This update doesn’t include any new Drop Shop items or roads, but it’s got some feature improvements, a little something for KICKR Bike owners, and… afros! Let’s dig into the details…
Large Event Improvements
On the heels of last week’s emergency bug patch, Zwift has included additional changes in today’s update which should improve our experience in very large events.
Potato owners, rejoice! Zwift says, “These changes will be most noticeable on lower end devices.”
The busy start pen of a recent TdZ event
The fixes are centered on how Zwift handles the rendering of nearby riders. In extremely large events (think 2000k + riders) it’s not hard to imagine that a fair amount of processing power and data bandwidth is needed in order to compute rider positions, determine which riders to render, and actually render those riders. Zwift’s update notes say, “Some users may notice differences in the number of bikes/riders they see around them in large events.”
Steering Updates: Wahoo KICKR Bike + More
Zwift’s FutureWorks Steering is no longer restricted to the Elite Sterzo Smart owners – Wahoo KICKR Bike riders can steer using the bike’s steering buttons! This is big news, and hopefully means other smartbikes with steering buttons will be supported soon.
How does steering work with buttons? A single click of a steering button moves you over one “lane”, while holding down the button will slide you across multiple lanes. Sort of like SRAM’s eTAP shifting!
Wahoo KICKR Bikes cannot yet steer on Repack Ridge, but Zwift says that will be available in a future update.
Zwift also made two overall improvements to FutureWorks Steering. First, they’ve modified the default camera angle (camera 1) while steering, to “minimize camera movement while making significant changes in steering angle.” Secondly, they’ve made steering more responsive at high speeds.
Pace Partner Tweaks
Zwift continues to refine the Pace Partner experience, making changes in this update to help people stay close to the Pace Partner and keep multiplying those Drops.
If you’ve been riding with the Pace Partner for more than a few seconds, and the Drops multiplier progress bar has started to fill up, the game will now alert you with a new message if you get just out of range of the Pace Partner:
You can ride as long as you’d like with these “Catch Up” messages displaying – but the progress bar won’t advance. If you move even further away from the Pace Partner, the message will disappear, and then you have about 30 seconds before your progress bar goes away and you have to start the Drops Multiplier game all over again.
So today’s change makes it easier to stay “in” the Drops Multiplier game, since it gives you a little grace before ending your game as you get too far from the Pace Partner.
New Black Hairstyles
Three new “afro” hair styles have been added – and they even look good with a helmet! We can’t wait to see what Shane Miller’s avatar looks like now…
Bug Fixes/Improvements
This release also includes a pile of minor fixes… here’s the list, with a few comments where appropriate:
Numerous cycling and running assets (kits, shirts) have been added or updated. Word on the street is this includes a new bike frame for an upcoming event. But that’s all we can say!
Fixed a bug that would auto-select gender during account creation.
Implemented a 10% grade limit for Computrainer devices to resolve issues with sustained climbs above 10%
Improvements to Bluetooth pairing to reduce the chances of users getting “No Signal” when pairing a device.
Fixed a bug that would cause the Pace Partner survey to overlap other UI when ending a session.
Fixed a bug that caused the Zwift Academy event filter to remain after Zwift Academy ended.
Fixed a bug that would cause mobile users to see a notification icon on the Zwift App after closing the game.
Zwift sent out a press release yesterday announcing two key hires. Here is the release in its entirety, with some additional thoughts from me following:
Zwift Appoints YuChiang Cheng As Chief Product Officer to accelerate its product and customer experience
Mark Cote also joins Zwift as Senior Director, Content Programming
Zwift, the online training platform for cyclists, runners and triathletes worldwide, has today announced the appointment of YuChiang Cheng who joins as Chief Product Officer where he will own the end-to-end customer experience of Zwift’s products; driving customer value, innovation and quality. Cheng will lead Product Design & UX, Engineering, Game Design & Art, Product Management, R&D, Content Programming, LiveOps, QA, and Community Support.
YuChiang Cheng Chief Product Officer
Mark Cote Senior Director, Content Programming
Prior to Zwift, Cheng built cross-functional teams to create products for name brands such as Topgolf, Virgin Games, World Poker Tour, Monopoly, Sky, USGA, PGA of America, and MGM-Mirage. Through his career, Cheng has been at the forefront of connecting physical and digital together, creating premium, integrated experiences.
Cheng co-founded the World Golf Tour (WGT), a virtual golf simulation game which grew to over 28 million players. WGT pushed the traditional sport of golf onto Facebook, iOS, and into the esports competition world, making the game more accessible to a larger, more diverse audience. WGT pioneered the free-to-play business model in the western world and merged real-world professional events with the virtual world by hosting the Virtual US Open over 10 years ago, which still continues today.
“I’m thrilled to welcome YuChiang Cheng to Zwift,” says Zwift CEO and Co-Founder, Eric Min. “This is a critically important hire for Zwift as we continue to invest in the very best people to develop our product experience and build out our teams. YuChiang brings considerable experience from a highly impressive career spanning companies of all sizes. I have no doubt that he will have a huge impact on levelling up the business as we move into hardware and continue to invest heavily into the core product experience, making Zwift more accessible to use and more personalized by design.”
“I’m honored to have the opportunity to steward the future of such an innovative product and work with a passionate world-class team at Zwift”, says YuChiang Cheng, Chief Product Officer, Zwift. “This is a rare opportunity to be able to join a business which is wholeheartedly committed to investing in its product, people and consumer experience. Eric Min and the Board have committed substantial resources to build the best team, polish the product and drive new experience innovations for existing Zwifters. We are also committed to make Zwift a more accessible platform and fulfil our mission to help get more people, more active, more often.”
The news comes shortly after Zwift confirmed the appointment of Mark Cote as Senior Director, Content Programming. Cote joins Zwifts following a 13-year career at Specialized where he worked across physical and digital product development, brand, and marketing. At Specialized, Mark held roles including Leader of Integrated Technologies, Leader of Global Marketing and Innovation, and most recently Active Category Leader. Cote will report into YuChiang working to define and implement the strategic vision for in-game training and event experiences at Zwift to ensure a consistent, engaging, and results-driven experience for all Zwifters. Cote will be working with the Product, Marketing, Engineering, Commercial, and Customer Support teams.
“As a long-time Zwifter and huge fan of the brand, I’m thrilled to be joining Zwift”, says Mark Cote, Senior Director Content Programming. “My team will be working super closely with the Zwift community to bring enticing experiences that are even more engaging and accessible for all Zwifters.”
More Thoughts on YuChiang Cheng
Cheng’s long experience at WGT as co-founder and CEO bodes well for his new position at Zwift, because his new remit is very broad. Zwift’s press release says Cheng will lead “Product Design & UX, Engineering, Game Design & Art, Product Management, R&D, Content Programming, LiveOps, QA, and Community Support.”
Is Zwift just adding another layer of management to their corporate structure? Well, perhaps. But consider this: since the big re-org in April 2020, there really hasn’t been anyone at the helm of the product teams. So this is a layer of management – but probably a much-needed one, given the tendency of tech teams to turn into inefficient silos instead of cross-functional powerhouses.
With something like 400 employees broken up into many different teams, it will take clear vision, effective planning, and properly-resourced teams for ZHQ to develop product features beyond the MVP (minimum viable product) phase we’ve seen so much of lately.
Cheng launched WGT with co-founder Chad Nelson in 2008. It was acquired by Topgolf in 2016. He stayed on with Topgolf until late 2020, when he posted this on LinkedIn, saying, “it is time for me to return to my entrepreneurial roots.”
Is this job a return to his entrepreneurial roots? Probably not. But I’m sure the rest of the Zwift community joins me in hoping Cheng brings an improved level of leadership and focus to the product teams. There are so many improvements to be made to the Zwift product, but it will take a skilled leader to build and guide the teams necessary to make Zwift all it can be.
More Thoughts on Mark Cote
I had a nice Zoom chat with Mark last week, and while he’s still getting the lay of the land in his new role at Zwift, he’s clearly already working hard to discern the needs/desires of the Zwift community, and how teams at Zwift could be optimized to deliver better content (think events, training plans, and more) for Zwifters.
Jordan Rapp recently departed from his position as Game Designer/Software Engineer at Zwift, and he’s been friends with Mark for years (triathlete buddies). Mark isn’t taking Jordan’s position, but there will be some overlap as Jordan’s work on features such as structured workouts and anti-sandbagging did directly affect in-game content. Hopefully Jordan left Mark some good notes!
Mark has become a presence on social media in recent weeks, interacting with the community to address particular concerns. He’s also a longtime Zwifter, joining in the early beta Jarvis days. Both of these are good qualities in any Zwift employee, as it means he understands what makes Zwifters tick, and has his finger on the pulse of the community.
And of course, his career at Specialized means he understands the bike category very well. That’s going to be helpful as well.
Your Thoughts
It’s much too early to see what effect these new hires will have on Zwift overall. But it takes good people to make great things, so I’m saying these hires are good news. Share your thoughts below!
For the first Catch-Up episode of the year, Matt sits down with Australian Sam Appleton after his impressive 6th place performance at Challenge Daytona in December. The two chat about what Sam has been up to (mostly coffee and home furnishings) but also fit in some good tri talk and laughs as well!
About the Podcast:
The Zwift PowerUp Tri Podcast is hosted by former pro triathlete Matt Lieto and Zwift Academy Tri mentor Sarah True. Both are passionate about lending their in-depth knowledge of the multisport to the Zwift Tri audience.
Matt and Greg give a warm welcome to their new podcast co-host, Rahsaan Bahati! Rahsaan’s journey has taken him from, in his words, “the hood to Watopia,” with many bike victories on the way! He’ll be joining the PowerUp Cycling hosts as a permanent member of the team, so be ready to hear much more from the 10-time US National Champ.
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.
Team time trials aren’t something I write about often, for two reasons:
I don’t do them very often
They’re usually not very interesting to read about
But yesterday I raced a TTT with my DIRT Hellhounds team, and it turned out to be the best TTT I’ve ever been a part of. And thus I’ve decided to write about: because I think you’ll find this post both interesting and helpful. Onward!
The Warmup
Zwift Racing League‘s Tuesday events are my priority races each week, so normally I do everything I can to be ready heading into race day. But this week I rode with a couple of buddies on Monday – one of those outdoor rides you just can’t say “No” to. After going a bit harder and further than I typically would on the day before a race, there was a bit of nagging worry in the back of my head that tired legs might impact Tuesday’s effort.
Tuesday I planned a solid warmup routine, coupled with my three favorite race-day products:
Caffeine gum – two pieces (200mg), 1 hour before the race.
PR lotion on my legs about 45 minutes before the race. More bicarb=less burning.
The Nopinz Subzero kit, with freezer packs ready to insert when I had 20 minutes left.
This would also be my first day riding a new rocker plate I’m testing out from KOM Cycling. I had done a bit of setup to dial it in a few days earlier, but I was crossing my fingers and hoping there wouldn’t be any problems I would need to fix during today’s efforts!
The DIRT Hellhounds joined a private Meetup around 35 minutes before the race start time, and as we made our way around France’s R.G.V. route we chatted on Discord, rehearsed some rotations, and made sure our in-game setups were optimized. That meant three things for us:
Having the fastest bike possible (most of us were on the Specialized S-Works Venge + Disc wheel)
Changing our names in-game to use a number at the start, indicating our rotation order
Making sure we each had different headwear, making it easy to spot each rider in-game
Soon enough it was time to hit the start pens. Let’s race!
The Start
It seems a bit silly, given how many thousands of riders participate in TTT’s every week on Zwift – but Team Time Trials are still a “hack” on Zwift. You’ll have a pile of teams in one start pen, but each team has been given a particular time delay by the race organizers. When the event clock hits zero, nobody leaves the pens. Instead, each team’s timekeeper begins counting down, so they can tell their team when to leave the pens.
Zwift really needs to improve this. But before that can happen, riders would need to be lumped together into teams – something which isn’t yet in place. It’ll happen… eventually.
The clock hit zero, and our timekeeper began his 7-minute countdown. We sat and spun our wheels, taking nervous pee breaks, making sure our towels and water were within reach, and chatting on Discord to pass the time.
We each had our Zwift pairing screens up so we could ride without moving out of the pens – then when the countdown hit 1 second we hit the Escape key, leaving the pairing screen and jumping out of the pens at a high wattage. This is the commonly-used “Pairing Screen Jump” used in TTT’s.
Dan, the #1 rider in our rotation, was set to take a 1-minute pull to start. I expected him to sprint hard and be the first from our team out of the pens, but as we exited I was in front! I didn’t ease up much, though – the TTT is all about speed, and if I was ahead of the team they could use my draft to join me as we got into our initial formation.
Soon enough we were flying in fine formation.
A DS and a Plan
Our team actually has 8 riders, giving us two substitutes in case of illness or injury. One of the strongest racers on our team is Tim Hanson, but unfortunately he couldn’t race this week since he’s recovering from injury. fortunately he makes a great DS! He was on Discord calling the rotations for us, and it worked really well.
The basic plan was single-file formation with 30-second pulls. As we neared the switch every 30 seconds Tim would give a 5-second warning to the rider who was about to start his pull, then let the rider know his pull had begun, and tell us who was on deck.
It may seem like a minor thing, but I found it super-relieving to have Tim giving us instructions. I didn’t have to think about my timings with Tim on the horn! Instead, my job was to sit on Dan’s wheel (I was #2 in the rotation), and when Tim said Dan had 5 seconds left I would up my watts to come around Dan, shooting to get my nose into the wind just as Dan’s pull ended. Then I just went hard until the #3 rider (Phil) came around me 30 seconds later.
Sink and Sprint + Slingshot
This 5-second “slingshot” was a new tactic for us. And it seemed to be working really well. Remember, the big goal is to keep the speed high, and that speed is determined by the front rider.
We didn’t want the 2nd rider slowed by the sticky draft if the front rider easedup before the 2nd rider came around for his pull. So the front rider’s job was to keep their power/speed up while the 2nd rider hit the watts hard to come around, benefiting from a bit of a slingshot. Once the 2nd rider had come around, the front rider would ease up dramatically to “sink” to the back of the line, putting in a quick sprint once they reached the back so they could grab onto the wheels again.
We caught our first team – the Vegans – just over halfway through the race as we hit the Aqueduc KOM. It always feels good to catch another team in a TTT! The pass was clean, and as we descended and took a bit of a recovery we all knew this race was going really well.
Far From Perfect
Still, our team formation was far from perfect. Generally the problems occurred when a rider would be sinking from the front to the back, and some teammates would get stuck behind that rider. It’s really a tough balance to strike, because as the sinking rider you can’t just stop pedaling – you would get dropped from the pack with no chance to get back on. So you have to ease up on your power just enough to sink back but not so much that you are dramatically dropped.
It’s easy to “overpower” your sink, which causes riders behind to get stuck on your wheel instead of coming around. It’s also easy to “underpower” your sink, so you can dropped off the back and have to sprint extra hard to catch back on.
It’s a team effort, really: every time the rotation changes, the back 4 riders need to be paying attention so they don’t get stuck behind the sinking rider. That means bumping up your wattage a bit just before encountering the sinker, so the sticky draft doesn’t grab you.
It’s fair to say each of the Hellhounds probably messed up a rotation here and there, but we recovered well. This was feeling good, and we were almost done.
The Finish
The R.G.V. finish is always tough, because you’re on the curvy rollers of Les Intestins, which make it impossible to hold a single file formation. Still, Tim was calling out the rotations, and I think this was good – it meant there was always at least one rider pushing hard to be on the front, even if they weren’t on the front. This meant the overall group speed stayed high.
As we began Les Intestins we passed a second team, DZR. Our #4 (Roger) had been struggling to hold on, and our acceleration through DZR was the straw that broke the camel’s back. He let us know on Discord that he was off the back, and we pressed on. 5 riders left.
Over the top of the climb portion of Les Intestins, Scott (or resident climber) pushed hard, keeping our speed up in that crucial section. It was too much for our #3 (Phil) though, and he announced he was dropping off. 4 riders left, with just 1.8km to go. This was it! DS Tim took it all in stride, calmly calling out the rotations.
With 1km left our #1 man (Dan) just in front of me was struggling to hold high power in the wind. Hard to blame him – we were all on the rivet! But I rolled past him on the slight descent, and decided to just keep the power high. I’ve learned from other TTT’s that I seem to often have a bit more in the tank for the final minute than other riders, and if I could stay on the front and lend a draft to the other three I wanted to do that.
800 meters left, and I was all in. But the watts were far from impressive! The other three came around me as we turned onto the main road before the start of the Marina Sprint, and I shifted, stood up, and began the final effort. I couldn’t even break 600 watts, but I was able to get back in the front and pull the team over the line. That always feels good!
Our final time: 33:24.313. This was the 4th fastest time of any B team in ZRL! Unfortunately, our division is super-strong, and that time got us 3rd place. Still, we were very happy with the result. In season 1, our team finished this same race in 34:28.375!
As I saved the ride, I was greeted with an FTP increase popup:
Woohoo! It’s been a long time since I got one of these.
(Sorry the Discord audio is too quiet, but at least you can hear my heavy breathing loud and clear!)
Watch the Race from DS Tim’s Point of View:
Takeaways
Two big takeaways from this race:
A good DS is a big help. Having Tim calling the shots allowed us to focus on holding formation and keeping our power up. For me, at least, this narrowing of focus helped me perform better.
The 5-second slingshot works well. We’ll be doing more of this.
Oh, and if you’re wondering: the rocker plate worked great. Good feel. More on this in an upcoming post where I’ll write a full review!
Your Thoughts
Did you race in yesterday’s TTT? Got any rotation, DS, or other tips to share? Comment below!
It was different from the first dash out of the pens. It was more horsepower from more big engines roaring to the rev limiter from the opening meters. I quickly realized I wouldn’t be getting a sniff of any of the KOM points I had considered targeting on the opening climb only 3 minutes into the Reverse Richmond course. The speed was too high and while I scrabbled towards the fore at 10 w/kg, the real puncheurs took off for the line and the bonus points at 12-14 w/kg.
For the next 10 minutes it was like being tossed around in a washing machine full of rocks, moving from the front to the back and up again and taking hits all along the way in the form of surges into the “orange numbers” of 8w/kg+. It was my first race in the Premier League with the newly upgraded Finesse Rockets team and in the words of Dave Towle “It was on like Donkey Kong”.
The pace eventually settled slightly and more importantly I started to find the rhythm of riding in the faster pack and conserving energy where I could. You can never lose focus though – it will cost you. I have felt this strangling level of baseline speed before in the real world at the World Tour races in Quebec. It is like driving along the highway at 120kmh: you know you are moving fast but you are under control. But, if you open the window though and slide your hand out into the open air you feel the real weight of the resistance you are up against. You know you can only brave that crush for a short time before crumpling and that you had better stay inside the draft as well as you possibly can.
Mid-race peloton
My Attack
I couldn’t be of much use on the KOM or points sprints, my power profile will never be sharp enough for that. So I switched to plan B: a late attack. This tactic became more clear-cut when we lost our sprinter to the infernal pace and another fast finisher to an Internet dropout.
I was never going to sprint into the top 30 in the final to get league points so there was nothing to lose. With an attack at least there was the potential of drawing out other riders and either making a go for the line or at least allowing my teammates a free ride while other teams responded.
Going on the attack
With around 4km to go and directly after the last points sprint of the race I hit out. The pack was already stretched by the acceleration of the sprint and I figured I could capitalize on that. I hit my aero powerup and within a few hundred meters I was in clean air.
The problem was I was alone.
The pack watched and I cranked away at 7-8 w/kg to establish and hold a 6-7 second gap. There was no going back though, no point in regrouping to sprint for 50th, so I kept going and hoped for either a reaction or a moment of hesitation. 3km left, 2km then 1km and the finish line in the distance. I began to think “if I get to 500m I can kick one more time”… and then they were there, rushing past with 700m to go. I limped home, our sprinters sprinted and that was the end of my first Premier League race. I was empty but I was smiling, I came for a hard race and I got it.
My solo move
Overall race stats
The aftermath of a solo attack, limping home
Impressions
It was a tough outing for the team on that first event. We scraped together a few points in the sprint with Matt Usborne and Timmy Bauer but finished well down the order. That’s fine though, a learning curve is expected and we have already bettered our season position by finishing 8th in this week’s TTT of the 21 teams.
In full flight in the TTT
After so much anticipation and hard work to get to this level I definitely had some thoughts after our first outings.
More than anything, I am struck by the scale of it all. Even on a Monday, over 24,000 people watched that first event live, and more people were cheering on my solo effort than at almost any IRL race on the North American calendar. It’s a big opportunity for all of us and I am grateful for that.
It does make me wonder why there isn’t more aggression in the men’s field even if it has a low chance of succeeding due to the blob physics. I didn’t make my move for TV time, I made it based on game theory (and limited options therein!) but I sure got some of the former. It’s striking that teams and riders don’t try attacks more often if only for entertainment and a small chance at glory. Points are important, but entertainment and exposure are too. The entire field is looking for sponsorship, and sponsors love that stuff.
The women’s field, to their credit, seem to take on these attacking tactics more readily. It makes for an exciting final product.
Maybe we will see a little less of the “conserve, optimize, and sprint” game as this season goes on. It’s not that I don’t respect that approach, or even that I want racing that gives me more chances to win – I just think the sport benefits from an unpredictable racing narrative.
To that end, Zwift Racing League Season 2 has a calendar of courses that are undoubtedly harder and less predictable than Season 1. There is even a mountaintop finish next week where hopefully I will be the one sitting in for the finale and others will be going off the front to try to steal the show. Maybe the same top riders will still win on these courses too, but it should show off their power in a more compelling way.
Overall, I am excited to be a part of it. It’s a unique situation to be competing at the top of a sport that is still evolving so quickly. We will all need to analyze and adapt while staying at our physical peaks and still taking on as much suffering as we are capable of. Sounds like fun to me.
This week’s Top 5 videos feature two Tour de Zwift participants who use this event as a personal challenge. Whether you’re at the front of the field or the back, you can find something – or someone – to motivate you. Then, DC Rainmaker shares an accessory that could make it easier for you to Zwift with Apple TV! Finally, make your indoor training a little more comfortable before taking a ramp test.
TOUR DE ZWIFT, STAGE 1. A PERSONAL, EMOTIONAL VICTORY
Linda Messinger (“Zwifting With Granny”) has a bad start to a Tour de Zwift stage, but she keeps on going even when she’s alone. Then she finds a small group to ride with after a few miles. Every time she thinks they’ll drop her, she digs deep, and she manages to stay with them until the finish!
Tour De Zwift | Stage one | Cycling CB
The Tour de Zwift is in full swing, and Junior Zwifter “Cycling CB” is excited to get started! (We can’t blame him for getting confused about whether it’s a group ride or a race. There are no official race events in the tour this year, but there are steady-paced “Rookie Rides.”)
Quick Tip: Best $8 Zwift Apple TV Accessory
If you Zwift with Apple TV, you probably have some… opinions about the Apple TV remote. Fitness tech expert DC Rainmaker found a cheap accessory that could make your experience better.
6 Tips for Ultimate Comfort and Power on Zwift!
Indoor training can be more uncomfortable than riding your bike outside. Katie Kookaburra has some advice to help you keep feeling good, even during long sessions.
Zwift’s Ramp FTP Test – Overview, Guide, and Review
Ready to take a ramp test and set your Functional Threshold Power (FTP)? Michael Taber gives a clear explanation and walkthrough of what this test is and how it works.
Got a Great Zwift Video?
Share the link below and we may feature it in an upcoming post!
Tuesdays in January have been good for Peak Zwift watchers: today, for the third Tuesday in a row, we hit a new high!
The new record occurred at the same time as last week – just a few minutes after 10am Pacific, as Tour de Zwift events got underway and racers logged on for Zwift Racing League Season 2‘s first TTT.
Today’s peak jumped to 49,114, up 5.9% from last week’s peak of 46,375.
Reminder: Zwift hasn’t been confirming precise peak numbers, so it’s up to us to spot new records. That means we don’t know the precise Peak Zwift number, but we can certainly get close. Thanks to all who sent in Peak Zwift screenshots today – Dan Harrison wins the prize today (12,000 Unicorn Drops!), sending in the highest number we’ve seen (although it’s possible someone will comment with an even higher one, as often happens).
Is next Tuesday when we’ll break 50k?
If you think you’ve spotted a new Peak Zwift, snap a screenshot and send it over to me at [email protected]!
Game theory is the science of strategy, where the outcome for each participant depends on the actions of all. I am a big believer in Game Theory as it relates to cycling tactics. For example: do you chase down a breakaway (e.g. Alaphilippe at the 2020 World Champs) and risk bringing with you someone that can beat you in a sprint? Or do no work, let the sprinter lead the chase, and hope for second place?
Watching the Zwift Racing League premier divisions and then commentating on APAC region, I realised that most races along the Richmond UCI Reverse course were ending in a big bunch sprint.
We decided at the end of our race to put some game theory to the test through a fakey sprint effort, with one rider (myself) putting in a fake sprint attack with 800m to go. Check out the video:
There is always risk with any strategy employed in a cycling race, but using Game Theory you can minimise the risk or at least know what it is and mitigate it on the fly. With the fakey sprint here were the scenarios:
Fakey sprint draws out our competition and forces them into a chase, bringing up our teammates who can sprint over the top, our team wins
Fakey sprint does not fool the competition, they stay with the bunch and ride wheels to put in a maximal sprint at the more opportune time, our team loses
Fakey sprint does not fool the competition, they stay with the bunch but don’t catch, our team wins
So looking at the above there is a 33% risk that we will lose the race with this strategy, but a 66% chance that we will win the race. Therefore, it was an easy decision to make… go for the fakey sprint.
The alternate is obviously that we don’t fakey sprint at all and take the risk with a bunch sprint at the end. But with 5 of our riders in the top 9 this only equates to a 55% chance of winning, still lower than 66%. I have found that the odds always seem to be better when you are the team making the plays, being proactive rather than reactive.
These strategic decisions are also faster and easier to make the better you know your competition and the more familiar you are with the course. So: do your homework!
What About You?
If your team has pulled off something amazing in a race, or you’ve seen something tactically great, shoot me a message (or comment below) and I’ll do some analysis on why and how it worked.
As explained in the first post, my cousin Boone and I are conducting a glorious experiment, not unlike the time much younger versions of ourselves taped a bottle rocket to a paper airplane and struck a match to see what would happen next.
We’re not sure how much fitness he can gain with a 6-week training program on Zwift, but he’s all in. 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. This second week was about building endurance and improving form on the bike.
The Plan
As a reminder, here’s the basic plan we’ve 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 #5: A Full Hour!
Boone had a simple goal for this ride: to stay on the bike for a full hour. He had been increasing his ride time on each effort, and he felt he had a full hour in him this time.
We put him in with Dan Diesel, Boone’s favorite riding buddy. And Boone spun with Dan’s group for about 45 minutes, before he ran out of steam, dropped off the back, and spun it easy for the final 15. He was pretty tired when he hit the hour mark… but he’d done it, and was stoked about that!
While his legs were tired, Boone said he felt like the biggest limiter was pain on the sit bones. But he knows that just takes time, so he’ll keep at it.
Ride data (this will be interesting for future efforts):
HR (avg): 166
Power (avg): 161W
Ride #6: More Fun with Dan
The next ride (two days after ride 5) was more of the same, although Boone went for 70 minutes this time. Once again, he lasted about 45 minutes with the Dan Diesel group, then dropped off and took it easy for the remainder.
This ride’s plan was similar to the previous two, although Boone was going to try some “spinups” to work on muscle firing pattern efficiency and force production. In these spinups, he would just up his cadence to the max he could do without bouncing in the seat, then try to hold it for 10-15 seconds.
The wattage I saw from his first spinup was impressive (reminder: he’s using my Zwift setup with a Wahoo KICKR v5), so I told him to shift down a gear or two for the next one, to see what he could get to.
He hit 986W!
And here’s the crazier thing: it was a seated effort, and the reason he didn’t go higher is because he spun out. So we took a mental note to try another max wattage effort soon. I bet he can unlock the 1.21 gigawatts achievement. What do you think?
This ride was a bit of a “breakthrough” for Boone. He was able to keep it power high without “crashing” in the final ~15 minutes… and his heart rate was lower than it had been in the previous two outing. Looks like progress!
HR (avg): 162
Power (avg): 177W
He’s getting close to averaging 20mph for an hourlong effort, which is a fun carrot to chase. But to do it, he’ll need to ride faster than Dan Diesel, which means less drafting benefit. Hmmm…
Boone felt so good the day after Ride 7 that he hit the treadmill for a hard uphill hike. When he showed up the next day to ride, he was still feeling the previous days’ efforts.
Since Ride 8 would be followed by Ride 9 24 hours later, we decided to keep this ride short and work on out of the saddle form instead. Something that wouldn’t fatigue him too much, but still accomplish some useful goals!
We decided to tackle the Volcano Climb for this ride: a short flat warmup, then ~15 minutes of steady climbing where he could work on getting out of the saddle. (Boone’s a big dude, you see, and we had to bump up the Trainer Difficulty to give him enough resistance so he could stand and ride at 60-70rpm cadence.)
It started out a bit ugly, but by the end of the session Boone was looking pretty good out of the saddle. There’s still plenty of progress to be made here: he has to figure out how to get out of the saddle without drastically ramping up his effort. But he appreciates being able to get out of the saddle and relieve those sit bones a bit.
Boone got to test out a new rocker plate
Working on out of the saddle form
Another view of the rocker plate
Boone did his first supertucking on the Volcano descent
Boone lasted exactly 25 minutes in his first ride of week 1, and by the end of week 2 he was doing 70 minutes. Seems like progress to us! He’s also been watching his diet, and thus dropping weight. That’ll boost the ol’ watts per kilo. So far we’re both happy with the progress.
It’s been quite a while since Boone engaged in regular cardio exercise (outside of his work as a master carpenter, which often has him huffing and puffing). He’s already commented more than once that he’s really feeling good after these rides – so that’s a good sign. This is how the addicition begins!
Next week will be more of the same, although I want to get Boone to join Cara Cadence for 10-20 minutes, to see how he hangs with her faster group. And we definitely need to test his max sprint power – those legs are strong!
Support Boone
Thanks to everyone who followed Boone on Zwift and Strava and gave him lots of Ride Ons and Kudos. He’s loving it! If you haven’t done so yet, follow him on Zwift (name “Boone Bridges”) and Strava.
Your Thoughts
Got any tips for Boone? Comments on this week’s efforts? Share below!
