Yesterday’s 3R Sundown Race Series event was packed, with nearly 160 B riders. I don’t know about you, but whenever I see a field of that size, a podium finish feels nearly impossible! Yet I still enjoy jumping into bigger races, because I know I’ll have to push myself to the limit for a good result.

And that’s exactly what happened in this race. I pushed hard. I didn’t podium. But I did get a victory or two, in some sense…

The Warmup

Today’s ride plan was a bit different than most of my race days. In an effort to get a bit more training time in, I decided to do an early easy ride (zone 1/2 for an hour), then work in the office for a few hours before jumping on the bike for the race.

Just before the race I went through my typical warmup ritual: two pieces of caffeine gum and some PR lotion on the legs. (I also tried a new product I’m experimenting with, but I’m not ready to talk about it yet…)

The Start

This would be the largest group of Bs I’d raced in recent memory – 158 of us in the start pens! (Just a sign of things to come I’m sure, as we head into peak Zwift season and big races like the Zwift Racing League are spun up.)

We were racing on the Seaside Sprint Circuit, which meant the race would start with a quick climb followed by The Esses. So many riders get dropped in these sections! I made sure I was well warmed up, then just tried to stay in the front half of the blob. This required a solid VO2 effort as usual, but we didn’t have any zPower rangers on the front so the pace was realistic. 334W for 3-1/2 minutes kept me in the front group which was reduced down to ~90 riders by the time we rode through the sprint banner and began the first lap.

The Middle

Despite a complete lack of planning, I was happy to discover a solid group of DIRT teammates in this race. At least 6 of us were still in the front group, and most of us were on Discord so we could chat a bit as we rode. There were definitely some teams working together in this race, including Team Type 1, CYRO-Gen, WTRL, and most noticeably ZSUN.

The ZSUN crew were near the front of the pack for most of the race, pushing the pace. A couple even attacked halfway through, but with 70+ riders still in the blob, nobody felt the need to chase them back as we knew it would come back naturally.

For my part, I just tried to stay out of the virtual wind (a few bike lengths from the front) so I could respond to any big attacks and not risk getting caught out if gaps opened up. I could feel that the pace was high, but that wasn’t surprising given the large group size.

In my experience, group size affects Zwift races differently than outdoor races due to differences in drafting and pack dynamics:

• Outdoors, larger groups typically make it easier to sit in if that’s what you’re looking to do. Larger groups also make substantial breakaways more likely.
• On Zwift, larger groups mean more riders churning on the front, which leads to a faster overall blob speed, making breakaways less likely. The faster overall pace also means you’ll have to hold higher watts just to sit in the pack.

At one point some riders pinned it at the front through the Esses, stretching the group out – but bumping up the power while surfing the wheels brought everything back together soon enough.

The Finish

I really felt I was holding my own… until the final minutes of this race. The Seaside Sprint Circuit route ends at Watopia’s reverse sprint banner, which means the lead-in to the finish is super hairy! First you’ve got The Esses, which are just an attention-demanding roller coaster. Then you’ve got a quick kicker of a climb, followed by a straight ramp down into a sharp left onto the bridge for the final sprint.

Everything ramped up once we hit The Esses. Then it ramped up more heading into the kicker, because everyone wanted to be near the front for that short climb. And there was no easing once we crested the kicker, because riders were sprinting over the top! By the time we hit the bottom of the descent for the final 10s sprint I knew the podium wasn’t within reach. I was out of the saddle sprinting with all I had – but it wasn’t much. Strength sapped from the previous minute, I was pedaling squares in some pathetic imitation of Primož Roglič’s recent disastrous TdF TT climb.

I ended up averaging 395W for the final 2 minutes of the race, and 470W for the final 1 minute. I finished 18th in the on-screen results, but 16th in ZwiftPower. One of my worst race results in recent memory… or was it? (See “Takeaways” below…)

See my ride on Zwift >
See my activity on Strava >
See race results on ZwiftPower >

Watch My Race Recording

Takeaways

I think it’s important to focus on the positive… in bike racing, and all of life! Any time I lose I race, I look at what lessons I can take from it, and I look at what good came from the race. Maybe it’s just that I got a hard workout in and will be stronger for it. Maybe I learned something new that will serve me well in the future. Maybe I helped a teammate succeed! You get the idea.

Looking at Rankings

Here’s an important positive from this race: it actually improved my ZwiftPower ranking much more than any of my recent races, including 5 recent races where I finished in 1st or 2nd place!

How is that possible? Because this was a much higher-quality race than those others. (The stronger the riders in the race, the higher its quality. Learn more about race quality here.)

Since I finished ahead of several riders ranked higher than me, my ranking received a solid boost of 12.29 points thanks to my 16th place finish. This moved me from approximately 425th place overall in the Bs to 300th place. Not a bad jump!

The lesson here is: a race loss can still be a big ranking win.

Power Curve Boost

I was also happy to see a good power curve on this ride. Here’s what Strava shows me – the dark purple line was this race, and the light purple is for the past 6 weeks. Lots of new PBs in the 3 minutes+ range!

Your Comments

Do you pay much attention to ZwiftPower rankings? What sort of “wins” do you focus on when you lose? Share below!

Since March I have become obsessed with the weekly WTRL Team Time Trial… so i asked Eric if i could share my obsession with you all, in weekly doses.

Each week on a Friday I will give you a profile of the upcoming route, guidance on bike choice and some target times if you want to aim for the Premiere League (top-10 in each coffee class get to be in a special race televised on YouTube). 

By now you will all have seen the announcement around the Zwift Racing League with ZwiftHQ, ZwiftLive, ZCL, and WTRL joining forces to create an ongoing race league. I’m learning about this in real-time just as you all are – stay tuned for this developing story… as of right now I believe the TTT will not be integrated into the new league races and the whole thing will be live in a few weeks. In fact, the invitational league qualifier events are already going. For the TTT – the plan is still to have a caffeine-fuelled Doppio class filled with A+ riders and to create a league structure within Vienna… watch this space for more details there. If all this is news to you, start here, with Eric’s summary. 

Astoria Line 8 Recap

A few of you overachievers caught me out last week… I published my first analysis in the middle of the day with an intent to update on-the-fly as the rest of the races completed. Here are the results after all races (although the results are still provisional at time of writing):

Three of my virtual teams would have gotten into next week’s PL – but you guys in Latte and Mocha were much faster than I anticipated – well done there! I will definitely have to factor your increasing performance into my Hilly Route Reverse predictions.

Thursday 24th September – Watopia Hilly Route Reverse

If you can’t ride, or even if you can ride, but want more action, don’t forget to tune into the live TV show on Zwift Community Live’s YouTube Channel at 6:15 (UK time). 

Back to Watopia next week for three laps of Hilly Route Reverse. This is one of my favorite routes for the TTT (or any race for that matter), and I’m not the only one – it’s figured pretty heavily on the schedule for pro and community races alike. This year, in fact, The Big One – the Virtual Tour de France, started out with a few laps of this exact route. 

Three laps at 9.2km each along with a short lead-in gives a total distance of 27.7km. There is basically no flat here – it’s all rollers and lumps and one decent climb. This is one of the routes where the team at Zwift HQ wrote a Race Recon. Here’s the summary;

“Watopia Hilly Reverse is an interesting race course for several reasons. It has a bit of everything, but not a lot of flat roads. It’s draftable enough to keep a big group together since there are no really big climbs, but because it’s constantly up and down, there’s always the risk of the group splitting up.” 

The course naturally has four sections:

• Rolling through the Start through the Esses
• Up through the Italian Village
• Hilly KOM Reverse Up
• Hilly KOM reverse down

What to Ride?

The “what to ride” section is getting boring – but it’s not my fault. This is another course with enough rolling hills that the Tron pips the Venge/Super9 combo. So if you have Tron available to you, use it this week. If you don’t have Tron here are the recommendations for different levels.

Like last week, teams with newer Zwifters have got a great frame in the form of the Specialized Tarmac Pro SL7, which can be paired with the ENVE 3.4s or Rovals for decent performance.

Here are some choices for you at different levels – but to reiterate – none of these combinations beat the Tron around the Hilly Reverse route: 

• Level 5 Specialized SL7 with ENVE 3.4 (just like last week I favor the ENVEs over the Rovals – but it’s pretty close)
• Level 13 Keep the SL7, upgrade the wheels for ZIPP 808s
• Level 33 S-Works Venge with ENVE SES8.9
• Level 40 S-Works Venge with Zipp 858
• Level 45 get those 858/Super 9 wheels and pair them with the S-Works Venge

As always, the Zwift Insider reports on frames and wheels are superlative so if you want to find the perfect bike and wheel combo for you, check them out. Two weeks in a row now the Tron has been the best bike choice money cannot buy. I cannot stress highly enough that if you are racing on a rolling course you need to have (or be working on having) the Tron. 

Route Recon

If you haven’t raced Hilly Reverse in a while get out there and while you are there think about the TTT dynamic – especially the impact of the Esses which will stretch the team and the KOM itself which might break the weaker team members. 

Surprisingly, there aren’t any decent rides on this course currently scheduled. Check out the event listing on zwifthacks.com. That means you are going to have to hop on yourself. A few options:

• Hop on to Zwift, select Hilly Route in Watopia… then once you start riding do U-turn.
• Create a meet-up and invite the team… or just a few friends

Whether you can get out there or not, I highly recommend you read the official Race Recon for Watopia Hilly Reverse. It’s geared at a race not a TTT, but provides some great insight.

You can also check out the recording of the Virtual Tour de France stage on YouTube to see what the pro teams did. 

Start through the Esses

Up through the Italian Village

From the end of the bridge (where the sprint finishes), up through the Italian Village is a pretty steady rise. A good time to regroup and take stock. Nothing exciting to see here…

Reverse Hilly KOM Up

By the numbers, this hill barely exists. It’s 1.8% for 2.5km… a false-flat, right? Well, the truth is we have four ramps separated by easier segments and even some downhill. Why is this a problem? In a large group race you have a big group to hide in, and as the groups split up you still have plenty of protection. In a TTT you have only have (up to) to 8 team members to hold together, and when the hill bites each team member will be impacted differently. 

What to look out for here?

• Stronger members leaving the team behind. This is not a time for a solo break.
• Weaker team members being left behind. Particularly on the first ramp – at over 10% someone will crack if you go at race pace.

Hilly KOM down

If you come over the top together you’re in luck – gather momentum on the descent and there is even an opportunity to supertuck – just look out for the flatter section around the bend where your supertuck might break. Stay together here and power through the start/finish gate. 

Target times

Hilly Route Reverse has only appeared in the TTT twice before. The last time was June 11th (#60), then back in 5th December 2019 (#34) was the first:

Last week I kept my assumption that speeds would be down a little from the spring/early summer. I think competition is heating up again and you will be giving the TTT 110%!

There are the usual three splits – this time at 6, 14 and 22km.

• Split 1 (6km) – First time up the Hilly KOM Reverse – just past the first ramp
• Split 2 (14km) – The bridge before the Hilly KOM Reverse
• Split 3 (22km) – Third time through the Italian Village

My best time around here was the last TTT racing with CICC “Giro”. We came in mid-pack Latte – but it was a blinder of a ride as there were only four of us. Here’s a link to the Strava record for anyone interested. 

Wrap up

This is one of my favorite courses for a race – individual or TTT. I love the mix between rolling terrain and the brutal kick-up of the KOM. It’s a shorter TTT but has plenty of opportunity for thrills and spills as you hold the team together.