After almost a year of pandemic-related restrictions, many of us have come to terms and even found a lot of fun and community with indoor riding and racing.
Now that your bike has been set up on the trainer and you’ve continuously leveled up on Zwift, you’ve likely already figured out that a few things are indispensable for indoor riding: one (or multiple) fans, copious amounts of water, and ample towels to protect your handlebars.
But have you considered changing your indoor wardrobe, dialing in your hydration, and using extra protection for your nether region? Check out our top 3 tips to make your trainer sessions more enjoyable and effective.
Are You Using Indoor-Specific Gear?
Heat is likely one of the most important factors in your indoor riding experience. Luckily, several cycling brands have recently launched indoor-specific cycling gear. With lighter fabric, mesh inserts, and even pockets for ice packs, those specific kits can give you the edge over your competition.
Indoor-specific kits like this one from CUORE of Switzerland implement highly breathable mesh fabric on the thigh as well as in the back and straps. In combination with high-performance material and the use of Carbon yarn, this improves moisture management and air circulation, helping your body stay cool and relaxed.
Trying out the CUORE indoor kit, I noticed that having large mesh panels along the quads helped dissipate heat from those large, working muscles. With a chamois that adjusts well to the different needs and positioning of indoor racing, the added comfort with an indoor specific kit is noticeable. Similar to the shorts, CUORE’s tech shirt features large mesh panels and lightweight fabric that helps air circulation and moisture management.
CUORE Indoor Tech ShirtCUORE Indoor Cycling Short
It is unfortunate to see that some brands neglect adding a women’s version to their indoor line, so having companies like CUORE offer a full, women-specific lineup is important. In addition to bibs and shirts, I make sure to wear cooling headbands, which keep the sweat out of my eyes and add a cooling sensation, if only for a short while.
Have You Dialed in Your Hydration?
What you put out on the bike depends significantly on what you put in your body. What indoor sessions might lack in duration, they sure often make up in intensity. Keeping an eye on your hydration and fueling status is therefore key!
Even if most of your indoor rides are relatively short, you want to make sure you fuel enough and with the right amounts of electrolytes (and calories). While you might think that “men sweat more than women,” hydration is more individualized by physiology than gender. Therefore, it can be extremely helpful to do a simple sweat test to get a good indication of your individual needs.
Abby Coleman, Sport Scientist and “Sweat Expert” at Precision Hydration, notes: “Recording the volume of sweat riders lose as well as monitoring the concentration (saltiness!) of their sweat can be really insightful. These two factors, along with the duration of exercise, determine a person’s net sodium losses – which is the ultimate factor we’re trying to address with our personalized hydration strategies.” An initial test for your sweat rate can be simple:
Weigh yourself before a ride, ideally without clothing (A)
Measure how much water you took in during the workout (B)
Post-ride, towel yourself dry and weigh yourself again, ideally without clothing (C)
Subtract (C) from (A), add (B) and divide it by the time you trained
Studies show that a ‘normal’ sweat rate can range between 1-2 liters per hour. Figuring out whether you fall into this range or whether you had a more intense loss is helpful in determining specific hydration needs. Precision Hydration offers online sweat tests as well as one-on-one hydration strategy calls.
In addition to fueling sufficiently throughout your indoor rides, consider pre-loading harder and longer workouts with a strong electrolyte drink. Take some notes on how you feel with and without electrolytes and whether you notice a significant improvement in your performance. Similarly, if you feel extreme fatigue or cramps coming on, you might want to experiment with adding an electrolyte mix to your post-ride routine.
Did You Pick The Right Chamois Cream?
Riding indoors does not equal outdoor cycling. When you are Zwifting, you tend to move laterally less, coast less, and recover less than on the road. As you are spending more time in a static position, you will have a lot more saddle contact and experience increased friction.
For some, this discrepancy might warrant a whole indoor-specific set up, with a different saddle, indoor-specific chamois, or even an altered fit. For me personally, a high-quality chamois cream makes all the difference.
Chamois cream does not only protect your private parts from chafing, it is also anti-bacterial and protects your skin from nasty infections. When you apply chamois cream, moisture-absorbing polymers help regulate dampness and reduce the level of friction between saddle, chamois, and your sensitive skin.
While there is a lot of personal preference when it comes to scent, tingliness, and viscosity of chamois creams, it is worthwhile considering that women’s pH systems differ from men’s. This is why my go-to is a women’s specific chamois cream. dzNuts, the cycling company of TT specialist and pro Dave Zabriskie, features a unique women’s product. The dzNuts Bliss chamois cream not only helps protect your skin from nasty saddle sores but even encourages beneficial skin flora growth with its pre- and probiotics complex. With their focus on natural ingredients such as evodia, tea tree oil, and masterwort, dzNuts Bliss includes wound healing benefits to keep your netherregion happy and healthy for long hours in the saddle.
What About You?
Ladies: beyond the basics already mentioned, what do you find most helpful in your indoor sessions? Share below!
Race3R has typically organized shorter races on Zwift, but due to popular demand they’ve just announced a set of longer races in their new “Endurance Racing Series”. The routes selected cater to different types of riders, and it is one of the few race series with events over 90 minutes.
The Events Team from Race3R told us they “wanted this endurance series to be an exciting chance to get back to some ‘old school style racing’ with an emphasis on fuelling right to cover the 90min + stages.”
So if you fancy some ‘old school’ racing, this is certainly the event for you.
This series is actually four races in one. There will be the stage winners, as well as an overall GC competition for men and women based on a points system dependent on your placing. (The final GC result will be calculated on your best 6 results of the series, and the GC category racing is made fair by racing in your ZwiftPower rider category.)
There will also be a team competition based on the 3 best results per week from each team.
Event Times
Races will take place on every Saturday over 8 weeks at three designated time slots. To qualify for the GC competition, you must race in the same time slot each week.
This perimeter route covers portions of Watopia’s three “flat” routes, (Tick Tock, Volcano Flat, Watopia Flat). It’s called “Watopia’s Waistband” because it nicely encircles key landmarks in Watopia proper including downtown Watopia, Fuego Flats, the Italian Villas, the Volcano, and the Fishing Village.
This is a “figure of 8” route which covers all Yorkshire roads in both directions. This is the longest Yorkshire route in game. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Harrogate made its fortune by drawing often wealthy people to come and drink its waters, which had a supposedly curative effect. Known to locals as “The Pump Rooms”, the Royal Pump Room is one location where these odorous, sulfurous waters emerged from the ground.
Named for NYC’s first subway line, this route covers all the ground-level roads in Central Park. Created from GPS data of the actual park roads, this route accurately reproduces the Central Park ride experience.
The London course’s “PRL Half” route is meant to mimic the distance (but not the full course) of the real Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 46. It takes you on four circuits of the “London Loop“, then turns around at the Surrey roundabout and heads towards the sprint and finish banner on The Mall.
Looking for a tour of France? Released with Zwift’s France map for the first-ever Virtual Tour de France, the Petit Boucle route is the longest on the map (along with Tire-Bouchon). Its name references Le Tour’s “Grand Boucle” nickname, which means “big loop.” It covers all roads in both directions, except for the road up Ven-Top.
“The Magnificent 8” route was rolled out with Zwift’s October 29th update, and was used as the route for the Halloween dinosaur costume scavenger hunt. It’s a mostly-flat route, with the only significant climb being the reverse Hilly KOM.
The “Three Sisters” route covers Watopia’s three oldest climbs (Hilly KOM, Epic KOM, and Volcano KOM) in a forward direction. While not as punishing as The Pretzel and some of Watopia’s toughest routes, it’ll still put you in the hurt locker with almost 3000′ of climbing!
One of five routes rolled out with Zwift’s Titans Grove expansion, “Big Foot Hills” takes you on a meandering journey over the lower peaks of Watopia, including Titans Grove in both directions. This longer route is perfect for a ~2-hour free ride and includes 5 different KOM sections of short to medium length.
Competition Points Explained
The GC competition will operate on a scoring system based on your finishing position in ZwiftPower. This will apply for men and women as well as the team-based competition.
Prizes
The event is sponsored by OTE, who will provide prizes at the end which have not yet been determined. 3R assures us they will release an update confirming these details once available.
OTE Sports is a British-based company run by athletes who are experts in nutrition. They are passionate what they do and want to share their knowledge, so if you want to know more you can speak to them directly.
OTE Sports offer a range of naturally flavoured energy products and recovery drinks that have been developed by experienced sports nutritionists and athletes to bring you the best tasting and functionally effective products.
OTE Sports are proud partners of The Brownlee Brothers, British Triathlon, NTT Pro Cycling, Cannondale Factory Mountain Bike Team. They work in partnership with all their professional athletes to enable them to use their feedback to make the best products.
About Race3R
Team3R are a virtual racing team who race in both Zwift and RGT cycling platforms. With 390 active racing members, the club has 4 levels to cater for all abilities and is inclusive. There is the Nopinz R3R mens and ladies teams, which are the sponsored elite E-Sports teams, a Development Team (R3R Dev) to help riders improve their race craft and ability, a general club level team for both men and ladies, and a junior group ride currently with young riders aged 7-12 (zoomers).
Team 3R has a rich cycling history. The group started as Team DZI back when Zwift launched as one of the first teams and started with the Igniter ride.
The Team moved to Team WBR in line with their affiliation with World Bicycle Relief in approximately 2015, before finally evolving into 3R in late 2018. Within the membership, there are 390 active racing members and as a ride team offer over 35 available interval and group sessions per week.
Here’s one final reminder that we’re hosting our first-ever official Zwift event this Saturday – and it’s gonna be huge!
Riding The Über Pretzelis a bit nutty, by anyone’s standards. It’s the longest route on Watopia, after all: 128.3 km (79.7 miles) long with 2335 m (7,661‘) of elevation. And it finishes with a climb up Alpe du Zwift.
So we figured only a few hundred riders would be crazy enough to join us.
Yet here we are, with precisely 4,164 riders signed up with two days to go. Far more than any other event on Zwift’s calendar!
You’re all insane. And so are we. See you out there!
Event Signup
“Zwift Insider Badge Hunters – The Uber Pretzel Edition” takes place on Saturday, February 20th, at 6am Pacific/9am Eastern/2pm GMT.
Just about anyone can hop into a 1-hour Zwift ride unprepared, without worry. But when it comes to an undertaking like the Über Pretzel, you’ll want to put some extra time and effort into preparation. A few quick tips:
Extras are helpful: towels, sweatbands, gloves, socks, and cycling kit can get saturated with sweat and other grossness after 2-3 hours in the indoor saddle. Consider grabbing extras of these items and swapping to them halfway through. There’s nothing so refreshing as a fresh chamois after 3 hours of riding!
Charge the batteries: make sure any devices you’ll be using are fully charged, and/or you have charging cables within reach.
Carb up: consider eating a high-carb dinner (pasta?) the night before, to top up those glycogen stores.
Pre-hydrate: drink lots of water the day before the ride, so you’re fully hydrated when the event begins.
Keep hydrating: fill lots of bottles before the ride, or have someone on hand who can do that for you. You don’t want to be conserving water intake on a ride of this length.
Ventilate the space: if your pain cave gets humid, your sweat won’t be able to evaporate and cool you. Make sure your space stays well-ventilated by opening windows, running AC, etc.
Mind your fueling: hopefully you already know what sort of snacks you’ll need for a multi-hour effort. Have them on hand!
Chamois cream: highly recommended you remember this, if it’s something you find helpful on long rides.
This isn’t a paced group ride. There is no ride leader. Think of it more like a Zwift Fondo. With so many riders signed up, there will be people riding at all paces. Just find a group holding your desired effort level, and work together!
Will there be rest stops?
Only if you stop. To rest. You do you! But you’ll probably lose whatever riders you’re currently with, unless you can convince them via in-game messaging to stop with you.
How long will this take?
The very strongest riders on Zwift can complete the route in just under 4 hours. With such a massive signup list, and double draft being used, we may very well see a new course record on Saturday!
Most mortals will require closer to 4.5-6 hours to finish. You can use BestBikeSplit’s Uber Pretzel model to enter your weight and average power and get a time estimate.
We modified the segment early this week so the one segment will match both free-ride and event efforts. Strava isn’t doing a great job of going back in time and matching old efforts to the new segment, but you can do the “Activity Type Hack” to get your old ride to match. Just edit that ride, changing the activity type to something else. Then change it back to “Virtual Ride”. All done!
I live in Australia, and this event is at 1am. Any chance of getting a better event time?
Not this time around. We may change things up for future events, but this is really a test case to see if we want to organize more of these events moving forward.
Will you be organizing more of these events?
We’ll see how this one goes first. We only want to add events to the calendar if they’re going to be special and really add value to Zwifter’s lives. Based on the response to this event, it looks like there may be more tough “Badge Hunters” rides in the future!
Welcome to the first post in a series aimed at helping you avoid n00b powerup mistakes in Zwift races.
Powerups add a fun element of randomness and strategy to Zwift racing. While some purists deride their use, most racers welcome their addition to an indoor racing experience which can feel a bit oversimplified since it has fewer variables than outdoor riding.
While experienced Zwift racers seem to understand powerups well, we see them used incorrectly over and over again.
You won’t get in trouble for incorrect powerup usage, of course. When I say “incorrect”, I mean the powerup is deployed at a time when it doesn’t help you in any way. Some ill-timed powerups can actually hurt you, in fact!
To understand the Steamroller powerup, you must first understand a bit about how Zwift works. The Zwift worlds feature different road surfaces: pavement (of course), dirt, cobbles, bricks, wood, ice/snow, and grass. Each of these surfaces has a set Crr (rolling resistance) which affects how fast your virtual tires roll.
To make things even more interesting, there are currently three types of tires/wheels in game: road, mountain, and gravel. Each of these wheels rolls differently on each surface type. So, for example, road wheels roller much faster than mountain wheels on pavement, but mountain wheels are faster than road wheels on dirt.
When activated, the Steamroller makes whatever surface you’re riding roll as fast as a road tire on pavement. So if you’re using road wheels, it is only effective when deployed on a surface other than pavement. Here’s a table showing the Crr values for each surface and wheel type (lower is faster):
Surface
Road Crr
Gravel Crr
MTB Crr
Brick
.0055
.008
.009
Cobbles
.0055
.008
.009
Dirt
.016
.012
.01
Grass
.025
.0016
.042
Gravel
.012
.009
.009
Ice/Snow
.0075
.018
.014
Pavement
.004
.008
.009
Sand
.004
.008
.009
Wood
.0065
.008
.009
So if you’re using road wheels and you encounter any surface other than pavement, the Steamroller will help you roll faster. It helps the most on dirt, since dirt has the highest rolling resistance of any surface for road tires. The ideal scenario for the Steamroller would be a short patch of dirt like you encounter when climbing out of the Ocean Boulevard tube heading toward Watopia’s fishing village.
Using a mountain or gravel bike? The Steamroller will make any surface significantly faster, but helps the most on ice/snow or dirt. The savings for MTB wheels is substantial: a 75kg rider on a 7kg bike traveling at 40kmh (24.9mph) over dirt (perhaps in a Jungle Circuit race) will save 89 watts when the Steamroller is active!
The Steamroller lasts for 30 seconds, so keep that in mind when timing your deployment.
How It’s Misused
A misused Steamroller on Crit City’s tarmac
Of course, you’ve never misused a Steamroller powerup. But if you are looking to see one misused, join one of the daily Crit City races organized by ZwiftHQ. You’ll see the Steamroller deployed over and over again when riders are on pavement – which means it’s not helping them in any way.
Want to use your Steamroller effectively on Crit City? Use it on the bricks. Brick Crr for road wheels is .0055, compared to pavement Crr of .004. That means a 75kg rider on a 7kg bike traveling at 40kmh (24.9mph) will save 13 watts if they use the Steamroller to “smooth out” the bricks.
It’s not much, but it’s better than a kick in the pants.
Use the Steamroller to make the bricks roll faster
Simply put, a misused Steamroller is one deployed by a road bike rider while on pavement. Using the Steamroller in any other situation will provide the rider some benefit.
To maximize your Steamroller benefit, use the Steamroller on surfaces which roll the slowest – those with the highest Crr. (See table above for numbers).
Event-Only
The Steamroller isn’t part of the “regular” powerup distribution which Zwifters see when free-riding. It’s an event-only powerup, and event organizers must request that it be added to the event’s powerup distribution in order for it to be included.
Because of this, you won’t see the Steamroller when free-riding, and you’ll typically not see it in group rides or races, either. I’d love to see it used in Watopia races which include Ocean Boulevard, though, because it would make those dirt segments super-strategic!
This week, get a behind-the-scenes look at some of the effort that goes into a high-ranking race performance on Zwift. Then get a tip on how you can contribute to a team time trial, even if you aren’t taking pulls. Finally, take a look at some reviews of Zwift structured workouts, including the 4-week FTP booster and some standout hard workouts.
Zwift Racing! Winning in the London Lockdown e-Race!
Just when you think he’s out, he pulls himself right back in! Red Walters (“The Redster”), with the Black Cyclists Network team on Zwift, rides to victory after some close calls in the London Lockdown race.
Going behind the scenes for Zwift Racing!
Follow pro triathlete Scott Bayvel as he prepares for and rides a WTRL Zwift Racing League stage. If you’ve raced the Harrogate Circuit in Yorkshire, you’ll relate to what he says afterward!
Zwift Community Coaching Tips: With Wilbert Tulner of The BRT
It’s possible to help your team in a team time trial (TTT) without taking pulls at the front. BRT’s Wilbert Tulner shares the way he does it in a tip for “Zwift Race Place.”
The Best “Hard” Workouts on Zwift
TacomaCyclist picks 6 hard Zwift workouts that he thinks are the best the program has to offer.
DOES IT WORK? Zwift 4 week FTP booster review | KickOn Cycling
https://youtu.be/KvIH4umTy5U
Does Zwift’s “4-week FTP Booster” plan do what it promises? Ross Birkett (“KickOn Cycling”) tries this set of workouts for himself.
Got a Great Zwift Video?
Share the link below and we may feature it in an upcoming post!
Following on from Part 1 of this episode, Justin Williams continues to discuss the future with Rahsaan Bahati, explaining how his younger years have driven him to foster change in the cycling industry.
He’s a man with lots of ideas, and his experiences from growing up in an area with no grocery stores and no suitable place to train have lit a fire in him to see changes made. The future of cycling is looking brighter than ever with Justin Williams in it!
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.
I love my team, I love each single one of them. And most of them I never met. What is incredible is that we start knowing each other to the extent we don’t care to get exposed.
Zwift racers like sharing fun moments before and after the races. If there is one part I enjoy big time it is the five minutes before the start of a TTT, when all team members are going back to their particular routines and you witness it through the Discord channel.
The captain checking everyone joined the event and is in the pen: “So you stop pedaling 30 seconds before the countdown otherwise you will cross the starting line and we will be disqualified, we go in 5 minutes afterwards, Jack and I put the timer, we tell you when it is time. Is everybody in the pen? I see only three of you, who is missing?” That last sentence is great, because obviously the one missing by default cannot answer because he’s not there, but next time the captain will ask the very same question…
You also have the superstitious one shifting gears one by one seven times up and down because one time, in 2004, he did it and finished second in the race crowning the champion of his neighborhood. Still to date his best result in his career. He does that in silence and almost hiding himself, because he is ashamed of it, however, he can’t prevent shifting the gears…
The Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder one: “Towel check, Isotonic drink check, Discord channel connected check, cereal bar check, shoes tightened check, Zwift Companion opened check, Bluetooth true wireless connected check, shoes laces adjusted check… Did I connect to Discord? Need to start again otherwise the world will come to an end before the start of the KOM. Towel check, isotonic drink check, Discord channel check…”
The one pretending not to be nervous and singing out loud totally out of tune: “………And I said, oooooooooooooooh, I’m blinded by the liiiiiiiiiiights. No, I can’t sleep until I feel your touch! I said, ooooooooooh, I’m drowning in the niiiiiiiiiiiiiight. Oh, when I’m like this, you’re the one I trust!”
The one reminding all others the distance and gradients of each single minute of the circuit, and nobody listens: ” … so kilometer 1.6 you have 166 meters at 3%, then 280 meters at 6% remember cadence at 80 there, 4.5wkg for 6 seconds before we reach the flat, that is when Joe takes the lead at 4wkg for 35 seconds unless he gives the signal he is toast and then it is Jack leading. Now remember Jack does not like to push hard in the first half so better to be always aware, right guys? RIGHT GUYS!!!!?”
The one with connection issues on Discord and repeating one hundred times the same sentence as if it would change something: “Do you hear me? Do you hear me? I don’t hear you, do you hear me? Can someone text me in telegram if you hear me?! Do you hear me? I don’t hear you do you hear me? Do you hear me? Now do you hear me? I am disconnecting and reconnecting so you hear me but do you hear me? Do you hear me?”
What is fun is that each of us believes the routines of the others are exaggeratedly ridiculous while underestimating immensely the craziness of our own routine…
Justin Williams joins Rahsaan Bahati for a trip down memory lane as they both look back on their younger years and how their upbringings helped them achieve big things in the cycling world. Their conversation traverses Justin’s youth, and how Rahsaan helped him get onto one of the coolest teams in cycling at just 17.
Jam-packed with anecdotes, jokes, and life lessons, you’ll be chomping at the bit for part 2, which will be released tomorrow!
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.
Our goal: to transform a 265-pound rookie rider with a tested 1.92w/kg FTP into a cat C Zwift racer (2.5w/kg+) in 6 weeks.
The first week was mostly about orientation and baseline testing, the second week about building endurance and improving form on the bike. In the third and fourth weeks we started pushing the endurance Boone was building, working to keep the watts higher over the duration of the ride. And in the fifth week things got tougher, with V02 workouts making their way into the mix.
Now the final week. It would have a bit more VO2 work, plus some racing and testing to measure progress. Would we achieve our goal? Only one way to find out!
The Plan
As a reminder, here’s the basic plan we settled on for the 6 weeks. (Many thanks to Alan Dempsey of HPP Coaching for giving us solid advice that sets Boone up for success).
Week 1: Benchmark testing + Endurance FTP test, attempt first Zwift race, and get some time on the bike
Weeks 2-4: Endurance + Cadence Work Lots of work from low zone 2 to mid zone 3, with some high-cadence drills to train the legs for efficient pedaling
Weeks 5-6: Endurance + Intensity, Finishing with Benchmark Testing Start with similar rides as weeks 2-4, with some VO2 and threshold efforts included in short durations. Toward the end of week 6 we’ll do another FTP test and Zwift race, so we can compare progress from week 1.
Ride #21: VO2 Workout, Aborted
We had high hopes of completing one more tough VO2 workout at the start of this final week, but it didn’t really work out, probably due to several factors…
First, Boone’s FTP had been bumped up from 250W to 257W – so the intervals were at a higher wattage. Then we added 15 seconds to his 3-minute VO2 intervals. He had done an FTP Ramp Test the day before, so his legs might have been feeling that effort still. And on top of that, Erg mode was misbehaving at the start of the workout (a reboot fixed things).
His first 3:15 interval was a struggle. And the second interval took all he had. After that we just binned it, and Boone rode around Yorkshire, enjoying the sights and getting in some saddle time. Today wasn’t the day for a tough effort, but he could still get some riding time in while working on his cadence and endurance.
We wanted to see how long Boone could hang with C. Cadence, so on Wednesday he headed to Fuego Flats to spin and warm up his legs. Our plan was to hopefully come across Cara’s group after a bit of a warmup, then just hop in and go.
This actually worked out nicely, and Boone was pushing some decent wattage when Cara finally came through. Boone held onto her group for the rest of his hour-long effort, setting new power PB’s in the 23 minutes + range, including averaging 223W for the full hour. He also rode further in this ride than any previous, covering 23.2 miles.
While he rode I logged into Boone’s account in Zwift Companion and handed out Ride Ons to the C. Cadence group, resulting in lots of unlocks (and XP bonuses).
With just a few rides left in his final week, Boone and I were both itching to see him test his newfound fitness. So on Friday, Boone joined an event which he hadn’t tried before: a Crit City 8-lapper (he had only done 6 before), in the Bell Lap direction (he had only done Downtown Dolphin before).
First he warmed up with an easyWatopian spin, and I adjusted his weight down once again. (He’d been watching his calories closely, and enjoyed dropping his in-game weight regularly!)
Dropping Boone’s weight once more – he’s so close to that 235lb target!
Before the event I did a bit of poking around ZwiftPower to survey Boone’s competition. I came across one noteworthy rider: Lukas Reischl. Lukas stuck out on the signup list because he had the best ranking, but when I clicked his profile he really stuck out. Nearly every event in his recent list was a Crit City D race that he had won! (14 races in 2021, 10 of them are 1st place finishes in Crit City).
Now, we could discuss how it’s probably time for Lukas to upgrade to the C’s so he can push himself to new levels of fitness – but that’s a topic for another post. What was important for us was that Lukas seemed to be very similar to Boone. He’s a big dude, with a strong sprint. And he knew how to win. I told Boone, “This is the guy to mark for the race.”
41 D riders started the race, but within the first 2 minutes the front selection was made – and Boone was in it! 7 riders worked to build a gap on the chasers, and the seconds added up.
Boone, sitting in the front group
Boone rode smart, staying in the draft. I handled his powerups, deploying them when it was most helpful. After a few minutes the green cones started showing up, slowing the sandbaggers and thinning the front group further. After just 2 laps, only 4 riders remained in the front group: Reischl (above), Nathan (a ZP-registered rider), “Colvin” (who we knew nothing about), and Boone.
Not much happened in laps 2-7… the gap to the chasers grew, the 4 front riders kept plugging away, and Boone stayed out of the wind mostly.
Giving Boone some sprint tips on the penultimate lap
On the 7th lap, it suddenly hit me that Boone had never sprinted for a win in a Zwift race. Uh oh. And he was going up against Reischl, who clearly knew what he was doing, and had the power to back it up. As we neared the end of lap 7 I tried to talk Boone through the finishing sprint, explaining that it’s usually a mistake to go early. That he’ll want to shift up a gear or two. And telling him where to start the sprint.
Then it was the final lap. All we got was a steamroller powerup, which wouldn’t help us in the sprint – so I used it on the bricks. Nathan tried to go long, and Boone grabbed Reischl’s wheel then Colvin’s as the three chased Nathan. Then Nathan got coned! (Time to move up the C’s, Nathan!)
Nathan (off the front) gets coned
It was just the 3 riders now, and nobody wanted to go first. Boone got to the front and started his sprint. The other two were on his wheel. Colvin couldn’t come around, but cagey Reischl was sitting in with a draft powerup, and in the final straightaway rocketed around Boone to take the win.
Reischl about to come around Boone in the final meters
Boone’s a pretty competitive guy, and he was not happy about losing that final sprint. He wanted a rematch!
But looking on the bright side, we were both happy – he had finally hung in the front pack for the whole race. That’s a huge accomplishment. Just being in the mix for the final sprint is a big deal! Winning that sprint is another matter entirely, of course. It comes down to which powerup you’ve got, how much is left in the legs, a good sense of timing, and more.
This race gave Boone a huge confidence boost, as you can imagine. It also gave him an FTP boost, and an upgraded power curve from 16 minutes onward.
After Friday’s race, Boone definitely had thehunger. He was looking for a win. So on Sunday afternoon he came over to take on his third Sunday Crit City race. Just like the previous two Sunday races, it would be 6 laps of the Downtown Dolphin route.
We discussed strategy ideas beforehand, and he said he thought he could break away sooner – perhaps using the brick descent as a launch pad in the final lap. I also gave him a few squirts of my secret weapon – PR lotion. What can I say? We both wanted a win! I warned him that PR lotion, which contains bicarb, would help his legs not burn so bad. But the muscles are still doing all the same work, so he shouldn’t go too hard too early and blow up!
I did a bit of ZwiftPower scouting beforehand, but no riders stuck out like Reischl did in the earlier race. As Boone spun his legs around Watopia to warm up, I dropped his weight further – he had skipped out on birthday cakes and Valentine’s candy, and it had paid off. Sub-235 pounds for the first time in 9 years!
Right out of the gate a gap opened up, and Boone was in the chasing group. This is where you have to make a split-second decision. Do you put in the work to close that gap, or do you ease up, hoping others in your group will do the work for you?
We didn’t leave it to chance. The race had just started, and Boone certainly had a few seconds of high watts in his fresh legs. Close the gap!
And there we were. The selection was made – 8 riders out of the initial 27.
At the top of the bricks on lap 2, 4:40 into the race, RadDadChad got coned. (He’d stuck in out the rider list because of his great name, but also because he had messaged beforehand that he would be winning the race.) Pride goeth before a fall, Chad. 😋 You’ll hear us razzing you in the video below, but it’s all in good fun.
As Boone began the brick climb on lap three, he put in an extra dig as I activated his feather powerup. He and rider “Almanza” quickly gained a 3-second gap on the other 4 riders. Boone went to the front, pushing extra watts on the descent and building the gap.
Was he really going to attempt this? I didn’t say it at the time, but I was thinking, “This is way too early – he’s going to blow up.” Boone dropped Almanza, and built the gap to 10s by the time he crested the brick climb on the 4th lap!
His heart rate was pretty high, but he looked good, and nobody behind was willing (or able?) to put in a real chase. The gap kept growing… at the top of the bricks on the 5th lap he had 12s on them. Could he hold on?
Boone off the front on the penultimate lap
As he began his final lap his heart rate was at 190 – the highest we’ve seen is 192.
But he had that look in his eye. I’ve seen it before, many times. He wasn’t going to stop.
The group behind was trying to chase, closing it to 8-9s. But it was too little, too late. Boone hammered up the bricks as a strong rider from the chase group got coned. Then Boone hit the bottom of the descent, hammered for a few seconds, then stopped pedaling and “coasted” over the finish line, 8s ahead of the closest pursuer!
And even though he stopped pedaling at 19 minutes, he still got an FTP upgrade based on his 20-minute average power. A breakthrough ride for sure!
We checked ZwiftPower for confirmation of his win… but his name wasn’t showing up. Clicking “Unfiltered” we discovered Boone had been disqualified – his w/kg were too high for a D race (2.78 w/kg for 19:01)!
So not an official win (and Boone wanted to be sure to extend congratulations to “Joseph Davis”, who took 1st in ZwiftPower.) But Boone was happy to be DQ’d. Because it meant we had achieved our goal: to achieve a 2.5 w/kg FTP in 6 weeks. To be bumped up into Cat C status. The new FTP (276W) divided by Boone’s weight for today’s race (106.4kg) gave us 2.59w/kg.
Watch the Race Video:
(You’ll hear my wife Monica in there, as well as our very expressive buddy Zane who’s been coming over to watch Boone’s races)
And the PR Lotion? Let’s just say Boone is convinced. “My legs didn’t hurt at all.” He’ll use it in his final FTP test as well.
Ride #25: Final FTP Test
Zwift had detected an FTP of 276W in Boone’s race, but we wanted to finish the 6 weeks with an FTP test, the same way we’d begun. So the day after his race win, Boone did a ramp test. Could he meet or beat the 276W mark with semi-tired legs?
Yes he could! The ramp test gave him a new FTP of 278W. That gives him a final FTP of 2.62w/kg, up from a starting FTP of 1.92w/kg. A 36% increase. Amazing! His pure wattage went from 230W to 276W, which is a 20% increase.
Confirmation that his “race FTP” was quite accurate
Final Takeaways
I’m super-impressed with that Boone was able to accomplish in 6 weeks. But I’m not surprised.
You see, as close cousins, we’ve known each other since before we could walk. And he’s always been a guy who, once he sets his mind on doing something, gets it done.
He lost over 30 pounds in these 6 weeks, by carefully watching what he ate and getting some exercise every day. And he jumped into every workout I threw at him, never complaining or trying to weasel his way out. He knew we both wanted the same thing – and trust makes a good team. We had a good plan, we stuck to it, and the results followed. That’s how training works.
Post-ride hangout in the office/pain cave
The fitness gains are great to see, but in the end, we both agreed that our favorite thing about this 6-week experiment was how much we got to hang out with each other. We’re best friends, but the daily pull of work, family, etc, means we don’t spend a lot of time together. I think that’s going to change moving forward.
What’s Next?
Boone wants to keep riding, as he wants to keep losing weight until he gets to a healthy 190-200 pounds. He doesn’t have much interest in outdoor riding, but likes the efficiency and safety of indoor workouts. And, of course, he enjoys the competitive aspect of racing!
We haven’t figured out exactly what his Zwift setup might look like yet, but for the next couple weeks he’ll be riding on my setup as we figure out what comes next. Maybe, just maybe, a new Zwift Insider series will emerge! Stay tuned.
Thanks for Your Support
Thanks so much to everyone who cheered Boone on during this 6-week journey. He really appreciated it!
Your Thoughts
Comments on our 6-week experiment, or this week’s events? Share below!
Favero Electronics released a firmware update for their much-loved Assioma power meter pedals which adds auto-calibration functionality.
While I’m a big fan of the Assioma (see my complete review here) due to its accuracy, reliability, and pricing, there is one place where the Garmin Vector pedals had a leg up on Assioma: Vectors can be set to auto-calibrate. Auto calibration is the direction power meters and smart trainers are heading, because there’s really no downside! It helps ensure consistently accurate power numbers and removes one more task from our pre-ride checklist.
I installed the new firmware today, then took the pedals for a spin, dual-recording with my Wahoo KICKR 5 trainer. The resulting power comparison can be seen here on ZwiftPower, with the Assioma pedals averaging just .33% more watts than the KICKR 5. Nice!
Here’s Shane Miller’s take on firmware update, including an explanation of just how the auto-zeroing works:
Upgrading Your Firmware
The firmware update is easy to install via the Assioma mobile app. Once it’s installed, auto-calibration is enabled and you can simply ride without worrying about calibrating. Here are steps on the iOS app:
With auto-calibration in place, the Favero’s Assioma pedals are head and shoulders above the competition. Priced at just $720US compared to Garmin Vector 3’s $1000US, the Assioma has features which meet or beat Garmin’s at a significant discount on cost.
My take: Garmin needs to step up their game by reducing pricing or boosting features if they want to remain competitive in the pedal space.
Looking to buy some power meter pedals? I can’t recommend the Assioma platform highly enough! They can be purchased direct from Favero (based in Italy) or at these Zwift Insider affiliate partners:
