Heading into the first-ever UCI Cycling Esports World Championships, the Zwift Powerup Cycling Podcast has produced a series of episodes with interviews from past and present world champions.
About this Episode
In a two-part double guest special, Cyclocross novice Greg Henderson sits down with two leading figures in men’s and women’s Cyclocross to discuss the beauty of one of the muddiest cycling disciplines ever. Ceylin delves into the importance of hard work and doing everything with a smile and a sense of humor, while Mathieu discusses why he sometimes finds it hard to not train.
Greg also recalls the first time he met Mathieu, which was the first time he beat Greg in a race!
About the Podcast
The Zwift PowerUp Cycling Podcast features training tips from host Matt Rowe (Rowe & King), with regular guest hosts Greg Henderson, Dani Rowe, and Kristin Armstrong.
The ninth week of Zwift Racing League has arrived, making this the last scratch race of Season 1. This is another punchy course, similar to week 5’s Everything Bagel where the key climbs come early and extra points will go to those with the punch to make it over the climbs with the front group.Let’s dig into the course, including some tips for bike choice, strategy, and more…
Looking At the Route: Yorkshire’s 2019 UCI Worlds Harrogate Circuit
Here’s a route preview from Rick over at No Breakaways:
Route Breakdown
This route is never flat, and begins with one of the two key climbs right out of the gate:
Out of the start pens the road turns a hard right, and the first climb begins. The Otley Road climb is 1.8km long and averages just 3.1%. You can count on the first big selection of the race will be made here. With a rather low average gradient speeds will be high enough for drafting to play a significant role, so hold onto those wheels!
A few lumps and bumps brings us to the steepest descent on the route, down Pot Bank. Play this one right with momentum and/or powerups and you may be able to bridge up to riders ahead. Play it wrong and you’ll get dropped!
Then we climb up a bit from Pot Bank, descend down to the river, and begin the timed Yorkshire KOM. At 1.2km and 5.5% average grade this is a second key selection point for the race, and your first chance at intermediate points (which go to the first 5 across the line):
Descend from the KOM and turn a hard left onto Cornwall Road, AKA Millionaire’s Row. A short climb takes you to the first sprint intermediate of the route, then it’s a short descent before proceeding to a couple lumps and a quick climb back to the lap start/finish banner.
That’s one lap done. But you’ve got one more to go!
Like other lumpy routes on Zwift, the Harrogate Circuit makes bike choice a bit challenging. The Tron bike and S-Works Venge+Super9 disc turn in the same lap times in our tests, but the Tron bike is faster up the climbs, while the Venge is faster on the descents/flats.
So which do you choose? Most will go with the Tron, so they have a slight advantage on the most challenging parts of the route.
If you don’t have the Tron bike, the Canyon Aeroad + DT Swiss ARC 62s is a good choice for low-level Zwifters. Or a slippery frame like the Cervelo S5 coupled with lighter (but still aero) wheels like the ENVE 7.8 or Zipp 858.
Strategic Options
There are 2 intermediates on the Harrogate Circuit, each awarding extra points for the first five over the line (5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 points). They come in this order (and we have two laps, so 4 total chances for intermediate points):
Yorkshire K/QOM
Yorkshire Sprint
Like the Everything Bagel race, this week is a tough one for the pure sprinters who want to chase intermediate points, as the first sprint is hidden behind two challenging punchy climbs. Make it over those climbs with the front pack and you can contest the sprint… but get dropped and you’ll miss out on any and all intermediate points.
Riders with high ~3-minute power to weight would be well-served to attack the climbs in order to thin the pack and drop sprinters. For those not going on the offensive, keep in mind the road gradient is constantly shifting! Keep your eyes open and watch for gaps, as those will be constantly forming.
With all the lumps, this is a good route for a smaller breakaway to get away, perhaps on the final KOM with just 5km left in the race.
Lastly, powerups: there will be five opportunities for a powerup on this route. Make sure you know how each powerup works, and use them wisely!
Your Thoughts
Care to share your thoughts about Tuesday’s big race? Comment below!
Heading into the first-ever UCI Cycling Esports World Championships, the Zwift Powerup Cycling Podcast has produced a series of episodes with interviews from past and present world champions.
About this Episode
Annika Langvad is a truly inspiring cyclist – a MTB legend, World Champion, 5x Cape Epic winner, road racer… and dentist! She sits down with Kristin Armstrong to chat about her World Championship experience and balancing her exceptional career with root canals. She also talks about how much she wished she had time to ‘play on her bike’ before jumping headfirst into competition.
About the Podcast
The Zwift PowerUp Cycling Podcast features training tips from host Matt Rowe (Rowe & King), with regular guest hosts Greg Henderson, Dani Rowe, and Kristin Armstrong.
As I write this, my Strava says I have logged 27,380 km in 2020. That is about the usual pace for the last few seasons but it has been accumulated in a much different way than before. I guess my first real workouts of the year were lap sessions of the hospital wing where I recovered from my final post-accident surgery in January. I didn’t bother to log them on Strava but they definitely did happen and it was hard work. I was back on Zwift by the third week of the year, stubbornly turning the pedals, body aching and not willing to give up on being ready for the first races of the season. I heard the phrase “too much too soon” a few times but it worked. I was doing practice lead-outs at 55kmh with Elevate Webiplex teammates at the beginning of February, even if I was trying to catch my breath for the next hour afterward.
Team Camp in February was the only normal part of the year (photo credit Danny Munson)
I was back on top of my fitness and putting in key workouts in Southern California to prepare for the Redlands Cycling Classic in March when the light switch on our season was flipped off. Life changed again after that and so did training. I took a couple of weeks off right away to let some of the pressure off but I felt like I wanted to keep working and there were still races on the calendar tentatively. So I got back into structured training but with a little more room than usual for some fun.
I put in intervals – short, long, TT, climbing all through the summer. I also mixed in some adventures, doing a 300km epic with my buddy Deon and a bunch of big rides over 200km during the spring and summer. (I think I had only ridden 200km+ 3 or 4 times ever in training before this year.)
Different training this summer – My first 300km day
The training commitment wasn’t entirely wasted. It certainly helped me in the Echelon Zwift stage races but none of the other goals ever materialized. I stepped away from the structure in September when the last of the calendar was wiped clean. That turned out to be good timing for a mental break because Zwift brought some new developments for the fall.
Evaluating the Requirements
The Zwift Racing League was announced and I eagerly joined Team Finesse Wahoo for the campaign. My coach and I took time to break down the calendar and the requirements for success. The key observation was that all 5 of the “scratch races” (mass start) in the series were fairly explosive courses, none of them suiting my natural capacities as a climber/TT rider. The climbs were all between 1 and 6 minutes and would require efforts of 8-10+w/kg to make a difference, not sustained pushes at 6-7 w/kg where I usually do well. We changed course in that direction and I started doing more racing so I could feel out exactly what I needed to do to be effective.
The shift in training took on more gravity when I was selected for UCI Esports Worlds in early October. The original course appeared to feature a finish at the top of the Volcano climb. While not a pure climbers finish, that 5-6 minute slope would have fit my profile fairly well. When the final Figure 8 Reverse course (finishing on the 1.5 minute Hilly KOM) was confirmed, the preparation was again tilted in the anaerobic direction. At that point, I was okay with the switch because I had already been honing that type of form for the ZRL racing.
An explosive Worlds simulation workout
The Process
I started doing a selection of all-out 1-2 minute intervals in training and my power started to edge up there. When training this way, you have to be more careful with overall balance and recovery since you can’t train explosively on tired legs. I actually took a 6-day break to visit family and that helped me get ahead of the game so I could come back fresh and smash the pedals. I had a whole summer of work behind me and that little refresh was important to set the stage for the work I needed to do. Noticing the benefit of complete rest for this type of training, we built in a full off day into my schedule each week for the build-up.
However, in my first ZRL race I found myself slipping back into my IRL approach to racing. I had good legs but I chose to use them to make a steady, sustained attack on the Volcano KOM. Without a big enough burst in a key place, I never got enough of a gap and only succeeded in stringing out the field. I learned from that and came to the next race in Richmond with more focus on applying power in the right way. I managed to hit out hard to take the KOM points on Libby Hill and make another move on the Governors climb to initiate a breakaway. I didn’t commit to it and it came back but I started to feel effective for the first time. In the next scratch race in NYC it clicked and I attacked the 2 short KOMs with strong 8-9 w/kg pushes on the steepest sections and made the break that won the race for the team.
This process moulded my training for Worlds. As we get closer to the big race, we have started doing practice races as a national team to prepare. That combined with ZRL provided more than enough chance for high intensity training each week and my coach and I would try to make objectives for each event to keep improving my form.
Any success I have in high-end Zwift events will also be based on the combination of an improved punch and my usual capacity for sustained power so in the background I have continued to do aerobic work. A tempo session here and there, some longer z2 riding around races, and the ZRL team time trials have been key elements to that side of the preparation.
If I have learned anything about racing at the top level, it is not about your capacity to do one thing well. Rather it is about doing everything well enough to put yourself in position to actually use that more specific talent. If you refuse to adapt, you will always be looking for that one race that suits you perfectly and miss every other opportunity.
The Final Touches
There isn’t much to do now with around a week left until the event. There will be a couple of hard sessions left and then a careful taper to race day to find the right balance between freshness and readiness. I will be mindful of my diet to preserve my usual race weight of 61kg for the official weigh in 24 hours before the start. I also have to make sure all the technical aspects are dialled in. Then it will be time to put all the work into action and represent my country against the best in the world.
What happens to a Zwifter’s FTP when he packs up his family, cat, 4 bikes, and turbo trainer and drives 2000 miles (3200 km) and more importantly down a mile (1600m) to sea level?
I am lucky enough to live at the base of the Rocky Mountains in Denver CO, USA at an elevation of 5470 feet (1667m). I was also lucky enough to stay at two beach houses in Massachusetts, USA (both elevation ~100 feet/30m) for a 4 week period in August and September.
Note: Packing a car is a lot like an FTP test; It goes from fine to toast in a matter of minutes.
Background
My training FTP was at 266 prior to the trip, and I was about halfway through the Crit Crusher training plan when I packed up. I paused training for riding in beautiful Massachusetts and informal Zwifting. I did, however, do weekly FTP tests.
The Tests
For all tests I took the Ramp Test as this seemed to be the easiest repeatable test.
Just prior to leaving I took a test on the bike and trainer I would be using for the trip. My FTP was up to 274 (+3%).
My first week at sea level and not riding (4 days of driving will do that to you) my FTP rose to 275 (a whole Watt gained). This unexpectedly small gain was due at least in part to not be acclimated to the humidity and poor ventilation.
Note: Denver is extremely dry with humidity below 50% and my pain cave is in an air-conditioned basement. My setup in the living room in Massachusetts was 90-100% humidity with no air conditioning and only a small fan.
My initial setup in the living room in Massachusetts
A more ideal setup
One week later, I was able to raise my FTP 282 (+3%).
After a couple more weeks I was able to find an ideal setup and time to test in the morning so I could take all the caffeine I wanted. Also, I was able to scream as loud as I wanted. Plus I used PR Lotion. I raised it to 288 (+5%)!
Then it was back to Denver: FTP took a nosedive to 257 (-11%)! Ouch! The good news is I got it back to 266 (-8% from peak) a week later:
Other Riding
While I focused primarily on riding outside, I did ride a few non-test rides on Zwift. Two in France (route hunting), one in NYC, and an Alpe Du Zwift ride. In general, I felt more powerful and tired less easily. For instance, I did my 2nd best time up the Alpe the day after an FTP test, just missing the hour mark.
What about racing? Sorry, I don’t regularly race on Zwift and did not do any races while at sea level. I would love to hear anybody’s experience with this.
Conclusions
Clearly, elevation makes a difference in your FTP. Based on my experience (be wary of anecdotal evidence) going to sea level gave me about a 5% boost in FTP. Coming back cost me about 10%. This seems in line with what others have found (See “The Effect of Racing at Altitude” from TraininPeaks). This would be enough to move me from an upper category C to lower category B rider.
Could Zwift give at elevation riders a boost to level things out? Certainly they could check your location via the Companion App. Should they? Probably not worth the effort given the small number of riders at significant elevation and the likelihood someone would hack it to get an unfair advantage. Just give me a Ride On when you see me cruising around Watopia.
Welcome to episode eight of World of Zwift, the weekly show bringing you all that is great and good in Zwift Racing. This is the last episode before a holiday break, but never fear – WOZ will return in the New Year!
Host OJ Borg brings us the following:
Some indoor kit ideas for Christmas from OJ
Highlights and results from Watopia’s Waistband and week 8 of the Zwift Racing League premier division, with commentary and insight on the season from Nathan Guerra, David Towle, and Kristin Armstrong
Heading into the first-ever UCI Cycling Esports World Championships, the Zwift Powerup Cycling Podcast has produced a series of episodes with interviews from past and present world champions.
About this Episode
What got Sir Chris Hoy, the most decorated track cyclist in history, into cycling? The film E.T. is more involved in this answer than you may think.
Dani Rowe chats about enjoying retirement with his family and driving cars exceptionally fast. It’s true what they say: Champions really never rest.
About the Podcast
The Zwift PowerUp Cycling Podcast features training tips from host Matt Rowe (Rowe & King), with regular guest hosts Greg Henderson, Dani Rowe, and Kristin Armstrong.
This week was the 8th event of the Zwift Racing League – a team time trial over 1 lap of the fairly flat Watopia’s Waistband route. A fairly easy course to attack, but my team’s race was made more interesting by a bit of Zwift buginess and some less-than-ideal interactions with other teams. Read the entire sordid tale below…
The Start
We were using Google Meet for our voice chat, since some members have connection issues with Discord. (I warned my team that I’d be recording the stream, so they shouldn’t say anything too incriminating or explicit!) Soon enough Alex was counting down “30 seconds… 20 seconds…“
Then Justin (our Aussie, who whispers into his mic since it’s crazy early in the morning and he doesn’t want to wake up his kids) came on with 10 seconds to go: “I’m out of the pairing screen and pedaling, but my guy’s not moving.” Uh-oh. Justin is our strongest rider!
3…2…1… alright guys, go!
“I’ve got pedal assist,” Justin said.
Super weird. Somehow the game gave Justin pedal assist at the start, which worked out ok as we all got together and started riding quickly. Justin let fly a few choice words within a few seconds of the race starting, making the stream was officially explicit before we were even out of the start pens. A bit of a hairy start, but we settled in and started hammering out the miles!
The Dreaded Internet Drop
3.8 kilometers in, the rider list suddenly shrunk to just my name, and my teammates disappeared on screen. Nooo!!!
This is indicative of an Internet connection problem, and it meant the game wasn’t giving me any draft from my teammates. All I could do was up my watts to keep my speed up, so if connection came back I would still be near my team.
Fortunately, the dropout was short – just a few seconds. The rider list refilled, my teammates showed up, and I was still in the pack.
A Taste of Things to Come
We rotated through in our set order, each rider taking 30-second pulls unless they felt good and wanted a full minute. Justin felt good, and took 1-minute pulls almost every time! We were trying to hold 46-47kph, but our speed wasn’t great. Was the Watopian air a bit thick today? It also seemed like we were having a hard time getting into and staying in single-file formation, which meant we were wasting effort.
At 7.3km we passed one “G Zande” who promptly sprinted and grabbed onto our wheels. A big no no in a TTT! “Hey, what’s this guy doing?!” Alex asked. It took a few messages from us, and finally one from his team up the road, before he dropped off at the 9km mark.
It’s really bad form to grab the wheels of another team in a TTT – and it can get your whole team disqualified if it’s reported. Why is it so bad? Mostly because the whole point of the TTT format is to do your best as a team, with no assistance (drafting) of other riders. Sitting on another team’s wheel would potentially let them pull you up to rejoin your team, which is against the spirit of the TTT. Also, sitting on another team’s wheel messes up the rotation of the riders.
This was, perhaps, a foreshadowing of a bigger mess we’d encounter down the road…
A Messy Pass
We kept hammering out of the desert, through the ocean tunnel, up to the Italian Villas and over to the Volcano. As we descended to the start/finish in Downtown Watopia, Justin announced, “We’re being hunted from the rear.” What? A team had caught us? This hadn’t happened to us yet in the ZRL series – we had caught a lot of teams, but nobody had passed us!
Justin came over the comms: “Hold tight formation, let them past.”
So far so good. The chasing team was approaching, and we were easing up. This is all going along with WTRL’s rules, pasted below for clarity:
Overtaking Other Teams or Being Overtaken
Drafting from riders other than your own TTT team is strictly prohibited. When a team passes another team BOTH teams are expected to change thier riding styles.
The Team being passed is expected to ease off on their power/speed once they know they are being overtaken. Do not fight them as they have made up a significant time difference to catch you up.
The Team making the pass is expected to significantly increase their power as soon as they are near or in the draft of the team they are overtaking and maintain this power to create a significant lead. Remember teams are watching whats in front and not necessarily behind them. A friendly onscreen message of ‘team approaching’ can help.
By creating a significant wkg difference between teams, riders can avoid a sticky draft when passing – a dynamic game feature of Zwift.
You may encounter dropped and rogue riders from time to time and they should not “join” your team or interfere in your TTT formation in any way. Please ensure you provide at least 3 warnings via onscreen/direct messages to any interfering team/rider and if they do not back off, please contact WTRL Race Control after the race to report them. Many teams are streaming or recording their rides and we are watching too.
My team all eased up on the power, but we were moving pretty fast (52kph) on the descent to the line, and the other team wasn’t coming around! 15 seconds after we eased up (it feels like an eternity) Alex came on: “Just keep going, guys. Let’s keep doing our thing.”
Now we had a decision to make. Do we hammer down, possibly violating the rules? Or do we stay eased, hoping the other team comes around? Clearly we weren’t winning first place since we were being caught by a team that started 30 seconds behind us… but we didn’t know if we were in 2nd or 22nd at this point.
Happily, their first rider came through our group, which made the decision for us. They obviously intended to ride through, so we would let them do so. Justin took the lead position in our team, wanting to make sure we let them all get through. “Just leave it with me until they go past.”
I had eased up on my power, but was dragged to the front of our group by the draft of the Team Vegan as they came through. They only had four riders left, but two of them flew off the front of their group, leaving the other two to chase while we sat languidly in their wake.
“They’re waiting, like they’ve dropped a guy,” Justin said. But there weren’t any Team Vegan riders chasing! And we had a decision to make. It had now been 1 minute since we eased up on the descent to let Team Vegan pass, and they were just 1 second ahead of our group, still trying to regroup, with us still eased on the power. How much more time were we willing to lose in order to let them overtake us cleanly?
Our patience was quickly evaporating. “Fellas? Vegan…. going?” Justin messaged. No response.
We started hammering again as we hit the incline before the left to Ocean Boulevard. Now the goal was to overtake Team Vegan and regain the time we’d already lost. Teammate Snowy busted through, with me on his wheel, and the rest of us hammering to get through. But Team Vegan wasn’t having it – they kept hammering too. And as we began the slight climb up to Fuego Flats, both teams were jumbled together, and confusion reined.
Thankfully, Team Vegan finally moved to the front, and we eased to let them get away. (I think we all figured they were lightweight riders and could get away on the climb!)
The Finish
As the ground leveled off, we were only 3 seconds behind Team Vegan. Clearly our 6 heavier riders had more pure watts than Team Vegan’s 4 lighter riders. Would we overtake them before the finish?
Our team captain Snowy messaged, “Coming past. Please do us same favor we did you.” But they didn’t write back, and didn’t seem too ease a bit. I was on the front pushing hard, with Monica yelling in my ear.
“Come on, come on! Dig deep! Keep it up!”
We hit the sprint start line for the final 400m and I shifted and stood, hammering with all I had to overtake Team Vegan just 1s ahead. I was leading out my teammates who were on my wheel – suffering and maxed out, but loving every minute of it!
We crossed the finish line with our 4th rider ahead of Team Vegan’s, which felt good even though we knew they’d beat us by ~30s. A messy final 7 minutes, but well-fought max effort from everyone. Once all the teams had finished we learned we had finished a disappointing 10th place (out of 21), 1:14 behind first place. 3 seconds faster and we would have been in 8th place.
Soon after saving my race on Zwift and Strava, I got messages from Team Vegan riders apologizing for the messy pass. I got an email from one of their team members (Sean Leary) as well – so three different messages from three different riders!
All of the messages were similar in tone – apologizing that things got a bit messy. And I say kudos to Team Vegan for reaching out and acknowledging that they could have done things better. That’s good sportsmanship.
I had a nice email chat with Sean, who sent over his more detailed thoughts on what happened (at my request). I wanted to give Team Vegan a chance to share what happened from their perspective, so this wasn’t a one-sided post and we could all learn from it. (Note: Sean wanted to make sure I mention that what he wrote is just his view, and not an official team statement. “I don’t speak for others, and I certainly don’t speak for all vegans!” Ha!) Here’s what Sean wrote:
I watched your video of the race – an impressive push at the end! 190 BPM is no joke.
So I reviewed your video and our stream as well, and I think that gives me a reasonable view of the exchange, although I’ll concede I’m biased toward my own point of view, of course.
We definitely made some mistakes and can learn from this.
Here’s my take based on what I saw from the videos, and being in the thick of it:
We rushed it We didn’t gather ourselves properly before attempting the pass, and we didn’t give your team a proper heads up. In fact, we were in the process of completing a lead change just before we made contact with your team. We should have sorted ourselves better first, coordinated the pass with you, and then pushed cleanly by. So that’s something we can do better.
We passed at the wrong time We’re a light team, and we came past you at the bottom of a hill at full speed. Not smart. That definitely played in the perception of how fast each team was ‘pushing’ in relation to eachother. You were gliding easily into us with a huge momentum advantage that we simply did not have at the bottom of the hill.
We got jumbled up The result of us executing the pass in haste caused us to open a gap between our four riders (two and two) just after we got clear of you. So we struggled to pull ourselves back together. We did our best to get together and push hard as quickly as possible, but I can see from your video it seemed slow and I understand the frustration. I would have felt the same way.
(Note: At the 32:15 mark someone suggests we were waiting for a dropped rider. Just so you know, that’s not the case. We were doing everything we could to just pull the four of us together and get clear from your team as quickly as possible. I didn’t even know we lost someone until down the road.)
In fairness, I nitpicked a couple of things from your video that may have contributed to the situation, and perhaps some interesting dynamics and perception points:
You slowed for us early, but powered up as we came through Your team slowed well before we got to you on the downhill, a full 20 seconds (31:12-31:32 on your video). The intention was perfect of course, it just took us a bit longer to actually get there (we’re much lighter and only four versus your heavier six). But just before we reached you came the voice command “keep going guys, just keep doing our thing” and you all picked up the wattage. So unfortunately when we did overtake you seconds later, it was harder to push through. It’s still on us for the poor timing and lack of communication – but perhaps a questionable decision to return to business (wattage) as usual with us right on you and in the process of overtaking, especially downhill.
Looks like you jumped up and stayed there after we passed If you look at the 31:53 mark, we’re just barely clear of you. Granted we’re not super fast here (also momentum differences still playing a role), but a rider jumps up doing 5.5w/kg and pulls you and your team right to the back of us as we’re trying to get away. So in my view that’s now a reset point – your team has clearly pushed watts (even accidentally) and slid right up into us, so it’s now on you to ease back and allow us to fully get clear again, and fade back out of our draft. I’m not sure we ever really get that opportunity.
Instead what follows are a series of comments about us “taking our time”, etc. But in fact at that moment our leader is pushing 5.6w/kg and our team is all doing 4-5w/kg. More importantly though, your team is doing 45-46kph! If you scan back through your video, your team rarely does more than 44kph even in perfect formation on flats. So at the moment you’re all expressing frustration at how we’re holding you up, you’re actually going faster than you were at any other point in the race (on flats). I feel like that’s simply you drafting us at that point. Going faster, not slower.
I think it just felt slower because you had effectively created a 10-man draft with us (in a pretty nice single-file line I might add) and were pushing much lower wattage back in positions 5-10. Felt slower, but was faster.
So I do feel like the data tells a bit of a different story than the perception you may have had, and reveals that game dynamics played a much bigger part of this than perhaps we both had thought real-time.
I still hold that the biggest issue was that we weren’t very smart about our pass. But upon review, especially of the actual speeds, what followed might be less a case of us being in your way, and more about you in our draft.
I hope that’s a fair take, if not totally over-analyzed. Let me know if you see it differently!
Did the messy pass cost our team valuable seconds? That’s the big question, I suppose. It may not seem like much, but our entanglement with Team Vegan lasted for approximately 2km, and a speed difference of just 2kph (going from 46 to 44kph) for 2 kilometers equates to about 7 seconds of time lost.
But I don’t think we actually lost time beyond what we would normally lose when easing for an overtake. (Note: some of my teammates may disagree). It sure felt like we were losing time, because we had eased our effort while waiting for Team Vegan to get away. But our actual speed (as Sean mentioned) is still 45-46kph on the flat ground. It’s also true that we benefited from a bit of Team Vegan draft, and probably in the end it was all a wash. No hard feelings, as far as I’m concerned. Life’s too short for that!
I think the interesting takeaways for me from this race are:
When we don’t ride in a strict formation, we don’t perform well. This was our messiest TTT to date, and it shows in our overall time/ranking.
Each rider’s view of an overtaking/pass is very different. There are a lot of variables at play that make overtaking a challenging proposition in some situations! Today’s situation was one of those, with a lighter 4-man team overtaking a 6-man team on a descent near the end of the race.
Your Thoughts
Ever been a part of a messy overtake? What do you think of the overtake from today’s race? Share your thoughts below!
Zwift has just released the list of 10 finalists for the Zwift Academy Road programs – 5 women and 5 men. These riders will now be competing for a spot with a pro road team for the 2021 season!
Drumroll Please…
The 5 finalists competing for a spot with CANYON//SRAM are:
Lionel Vujasin, Belgium – 31 years old, 12th ranked on ZwiftPower. Lionel rides for Canyon Esports and is one of the most well-known racers on the platform
Announcement Videos
What Next?
The 2020 Zwift Academy Road finals will run from December 13-19th. Unlike previous years where the Zwift Academy Road finals were held at team training camps, the 2020 finals will be held entirely remotely with each finalist in his or her home location. The Zwift Academy coaches at Dig Deep Coaching as well as the team coaches will be analyzing all performances of the finalists.
Though COVID has reshaped the structure of this year’s finals, the virtual format presents a new opportunity to bring viewers closer to the action than ever before and take a peek behind the scenes! Each finalist will be shadowed by a videographer as they show us their home roads, undertake their final tests, perform workouts, and of course race both onboard their Tacx Neo 2T Smart Trainers on Zwift, and outdoors.
Not only will the finalists be judged on their data, but they will go ‘speed dating’ with their prospective new teams. It’s important for a professional rider to gel with their teammates. The contenders will face daily challenges, with special guests dropping in via video link to encourage the finalists and share last-minute motivation. The finals will culminate in a live final show hosted by ex-pro Matt Stephens and streamed on Saturday, December 19.
A Banner Year for Zwift Academy
According to Zwift’s press release, a record-breaking 125,000 riders took part in Zwift Academy Road this year. Wow!
After the mishap of the previous week’s Zwift Hill Climb Battle and being impacted by the dreaded “power dropout” I was back again, with a point to prove to myself. It was “Redemption Monday”. That is the beauty of Zwift: you don’t ever have to wait long to banish the memories of a bad race. Just another reason why I am such a fan of this platform!
The route today was an assault up the Epic KOM, in reverse, with the customary finish at the Radio tower. This route was shorter in distance, only 12.1km, but steeper.
A Frantic Start
As usual, there was the frantic start from the pens and the jockeying for position and never settled as the bunch meandered its way to the base of the climb via the Ocean underpass. The already faster than usual pace quickened over the bridge and the race was already on as we hit the fork in the road where you can go right into the jungle or left up the KOM. As we turned left, the pack had splintered as the road began to rise. A relentless start after only a few kilometers of racing!
With no connection issues to hamper me, I was able to quickly settle down and began to find my rhythm, surprising, tapping out a pace equating to 5.2 watts per kilo. This was somewhat of a shock and didn’t think it would last long, but I stayed with it.
The beauty of climbing the reverse side of the Epic KOM are the switchbacks. They keep the ride manageable and enable you to focus on each part of the climb. Several days earlier, I had taken part in the Zwift Academy Race up to Chalet Reynard, on the Mount Ven-Top. I had only raced the route twice before because the long uphill sections just seem never-ending and are no fun. In contrast, the switchbacks on the Epic KOM keep the racing entertaining and it was here that I was able to overtake two riders who had danced away from me on the early part of the climb.
Gaining Ground In the Zone
Now mid-way up the climb, I was still pushing a shocking 5.2 watts per kilo and after overtaking several riders who had clearly gone out too hard I was now sat in a steady 7th position on the road with a solid gap of 10 seconds to the rider ahead of me. Despite clearly being in the red zone in terms of heart rate, I hoped that if I was able to keep this tempo, then perhaps I could gain a place up the steeper Radio tower.
Whatever the outcome would be, at that precise moment I was climbing above my ability and started thinking perhaps I would get a new personal best for my 20-minute power output, or reach the magic 5 watts per kilo number? As I climbed, it almost felt like I was in a trance, like the type of daze you can enter when time trialing, when you are right on your limit, and where you are pushing hard enough to be in real discomfort, but not too hard that it is not sustainable – almost the worst kind of suffering. I pushed on.
After the final hairpin, a French rider pulled alongside me and as the road leveled and I took the opportunity to sit behind them, to get whatever draft I could and any respite before the final assault up the Radio tower. In my daze I had lost track of the race behind me. “Where did they come from?”
Radio Tower Exhaustion
The rest from the draft was short-lived as the climb to the Radio tower began. The 1.2km to the summit has to be one of, if not the toughest and steepest roads in Watopia. To put it simply, it’s a grind. Thinking of the long game, I slipped down a gear and began to spin my way up the climb, trying to keep a cadence of over 80 rpm. That’s the thing with cycling, the “road always reveals” and my attempts at spinning probably only took me three-quarters the way up the climb before my cadence dropped off and I was grinding at 65 rpm.
I had failed to make any gains to the rider who was 10s ahead of me at the start of the climb, however with 200 meters to go, I was sitting in a solid 7th now 10 seconds ahead of the French rider who I had started the Radio tower assault with. It was now a case of just “finish the job” so I was out of the saddle trying to keep momentum as my legs faded and I could only push the pedals at 65 rpm. That last exhausting, lung busting push felt like it would never end!
Emptying the tank
I crested the top in a time 28.01, 7th on the road but 5th overall on Zwift Power, with a new 20 minute PB of 5.02 watts per kilo (4.8 watts per kilo overall for the race)!
Wrapping It Up
An epic climb up the Epic KOM! It transpired that I finished 1 minute behind Bartek Pawelczak, a Polish Olympic rower who won a silver medal in lightweight coxless four at the 2008 Summer Olympics – he took 3rd place. This highlighted one of the great things about Zwift – I was pitting myself against a former Olympian and coming only 1 minute down is respectable. The winner was Marshall Wu, a former Road Cycling Tour of Shanghai champion from 2013-2016, in a time of 25.42.
Granted I didn’t win, but against a strong field, I was happy with my 20-minute PB and how I had ridden, sustaining a solid effort. I put the success of the race down to pacing. Key for me was finding a rhythm early on in the climb, one that was hard, yet sustainable. Redemption achieved, on to the next race!
Your Comments
Have you ever been “in the zone” on Zwift? When was the last time you had a “breakthrough” ride? Share your story below!
