happened. I don’t believe for a second there was any intent in this action but the results still have to be sorted. Personally, I think we should give NeXT p/b ENSH a finish line an extra kilometer down the road to give us a chance.
The last tidbit people may not know is that for the Premier League this season everyone has to run 100% trainer difficulty. It is set automatically in-game for these events, so there is no way to change this UNLESS people don’t pair a controllable trainer unit. Apparently, some people did this to avoid the change in resistance. Incredible.
Next week is 6 laps of London Classique with 6 sprints and dead flat. I hope it means I don’t get dropped. I will wait to attack for at least a full kilometer next week. After that, no promises.
As Matt Rowe explains, “It’s important to build a strong base, the very nature of Zwift is that the racing is hard and fast and largely explosive. Without a strong base, you can peak very quickly but the peak doesn’t last long.”
I was very conscious that I had made substantial gains in form, but was in danger of doing exactly what Matt had outlined. I needed to continue building a strong base, but week 11 saw me both over train and over race. I deviated from the plan and paid for it. I tried to balance training and racing but got it wrong.
Monday’s Intervals
Monday 27th December saw me tackle intervals but I also took it upon myself to undertake a long ride to build endurance. This was the first mistake of the week which I would pay for later.
The intervals consisted of 10 x 30 seconds at 435 watts, followed by 10 x 30 seconds at 135 watts, 3x. After each set, there was a 5-minute rest. It took me 6-7 seconds to reach the desired wattage, and the intervals were relentless. I was struggling by the end and had to over-exert myself to complete the set. By the end, I was drained as I was working at 130% of my FTP.
Conscious that I needed to “build my base” I thought it would be a good idea to gain a few extra kilometers by joining a group ride after my workout. I joined the Invictus Games Foundation ride, a well-attended event with close to 1000 people. The plan was to simply sit in a group and complete the distance of 105km. However, the group I found myself in was going quick and I noticed that I had become caught up in the ride. I feared easing back and losing the group.
This was the first mistake of the week, when I first realized the pace was too quick, I should have eased off and rode at my tempo until a suitable group caught me. Instead, I made the decision to stay with the group for an hour! By the time I had stopped, I realized I had expended too much energy and the data showed that I had worked harder than intended.
Tuesday’s Intervals
Tuesday’s interval ride was difficult due to the overtraining of the day before. This session saw me undertake 40 repetitions of 40 seconds at 355 watts or 102% of my FTP, followed by 20 seconds at 140 watts. The 20 seconds recovery was not substantial enough and like the previous day’s intervals, this soon became painful and I started to become desperate to finish. This session was both mentally difficult and physically tiring. The 20 seconds recovery disappeared before you knew it whilst in contrast, the 40 seconds of effort felt neverending.
Despite what can only be described as torture, I did complete the set and was left drained and jumped into a ride with Castelli to cool down, turning my training into a 2-hour session.
Wednesday Race
The plan for Wednesday was to race, so I decided to participate in the Race3R Championship. This was an event reserved for 3R club riders, and it was an iTT on Bologna TT. I fancied my chances as the fastest time from the session in the morning was 15:21, with my fastest being only 10 seconds slower. (My time of 15:31 was set long before I had found this new level of form as a result of training with Rowe & King.) But in retrospect, I was being naive.
Knowing I have the capability to climb for 5 minutes at 5.8 w/kg, I opted to keep the first part of the ride steady and then push on the climb. I executed the plan, I kept around 4.9-5.2 w/kg on the first flat part but as I hit the climb, I had nothing. And when I say nothing, I mean the legs felt literally empty. As opposed to being focused on catching the riders ahead of me, I was fighting to defend my position. I finished in 16.08, which although respectable is a long way off from what I was hoping for.
My poor performance in the race highlights the problem of training and racing. Logically, it was evident that I was not going to perform well in the race because I had done two days of hard training. For many of us, this sort of logic is discarded when we enter a race. Somehow, we almost convince ourselves that come race day, we will magically hit the wattage that we expect and deliver a stellar performance. I honestly thought that despite the event being only 8km in distance, I would not be impacted by my training and have “enough in the legs” to produce a good ride.
If you are wanting to get a good result in a race, you have to target a specific event and be clear on your objectives.
Thursday – Testing
My scheduled rest day did not really happen as planned because I ended up undertaking some tests on my trainer for a potential article. One test included climbing the Volcano, which I did relatively steadily, taking 7:12 minutes.
Friday – Travel Day
I missed my 2-hour scheduled interval session due to travel. This left me battling the guilt of a missed session. On the other hand I wasn’t sure how I could have fit it in, since due to the intensity of the session (3 x 20 minutes at FTP), it was not possible to undertake it on Thursday.
Saturday – Zwift Fondo
The first Zwift Fondo of the year was an event not to be missed. Conscious that I had two races the following day, I opted to ride the shortest route, the Bambino.
Like Wednesday, I expected more from myself and found myself in the second group on the road as the race split at the start of the Epic KOM reverse climb. A group of 13 formed after pushing watts in excess of 500 for a minute or two. I’ll confess, I wasn’t expecting the ferociousness of the front few riders and I was too late in my response. Tactically, I was a second behind where I needed to be. This mistake would be repeated at the end of the ride.
The front group formed a small team of 13 and worked together to pull away from our chasing group, which soon grew in number. The group was too large to work effectively and the front kept a fast pace and by the start of the Volcano climb probably a 3-minute advantage.
Then I misjudged the finish of the climb and as we hit the 10% steep section, I was in too high a gear to maintain my speed and watched as riders from behind zipped past.
Psychologically, it was hard to take. But more disappointment would follow the next day as I started the Flamme Rouge Race series.
Sunday – FRR Race Series
I enjoyed the Flamme Rouge Race series and was looking forward to riding, especially as the first event was an individual time trial up the Volcano climb.
However, this was a repeat of Wednesday’s disappointing ride that left me deflated.
I paced the first part of the ride well and out of a field of 127, found myself in 65th position at the base of the Volcano climb. But just like the Bologna race a few days before, instead of finding myself overtaking racers on the climb, it was I who was being overtaken, dropping to 80th. I reached the top in 7:35 which was slower than when I rode the climb several days previously. I was passed on the descent and felt completely dejected as I finished near the back of the field.
The second race followed immediately after and I only managed to stay in the main pack for 20 minutes because as the course in Neokyo hit a few steep sections, I found myself unable to keep pace.
It got worse as 6km from the end, our group got caught and I didn’t even have the strength or enthusiasm to push to stay in the group.
Summing Up
Week 11 was nothing short of a disaster. I tried to do everything in terms of training and racing and achieved nothing. Trying to maintain training, whilst simultaneously trying to keep my commitments to my racing team, meant I did not perform and was left disappointed. Lesson learned.
If you are going to use races to help with training, you have to try and change your mindset. You can’t expect a good result if you have undertaken multiple days of training, so you have two choices. Either don’t do the race, or do it but be prepared to not be competitive and accept the poor placing that you may end up with.
Lucianotes: ZRL in Neokyo -Collective Suicide by Burrito
Initial Statement to the Zwift Racing Community
First of all, I would like to express my most sincere support to all those who suffered the “join the pen glitch” and could not race. Given your misadventure, I hope my sarcastic ranting will at least make you half smile. Also I hope it never happens again as I am not sure I would be able to survive another selfie like this one:
A Collective Suicide by Burrito
Let’s start with a suggestion. Let’s create a change.org petition to have Zwift create a “burrito clearance procedure” as some countries do with firearms. No rider should be authorized to possess and by extension use a Burrito Power-Up before having succeeded in a Burrito usage test based on Eric’s Master Class on the topic.
My race, and that of a dozen other riders, was ruined by a typical collective suicide by Burrito, creating a cut in the pack which we were never able to overcome.
My team being very international, I can now proudly brag about the fact that I know how to say “Who is this f***ing idiot starting a f***ing burrito war 3km into the race for f**k sake” in at least five languages, including one in French with an Italian accent (thanks Stefano!)
To be fair it is possible that the rider starting the war activated the Burrito by mistake. In any case, even if he did it intentionally, he would not qualify as an idiot, only as someone who needs urgently to read Eric’s post on misused Burritos. However, since four of us were caught in the split provoked by the burrito suicide, we needed to find a scapegoat instead of acknowledging our own mistake. I am so glad my new teammates have the same bad faith automatisms as myself!
That being said, I am the worst sprinter in human history. Therefore the first ZRL race of the season in Neokyo All-Nighter was not the one I was supposed to enjoy the most. And the race confirmed it.
The overall level of the Africa A1 division is crazy. There are at least 25 monsters there, easily going up to a gazillion watts per kilo in the sprints. A totally different universe.
Add to it that two members of the team had Bluetooth dropouts, plus the above-mentioned Burrito collective suicide, and it could have been the worst race ever.
However, there was at least a good part to it. All the team finished in the same pack, we managed to create good solidarity among us during the race, and some team osmosis in swearing against the Burrito idiot.
We finished in the second half of the ranking. I will now pretend it doesn’t matter at all, and focus on some non competition related items, diverting your attention from the actual results of the race.
The Ultimate Weigh-InChallenge
So, the real fun of this week’s race came from getting to know new teammates joining the Abyss team. We clicked almost immediately, as if we’d been together for quite some time. Team Coalition’s transparency policy requiring a weigh-in and height-in for anyone participating in ZRL certainly helps build team rapport. The way it is done, it is as much an ice-breaker as it is a doping control!
Nothing better to break all the barriers of shyness than a good old weigh-in protocol requiring a master’s degree in scale management and another one in camera perspective in order to be compliant:
(You will notice that there are at least 5 dysfunctional enough people to “like” this weigh-in protocol. WTF?!)
In summary, before the test I had to find the appropriate environment, as well as an accomplice:
The location should be a desert (nothing nearby to hold on to), preferably a hard, even-surfaced desert. Good luck finding such a place…
A heavy yet comfortable to carry weight: good one. Get as heavy as possible weights but feel comfortable, right? Is that cynical on purpose?
Someone I trust enough and I already lost any kind of credibility to, to film me and set in stone this humiliating process.
Then comes the fun. You would need 10 arms and 7 legs to be able to perform all the tasks included in the protocol. You would also need to be as translucent as a jellyfish so everything is visible from the camera in case you are hiding something between your toes.
The worst thing is that these rules began with ZADA, because they found out people were cheating this way, which is sooooooo sad.
It took me a good 10 iterations in order to get it right. Blackmailing me with the hacked “Making Of” the weigh-in video could be the fastest and most efficient way to obtain anything from me. I can perfectly imagine a business model with your ex-boyfriend or girlfriend sharing your weigh-in video on a website… “revengeweigh-In.com, share the video of your ex weighing him/herself in bib shorts”. Apocalyptic.
Competing for Most Ridiculous Weigh-In
Coming back to the actual weigh-in, first I got worried because my weights were 6kg but were marking 5.9kg on the scale. I tried with 3 different scales and I can now confirm I was scammed. I was sent 5.9kg, not 6kg weights.
Second, there is nothing that could prevent me from feeling utterly ridiculous filming myself in bib shorts this way. I was moving awkwardly, and feeling observed.
You don’t believe me? See for yourself:
So it was with great joy that I saw my teammates were not doing any better performing the same exercise. As the links to their own videos populated the Discord chat, the wounds of my ego rapidly healed. In all fairness, I felt I was an average ridiculous weigh-in performer. Some of my teammates were doing radically better, some others were doing so poorly that I was already embarrassed to have them in my team.
More seriously, I think anything promoting and securing transparency and fairness in the game is very welcome, especially when the outcome depends on marginal differences. That is why I pledge to spontaneously and voluntarily go through a weigh-in protocol every single morning, for the rest of my life… NOT!
I am planning to write from time to time about the team’s ZRL adventures. So Emiel, Stefano, Maxime, Alejandro, Fabian, Adam, Callum, Aaron, Chris, and whoever feels brave enough to join the team in the future, get yourself prepared to be roasted big time.
In this week’s Top 5 Zwift Videos, see what can happen when your kid helps you out during a race. Then watch one Zwifter tackle two very different races, and get GCN’s take on how the last Zwift Racing League series went for them.
Additionally, if you’re looking to outfit your pain cave, you can see an overview of the types of indoor trainers and some great ideas for modifying a training desk.
ZWIFT L39ION of LA Crit Series – Kids are the worst
While racing a Zwift crit, The Spoke Show demonstrates the best and worst parts of having a child act as your assistant.
I Raced Back To Back Zwift Races!
The Vegan Cyclist enters a L39ION of LA Crit Series race, then jumps straight into a KISS race featuring a multi-surface route.
Why Did We Get So Smashed In The Zwift Racing League?
GCN’s dream team went into season 1 of the Zwift Racing League in 2021 with high hopes, but how did it turn out for them? Hear their reflections on the season and watch the highlights of their last ZRL stage.
Festive 500 Day 2 // The Ultimate Indoor Cycling Smart Desk
If you can’t find the indoor training accessories you want, try making them yourself! Shane Miller (GPLama) shows a few changes he made to a Wahoo Kickr desk to make his ultimate indoor cycling “smart desk.”
What Bike Trainers are best for beginners on Zwift? 4 Types
John Slocum (Triathlon Tips with Coach John) introduces you to the different types of indoor trainers and compares how well they work with Zwift.
Got a Great Zwift Video?
Share the link below and we may feature it in an upcoming post!
Winter Zwift Zestivities (Nowhere Fast Episode 29)
Episode 29 of the Nowhere Fast Podcast is live! The holidays were a time for both catchy and not so catchy training gimmicks. Zach drank the Kool-Aid and completed the “Zestive 500” and KBH made up a new dumb training plan called the 40 in 14. Zwift “leaks” their hardware designs and it turns out it’s a Tron bike for your living room. Mike channels some new feelings to talk about Zwift-specific lingo. But maybe they aren’t new feelings…
About the Podcast
Nowhere Fast is a part of the Wide Angle Podium network and focuses on virtual bike racing. It includes Zwift commentary, interviews, and coverage of real races on fake bikes. Get it on Apple Podcasts, Podbean, Spotify, or anywhere else fine podcasts are shared.
How the Race Was Broken: ZRL Week 1 and the “Join Event” Debacle
Tuesday was the big day: the first race of Zwift Racing League Season 2. My team, the DIRT Roosters, had won our B3 division last season and are thus in B2. It can be intimidating moving up a division, but after scouting the competition and talking strategy, we figured we had a fighting chance.
Planning Our Race
We’d planned everything. Plan version 1 was hatched as we went into the weekend: our four strongest sprinters (Clem, Dean, Arjen, and myself) would attack sprint 2 for FTS+FAL points, then try to stay away through sprints 3 and 4, since they weren’t far apart. Antoine and Thomas would work to hold good positions on the sprints, trying to grab a bit of FAL if possible. But they would be saving themselves for points in the big Rooftop KOM effort.
That was our first plan. But I think we all had the same feelings as we pondered this strategy. “We’re going to blow up attacking the sprints, then get dropped hard on the KOM.”
Captain Antoine’s race notes. Feel free to use these… we won’t be needing them.
So on Monday, the plan was revised. We would all chase FTS on the one sprint awarding it (Alley), then attack for FAL points on another sprint or two of our choosing, depending on how we felt. Our goal was to have the race come back together after the KOM, with our sprinters in the front pack contesting the podium.
That was our plan. Then Tuesday happened.
“Join Event”… How?
I was logged on early, having completed my typical pre-race ritual of three pieces of caffeine gum (I usually do two, but today was special) and some PR lotion on the legs. Then it was off to Neokyo for a spin while I recce’d the sprints once more and even grabbed the green jersey:
Signing into our team’s Discord voice chat, I began chatting with Clem and Antoine who were already there. And we watched the clock, knowing once it hit 30 minutes before race time, we should get the “Join Event” popup for us to click and save our spot near the front of the pens.
Our race began at 11:31AM my time. 11:01… nothing. 11:02… nothing.
I figured it was just me. Then Antoine said, “Guys, I’m not getting the Join Event button. I’m going to restart.”
Crap.
So I restarted too. I joined other Zwift worlds. I re-clicked my signup link from WTRL (which was rather annoying, since they just changed to a signup system wherein we cannot UN-sign up from a race… which is what I’ve done in the past if I didn’t get the Join Event popup.)
Nothing. Spinning with the C. Cadence crew, others were messaging about it too. “Not getting a prompt to join my ZRL race. Anyone else?”
Clearly this was a widespread issue. And on the busiest day of the Zwift season thus far. Yikes.
We all kept restarting things. Checking Facebook and finding messages on WTRL’s group with instructions that didn’t help. Signing up for other events to see if we’d get prompted to join those (we didn’t). Looking on ZwiftPower to see if other races were underway (but ZwiftPower had crashed, because everyone else had the same idea.) I even pinged Martin at WTRL about the issue, but all he could say is it was on Zwift’s side and they were working on it.
When the clock hit 11:25, despair began to set in. We weren’t going to race today.
One last reboot. Still nothing. 11:31. No race.
Making Lemonade
We were all amped up and ready to race, so some of the DIRT Roosters decided to go looking for something else. We found a few candidate races, clicked to sign up, then waited for the prompt.
Nothing.
All the nervous spinning and Discord helped pass the time, and soon enough it was past noon and I’d ridden over 40 “warmup” kilometers. Our race would have been over by now. I told the guys on Discord I was signing off. And just as I went to shut down Zwift… “Join Event” popped up!
For a race starting in 10 minutes.
I jumped back onto Discord, and the other guys had seen it too. So we decided to do the JETT race on Temples and Towers. It looked terrible, with three Makuri KOM efforts and a large field of riders (probably a lot of angry ZRL hopefuls). But we all had some angst to sweat out, so we went for it.
I won’t bore you with the details of that race, because that’s not what this post is about. But here are the highlights:
Not until the race began did I realize it was a combined-category race. So I was up against ~100 B riders, but also a pile of A’s!
I went hard on the first KOM (Neokyo’s Rooftop KOM) and set a PR of 3 minutes flat, staying in touch with the front group. Hurray!
Then we hit the Castle KOM, and I got dropped.
And just when I thought it was all over, I realized this event used a custom distance, and ended well past the normal route finish line… after going over the Rooftop KOM a second time. Worst. Day. Ever.
The race ended in a random spot just after descending the KOM. I finished 18th in the B’s – see my ride on Strava
PR on the Rooftop KOM
Dropped on the Castle KOM
Struggling up the Temple KOM
Watch My Race Implosion, Including the New Legz-Cam(TM)
Follow-Ups from Zwift + WTRL
The result of all the “Join Event” problems is that Week 1’s race won’t count, for the 32 it affected. Those divisions will now race a 7-race series instead of 8.
This is probably a bummer for those who actually got into the pens and raced their hearts out (19 B riders finished the race the DIRT Roosters were supposed to join – see ZwiftPower results). But I’m not sure there’s any better solution!
As WTRL posted earlier, there was a bug with some racers not receiving the “join” button before the start of their races. Zwift experienced a brief server issue just as some of the WTRL events were about to start.
We are incredibly excited for the start of ZRL and this is not what we envisioned for the very first race of the season. We are sorry for the inconvenience this has caused and we are working with our staff to identify the underlying issue so that we can prevent this from happening in the future.
After discussing with WTRL, we will void the results for the divisions that have been affected. The affected divisions will now have a 7 week season instead of an 8 week season.
WTRL posted the following on their own website (along with a list of all impacted divisions, which I won’t include here):
Following the Zwift game outage yesterday (11th January), WTRL have reviewed the impact and will flatten/annul results in the divisions listed below. All of these divisions show entire teams were signed up but not in the race. Teams in these divisions will now follow a 7 race season. If you feel your division has been missed, WTRL will of course hear your case via email from TEAM CAPTAINS ([email protected]).
Unfortunately the issues were outside of WTRL’s control and we completely empathize with the frustrations felt. With the new Zwift Clubs event feature, Meetups, Zwift Racing League, Tour de Zwift and regular events all trying to take place at the same time, an overload occurred. Zwift are currently working to find a solution to resolve this.
An update on the broken “Join” button that prevented some Zwifters from joining ZRL races on Tuesday. After a thorough investigation, we learned there was an overload of events that caused bugs. We fixed those server issues to prevent a recurrence in the future.
We wanted to reassure every Zwifter taking part in Zwift Racing League events that this has been resolved. Thanks for your understanding and good luck in Race #2.
Wrapping It Up
What actually caused the “Join Event” problem? I’m not at liberty to divulge the details. But at the same time, I think the racing community needs to know that the issue wasn’t one of capacity, as if Zwift’s servers couldn’t handle the load. As I understand it, it was a simpler issue of settings that didn’t take into account the high number of concurrently-running events thanks to ZRL, Tour de Zwift, Meetups, and now Clubs.
Change the setting, fix the issue. Sounds like this bug is officially squashed.
Your Comments
How did your first race of season 2 go? What strategies did your team employ… or were you stuck with the “wait for Join Event link” strategy like the DIRT Roosters? Share below!
It’s a big weekend on Zwift, with so many different events to try. But like a breakaway up a mountain, I got it covered!
TdZ Stage 2: Mountain Madness
Stage 2 of Tour de Zwift for cyclists has us tackling climbs of various lengths, across the different worlds, with the long ride tackling the Alpe du Zwift! If you have never attempted this climb, there’s no better way to do it than with hundreds of fellow Zwifters to support you.
Andre Greipel has retired from pro cycling after a career spanning 16 years which included victories at all the Grand Tours. Andre is no stranger to Zwift, and I have ridden with him numerous times, in various group rides. So it only seems fitting that he is joining Zwift for a ride to celebrate his career.
With over 5000 people signed up already, Andre is going to lead the group on four laps of the Champs-Élysées, a course he won on in the 2015 Tour de France. You’ll unlock the Fight ALS jersey in this ride, so be sure to read the ride details to learn how to join Andre in supporting the fight against ALS!
Le Col are tackling the Mega Pretzel, 111km’s of road that takes in the Epic KOM as well as the Jungle.
It’s an Open Category ride, so some people will race it, whilst others will keep it steady. If you haven’t completed this route or fancy a challenge, then this will be a good event to do.
In September I wrote about the 3R 12/24-Hour Ultra Endurance Academy – the day of reckoning has arrived for the first part of the challenge. On Saturday, members of the Academy are going to undertake 12 hours of cycling. The event starts with their standard Saturday Endurance event and riders will stay on after it is completed clocking up the remaining hours. Read more about Saturday’s event >
Team 3R are undertaking this to raise sponsorship for the charityWorld Bicycle Relief.
Castelli are launching a new “Unlimited” event, that will run until the end of March, every other week.
The “Unlimited” event has the Castelli Team leading a group ride over the longer routes. Sunday’s ride sees the Quatch Quest route being tackled and will take between 2-2.5 hours.
The new Zwift Bike was announced, well leaked, by Zwift in a strange way over the holidays. The Zwiftcasters discuss this, but more importantly, the features we now know about. They are excited.
There is a new Home Screen coming to Zwift, but contain your excitement because it’s a slow rollout. The Zwiftcasters have had a preview and they very much like what they’ve been playing with.
There is brand new functionality coming to Clubs and the podcasters reckon it will be a huge development as the community gets new – and simple – ways to organise their own events.
Elsewhere Simon talks to Mike Hanney about the new Zwiftalizer, the invaluable tool for diagnosing connection and other issues for Zwifters.
And there is a new set of tests scheduled to start the long-awaited clampdown on the sandbaggers.
Along the way Simon, Shane and Nathan find more Zwiftiness to explore and debate.
It’s a long one – you’re gonna need a bigger pot of chamois cream! We hope you enjoy listening.
The second race of Zwift Racing League 2021/22 Round 2 happens Tuesday, January 18th (Monday the 17th for Premier Division), and this week is certainly one for the sprinters as riders take on London’s Classique route.
Let’s dig into the course, including tips for bike choice, strategic options, and crucial segments:
Looking at the Route: London’s Classique
The Classique loop itself is 5.4km (3.4 miles) long, with 19m (62′) of elevation per lap. But you’ve got a 5.8km lead-in to get to the start of your first lap, and that lead-in will see the race’s first attacks.
A/B categories are racing 6 laps (for a total of 38.7km, 196.8m according to WTRL) and C/D categories are racing 5 laps (32.8km, 170m).
This course is a sprinter’s paradise. Mostly flat, with just a few slight rises to make things a bit spicy. Here’s the profile, which looks much lumpier than it really is!
Rather than taking you through a turn-by-turn, let’s just discuss the three key sections of the race.
First, the lead-in. This features short rollers where attacks could happen if teams think they are strong enough to go hard on the front and drop other riders. But we doubt this will happen. Instead, the first riders will be dropped when the road turns a sharp right and heads uphill at 3.6km.
This short kicker up Northumberland Ave is actually the longest climb of race, even though it’s just 400 meters long 4-5%. Be ready for efforts to ramp way up here, and if you’re wanting to attack and stretch the field, this is a great place to do it.
Second, the sprint segment (and finish). WTRL calls it “Mall Sprint REV”. We call it the Mall Sprint Forward. In game, it just says “Sprint”. Regardless, the sprint is just short of 200m long, and slightly downhill. Expect segment times in the 8-10s range, but you’ll have to rev it up early (starting around the 300m sign works well) in order to hit top speeds.
FAL points will be awarded, and FTS times tracked, each time through the sprint banner. This includes the lead-in and finish! (We’ve confirmed this with WTRL.)
Third, the key “climb” section of each lap, when riders turn left onto Whitehall Hill. This is where riders traditionally push to break up the race. If you’re concerned with your ability to hang with the pack, start near the front of the group, but stay in the draft. The group will be stretched at the top of the climb, but just find a wheel and sit in… it will all come back together. Probably.
Riders will be awarded powerups through each segment banner, meaning we’ll get 7 powerups during the race (one each time through the Classique sprint banner, plus one at the start through the main London lap banner).
Three powerups will be randomly given out at each banner:
Aero Boost (helmet): makes you more aerodynamic (reduces your CdA by 25%) for 15 seconds. Best used when you’re going fastest and air resistance is highest. Very handy in sprints and attacks off the front.
Draft Boost (van): increases the draft effect you are experiencing by 50% for 30 seconds. Use at higher speeds (flats and descents) when you are already drafting off another rider (since this powerup only helps when you are drafting.) Useful for increasing recovery while sitting in the pack, or boosting your speed sprinting through the pack.
Cloaking (ghost): makes you invisible to other riders for 10 seconds. Use when you want to get away from other riders. Deploy then hammer, in hopes that you will create enough of a gap that your opponents can’t grab your wheel.
Bike Frame + Wheel Choice
Aero rules the day here, no question. If you have the disc wheel and a fast frame, use that. Otherwise, use the Tron bike. And if you’re in the Premier Division where discs and Trons aren’t allowed, we recommend the Specialized S-Works Venge + Zipp 858 combo.
Many events now being consistently 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 Classique events.
Looking for a video recon, with lovely British commentary to boot? Here are our two favorite recon videos this week:
Sherpa Dave
Si Bradeley
Strategic Options
Points Distribution, Week 2
The maximum points a team of 6 could earn in this race. Since the race ends at the final sprint banner, we’ve added those Sprint FAL points to the finishing points total in the chart.
As you can see from the chart above, this race is all about sprint points.
So what strategies will riders employ in race 2? Here’s what we predict:
All Your FTS Are Belong To Us: since FTS points are given to the 10 fastest times across the entire race, it’s possible for a strong sprinter to get points for, say, the fastest time as well as the 3rd and 5th fastest. Expect strong sprinting teams to attempt a complete FTS grab. Visibility of current FTS standings will be key.
Save It For the Sprint: ZRL racers are learning that competition is tight in their divisions, making it hard to split up the pack on flatter routes. Why burn matches attacking on short climbs if it’s not going to drop or hurt anyone sufficiently? We expect to see only limited attacking apart from the sprint segment and finish.
All In On Whitehall: The final Whitehall climb comes 2.2km from the finish. Riders who don’t fancy their chances in a pack sprint will attack here on the last lap, in hopes of staying away to the end. A solo rider probably won’t manage it, but a small pack could. It could get very interesting.
Ghost Attacks: with the ghost powerup in play, plan on seeing some invisible sprinters each lap, in the finish, and on final-lap attacks up Whitehall Hill.
Saving that Aero Powerup: the finish is slightly downhill and fast. Chances are, the win will go to a rider who saves and uses their aero powerup properly.
Audacious TTT: we doubt this will actually happen, but we’d love to see it: a team attacking early in the race and sticking a TTT effort out front to grab all the FAL and finish points.
Watch the Premier Division Race
Zwift’s top racers will go head to head in the Premier Division the day before the community races. Watch it below on GCN Racing’s Youtube channel:
Your Thoughts
Any insights or further thoughts on this sprinters’ race? Share below!
