Matt Rowe takes a look at the fifth workout of the Zwift Academy Road program and offers his advice on how to tackle it.
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.
This weekend’s picks are a rather eclectic mix: two Zwift Academy events, a fundraiser/cause, and a very unique race competition. Dive in!
We have already reported about this event in detail (see Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation Rides Announced) and it’s certainly worthy event to attend and raise awareness and funds towards finding a cure for these painful and devastating diseases.
There are three events to try, starting on Friday. But the two for the weekend are as follows:
Ride #2: 2 October at 10am PDT/1pm EDT/6pm BST/7pm CEST
Ride #3: 3 October at 4pm PDT/7pm EDT
This session is going to be a tough one. I’ve been saving this for the weekend because the daunting description means once undertaken you certainly won’t be on top form for racing and a recovery day will be needed.
“This session has you performing 30min of work near your FTP. Starting the first set at a higher intensity means lactate levels will increase slightly at the beginning without time to fully clear. Conversely, starting easy in the last set before building the intensity towards the end means you’ll have to generate hard efforts after nearly 50min of work and cumulative fatigue. Tiring, we know. But totally worth it.”
Multiple dates and times, see all upcoming >
For those who have completed Zwift Academy Road by undertaking the training independently, now is your chance to see how you have progressed by undertaking a Finish Line Ride. Alternatively, given that some riders may have multiple workouts to complete and still plenty of time to train, this could actually be used as a checkpoint before embarking on the final weeks of intensive training before attempting a “final” Finish Line Ride.
The new routes are particularly good, especially the Climber’s Gambit. It’s a nice change to have a mountaintop finish.
Multiple dates and times, see all upcoming >
I came across this event by pure chance, and I think this would a great challenge to undertake. Despite the event starting last weekend, there is still a chance to join in and catch up! The Invictus Games Foundation is coordinating a new virtual challenge following the route of the world’s most iconic cycle race – Tour de France. From 1200 (BST) Sunday 26th September to 1200 (BST) Sunday 17th October 2021, teams of 8 will have just three weeks to cover the 2124 miles / 3418 km route.
Participants have the choice of forming their own team of 8 cyclists or joining a Team Unconquered which are randomly selected teams with mixed nationalities, experience, and riding styles (upright/recumbent/hand/tricycle).
I appreciate you have missed a week, but consider it an extra challenge and one reminiscent of the old Tour de France where they cycled through the night, with spare tires on their backs!
To register please head to https://reg.resport.io/s/step1.jsp?ev=4810420531494912
Sunday, October 3 @ 3pm CEST/2pm BST/9am EDT/6am PDT
Event details and signup at zwift.com/events/view/2315101
Got other events that stand out this weekend? Share below in the comments!
This week in our Top 5 Zwift Videos, there’s a preview of WTRL Zwift Racing League Season 4 (or is it Season 1?). As you consider your race category, check out one Zwifter’s reasoning for racing above his category. Finally, there’s a trio of videos about Zwift Academy Road, including explanations of the new baseline rides and how to do workouts on your own.
Si Bradeley is back with details about season 4 of the Zwift Racing League! Learn what’s new this season and get a stage-by-stage preview of the races.
Have you ever tried racing above your category? Mark Lewis explains why he’ll be doing this in short “sprint” races.
Want to learn more about the Zwift Academy baseline ride and prepare for your finish line ride? Sarah LaRoque (Everything Is Photogenic) breaks down the purpose of the rides, the routes, what NOT to do, and how to get the best out of yourself.
Share the link below and we may feature it in an upcoming post!
It’s been 133 days since the last ZRL points race at the end of season 3, and riders have been itching to get back on the horse. The day has finally arrived: the first points race of Zwift Racing League 2021/22 Season 1 happens Tuesday, October 5th!
Held on what is historically a very popular race route on Zwift (Watopia’s Figure 8 Reverse), each race promises to be full of fireworks with two different sprints, two different KOMs, and lots of twists and turns in between.
Let’s dig into the course, including tips for bike choice and strategic options.
All categories will be covering 1 lap of the course, which totals 29.7km (18.5 miles) with 254m (833′) of climbing:
Figure 8 Reverse covers all the roads of Watopia’s Hilly and Flat routes, in both directions. It begins with a short climb into the Esses, so you’ll be pushing watts extra hard from the start. Then we wind through the Esses, hit a short kicker, and descend to the first sprint of the race, Watopia’s Sprint Reverse.
This is a short sprint (10 seconds or so), but the pack will be strung out heading into the sprint and continue to string out over the cobbles of the Italian Villas and the rollers which follow. There may be a bit of recovery available after climbing the rollers, before the KOM reverse begins. Catch your breath. You’ll need it.
The KOM Reverse is where the biggest splits of the race will happen, dividing those who will remain in contention for the win from those who will chase the leftovers. The first part of the KOM Reverse is the steepest, so be prepared to go extra hard until the road levels out for a bit. After the road levels out, this is a very draftable climb – sit in the wheels and work to maintain a good position.
Then you get another powerup and the recovery section begins. You get a descent down towards downtown before a right turn onto Ocean Boulevard. This is a good place to grab some rest, as the road is mostly flat and other riders probably won’t push the pace, either.
The effort will pick back up as you climb up and out of the ocean tunnel and hit the dirt patches. Maintain your position or attack if you’re feeling cheeky, but you’ve still got the winding slack climb up from the Fishing Village before hitting the long forward sprint. Don’t sap your legs before this sprint, because immediately following it you’ve got a kicker climb into the Esses, and riders may push hard here to create gaps.
Through the Esses and descend to the start/finish banner in downtown. It’s time for the final timed segment – the KOM Forward! This is a shorter climb – under 2 minutes for many A and B riders. It’s also steeper on average than the reverse KOM. Another major selection will happen here, and it’s possible that a small group of punchy climbers will get away for good on this climb. (It’s also possible that such a group will be pulled back on the descent and flat to follow.)
The descent and flat offer a final chance at a bit of recovery, if you’re not tasked with chasing riders ahead. But even in the front group, the pack will be nervous. This is a tricky finish.
The finish really begins at the 28.1km mark as the road ramps up and out of Ocean Boulevard. You’ve got around 1500 meters to go, but don’t expect the effort level to drop much from here on out. Riders will attack on the climb and attempt to go long – a strategy which rarely works, but inevitably does string out the pack and force a chase.
Typically the winner comes from the pack of riders who chases the long attackers, bunches up a bit, then goes hard in the final ~200 meters. An aero powerup is a huge help here.
Read more about the Figure 8 Reverse route >
Riders will be awarded powerups through the start/finish banner as well as the sprint and KOM banners, meaning we’ll get 6 total powerups during the race. Three powerups will be given out at each banner:
Aero Boost (helmet): makes you more aerodynamic (reduces your CdA by 25%) for 15 seconds. Use this to grab segment points on the sprints, to help you get away when attacking hard off the front, and to help you finish fast in the final meters.
Burrito: turns off draft effect for riders within a 2.5m radius for 10 seconds. Use when attacking off the front so opponents have to work harder to follow you, or use do what most people do and use it on flatter ground when the group is really pushing, to make those around you work harder for a bit. Just don’t commit suicide by burrito.
Lightweight (feather): reduces your weight by 10% for 15 seconds. Use on climbs, when weight matters the most. Definitely most useful on the two KOMs of this route (hint: use it early on both, where it’s steepest). Also useful on the short climb into the Esses after the forward sprint, or the little kicker climb out of the ocean tunnel heading into the finish, especially if you’re doing a long attack.
This route isn’t flat, but it doesn’t contain major climbs, either. It hurts the pure climbers because they can’t gain enough time on the peloton to stay away during the flat sections, and it hurts the sprinters because they get dropped on the climbs. Puncheurs with high 2-minute power and a solid sprint often win the day.
So what’s the best bike for this course? Not an easy question to answer. What are your strengths and weaknesses? We advise you to pick a bike that will save watts when you’re working the hardest. For many riders, that means you want a climbing-friendly bike for the climbs.
Here are current in-game timings of a couple of frame+wheel combinations:
| KOM Forward | KOM Reverse | |
| Tron | 2:37.14 | 4:39.5 |
| Cervelo S5 2020 + DT Swiss Disc | 2:38 | 4:40.2 |
| Specialized Aethos S-Works + Lightweight Meilensteins | 2:36.92 | 4:41.8 |
| Scott Addict RC + ENVE 7.8 | 2:37.74 | 4:40.5 |
| Specialized Aethos S-Works + ENVE 7.8 | 2:37.45 | 4:40.11 |
| Pinarello Dogma F + ENVE 7.8* | 2:37.94 | 4:40.56 |
| Canyon Aeroad 2021 + ENVE 7.8* | 2:38.08 | 4:40.62 |
If you just look at timings for the overall route, the Cervelo S5 2020 + DT Swiss Disc will win the day. But this isn’t a TT. It may be smarter to go with something like the Tron or Specialized Aethos S-Works + ENVE 7.8 combination which won’t be quite as fast on flats and descents, but will save you valuable watts on the climbs.
See Tron vs Top Performers for some ideas on the best frame + wheels for this route
The Pinarello Dogma F, Specialized Tarmac SL7, and Canyon Aeroad 2021 all received an upgrade to the new in-game Dura-Ace 9200 groupset with Zwift’s last update. Great, right? Well… sort of. Here’s the problem: the upgrade is buggy, and it added weight to these frames, making them 19s slower on our ~50 minute Alpe du Zwift climbing tests.
Because of this bug, we’re hesitant to recommend any of these frames for this race at this time. But their timings above aren’t too far off, either, so if you’re a lower-level Zwifter who only has access to, say, the Canyon Aeroad 2021, it may be worth considering.
Zwift’s vibrant race community continues to up their game when it comes to course knowledge and recon videos. Here are our two favorites for this week’s race:
This is a team points race, and Figure 8 Reverse offers a range of strategic opportunities for smart racers. Here are a few predictions about what we’ll see in this race:
Any insights or further thoughts on the big race? Share below!
Simon, Shane, and Nathan celebrate the 100th episode of the podcast which has tracked the progress of Zwift, our favourite virtual cycling platform, from the very earliest days.
As a new indoor season dawns, the podcasters are in reflective mood, analysing what Zwift has got right, how sentiment in the community has ebbed and flowed over the past six years and how real friendships, including amongst the three podcasters, have been formed as we sweat over our trainers and talk turkey about riding a bike indoors.
We hope you enjoy watching/listening.
Last week I was asking if someone would be crazy enough to adopt me for the next ZRL season. I have eventually landed in The Coalition, which is Canyon’s community club open to all.
I am already having a lot of fun… though not always. Let me do a quick recap of the week.
The welcome pack started with a Discord chat about the need to combine the colour of your hair with the fur of your pet (no joke), in which I could not participate since I am lacking one of the two ingredients: hair. Thank God having hair is not a prerequisite to be part of the team. Strike 1.
As you discover new teammates and members of the community, you also discover they own new gadgets. Five milliseconds after someone mentioned he owned a “Blowmaster 2000” I knew I could not live without it. I did not even know what it was, I JUST NEEDED one. The following day my Blowmaster 2000 was delivered to me. Strike 2.
Strike 3 of the welcome pack: I was genuinely invited to a Meetup on Saturday morning 10AM CET. The Meetup title was “Officially unofficial Group FTP Ramp Test”. The description said you need to join the Meetup, and select the ramp test workout before the Meetup starts.
It looked suspicious, and I had the perfect excuse not to go since I had already committed to join a friend to ride IRL. But fate is fate and weather conditions made the IRL ride unfeasible. That’s how I ended up going to the “Officially unofficial FTP Group Ramp Test”.
For those who never had the “immense pleasure” of performing a ramp test on Zwift, let me summarize it in a few words: pedal until you die.
The ramp test is a proxy to calculate your FTP, increasing the resistance of your smart trainer by 20W every minute. The beauty of it is that at the beginning of the test it is explained very clearly that the calculation of your FTP is made on your best minute, meaning your last minute, so you should go and go until exhaustion. Pedal until your last drop of blood.
The concept is by definition everything but attractive. “Come and die. There is no other outcome than dying. Be happy about it.”
Therefore, going to a Group Ramp Test is more or less like signing up for collective suicide.
If you have ever watched a documentary showing a herd of wildebeest (gnu) crossing a river infested by crocodiles… well, I felt like I was one of 16 wildebeest (yes, 15 other nutjobs enrolled in the slaughter) waiting for my turn to cross the river.
The beauty of the Group Ramp Test concept is that the collective pressure and emulation has only one effect: you die later, which means you suffer longer for the same outcome.
If you think we are crazy, wait for the next detail: you don’t get your motivation out of positive reinforcement practices, tending to gently push you to overcome your fears and pains by finding your inner you and reaching a higher level of meditative consciousness. For the lovers of mindfulness, this is not the right place.
The way to help you push your limits is to have a bunch of ladies and guys shouting at you permanently through the Discord channel. Some of them would have Sergeant Hartman (from the Full Metal Jacket movie) downgraded to the level of a girl scout gently knocking at your door to sell you strawberry cupcakes.
Your only focus is sticking to the rear wheel of the rider before you as long as you can. And at the exact moment you are absolutely convinced that there is not even an additional milliwatt in you, a cavernous death metal voice shouts “KEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP GOOOOOOOOOOOOIIIINNNGGG!!!!”. shaking every single cell of your body and urging you to unconsciously pedal another ten seconds… and another ten seconds… and another ten seconds…
In the end, many of us improved our FTP because of the extra 20-30 seconds squeezed out of ourselves thanks to others cheering and encouraging our effort.
In my opinion, this is as close as you can get to the definition of a team: making each other better simply by working together.
Can’t wait to race with them in ZRL.
Now, let’s be clear. It has now been half an hour since I finished the Officially Unofficial Group FTP Ramp Test and I still don’t know if I should thank or insult the Meetup organizer. Andy Kempe, I’m not sure I want to have anything to do with you again!
Kudos to Andy, Nils, Lydia, Tom, Matthias, Andreas, Rhys, and many others for the warmest of welcomes to Team Coalition.
I have bad news for you though. I am planning to stick around for a while.
Have you ever tried a Ramp Test Meetup? Share below!
September marks the end of the summer holidays and for many, the return to work or school. For 36 undergraduates, though, it marks the end of a special summer because they took part in Zwift’s US Intern program.
These interns (or “Zwifterns”) have spent the last 12 weeks learning new skills as they work alongside Zwift employees (or “Watopians” as they are called internally), actively helping shape the business through unique projects.
The Zwiftern program was developed by Joy Osborne, Director of University Talent Engagement, but made possible because CEO Eric Min and Chief People Officer Lee Readman provided support to ensure this program was a reality. Joy’s team is small but dynamic and consists of Kristen Hermosillo, University Talent Engagement Program Manager, and Marissa Gomez, Senior Talent Engagement Specialist. These three form the UniTE team which is agile and delivery-focused. Through their efforts, Zwift expanded the intake of undergraduates from 11 in 2020 to 36 in 2021, a threefold increase in the space of a year.
The program gave university undergraduates based in the US an opportunity to work in Zwift for a 12 week period. The internship was structured to create a unique and positive work experience for the Zwifterns and focused on 3 key areas:
These are referred to as the “3 Pillars” which, as Kristen explained, have the purpose of helping the Zwifterns “learn about Zwift and what it is to be Zwift” which includes most importantly how they can personally add to the developing culture. The program offered students the opportunity to work closely with Watopians, showcasing their skills, work ethic, and most importantly their potential. All this along with a genuine opportunity to learn and secure offers of employment!
For Zwift, it was an opportunity to engage with the next generation of talent who live and breathe tech, thus helping build the future of the company and fostering their potential.
Joy explained that one of the important factors of the program was to “create a space to enable the students to create their own career adventure.”
The underlying objective of the program is identifying and fostering potential Watopians. This ethos carries over into the Zwift platform as seen with the Zwift Academy, which provides the opportunities for all of us to improve our cycling with the very best, getting the chance to secure a professional cycling contract.
What is remarkable is that the intern program operated completely remotely, with all Zwifterns (with the exception of two) working from home. This was because, like many businesses around the world, the Zwift offices have been closed since the onset of the global pandemic. Despite this inhibiting factor, Joy and her team were able to adapt still deliver on the program’s goals.
As the summer progressed and the vaccination program across the US accelerated, it became clear that there was potentially an opportunity to meet up in small groups. Seizing the opportunity, Joy and her team organized and hosted three COVID-safe gatherings, enabling the Zwifterns to meet in person with the prerequisite being that you needed to be fully vaccinated. All Zwifterns were, and as you can imagine, all safety protocols and adherence to government guidelines were followed very strictly. To lessen the need to travel, these “Meet-Ups” were hosted across the US at different locations.
As mentioned earlier, the program was structured with 3 key focuses, or “3 Pillars” to support the Zwifterns on their journey. They were as follows:
First and foremost, Zwifterns were hired to work alongside Watopians, undertaking real-world tasks. They were part of the team and contributed like any other employee to the success of the business. In addition to getting overall exposure to the business and Zwift’s vision, they were invited to attend specially designed seminars where they engaged in Q&A sessions hosted by the Zwift Leadership team, including Eric Min. And of course, like any employee, they were invited to participate in company meetings.
As well as their day jobs, they formed small project teams and were tasked with solving real Zwift business challenges. Like any project, they had to understand the requirements, create a solution, test it, and report on their findings.
Their achievements, including their group project, were presented at a 2-day conference which was structured to provide them the opportunity to not only showcase their achievements but to learn from keynote speakers. In addition, part of the conference was specifically designed to highlight the types of career paths they could take, with the focus very much being on the ‘journey’ and not the ‘destination’.
The Zwifterns got a sense of the good work that the company undertakes within the local community by engaging in their own Social Impact event. In July, Zwift partnered with ArtHouse Kids and they were involved in an art program that was delivered to a Title 1 school in Long Beach, California, where Zwift HQ is located. Zwift provided funds to support access to art supplies and classes where students would have otherwise not had access. The Zwifterns went through an art class as a group and their session was later delivered to the students at school.
Joy and her team made sure that despite working remotely, the Zwifterns were able to get an appreciation of the culture of the Zwift organization. To do this, a mixture of events were hosted to develop a community among themselves. A Zwiftern Council was created, giving Zwifterns leadership experience in a business environment and creating bridges between their group and departments. Through the Council, well-being events were organized for the Zwifterns such as virtual Yoga classes, and even a virtual tour of the Zwift HQ office was undertaken, enabling them to see what their potential office would look like. They even created a video to thank their managers and colleagues at Zwift for their support during their internship.
Through this, Joy and her team succeeded in ensuring that the group had chances to undertake leadership roles, develop relationships, and have fun while at the same time gaining a greater appreciation of the Zwift community and culture.
The Zwifterns were assigned to Business Units and I caught up with Ruben Perez, a Software Engineer who mentored one. Ruben noted that his Zwiftern “wanted the real experience of being a Software Engineer” and to that end, he immersed himself in the task at hand and was involved in the delivery of a real-world product.
For those that have commenced Zwift Academy, there is a function where you can review your segment times and compare with earlier rides – a really insightful feature to help highlight your progress. Ruben’s Zwiftern was directly involved in the development of that feature. Accomplishing this meant learning new coding skills, the IT delivery platform, and integrating with his new team.
Ruben noted that his Zwiftern did an “amazing job” and became an integral part of the team which resulted in being offered the opportunity for future employment at Zwift.
I caught up with a couple of the Zwifterns to get their views on the 12 weeks spent at Zwift, Lucas Jerez was placed in the Software Engineering department and noted the following:
“My summer internship at Zwift was nothing short of transformative. The university recruitment team and the larger Watopian community put together a program where interns are valued and given plenty of opportunities to learn… which, in my opinion, ought to be the cornerstone of any internship. Here at Zwift, providing interns opportunities is front and center. Case and point: I was specifically asked by my Engineering Manager what I wanted to work on and told that she’d put me there. The opportunity to work and learn about what you want and the company’s investment into personal and professional development is something that separates Zwift internships from others. They truly cared about us getting the most out of our experience at their company.”
Leony Boudreau had an equally positive experience and noted:
“My experience as a Zwiftern this summer was truly memorable! It was really awesome to work with and learn from so many welcoming and dynamic Watopians while being challenged and doing meaningful work! I want to give a huge shout-out to the UniTE team, Joy, Kristen, and Marissa, who constantly encouraged every Zwiftern to perform at our best in our job as well as continuing to grow as individuals.
Along with our internship, we had numerous opportunities dedicated to our personal and professional development. The UniTE team went beyond expectations to deliver an experience that represented Zwift’s culture of growth and inclusion. Some examples include a 2-day virtual conference where we learned from so many insightful leaders and presented our business challenge projects to Watopians, they set-up calls so that we all get the chance to meet awesome leaders of the company, and most of all, they regularly communicated with all Zwifterns to make sure everyone was having fun! I also had the opportunity to participate as Co-Commissaire, in the “Zwiftern Council”, with Jared, Srilahari, and Alyssa. We were an advisory council between the Zwifterns and the UniTE team to create an enriching experience for all Zwifterns, which also helped us practice leadership skills throughout our internship. The idea of a Council was genius! My mom works in Human Resources, and I told her she should do this with her intern class because it really improved the experience for everybody! I’m looking forward to staying connected with other Zwifterns no matter where we will end up in the future.”
Those students who were lucky enough to receive offers of employment have now transitioned into a very unique phase called “Ready to Ride.” Zwift will be keeping in touch with these Zwifterns so that when they finish their studies, their transition into the workplace will be seamless, enabling them to ‘hit the ground running’ with their careers.
It’s a perfect situation for these students, as they can enjoy their final year(s) of study in the knowledge that their future is secure and that when they start work, they will be reconnecting with people they’ve already spent 3 amazing months with. Ride On!
If you are an undergraduate and based in the US and want to contribute to the success of an expanding, dynamic, and vibrant global organization while simultaneously kick-starting your career, then you might want to consider applying to the next Zwift intern program. This can be done by visiting the Zwift website and applying for the job that matches your interests and skillsets. The internship advert will be posted on 29th September 2021, for summer 2022 placement.
*Special thanks to Joy Osborne, Kristen Hermosillo, and Ruben Perez for their help with this article.
The latest episode of WoZ is out, covering all things great and beautiful in our favorite virtual world.
In this episode, host OJ Borg brings us:
Zwifters have another chance to “ride with reason” during this three-day ride series with the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation and professional cyclist Cory Greenberg.
Millions of people worldwide live with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, known collectively as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Ride on Zwift during this series to connect with others and raise awareness and funds towards finding a cure for these painful and devastating diseases.
On Friday, check out Zwift’s live ride broadcast of this event on YouTube or Facebook, hosted by Zwift and Cory Greenberg. This live stream will give people an opportunity to meet supporters and patients impacted by the condition.
Complete any ride in the series to unlock the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation kit.
There are two ride options for each day’s event. Category A is the longer ride and includes Cory as your ride leader. Category B is a shorter distance ride.
Ride #1: 1 October at 7am PDT/10am EDT/3pm BST/4pm CEST
Ride #2: 2 October at 10am PDT/1pm EDT/6pm BST/7pm CEST
Ride #3: 3 October at 4pm PDT/7pm EDT
Cory Greenberg is a Southern California-based professional cyclist living with ulcerative colitis and founder of the Ride4IBD.
After being diagnosed with the condition in 2015, he defied doctors who believed becoming a professional athlete would be near impossible and forged his own pathway to health and now rides for Dauner-Akkon Pro Cycling Team.
Now living in remission, he has set his sights on using cycling as a platform to advocate for the IBD community by creating his own initiative in Ride4IBD and encouraging health and fitness for the IBD community.
Corby explained:
“This is my project to build awareness for IBD through cycling, and to give a pathway forward for others to challenge IBD. We are building a platform to help guide folks on their IBD journey, and giving them ways like our Zwift Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation Ride to challenge IBD and build community.
The movement was sparked from my story and career, and I am now using that career to push the limits of IBD, while building a path for others to achieve their goals. We are hoping to create more frequency on Zwift, and have more charity events to help raise the funds and support, but also have a fun place for people to come together.”
The Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation is a volunteer-driven non-profit organization dedicated to finding cures for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis and improving the quality of life for children and adults affected by these digestive diseases.
The Foundation does this by funding innovative research, advocating for public policies that support patients, and providing extensive education and support resources for patients, their families, medical professionals, and the public.
Learn more about the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation at crohncolitisfoundation.org.
Donate to the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation here: https://givebutter.com/zwift
On Tuesday 28 September, the Castelli team are taking a tour of the new event only Climber’s Gambit course – a route created to support Zwift Academy Road‘s new Baseline and Finish Line events.
Come join them for this 27.9km evenly-paced social ride. As with all Castelli Epic rides, by taking part, you will have the opportunity to win an item of Castelli clothing, and this month, the team are giving away the Perfetto RoS Long Sleeve jacket. After reviewing this jacket and trying it on, if I don’t win it on Tuesday, it’s one item I will be investing i personally!
To win this high-end jacket you need to stay close to the beacon and be present when a snapshot is taken and as always – the closest to the beacon will win the prize, which is announced on Catelli’s Strava Club site, which riders are welcome to join.
See all upcoming “Roll with Castelli” events >
This is your multi-tool jacket. It comes in five different colours, the Pro Red/Brilliant orange combination being my favourite. To quote Castelli directly, it is “one of our most versatile pieces. 100% wind protection with GORE-TEX INFINIUM™ WINDSTOPPER® water protection and best-in-class breathability. With a light base layer it’s good for mild temperatures, or with a thermal layer you can ride it below freezing.”
This jacket was originally designed as a cool-weather training/extreme-weather item for pro riders, but due to its full wind protection, it makes for a good all-rounder.
The “RoS” portion of the name comes from the shortened phrase “Rain or Shine.” It excels in dry conditions but because it is made with Castelli exclusive GORE-TEX INFINIUM™ WINDSTOPPER® fabrics, which Castelli worked with Gore to develop, this is near waterproof protection you can get if it rains.
For those who like the technical details, other useful information is that the jacket has taped shoulder seams for extra rain protection, a YKK® Vislon® zipper for easy sliding, covered for extra wind and rain protection, 2 rear pockets with pump sleeve are easily accessed with gloved hands and weighs 305 grams.
