Zwift’s November update included a new frame in the Drop Shop: the Izalco Max 2020 from Focus Bikes. Rolled out in style with the three-day “Colours of PARI” event series, thousands of Zwifters now have this frame in their garage. (If you didn’t unlock the frame in the Colours of PARI series, it is available at level 8+, for 426,000 Drops.)
So how does it perform? And if you haven’t already unlocked the Izalco Max, should you drop some Drops and pick it up?
Performance Details
Comparatively speaking, the Izalco is more slippery than lightweight. It ranks in the top 83% in our flat (aero) tests, while only ranking in the top 58% for our climbing tests.
It is currently ranked 11th in our combined percentile chart, which ranks frames based on their combined aero + climb performance:
The Izalco performs almost exactly like the Pinarello Dogma F12, but is available at only level 8 and for less than half the drops of the F12! And it just edges out the Factor One which is available at the same level and price as the Izalco.
Held up against the gold standard of the Tron bike, the Izalco Max with disc wheels would be ~3 seconds slower on a 50-minute flat test. Throw some Lightweight Meilensteins on the Izalco, though, and it will be 3 seconds faster up the Alpe than the Tron bike. Still, the Tron is the better all-around performer by a good margin.
Who Should Use It?
This is a frame for beginners, and/or fans of Focus Bikes. It’s not as fast as some frames available at higher levels, but it’s the second-fastest frame available to Zwifters at level 15 and below, beating other popular beginner frames like the Zwift Aero, Specialized Tarmac SL7, Factor One, and Specialized Allez Sprint.
The Canyon Aeroad 2021 is still a better performer both on flats and climbs, so that’s still our recommend race frame for beginners. But the Focus Izalco Max 2020 would be our #2 recommendation. Use it in flat and mixed races, but go with something lighter in a pure climbing race.
Updated Posts
Given our speed test results, we’ve updated various posts today to include the Focus Izalco Max 2020:
Important note: this post contains speed test results for Zwift frames or wheels. These results may change over time, and a bike's performance relative to others may also change. We don't always revise posts when performance rankings change, but we do keep current, master versions of our speed test results which are always available. See the frame charts, wheel charts, and Tron vs Top Performers for current performance data.
No Breakaways has just released its first “Road to Worlds” video where we interview a qualifier for the upcoming UCI eSports World Championships. Our first video features Ryan Larson of Team USA (Saris the Pros Closet) and our next video will feature Jordan Cheyne of Team Canada. Both of these guys compete often on Zwift so we thought it would be fun and informative to catch up and see how they were selected for the team and how their preparation is going!
In this video, Ryan takes us through:
How he qualified for worlds
Worlds training (check out the footage we have of him climbing the Hilly KOM!)
Current race schedule
The setup for Team USA
How the course sets up for him to win a world title
Watch Ryan’s Interview:
Jordan’s video comes out on tomorrow.
We will also be hosting a Live Interview with Jordan, Ryan, and hopefully a couple other world championship qualifiers on Monday, December 7th at 6 pm central time. Here you’ll have a chance to ask them questions about their training, the race, and anything else you want to know! Head on over to the No Breakaways YouTube page to set a reminder for the stream or follow us on Instagram (@nobreakaways) or Facebook!
Welcome to episode seven of World of Zwift, the weekly show bringing you all that is great and good in Zwift Racing.
Host OJ Borg brings us the following:
Highlights and results from the Petit Boucle and week 7 of the Zwift Racing League premier division, with commentary and insight from Matt Stephens and David Towle
A discussion with OJ, Matt, and David about the upcoming UCI ESports Worlds
Anna Russell interviews Team Relentless
A chat with Vitus Pro Cycling boss Cherie Pridham about how her team is adapting to Zwift racing
Since March I have become obsessed with the weekly 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).
If you can’t ride, or even if you can ride, but want more action! Don’t forget to tune in to the live TV show on Zwift Community Live’s YouTube Channel at 6:15 (UK time).
Review of TTT #84 Magnificent 8
Watopia’s Magnificent 8 is a regular feature on the calendar for TTT – for good reason. It is an excellent TTT route. Enough flat for formation to work – enough hills to make it interesting. There were over 700 teams out there this week. The growth of WTRL TTT knows no bounds!
A pro-tip for anyone who is interested in a PR spot… I discovered this week that there is a checkbox in the team registration each week that is very important. The checkbox tells WTRL you can field a team in the right class, at the PL. Without it, Racecontrol assumes you can’t make the 6:15 PM UK-time time-slot for the PL race!
Category
#42
#57
#62
Prediction
#84
My Place
Vienna
56:24 (9th)
43:27
43:12
43:05
42:18
18th
Espresso
42:47
37:40
37:55
37:30
38:10
1st / 15th
Frappe
41:16
39:52
40:13
39:50
39:21
27th
Latte
44:08
43:16
43:30
43:20
42:18
29th
Mocha
53:18 (9th)
49:35
49:06
49:00
48:00
19th
This week’s results are a little confusing so let me explain. The WTRL guys got around to (apparently they have been busy) separating Vienna into multiple classes, and creating a new highly caffeinated Doppio class filled with mostly A+. That played havoc with my nice orderly table! As you can see though – regardless of coffee class breakdown the times were stellar. Magnificent 8 course records were completely smashed in every class. My own team, the Hyenas, pulled a time 1-minute faster than earlier in the summer but still ended up further down the table. Is all this a sign of summer returnees coming back to Zwift and having a lower race class, or is it a result of increased competition and a growth in the number of teams? We shall see.
A shout out to Mocha PL riders in CICC C. I believe this is the first time a CICC team have made PL. That said, while they managed a great time last week (fastest Mocha team with 4 riders), they really need to work on the creativity of the team name.
How did I do this week? Regular readers will know I have had exploding turbo/ergo/trainer issues and had to take a break. In addition, I have been recovering from an infection. All in all that has had a serious impact on my ability to help out the team – in particular my self-appointed role as cheerleader, since I have no breath left to talk after 20 minutes! Here’s an edited version of my ride report:
Hyena Heckle – Full team of eight. With an 18:30 delay we debated between popping to Tesco’s or swapping stories. Stories won. Towards the end of the wait nerves were tested as Hyenas kept disappearing from the screen. Three Hyenas started solo rides but soon popped up in the pack. The strategy of spooling up a few seconds early worked and the whole team crossed the line at pace on 0-seconds. Pace line formed easily and we were off. Everyone pulled hard, took turns. We got into a mess on the way up to the KOM being passed by one team while passing another but everyone got through cleanly. Cat and Lewy led the charge up the KOM and we passed through the gate 30 seconds ahead of our split time. From there we had a nice sprint across the desert – losing Dan to a dodgy turbo connection. POD showed his mettle, taking strong turns at the front and taking on the role of cheerleader… Our two riders up from the Sloths recently were stellar, pulling turns without complaint. Seven riders crossed the line within seconds of each other in record time for this course.
Harrogate Circuit Reverse
Next Thursday we have a 27km ride around the Yorkshire countryside. The course is a reverse of the Harrogate UCI course we did back in TTT #73. While the UCI course has been a regular fixture, the Reverse has not been seen in 2020. Those that rode the UCI course a couple of months ago will remember… this is a technical course with nowhere to hide. It is a sequence of hills and descents with few stretches of flat to regroup. Each lap is 13.8km with 240 gruelling meters of climbing. Simon Schofield, who comes from Harrogate has a nice race recon of the forward route. (I dunno… read it backwards or something.)
I described the UCI course as lumpy… and this is the same thing. It’s not a mountain, but goes up and down throughout the ride. If your practiced maybe you can balance the relative masses of your riders so the lighter ones lead you up the hills and the heavier ones lead you back down. But there’s no getting away from the fact that heavier riders will have their sufferfaces on.
The ride starts with a nice easy 2% decline… don’t let that fool you into a false sense of security, but do use it (and the slight incline that follows) to get into formation and sort yourselves out. After that it’s a sequence of hills; the first is the sprint hill (because the sprint is on it) at just 2.5% to test the legs, then the Reverse KOM is 1.1km at 4.5% to sap your strength, a little bump up Penny Pot Lane (1km at 4%). Next comes the aptly named Pot Bank Wall which is 750M at 8% and then a bump up Otley Rd (500M at 5%) before descending down to finish the lap back in the center of Harrogate.
What to ride?
Ahead of UCI Harrogate TTT Eric and I had a bit of a discussion on the right bike to use… then he did the science part by testing S-Works Venge versus Tron. It was a tie. That time I rode the Venge, but this time I will ride Tron. Hopefully its lighter weight will help me get up those hills.
Here are some recommendations on equipment at various levels:
Level 45 get those 858/Super 9 wheels and pair them with the S-Works Venge
I know I say it every week but it is doubly important this week. Get the Tron! There is no better ride this week.
Route Recon Rides
There aren’t many rides or races on this course – check out the event listing on zwifthacks.com to see for yourselves. Your best bet is to set up your own recce ride using a meet up.
Race breakdown
Race breakdown here is tricky. This ride isn’t about knowing the route for me – it’s about knowing your team and managing the effort. For each hill there is a descent, so there is a corresponding recovery – but only if your fellow teammates can manage their effort in sync with you.
Every one of these climbs and descents can cause splits in the team – make sure you stay together.
Target times
This route hasn’t been ridden in 2020 and the times from a year ago are definitely not useful for predicting times this Thursday. For my predictions below, I have broken out Doppio, but not broken out the different Vienna classes… I will work out how to do that in the next week or so.
Category
My prediction
Vienna
45:00
Doppio
38:15
Espresso
38:45
Frappe
40:50
Latte
44:30
Mocha
53:30
R&K Hyenas have a good mixed team this week – only 1 B in our full complement, but a good mix of light riders to get us up the hills and strong heavier riders to keep the momentum. I rode the forward course in May (with CICC Vuelta, back when CICC were creative with team names) and we delivered a 48:33 time… so Hyenas have to beat that on the reverse version!
Wrap up
This is a technical, lumpy course. There is no defining feature of this course, rather, it is a sequence of hills that will sap the energy of the whole team. If you know your fellow-riders, and modulate effort to stay together you will deliver a great result.
For the past few months I have been putting together recce’s for the weekly Thursday Team Time Trial from WTRL. I race in a hungry mid-pack Latte (usually) team for Rowe and King – the Hyenas, and now I captain the R&K Ewoks on Tuesdays as well. Eric asked me to put together a similar recce for the Zwift Racing League TTTs every-other Tuesday.
One lap of Watopia’s Waistband
We are staying in Watopia this week. This time we have one single lap of Watopia’s Waistband – and I believe it is the flattest 30km route in Watopia. The route was originally one of the community-created rebel routes but was adopted as an event only route by Zwift shortly after.
The route itself is 25.5km – with the long desert lead-in of 2.5km on top, making this 28km all-in. You start in the desert pens, head through Fuego Flats to Saddle Spring. Up the Col du Saddle Springs – the most arduous climb of the circuit (which tells you how flat this is) then down the other side and through the undersea tunnels. Turn left at the T-junction and carry on towards the fisherman’s village. From the upramp out of the tunnels to the land bridge to the volcano is probably the most challenging segment for the teams – it’s a mix of gravel, false flat, and downhill – nothing to break you… but the changing terrain will throw off momentum. Round the volcano across to downtown and back to the desert. Phew, I’m out of breath!
And here’s a course preview from Rick at No Breakaways:
What to ride?
Bike recommendations on this route are straightforward. It’s flat and aero rules the day. For me it will be my trusty S-Works Venge and Super-9 wheels.
The recent changes to the performance of the Canyon Aeroad don’t change much – it’s still fast on the flat, just not as lightweight for the hills… and we don’t have hills here! Here are my recommendations.
Level 45 get those 858/Super 9 wheels and pair them with the S-Works Venge
I know I say it every week but I cannot stress highly enough that if you are racing you need to be working on Tron. It’ll take a while, but just set the Everest Challenge and forget about it for nine months… like having a baby. On this course the only thing that beats Tron is the level 45 setup.
Route Recon Rides
Being so flat there are quite a few rides coming up on the Waistband route! As always, Zwifthacks has the up to date events listing – all you need to do is click here.
If you want to be adventurous though, you can go old skool and ride it like the original rebels had to.
Here are the turns you’ll make to complete this route. Only turns labeled (manual turn) require a change from the default turn selection, so this route only requires 4 manual turns:
You know this route well… straight across the desert practicing your formation and gathering speed the whole way. It’s almost exactly 10km from the pens to the base of the “climb”.
Col du Saddle Springs then through the tunnels
Some wag on Strava coined this term for a segment and I couldn’t resist using it. After 10km flat this is the first real rise – a perfect opportunity for your lighter, stronger climbers to jump ahead and create a split! Rein in those riders and keep everyone together. This little hill is just 2% for 900m – but as you can see from the VeloViewer profile it starts around 3% before flattening out.
After the hill it’s a nice downhill… but if you’re serious you won’t be resting on the downhill, you’ll be accelerating… then into the tunnels under the ocean.
From the tunnels to the land bridge
The rather convoluted segment is tricky. It starts with the bump out of the ocean then heads into some gravel… from there it’s the false flat up the hill which tightens at the top. The downhill from there to Italian Villas isn’t enough to supertuck, but it’s enough to pick up speed before hitting more gravel. They really need to fix these roads.
As with Col du Saddle Springs, the challenge here isn’t that the riding itself it hard – it’s not… the challenge is the constantly changing terrain can throw off your formation. The descent into the Italian Villas in particular is enough to create a split with heavier riders breaking away faster than the poor lightweights can keep up!
Volcano, downtown, and home
This last segment is pretty straightforward. Nothing that’s going to tax the team. The final sprint marker is a good time to begin a final acceleration and bring it home with a flourish.
Wrap up
This race doesn’t have a defining segment – I believe this is about pain and suffering in the last third – from the Volcano to the finish line. The longer you can keep the team intact the faster your overall time… while that’s always true in a TTT, there’s nothing in this route that should break you apart.
If you’re interested in hearing what the future of Zwift looks like from the lips of CEO Eric Min, check out this brand-new quick interview with Bloomberg Quicktake anchor Tim Stenovec.
Some interesting bits of info from the interview:
Zwift has seen a 263% increase in subscribers since April
More and more people are coming to the platform in order to feel more connected socially. “Think Fortnite for fitness,” Eric says.
A big part of Zwift’s latest $450 million investment round is about making Zwift easier to buy, easier to be onboarded, easier to use. Zwift’s investment into hardware is part of that bigger strategy.
Zwift’s hardware division is focused on developing a smart bike. No ETA given at this time.
Does Zwift have plans to IPO? “We have those ambitions,” Eric says. But for now Zwift is focused on growth and long-term stability.
Eric doesn’t see Peloton as a competitor, but as a complementary service.
Only 25% of Zwift’s customers come from the US, and Europe represents about 50% of their customer base.
Cheating in Zwift races: “There are things today that are very manual that we need to automate.”
Your Thoughts
What do you think about what Eric had to say? Share below!
I’m a big fan of rocker plates–those platforms you place beneath your trainer which allow your bike and trainer to tilt side to side. I’ve used various plates for over four years now, logging over 20,000 Zwift miles atop a rocking platform of some kind.
But there’s one thing that really bugs me about some (or even most) rocker plate setups I see, and it’s time to get it off my chest.
This issue isn’t confined to the DIY rocker plate crowd, although I’ve seen it there. And it’s not just a problem for cycling newbies–I’ve watched many expert cyclists make the same mistake.
So what’s the problem? The rocker plates are too tight, often leading to poor rocking form.
What does that mean, exactly? Well, “tightness” in this context refers to how much force it takes to move your bike from side to side. Next time you ride outside, pay attention to how easy and far your handlebars swing when you’re out of the saddle climbing or sprinting. Chances are they’re moving 4-6 inches side to side, without much effort.
Now watch this CyclingTips video where James is trying out the Saris MP1 rocker plate. (I’ve started the video at 6:24, where James is using the MP1):
Notice how small the range of motion is? That’s because the MP1’s leveling springs are very tight.
Tight vs Loose
Are tight springs always worse than loose springs? Not necessarily–there are plusses and minuses for each setup. I chatted with rocker plate wizard Chad McNeese about this, and we came up with a list of pros and cons for tight vs loose springs:
Tight Springs
Pro: feels more stable, which is nice for new users
Pro: more comfortable than a typical rigid trainer setup (even a bit of movement makes a big difference)
Pro: reduces frame stress created by typical rigid trainer setup
Con: usually results in incorrect bike lean/pedal timing (more on this below)
Loose Springs
Pro: increased range of motion allows a more realistic feel
Pro: more comfortable than a typical rigid trainer setup
Pro: reduces frame stress even more than a tight spring setup
Con: less stable, requiring more body engagement/rider attention
In summary: new rocker plate users will probably feel more comfortable on a tighter setup, because that little bit of movement takes some getting used to when you’ve been training on a rigid setup. But once you’re used to the motion, chances are you will want to loosen it so you can get full, natural motion out of the saddle.
Bass Ackwards
By far the biggest problem with an overly-tight setup is that it leads riders to adopt terribly incorrect out of the saddle form.
Look at this shot of Peter Sagan winning the 2017 Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec. Note the out of the saddle sprint form of all these pro riders: specifically, that the bike is leaning away from the leg that has the pedal down.
This is proper, natural pedaling form– pulling on the handlebars and leaning the bike add power to the downstroke, as the lean is effectively pulling the pedal up while your leg is pushing the pedal down. And as you lean the bike one way, your body counteracts that lean with its weight in the other direction so you stay balanced.
In fact, it can’t work any other way outside–if the bike was leaning in the same direction as your body and down leg, you would fall over!
GPLama Shane Miller talks about this very problem is his “Round 2 Rockit Launcher” video (below). Around the 2:50 mark he says, “Every video we’ve seen of people out of the saddle on a rocker plate looks like this.” And he’s not wrong–I’ve seen so many bad videos.
But it is possible to have proper out of the saddle form indoors. Here’s a quick demo video I shot which demonstrates basic, proper form out of the saddle on a rocker plate–both climbing and sprinting:
Now compare my form to what I saw at the Saris booth during Eurobike 2019. (Keep in mind this was an experienced, paid rider–and the other booth rider was exhibiting the same form!)
Saris isn’t the only one who can’t seem to market their own product well. Even SBR, whose rocker plate I really love, displays a demo video on their homepage showing this backward form:
Tight rocker plates lend themselves to this poor form because the rider is forced to use their own body weight to lean the bike over.
Proper technique has the bike swinging side to side quite freely while the body stays upright, counterbalancing the tilting bike. But a tight plate requires the body to lean right in order to tilt the bike right, then lean left to tilt the bike left.
Best of Both Worlds
So what’s the solution to this rocking quandary?
Adjustable tightness, and awareness of proper form. That’s it!
Most rocker plates use some form of adjustable spring: the SBR ROCKR uses inflatable rubber balls (less air for a looser feel), as does the CoPlate. Chad McNeese’s DIY Rockit Launcher uses foam blocks that can be swapped out to vary the tightness.
Some very simple “single platform” rocker plate designs such as the Axxion Rocker Plate aren’t adjustable since they have no “moving parts”. And the most notable exception to the adjustable norm is the Saris MP1, which costs around twice as much as the SBR ROCKR and CoPlate without allowing adjustment. Ouch.
(I don’t want to bag on Saris too much: the MP1’s build quality is rock solid, and it allows significant fore-aft movement, which the other rocker plates do not. But the spring’s tightness combined with a lack of adjustability is a deal killer for me.)
Embrace the Process
Once you have a plate with variable tightness, set it where you’re comfortable, while being careful to maintain proper out of the saddle form.
Note that if you’ve done a lot of riding on a rigid indoor setup, it may take some hours of riding to adjust your form before you feel comfortable on a rocker plate. This isn’t a bad thing – you’re unlearning unnatural indoor habits and returning to more natural motion.
If you can’t lean your bike to one side without also leaning your body to that side, your setup is too tight. Loosen it up, get used to the feeling of having your core more engaged and your bike a little more free-floating… and enjoy it!
Rock on.
Your Thoughts
Are rocker plates inherently flawed? Just a passing fancy? Or perhaps victims of their own poor marketing? Share your thoughts below!
This season especially, a lot of the athletes I coach have turned to Zwift to get their racing fix. More often than not they will start off saying something like, “Well there aren’t any tactics are there? It’s just a time trial with a sprint at the end right?” That is exactly what I thought when I started poking around the early racing scene on Zwift in 2016. Right out of the starting pen I was on the back foot, clamoring for a draft that didn’t seem to be there and desperately trying to stay at the front of the group holding 5-6 w/kg. There was no relief – at least none that I could find. That first foray ended quickly!
The following indoor season, I came back to Zwift racing. I figured out the requisite “hard start” and saved myself a lot of agony moving up the pack but I still didn’t really get it. I thought that to stay in the action, I needed to be in the top 5-10 riders like in real life (IRL) road races. I would ride hard the whole way to ensure that and then a bit harder on the climbs to try to break free.
It was great training but I wasn’t racking up any results. I’m sure I would have learned more but after that my road career started picking up speed. I began spending winters in Arizona instead of on the trainer, so Zwift racing faded into the background.
Into the Deep End
In 2020, Zwift racing roared back to the forefront. The Echelon Series stage races in May and June were a big opportunity to race against our usual professional competition and some top e-sport teams and gain bright exposure in a season of static.
I read all I could about how to actually compete on the platform and watched big races regularly on Zwift Community Live. As a team, we did practice races and gradually the tactical nuances came into focus. I started to understand the timing of attacks and response and how to dial in the minimum effective power to stay in the draft. Looking back, I still barely knew what I was doing and good legs saved me from more embarrassment as the real Zwift racers surgically attacked the courses. But I kept watching and racing and gradually came up to speed.
Working as a team to attack an IRL crit (Photo credit TLB Velo)
Pinch Points and the Psychological Battle
No one would argue that racing on Zwift is the same as racing on the road. You can tell instantly the difference between an IRL race power file and a Zwift race file. The drafting dynamics make the difference.
On Zwift, it is harder to ride in the draft – on the flat at 45kph you might need to do 200-225w on the road but 250-275w on Zwift. It is also is much harder to ride away solo, since the power of the pack is bizarrely cumulative and 50 riders all pedaling at 250w will likely keep pace with an attacker doing 350w. That changes everything from start to finish, promoting a defensive grind rather than the start/stop frenzy you see on the road.
Power data from an IRL mountain stage win (206w average).png
Power data from Zwift Mountain Stage (303w average!)
Still, you can attack and break a race apart. There are actually similarities to IRL racing when it comes to making that happen. There are pinch points: climbs, turns, dirt sections, and undulations where things happen in Zwift just as they do on the road. Their importance is magnified in the Zwift peloton. If you hit certain points in certain ways and employ the strength of your team you can gain a big advantage. You can also get spat out rapidly here and left for dead if you aren’t anticipating the movements! If you want to make an impact, studying these parts of the course is paramount.
Additionally, there is a psychological similarity between attacking on the road and on your laptop. An experienced pack knows the pinch points and sometimes you still can’t find daylight with smart riders on alert. One of the only backup strategies for a rider like me (lacking a decisive 10-30s attacking punch) is to play on the mental and physical fatigue of the field.
As a time trial type rider who can manage sustained pressure, I am usually better in the hardest parts of a race. Still, even a tired group of 20 drenched in lactic acid can bring back an attack from me or almost anyone on the flat if they want to. So I have found it is important to find the moments that they don’t want to. If it has been full-on for 45 minutes, teams have lost riders, and sprinters are doubting themselves – it is a good time to go. It’s no guarantee for success, but it’s probably the tactical similarity to road racing that makes me enjoy Zwift racing the most.
Finesse Wahoo about to catch the competition in ZRL TTT
Figuring it out with Finesse-Wahoo
When I came to Finesse-Wahoo this fall they already had a reputation as an aggressive, entertaining team willing to try multiple moves in any race. In my first real event with the team, we made the popular and usually sprinter-friendly Austin Driveway hard from the start and ended up winning out of a breakaway. That worked for me.
I have started to find my best role in forcing moves away and backing up the attacks of my teammates with sustained pressure. That worked perfectly in week 5 of the Zwift Racing League race on the NYC Everything Bagel course. I pushed hard up the last KOM with around 10km to go and we escaped with 3 riders out of 6. I stayed on the gas, pressed our numbers advantage, and the guys crushed it at the end for a 1, 2, 5 result.
A successful effort in NYC, repeated attacks and counters and then driving the group away
We are all still learning, though. This game moves too fast and has too many variables for anyone to gain complete mastery. This is poker, not chess – the human element can cast your “20-moves in advance” strategy into shambles at any moment.
Unfortunately, that was the case in our latest ZRL outing in France in week 7. We had an ambitious plan based on careful analysis but we outmaneuvered ourselves into our first scratch race loss of the ZRL season. Tactics rely on fluidity and communication just as they do on the road. It stung but I learned more about my own racing and the game itself than I have all season.
Next time we will be that much smoother in our execution. It’s all going in the bank and I’m hoping I can make the right moves at the right time in the UCI Esports World Championships on December 9th.
Heading into race #7 of the Zwift Racing League, I knew three things for sure:
My competition can outclimb me on anything semi-steep and over ~60 seconds long
I can sprint decently well
I don’t get dropped on the flat parts
These facts would inform my strategic decisions as we took on a modified 47km version of France’s Petit Boucle route. Unfortunately, it’s what I didn’t know that would hurt me in the end…
A Messy Warmup
As usual, I chewed some caffeine gum before the race – about 90 minutes before our 10:20am start time. I was working on a pile of Zwift Insider stuff, though, and the time slipped away from me! One minute it was 7am, and the next minute it was 9:30 and I was running late for my warmup!
So I quickly zipped downstairs, applied PR lotion on the legs, kitted up, and got on the bike. I really dressed up for this race, too – wearing a Nopinz Subzero jersey. I’ve decided you all probably don’t need to see more of my flesh than absolutely necessary, and since the office stays quite cool in this fall weather I figured overheating wouldn’t be an issue.
This morning was a mess – my most poorly-orchestrated warmup in recent memory! My plan had been to get onto the France map to do some recon of a few key areas: the Petit KOM backside climb, the descent (testing my supertuck!) and the sprints for timing. Unfortunately, my computer took forever to boot into Zwift (not uncommon after an update) so I had to do a long reboot. Then I wanted to save a good spot in the starting line, so I had to join the event then exit in order to ride free again. By the time I was back on course I only had time to partially make it up the climb before it was time to head to the start pens.
In the start pen
Before the Climb
I broke this race into three major sections mentally: before the climb. The climb. And after the climb. Before the climb we had the race start, followed by the Pavé Sprint Reverse, the Aqueduc KOM Reverse, and the Ballon Sprint Reverse.
The race began sedately enough, with 126 riders who were experienced and smart enough to know that big attacks early on would have little effect. Plenty of places for those later on! 317W kept me near the front of the pack for the first 3 minutes.
Going for the Sprints
Figuring I probably wouldn’t make it over the climb in the top 30, I had decided I would go for the two sprints in an effort to get some extra points for my team. Unfortunately, my recon plans hadn’t panned out. I knew the location and rough length of each sprint, but I hadn’t done enough sprinting on France to know where I need to start putting the power down, how long the sprints are, and precisely where they start and finish.
As we approached the Pavé Sprint Reverse, one rider went early, and I got a late jump. I started the sprint, but seeing that I wasn’t going to get into the top three I eased up to save my legs. The Aqueduc KOM Reverse was coming just 2 minutes down the road, and I wanted to make sure I didn’t get dropped!
Giving up on the Pavé Sprint Reverse
Aqueduc KOM Reverse
The Aqueduc KOM is interesting, because it’s really more of a forced sprint than a climb. There’s a bit of a false flat leading into it, but the actual timed section is only ~40 seconds long and not terribly steep. So it’s all about staying in the draft and keeping the power high up and over the top, then grabbing a wheel on the way down.
Check out the wacky bug in what’s supposed to be French lavendar plants! It’s showing screenshots instead?!
And that’s exactly what I did. This effort was surprisingly easy – the most “surprisingly easy” part of the race for me, in fact. I’m no climber, but short little kickers I can handle, since I can carry a lot of momentum in and keep my speed up over the top.
Ballon Sprint Reverse
After the Aqueduc it was time to spin the legs out and determine how to do better on the Ballon Sprint Reverse up the road. This was probably my last chance for extra points, after all! I remembered the sprint being fairly short, but wasn’t sure exactly where it began. Cursing slow-booting Zwift under my breath, I kept a wary eye on the minimap then strained my eyes to see the start line up the road as we neared the sprint.
One rider jumped off the front and I bumped up the power to stay on his wheel, figuring I may get a good slingshot into the sprint. He eased off the power though, just as I saw the start line up ahead – so I rolled through, shifted, stood up, and went for it! Two SZ riders zoomed up from behind, but I was able to stay ahead. I might be able to win this! Push, push push!
But how long was this friggin’ sprint? I was flagging, and in the last 5 meters of the sprint I went from the front slot to… 5th, according to the leaderboard! Nooooo! That sprint was much longer than I remembered. I’d burnt another match, with nothing to show for it!
Going much too early
The Climb
Licking my wounds, I tried to set my mind on the battle of staying with the pack on the twisty, rolling section I like to call Les Intestins. But my legs were feeling that sprint effort, and I couldn’t shake the sinking feeling that any chance of staying with the front group over the upcoming climb had evaporated with that last sprint attempt.
With Les Intestins safely behind, I made a mistake before the big climb even began, letting myself drift back so I began the climb in ~50th place, probably 15 bike lengths from the front. Starting at the front would have given me the chance to drift back while staying in touch with the front group, but now I was barely hanging onto the front group!
The beginning of the end – start of the Petit KOM backside climb
As the climb began in earnest I hammered to hold the wheels, but I just didn’t have the w/kg to hang with them. As the front group rode away I tried to settle into a rhythm I could hold for ~6 minutes.
Coming over the top in 49th, four riders were just seconds ahead, and the front group so far down the descent that I gave up hope of reeling them in.
But I could catch these riders up the road! So I hammered up to speed then dropped into a supertuck, hoping I wouldn’t pop out of the tuck on the corners for too long. It took a bit of doing, but I eventually caught the four riders near the bottom of the descent. Now we were faced with a decision…
After the Climb
With extra points only going down to 30th place, our 45th place group wasn’t going to be getting any extra points. So should we sit up and take it easy, cruising in gruppetto-style? No. There were too many riders just up the road – we had to chase! So we took some turns pulling, then got caught by a group from behind. With increased numbers and some strong riders, our group of nine began gaining on the pack just 15s ahead.
Just how large is that pack? If they have 15+ riders, that means extra points are within each if we can bridge up…
We kept chasing, seeing our time gap slowly coming down. And sometime before crossing the bridge into the Brittany sector, we caught the group! I drifted to the front to discover that the front of the group was 30th place. Ha! You can’t make this stuff up. Exactly one rider from this group was going to get a single extra point. The other 23 would get nothing!
Correction: after looking closer at results and WTRL’s rules, 30th place doesn’t get an extra point. Only 29th+ does!
Bridging up to the chase group
We had a pile of DIRT riders in this group, since there are two DIRT teams in this division and no one from my team had made it into the front pack. Team manager Snowy messaged me to ask if I wanted to go for a long attack with him – why not? So at 1.5km we put the hammer down. Unfortunately, my legs didn’t have much hammer left! We weren’t able to break the elastic, but we certainly stretched the pack out.
Riders sat in the wheels then sprinted in the final meters, but I had nothing left, finishing 47th in the back of the sprinter pack from our chase group. A rider from the Vikings team landed the 30th place extra point from our group. The front pack finished as a unit, 90 seconds ahead of us.
Watch my race video (including my camera falling off the table)
Team Result
The DIRT Hellhounds didn’t do well this time around. Five of us finished in that same chase group, and the sixth rider (who’s nursing an injured back) finished further back.
The one bright spot (for me): I got an extra point! Although the game showed me coming in 5th, ZwiftPower says I got 3rd on the Ballon Sprint Reverse. So one extra point. Unfortunately, most of the other teams got at least one rider into that front group, so we placed 19th out of 23 teams.
Takeaways
My first takeaway from this race is that a proper recon is crucial, especially if you’re going after intermediate sprint points! Most routes on Zwift I know really really well, but I should have been more conscientious about getting a good recon ride in on this route beforehand.
Secondly, I was surprised that I was able to go from alone in 49th place to having a shot at 30th, without a lot of extra work. This reminds me that I shouldn’t give up, even when it seems pointless.
Did I make the right call burning matches in sprints, at the cost of having less for the big climb? I’m still not sure. In a less competitive B field I know I could have hung with the front up that climb. But we’ve got a strong bunch of punchy climbers in our division, and I’m in no way convinced that I could have held their wheels even if I’d conserved as much as possible beforehand.
It’s really interesting to look at the 5-minute power numbers in ZwiftPower for this event. The main climb up the backside of the Petite KOM is right around 5 minutes, and everyone in the front group had a 5-minute power of 4.7w/kg or more. Almost all of those riders are 4.7-4.8w/kg, with a few higher and just two riders at 4.6w/kg.
In contrast, my group’s 5-minute power was mostly 4.4-4.5w/kg. (My ZwiftPower max is 4.5w/kg.)
So there you have it – that’s the difference between being in the points or being in the chase for the EMEA East 1 B1 division!
Your Thoughts
How did your first ZRL scratch race in France go? Share below!
Have you ever seen the best sprinters in the game and wondered “How many watts can they really put out?” Here at No Breakaways we have, so we figured we should have a competition to find out!
We pulled together 5 of the biggest wattage Zwifters in the game to see who could throw down the biggest numbers:
