Have you ever wondered what a Zwift race would be like if it mimicked an outdoor road race in real life? Due to a bug in one of last week’s races, I found out.

(For a little background on me: I race in Cat B and am really into race ranking. I’ve come to find my favorite race of the week is the Oh My Crit! Double Race and it just so happens this latest one was 2 laps on my favorite Zwift course, Innsbruckring. Little did I know I was about to have THE experience with this one.)

The Warmup

I did my normal warmup for these Thursday races: 

1. Get the kids in front of the TV so they don’t bug me.
2. Hop on the bike with 10 minutes to spare.
3. Pedal 5 strokes and realize I have to go to the bathroom.
4. Walk past my wife, who is in a work video call, in my bike shorts and no shirt. I’m a trophy husband so she doesn’t mind.
5. Impersonate a horse by click-clacking through the house in my bike shoes.
6. Return to the bike with a solid 6 minutes before race time. 

Yeah; I’m a pro.

Since it’s my favorite race, I’m well aware I only race against Cat B racers. On this race day, I got in the pens and saw a few A+ Zwifters I knew. What? Not good. I considered dropping out of the race and hopping into the A group to see if I could get a better ranking but thankfully, I didn’t. The A’s took off from our pen one minute before us. Crisis averted. 

The Start

The race started and I immediately noticed a weird anomaly on the screen: I could ONLY see Cat D racers and myself. Within a couple minutes, those Cat D racers disappeared and I could only see myself. What was going on? We were going REALLY slow and about 3 minutes into the race it was confirmed by someone else: none of us could see other racers’ power or position. I realized this was going to be like a real-life bike race (except this time, I’d be racing with better hair). Check out the screenshot:

The Middle

This is where things got interesting. During the first time up the Leg Snapper, a guy I had raced against a few times, Gregg O’Malley, blasted past everyone and opened up a gap. I knew he was a high-ranked Zwift Cat B racer and really good tactically, but I still figured he would get chased down. It was weird though, because our pace remained pretty slow. He ended up holding the lead for four minutes and we caught him just before the start/finish line on the first lap. But it showed me something: normally breaks like that only last a short time but Gregg had stayed away for a long time. The field was hesitant because the racers couldn’t see what others were doing and decided to let the gap remain further out than normal.

I immediately hopped on the Zwift Companion DM’s and messaged Gregg, hoping he remembered me, and asked, “Do you want to start a break?” His response was, “We can try, but I was getting nowhere when I was off the front before!”

Here is a picture of Gregg and I at that moment:

It was on. We sent a couple of messages back and forth resulting in him messaging me with, “We are gonna have to go hard up the hill” to which I responded, “I will go all out”. I knew he was stronger than me so I figured I could go all out without fear of dropping him. I just hoped he wouldn’t drop me.

The Finish

We reached the Leg Snapper on Lap 2. Gregg and I hammered up and built about a 30-meter gap on the field. I was banking on the fact that the field couldn’t see the gap or our W/kg. One thing I didn’t think about was that we also couldn’t see how far back the field was, so it was a scary few minutes trying to make sure we stayed away. So we just kept the pressure on as much as we could the rest of the race, switching out pulls. (Ok, so maybe “switching out” is a bit generous. Maybe Gregg was leading 90% of the time but… who’s counting?) If you want to see the attack check out 22:22 on my video.

With about a minute left, I received this message from Gregg: “I’m too ***** tired to sprint now so just make sure you can take it.” A better person than me would have argued, but I just took the win, which also was my first official Zwift win along with the chance to get a photo of results before everyone else finished!

Watch the race video

Takeaways

• Friends in High Places: Find those people who impress you and learn from them. I had raced against Gregg 3-4 times. The first time we raced, I couldn’t believe how low he kept his power relative to everyone else. I had messaged him a few times after we raced to tell him good job. (He had beaten me every time.) When I see him in a race now, I do everything I can to analyze how he is racing and try to emulate him. 
• Work Together: Oh man was it fun working together. Eric has mentioned this a lot in his How the Race Was Won/Lost articles, but working with another person to execute tactics was way better than I expected.
• Remove the Right-Hand Bar: If Zwift wants to encourage breakaways, race organizers should be given the option to remove the right-hand bar for races. No places, no power numbers, no time gaps. I found this way of racing really enjoyable (and contrary to what my wife says, not just because I won). And yes I do bore my wife with stories about my Zwift races. 

Your Thoughts

What do you think about the idea of Zwift giving race organizers the option to remove the right-hand bar? Have you ever worked with another Zwifter to make a break? Share your stories and thoughts in the comments 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 Friday I will give you a profile of the upcoming route, guidance on bike choice, and maybe even 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).

There’s some big changes coming for the TTT – a new Doppio class filled with A+ riders, and a league system within each Coffee Class. As soon as I get the scoop from my informants at WTRL World HQ I’ll let you all know.

Rumble in the Jungle Recap

My recap of this week’s Rumble In the Jungle starts with a terrible error of judgment… Wednesday I was feeling great and decided to enter a race – and placed Silver (the real Zwiftpower Silver, not the pointless results table from ZwiftHQ). Brilliant! Except, as my legs pointed out on Thursday, going all-out in a race is not the same as a recovery ride. Ah well, you live and learn*.

It’s holiday season in the UK and between that and a few injuries we only started with six, but nevermind, we have heart, and we have fire in our bellies… and a mechanical leaves five! Regardless, we shot out of the pen, on matching Specialized Epic MTBs, and with the aid of double draft made it to the Start/Finish only seconds adrift of our split time and the first lap went perfectly too. But as is the way in TTT, if you go out too hot someone gets dropped. That someone was me. The lads cracked on – and passed two teams (proving I was the anchor I thought I was today) before finishing across the line together. Decent team result given that there were only 5 starters. Cone of shame for Sherpa Dave, who let the side down!

*We all know there is no such thing as a recovery ride on Zwift, and we also know I won’t learn…

All back to normal next week – no powerups, normal draft and back to road bikes. This week the route is the Greatest London Flat – around the City of London itself, then over to Surrey with the flattest of the three paths through. Two little things to remember:

• This isn’t the Greater London Flat… its the GREATEST London Flat – both figure into the schedule for TTTs but this one is longer, heading south of the river, and into Surrey.
• It starts and ends at The Mall, not at the Start/Finish banner on Upper Thames Street… remember to add the extra 7km to your ride as you sail past.

 A 7.5km lead in from the Pens, followed by a 23.6km loop through London and Surrey.

Read Zwift Insider route description >

What to Ride?

This is a flat route so aero rules. If you have it, the Specialized S-Works Venge with Zipp 858/Super 9 wheels is the pick of the bunch (and the only frame/wheel combo to consistently beat Tron on the flat). Tron is almost as good on this course, and if you haven’t done it yet – kick off the Everest Challenge and start the long painful climb to get Tron. If you don’t have either of those, here are some frame/wheel pairings that will work well for you at different levels:

• Level 5 Specialized SL7 with Roval CLX64
• Level 15 Specialized Allez Sprint with Zipp 808
• Level 25 Cervelo S5 with Zipp 808 
• Level 32 S-Works Venge with ENVE SES 8.9
• Level 35 S-Works Venge with Zipp 808/Super9
• 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. 

Route Recon

This is a single lap race. Starting at the pens and it’s mostly downhill to Northumberland Avenue, where you head up the hill to Trafalgar Square. Sharp left at the top and then a right as you head towards Buckingham Palace and then down the Mall to the reverse sprint.

You are now 7.5km into the ride, and this is where the lap actually starts.

The jaunt around Central London is mostly flat/false-flat, except when you head down Piccadilly through the Hyde Park Corner underpass and up the other side. Soon enough (17.5km) you will head across the river to Surrey – but fear not, you aren’t tackling Box or Leith, you are just heading through the beautiful Surrey parkland. Through the Underground Station and across Tower Bridge (23.5km) and you’re soon on familiar ground – because you’ll pass the Pens and be back on the lead-in with 7.5km to go. Just follow Upper Thames Street, up the Northumberland Avenue hill to Trafalgar, left, right, past Buck House and a quick Reverse Sprint to cross the line.

There are loads of upcoming rides on this route, so if you want a proper recce visit this ZwiftHacks.com link. I struggled to find many times that would suit our American friends, but the Europeans and Antipodeans have quite a few choices.

My pick of the recce rides this weekend comes from Team CLS, who have two rides – one for the European early birds and another for the Americans and European afternooners. 

What to Look Out for On the Ride

Unlike last week this is all road surface. No significant hills to split the group, but there are a few areas to watch out for:

• From the pens its a nice flat start allowing you to get into formation and go… 3.7km in you make a sharp turn onto Northumberland Avenue – that’s a 150m stretch at 4% – keep the weight-weenies in check and you’ll be fine.
• Just past the 11km mark you will head down Piccadilly (1.1km where you will pick up speed) into the underpass and back up the other side (where you will lose it again). The incline out of the underpass shouldn’t split the group but keep an eye on your teammates. 
• At 18km you hit what I think of as the worst part of the course… legs are starting to get worn, and there’s a 3km stretch of just annoying ramps. Can’t describe it better than that… annoying and just in the right place to create a split.
• Right before 23km you exit the Tube station – it a short, sharp shock peaking at 15%. This will hurt.
• Once more down the lead-in, with the main lump being Northumberland Avenue again
• No time to look, but you’ll see Nelson’s Column, Big Ben, and Buckingham Palace again then SPRINT for the line with whoever’s left in the group.

Target times

New for this week I’m going to give you some predictions and target times to get an invite to Premiere League for each class.

• Split 1 – 8km – Between the start/finish and the arch at the end of the Mall
• Split 2 – 16km – Passing Harrods – don’t stop to shop!
• Split 3 – 24km – As you round Tower of London and pass the Pens. 

My best times around here:

Questions or Comments?

Did you find this article useful? Will you be riding in this week’s TTT? Share below!

For the past 19 weeks I have become obsessed… so i asked Eric if i could share my obsession with you all, in weekly doses. For the past 19 weeks my entire Zwift experience has centered around the Thursday Team Time Trial arranged by WTRL. If you haven’t checked it out, you should – for me at least, it is the best of what Zwift can provide. 

For the uninitiated, the WTRL TTT takes teams of (up to) 8 riders around a course that changes from week to week. The trick is to learn how to work as a team taking advantage of drafting, rotating turns at the front then resting at the back, while managing energy to make sure you get 4 riders across the finish line as fast as possible. Teams are categorized into 5 classes; Vienna (ladies), Espresso (no restrictions), Frappe (mostly As and Bs), Latte (Bs and Cs) and Mocha (Cs and Ds) so there’s something for everyone. 

The WTRL website at wtrl.racing is a great place for more information on how it works.

WTRL’s TTT has become such a phenomenon it has caught the eye of the race commentators at Zwift Community Live. Each week Nathan Guerra and Dave Towle run a live commentary of the TTT – you can find last week’s coverage here – and there is already a placeholder for this week’s TTT, #71.

My weekly Zwift schedule for the past 5 months has revolved around examining the upcoming route, plotting target times for my team and helping with equipment selection. I typically ride and re-ride the upcoming course, and try to be at my freshest each Thursday because anything else would be letting the team down! Thursday evenings are spent poring over the results and comparing how we did to previous weeks, looking to glean something that will boost performance next week. Yeah – you could say I’m obsessed.

Each week on a Friday I will give you a profile of the upcoming route, guidance on bike choice and maybe even 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).

This week the route is the Jungle Circuit: a 5.7km downhill lead-in, then three laps of the hilly 7.8km Jungle Circuit.

Visit the Zwift Insider route detail page >

The WTRL team are pushing our comfort level this week – not only do we have to contend with a dirt road, they are enabling some of the powerups, and it will be double draft. There were some rumors flying around that the new Sterzo steering plate would be working which caused plenty of debate… but unfortunately, ZwiftHQ hasn’t opened it up to events yet. Some of these additions are one-off experiments, and some will filter into later weeks’ TTT events. 

Throughout the race you will have the three opportunities to collect a powerup – one each time you go through the start/finish of the loop. The powerups enabled are:

• Aero – Use this when you are at the front of your team to lead the way 
• Feather – flagging on that hill? Hit the feather powerup for a brief respite
• Truck – Extra help when you’re hiding in the draft… for 30 seconds
• Steamroller – You might be riding on dirt, but for half a minute it will roll just like tarmac

What to Ride

While the route starts on tarmac, it takes place almost entirely on the dirt surface of the jungle. Eric has run numerous tests on Zwifts dirt surfaces, and the results are conclusive – in a predominantly dirt surface a mountain bike will outperform a road or even gravel bike.

So for Thursday, I will be riding a Specialized Epic, but all the mountain bikes perform around the same. For the budget-conscious, the free-to-all Zwift MTB will do the course only a few seconds behind any of the others.

Route Recon

The lead-in heads down from the pens into the Jungle with the road changing from tarmac to dirt on the way down. In the forward direction, you roll through the lap banner at the loop’s lowest elevation, then ride a gradual climb (~3%), cross the rope bridge then back down to do it all again.

The best way to get the hang of a TTT route is to ride it. Whether you find a race/group ride, get your mates together for a Meetup or just jump in yourself… if you haven’t ridden that course in a while, I suggest riding around a few times, noting where your team is likely to break apart and lose draft (doubly important this week as double draft is enabled).

It’s been a while since I did the Jungle loop so I did a three-lap test ride Saturday. One thing to look out for is just how hard 29km on dirt is versus 29km on tarmac. This will feel like a 40km road ride and last as long. Expect your team’s time to be correspondingly longer.

If you are looking to practice Jungle Circuit ahead of the big race check out ZwiftHacks’ events app – and here are a few Jungle Circuit events happening this week:

• On Monday the Sledgehammer race – Here is the link to register 
• On Tuesday, the WTRL Gravel series is over the same course and distance as Thursday’s TTT – evening Europe/UK and evening USA
• If you’re looking for something laid back on Wednesday this ZHCC Sub2 ride will work perfectly!

What to Watch For

Familiarity with the route is one thing, but a Team Time Trial means sticking in the draft of your teammates – if a gap opens up it can be fatal. Gaps open up if your team isn’t disciplined or prepared, and you hit something that will change your speed. In a normal ride (like a race or a group ride) where you are drafting does not matter, but in a TTT it can make a huge difference to the team’s speed as you all slow down to regroup.

What are we looking for? Hills, descents, changes in surface, Let’s take a look at some of the key danger areas for The Rumble in the Jungle…

The lead-in is pretty straightforward – experienced teams won’t have any trouble at all. That said, there are two areas to watch for:

• From the go it’s a nice downhill for 5km. Get into your groove and ride like the wind!
• Just over a kilometer in, the road switches from tarmac to dirt-track. That change will cause a slow-down of the riders, with heavier and lighter riders behaving differently. That can cause a split. Luckily here everyone will have fresh legs – all pay attention and you’ll be fine.
• Just after the Jungle Circuit “Y” there is a slight ramp – nothing in the grand scheme of things but enough to throw off your rhythm if you don’t pay attention. You’ll pass this three more times, but by then it’ll just be more grist for the mill.
• After this, it’s all downhill to the banner

For the most part this is a simple 2.5% up for 2.5 km then a shallower descent averaging 2% for 3 km. There is one danger area: right at the top of the climb is the rope bridge – 200 meters going down at 7%, 200 meters coming back up. Just long enough to cause a split if the riders at the front are gunning it and not looking at their followers!

Wrapping It Up

The Jungle Route is a perfect introduction to Team Time Trialling. It’s one of the simplest routes without too many “gotchas.” This week for the first time ever the WTRL team are putting powerups into the race! If you don’t have seven mates to join you, there are teams at every level looking for fresh riders. Visit wtrl.racing to get signed up!

Questions or Comments?

Did you find this article useful? Will you be riding in this week’s TTT? Share below!