Last week I signed up for another Crit City 8-lapper, shooting for a short race that wouldn’t fatigue me too much. I was in a taper mode, you see: looking down the barrel of a massive 4-day bike IRL tour with my brother on California’s central coast (more on that in another post). But taking it easy for a few days had driven me stir-crazy, and I wanted to get one last little hard effort in before the next day’s 9-hour drive to SoCal.

Like most Zwift races, this would be near an all-out effort for me. But since it was only ~20 minutes long, my legs would be recovered by the time I climbed onto my real Venge and start pedaling south from Monterey 48 hours later. Perfect! Let’s race.

The Warmup

Despite a crazy busy day – you know, those “day before vacation” days – I was able to get on the bike early enough to have an unrushed warmup. I spun around Tick Tock, slowly ramping up my pace then putting in a few harder efforts to bring my heart rate up to 160bpm.

Of course, I had already chewed two pieces of caffeine gum and put PR lotion on the legs. And since my last three days of riding had been relatively easy, I was feeling good! This was going to be fun.

Since I had a bit of extra time, I popped over to ZwiftPower to survey the competition. Here’s what I saw when I sorted the signup sheet by rider rank:

Based on rank, then, I was favored to win the race, once you removed the two A dudes who were signed up. I tried to take note of their names, as well as those ranked near me, so I would know who my strongest competitors might be.

Note: this seems like a smart strategy, but in practice, I have a really hard time remembering names once the race begins. I need to just set up a second dedicated monitor for ZwiftPower!

The Start

Our starting group of 35 jumped out of the pens quickly, as expected. Once we crested the bricked climb for the first time, things settled down. Two minutes at ~360 watts was enough to keep me in the first selection of ~15 riders.

We had three zPowered riders pushing hard near the front early on, but not so hard that it was blowing apart the race. That’s an acceptable situation, in my book: if they want to rotate on the front and be a part of the overall peloton (even though their power probably isn’t very accurate), no problem. It’s only when those riders attack off the front and destroy the authentic race dynamics that I take issue.

The Middle

Things were quite settled by the third lap, and my legs were feeling good. So I decided to try shaking things up a bit with an attack! I had an aero helmet powerup, so I activated it near the top of the prime climb, hammering away from the group as they eased up after pushing hard up the bricks.

Just once I’d like to make an attack like this and have several strong riders join me so we could work together in a breakaway. But that never seems to happen! Instead, everyone is content to let the attacker hang off the front, knowing a lone rider is no match for a group of 15. Smart racing, I suppose, if you trust your ability to sprint against the pack or your legs aren’t feeling great. I know I’ve let the attacker sizzle on the front in many a Zwift race!

Even though these sorts of attacks rarely result in a dramatic breakaway group, they do stretch the pack out as those on the front hammer to catch the attacker. This often drops a rider or two who are barely hanging on, which further whittles down the competition. And that’s what happened with my attack – I was caught by the pack before hitting the start/finish, but we dropped at least one rider from our group.

The Finish

No significant moves were made for the rest of the race, and I took the chance to sit in the draft, keeping my legs as fresh as possible for the final effort. I had been striking out in terms of powerups ($#@% bonuses!) but managed to score a draft van on my last trip through the banner. It didn’t really matter what I got, though – I had already formulated my finishing plan.

First: I would follow any early attacks, sitting on the wheels and being willing to go from a long way out if we were able to gap the main group. It felt like this might happen early on in the final lap, as the three zPowered riders all showed up on the front, hammering away. I even caught it in a screenshot (see above)! But their increased effort merely stretched the group out, perhaps dropping a rider or two in the process.

Second: I would move near the front for the brick prime, so if anyone tried to jump there, I could follow their wheel. I was even willing to use my draft van powerup to hold their wheel, if it looked like it meant we could drop the chasing pack and stay away.

The attack on the bricks happens on the last lap of every Crit City race, it seems – it’s just a question of how hard that jump is, and how long the attacker can hold it! You’ve basically got 60 seconds from the top of the bricks to the finish line, so if you’re blessed with strong 1-minute power and perhaps a helpful feather or aero powerup, you may just be able to get away and stay away. That’s the hope, anyway. A hope that is almost always swallowed up in defeat as the chasing pack catches the attacker just before the final hairpin.

No big jump happened on our last time up the bricks, so it was time for the third and final part of my plan: to jump hard and early, then try to stay away with a long sprint! The van powerup only helps while you’re drafting, so I activated it early, using it to ease the effort required to sit in with the hard-charging pack. Then, with a few seconds left on my draft boost, I shifted, stood up, and began hammering with everything I had through the pack and off the front!

I glanced up to see I was ahead of the group going into the final hairpin, then it was a head-down, all-in sprint for the final few seconds. I looked up as I crossed the line. First place!

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

Takeaways

1. It’s been a long time since I actually crossed the line in first place in a Zwift race. I can’t remember when it last happened, actually. Sure, I recently won a points race. And I ended up first in a Crit City race back in January. But neither of those races had me crossing the finish line first – I won by accumulating points, or because the rider(s) who finished ahead weren’t on ZwiftPower. It really is a special feeling to cross the line first. More of that, please!
2. Writing this review, it struck me that overpowered zPowered riders did affect this race. I was just able to hang onto their wheels this time! But of course, other riders probably got dropped by the efforts of the zPowered three who averaged 318W (5.3 w/kg), 321W (4.7 w/kg), and 327W (4.7 w/kg). So once again, just a reminder that we need better doping controls. A simple green cone of shame probably would have sent these riders off the back quickly.
3. I’ve got a surprise for you: it seems I’m able to hold higher power on fresh legs! This ride gave me new PB’s on my power curve for 2020 between 1 minute and 2:30. And I averaged 758W over 21 seconds in the final sprint, peaking at 884W. That’s certainly higher than most of my race finishes, where I’m too knackered to get close to my “fresh max” of around 1000W.
4. ZwiftPower scouting doesn’t always work well. Looking at the four riders who finished just behind me, three of them weren’t signed up when I checked ZwiftPower, and the fourth was ranked quite low on the list! So I’d say checking the competition on ZwiftPower can be a good tool in my race-belt, but only if I change how I use it. More on this in future posts.

Your Comments

Questions or comments? Share below!

Hi Zwift Insider readers! Long time listener, first time caller.

Yesterday I decided to compete in a short Crit City race. Why should you care about this? Because this race was when I realized exactly what I and Zwift itself is really made of.

You see, I’m a total cycling noob. And it turns out, my experience is nothing like those of Eric, or any of the other ZI contributors. I’m slow and overweight, and even in the lowly D race I enrolled in, I got smoked. This got me thinking: I can’t be the only old, heavy, slow person on Zwift. Maybe my perspective would be useful to other users, and just maybe the developers making the software and hardware too.

So today I’m sharing my first race story, from the blunt end of Zwift.

The Backstory

Recently I decided to find a new form of exercise to be passionate about, and chose cycling. I’m 37, so a bit old for starting a new sport, but I needed to do something new to keep me fit and healthy. I’m young enough, however, that I don’t just want to amble around looking at the view. I want to ride fast and hopefully race too! I don’t even have a road bike, just a straight handlebar hybrid bike in a Tacx Bushido trainer. Start small and upgrade when I can.

I’m 194cm (6’ 4″), which doesn’t make me the most aero of riders. Aero doesn’t matter indoors though, except Zwift asks the question and my mother taught me to be honest, so height is a disadvantage. At least I don’t need to tuck inside.

The bigger issue is the other measurement Zwift requests. I’m currently 102kg (225lbs). I call it fat, but there is some muscle too. I’ve always worked in gyms and while I’ve neglected cardio, I used to lift weights and there is a decent amount of muscle mass. (That said, a few years ago I was a lot heavier, something an improved diet has helped with. You can’t out-train bad eating, after all.)

I’m well aware that speed on Zwift is calculated based on your watts per kilogram, and my ‘per kilogram’ is a big issue. Unfortunately, my ‘watts per’ isn’t much better with my FTP sitting at around 200. Simple maths informs me that a small number divided by a big number equals a tiny number. My 2 w/kg output is quite shoddy indeed, but I love seeing improvements over time, and I figured there is plenty of improvement on the horizon, so I’m able to stay positive on this for now.

I’m also very motivated. It may be due to my recent ride with fellow Welshman Geraint Thomas on his fundraising efforts for medical services in the UK. To be honest though, I didn’t even see G on the ride, I started too far back and despite blasting out of the gates, I couldn’t catch him. I did get a photo of myself riding past Alex Dowsett though. Ok, ok… it was actually him who flew past me up the Surrey Hills on a ride to gather PPE equipment for Israeli medical teams. Dan Martin was also on this ride as the sweeper, I had planned to keep falling off the back so I could have a personal ride with him, but turns out he’s a terrible sweeper and led the ride almost all the way around with Alex in the chasing peloton.

I began my Zwift journey with this site and read everything I could find to start me on my way, from equipment recommendations and setup guides, to choosing the best bike and powerup tips. I’ve been following Monica’s quest for conquering every route, and recently joined in the 25 laps ride. I’m getting to the point where the routes left are increasingly long, and I’m not very quick so they take considerable time out of my day. The Alpe took me 3 hours, and hurt quite a lot, the volcano ride was 40 minutes longer. This is quite a large part of my day at the moment; add in a shower and recovery nap, and it’s a full day’s work.

I made a decision that before I resumed any longer routes, I wanted to be quicker, and that meant lighter and fitter. So yesterday I decided to try something different and do a race. A race would be a good workout, a good test of fitness, and I’d probably lose some weight. Perfect… or so I thought.

The Plan

Races come in categories, A thru D. And the D category is typically for riders with an average w/kg of 1.0-2.49. This is where I am right now, a solid 2.0. I know I’ve held 200W for long periods before, and a 200W FTP theoretically means it should be possible to keep that up for an hour. But I wanted to be towards the sharp end of this blunt end race. I didn’t want to get dropped after 5 minutes and complete a solo ride. So I opted for a short Crit City race, 8 laps and about 15km. Worst case scenario, at 30kph, this would take me 30 minutes. Crit City is largely flat, too, with less than 150m of climbing for the whole race. I know I can easily hold over 30kph on the flat, and if I can stay in the bunch and get a good draft too…

I’d recently watched Kevin Bouchard Hall teaching Ted King how to race. My main takeaways were:

1. Attack the start – races start quick but it will settle into a rhythm.
2. Pack position – too far ahead and you’ll have no draft, too far back and you’ll be dropped with a surge.
3. Don’t get dropped – without the draft it’s impossible.
4. Ramp up for the hills – everyone attacks on the hills. Crit City doesn’t have many, but if you don’t attack them you’ll get dropped.
5. Don’t get dropped – I put it in twice, as it seemed important.
6. Time your boosts – and hope for a good aero for the sprint finish.

Sounds simple enough, it’s basically pedal hard until the line, but not too hard to give others your draft. It’s like the old Alain Prost quote, “Win the race at the slowest speed possible.” I don’t want to be towing others around for free.

The Preparation

I warmed up with a quick lap of Richmond’s Fan Flats. I chucked in a little sprint here and there. Could I have warmed up for longer? Probably. Would it have helped? Probably not. If anything a longer warm-up would have been reclassified as a workout for me and fatigued me for the race. My warm-up was 10 minutes long at an average of 124w and 119 hr.

Unlike Eric, I don’t have any caffeine gum, and don’t have any magic leg gel either. Just man and machine for this one. I joined the race 5 minutes early and kept my legs warm with some low-resistance spinning. I remembered Kevin telling Ted to light up the watts before the start, so I ramped up slowly at 30 seconds out, increased the ramp at 10 seconds, and when the race started was pushing a respectable 485w. (I think Kevin and Ted kept around this power for the whole of their race, which I find inconceivable based on where I am.

The Race

It’s worth pointing out here that I’m hyper-competitive once the event starts. I’ve played basketball, although not very well and not for several years, but I coach at a decent level and I hate losing. It infuriates me. If there’s one thing I wasn’t worried about it was getting off the bike thinking I didn’t try hard. It was far more likely I would burn out after one lap and I’d get off the bike for an early shower and pretend the whole thing didn’t happen.

My initial 485w is nearly 5 w/kg. That’s double the average for this race. I was happy I could output this amount, and my little (quite large compared to the other riders) avatar pushed forwards through the pack. This was as positive as the race got for me. Kevin said to push at the start, it would settle into a rhythm, and that rhythm should now be under 2.5 w/kg.

It didn’t settle. There was a rhythm, and it was very high.

I tried to keep up with the leaders, “Don’t get dropped!” I had listed twice. Apparently in the draft I could save 1 w/kg. I’m sure that scales once you’re as slow as me, but if I could have half of that I would be happy. Don’t get dropped.

I’m dropped. I keep my watts as high as I can for as long as I can, but there is no let up. I’ve been dropped from the lead group. With no draft to help I’m quickly caught by the next group. Great, I’ll draft these good cyclis….. nope, they’ve flown past me too. Turns out when your speed is so different to theirs, by the time you catch the draft effect it’s gone and you don’t get any benefit at all. After being 30th after the first corner, I slipped to 60th by the time we hit the little rises, 100th by the end of the first lap, 150th pretty soon after this.

There were 270 in the race. My target went from sticking in the lead pack to not coming last in just a few minutes. Apart from point 1, the quick start, the game plan had gone out of the window.

1. There was no pack to have position in.
2. I had been dropped.
3. I was trying to ramp up for the hills, but these guys felt like 4 brutal gut punches compared to what I had prepared myself for.
4. I had been dropped by the second pack too.
5. I was not timing any powerup boosts well.

I was mostly getting the trucks to boost my drafting abilities. This would be great if I was in a pack, but even using this and a little burst of power when a rider came past me I still couldn’t catch a wheel.

Truth is, my legs were dead. That start was a huge overextension for me, and I realised from comments that they were sandbagging and I would never have been able to stay with them. They were simply too strong for the D race. With no chance to recover, my power dropped to around 150w with small spikes as I hit the gradients. I was still slipping too, back to 200th place now, only 70 behind me… ominous! There was one cyclist zipping past occasionally on what I would guess was a rocket bike. He was either cheating or glitching.

By the last lap I found a little extra in my legs to increase back to over 200w, which renewed a little lost pride. Then with a few corners left I realised I was catching someone; very slowly, but catching none the less. Cadence up, gear changed, this was now my whole purpose. This was now my Champs Elysees sprint finish, my Alpe stage victory bid, my Olympic time trial race. I was 226th, but I could smell 225th. Three corners to go, I was quicker, he was slower. Two corners to go and I passed him easily, not quite the photo finish glory moment but 225th place was mine. Victory!!!

Oh wait, I’m being caught by someone else, catching me quickly too, I could see the gap in meters disappear. Out of the saddle, I wind up with power to a race-high 532 watts. Start fast, finish fast, I guess it was just the middle 90% that was a disaster. He caught me on the line for his own photo finish glory, and sent me backward to 226th. Furious!

Race Results

I finished the race with an average of 174w/kg. I know I can do better, just need to ride my race and not get distracted by the riders out of my league. A lesson learned. Average cadence was 90 which is always my target. Average HR was 156 with a max of 175. At 37 my max HR should be 183, and I certainly felt it was my legs that failed me on this one, not my CV system. Combined with my 226th finish, my stats left me wanting a do-over with my new knowledge. But it’s my first race and not a bad place to start. Hungry for more is a good sign.

But wait, this isn’t over. The official results pop up on the Companion app and seem to filter out some bad apples, and I’m up to 215th. I check the list to see who won and this is where I start to realise that all is not as it seems. If we discount Mr Glitch, the race winner of the sub 2.5w/kg D race, averaged 5.34w/kg. This seems a tad unfair. Worse still, you have to drop to 104th position before you find anyone who kept within the prescribed wattage. I accept that some people may tip over the limit a little bit, but over double is quite annoying. The winner of the A race finished with a 5.4w/kg, albeit with a slightly faster time, but still not far ahead of the D race winner. Clearly trying to stick with this group early on negatively impacted my own race.

• 

• 

• 

Time to head to ZwiftPower! That’s right, I’ve all the gear and no idea. But as Eric says, if it’s not on ZwiftPower it doesn’t count, and here’s hoping for 215 disqualifications and a champagne moment on the top of the podium as I’m presented with my blue D race jersey. Now I’m suddenly 44th place. New race winner was a Canadian rider who crossed the line in 40th in the game.

At first, I thought about how happy they must be to see that. But then I thought about how they were robbed of the feeling of crossing the line in first place. I understand Zwift is introducing new rules to prevent this behaviour, and it can’t come soon enough.

• 

• 

The new race winner held an average of 2.75w/kg. While this is over the race limits, it’s not much, and it seems achievable to me. I want to win a D race after all, so here is my plan:

• Retest my FTP: I’ve not tested for a while and it would be good to know exactly where I am now.
• Get fitter: I always knew this would be on the horizon, I need to start using workouts instead of free rides to push my FTP up. I did an FTP builder last November/December, but then I got married, Christmas happened, and I toured Italy on our honeymoon, so it’s probably all lost progress now.
• Lose weight: I dropped 35kg a few years ago. I’m never going to be a 60kg climbing specialist, but if I can drop to 90kg that would make a big difference. Diet review needed.

Losing 10% weight +	Increase FTP 10% =	Increase w/kg 22%
100kg -> 90kg	200w -> 220w	2.0w/kg -> 2.44w/kg

This 2.44w/kg seems achievable and puts me right at the upper end of the D category. This is my first target, and if Eric will have me, I plan to document this journey in the hopes it helps any other Zwifters in my position.

I also really hope that Zwift sort the sandbagging features out for the D races. Without the disqualified riders, there were only 48 riders left in my race. I can’t help but think D race participation would increase if it was more fun and fair. I certainly wasn’t thrilled about the idea of doing another right away.

Final Thoughts

I’ve been around sports development long enough to know that the bottom of the sports pyramid is far bigger than the top. There are more amateur cyclists in the world than pro cyclists, and more slow ones than quick ones. And since we all pay the same per person, it makes sense to ensure that Zwift appeals to the slow one just as much as the quick ones. I think they already do this better than other platforms, with a gamified and social experience.

This is not to say that faster and pro riders are not welcome – all sports pyramids are funded by the masses on the blunt end, while the sharp end provides the expertise and inspiration to ensure the blunt end is supported and developed. I’m very grateful for the expert knowledge from the likes of Eric, GPLama, DC Rainmaker, and the aforementioned video by Kevin. And I was equally inspired by Monica’s route quest, and chances to ride with pros like Geraint, Alex, and Dan.

I’m looking forward to what’s coming next. I hope you’ll join me on the journey… from the blunt end!

Your Thoughts

Please share your comments below!

Categories are an integral part of Zwift racing, and it would seem that the boundary lines are clearly spelled out on ZwiftPower, where race results are verified and finalized:

While in-game enforcement of these categories still has a long way to go, these category boundaries are used by the vast majority of Zwift races today top create an environment of inclusive, fair competition.

But after observing many Crit City races, and the social media traffic they generate, I think there’s an interesting rabbit hole we can travel down together to see how Zwift’s race categorization system could be improved.

ZwiftPower Categorization Primer

First, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page in understanding how categorization actually works in all the Zwift races which are run through ZwiftPower.

Every ZwiftPower-registered rider has a category assigned to them based on their race history. This category is defined as the “average of best 3 races in last 90 days”. To be specific, this is 95% of your best 20-minute power, which is the formula commonly used to estimate FTP. We’ll call this your “FTP Wattage”.

Example: according to ZwiftPower, my strongest three races in the last 90 days had the following FTP wattage:

• 304watts / 3.68wkg
• 302watts / 3.67wkg
• 301watts / 3.62wkg

This means my average FTP wattage is 302w, or 3.65w/kg. This places me squarely in the B category, which is for anyone with an FTP wattage of at least 200w and 3.2w/kg, but under 4w/kg.

Two Key Conditions

ZwiftPower categorization as described above works decently well, but only if two conditions are met:

1. Everyone is signed up for ZwiftPower: currently, any Zwifter can join any race, even if they aren’t signed up for ZwiftPower. If they aren’t signed up with ZwiftPower, they won’t show in the final results there. But they can still dramatically affect the race! This is a major concern, but outside the scope of this article.
2. Everyone races in their proper category in the Zwift event: currently, Zwifters can race in whatever category they’d like. That means an A-level pro can ride in a D race and blow away the field, if they so choose. This is what we call “sandbagging”, and relates somewhat to the topic at hand.

What Is Your FTP?

So, we understand now that ZwiftPower automatically detects your FTP based on race efforts as described above. That FTP then determines your ZwiftPower race category, which determines the category(s) you can legally race.

But here’s the thing: the length of races you enter will directly impact your 20-minute power numbers. For example, think of how your 20-minute max power would probably look in a 2+ hour 100km race compared to an 8-lap Crit City race lasting ~22 minutes.

In long events, riders must race at an average wattage well below their FTP, since it’s impossible to hold your FTP power for 2+ hours. Conversely, riders would be expected to ride slightly above FTP in a max effort 20-minute event.

Clearly, ZwiftPower’s computed FTP is very much a function of race length. If I only race long events, my computed FTP will logically be lower than if I only race 20-minute events. Let’s keep heading down this rabbit hole…

Game-Changing Short Races

Short races appeared on Zwift years ago, when WBR began holding regular “sprint” events. But the shorter race format truly exploded in December 2019/January 2020, when Crit City was unveiled and 8-lap races made their way onto the daily calendar. Suddenly, thousands of racers (myself included) were taking part in much shorter races than before.

Most of my races were 50-70 minutes long, before Crit City arrived. Now many of my races are only 20 minutes long! For myself and other riders, the 8-lap Crit City race has become a sort of “fun FTP test”.

Has this changed my computed FTP on ZwiftPower? Absolutely. Because I can remember only one time in my Zwift racing history that I joined a race with the specific goal of going all-out for the first 20 minutes, to treat it like an FTP test. But when I take on Crit City races (especially an A-level race!) it can be a 20-minute max effort every time.

And so we arrive at my thesis statement: that many racers have seen their ZwiftPower-computed FTP increase due to their involvement in short Crit City races, and this has, in turn, forced them to upgrade to the next category.

Earth-shattering conclusion? Not exactly. And I don’t have access to the data required to prove my thesis. But it seems to be a very logical and rational conclusion, and if it’s true, it’s a “game-changer” – at least for those forced to upgrade.

Your Comments

If my thesis is true, then two identical riders might now be categorized differently, regardless of race results, simply because one chooses to race Crit City 8-lappers, while the other does not.

My thoughts on some of the shortcomings of the current categorization scheme have been explained in previous posts, and I think this example may illustrate some additional weaknesses. But I will leave this discussion to you, dear reader. Thanks for jumping down the rabbit hole with me today. Please share your thoughts below!

I always look forward to reading one of Eric’s (or the many other contributors) ‘How the race was…’ articles as they inspire me to keep racing and improving on Zwift. After a recent race of my own, I felt compelled to write in and do my own article on how the race was both lost and won. Here we go!

A Little Background

My name is Ryan Dummer, I’m 27 years old and hail from the town of Port Talbot in South Wales (UK). Whilst I haven’t been cycling that long (around 5 years now) since the start I have sought to improve my riding and training to try to get the most out of myself. I purchased a smart trainer and found Zwift in the process. I have raced the local amateur crit circuit for the last two years and was looking forward to my first season as a cat 2-grade racer – until all the races got cancelled due to coronavirus.

I have used Zwift off and on for 18 months, and one of my favourite features is the ability to race on the platform. Whilst I’m not an inexperienced Zwift racer I am inexperienced at competing in the B category, having only recently moved up after a run of good results and podium positions in the C category. I am a heavier rider at 86kg, so only tend to target the flatter races as I do not go uphill well in real life or on Zwift.

Since joining the ‘B brigade’ I have actively sought out events that keep the categories separate (please Zwift make more events separate as I want to know who it is I am racing against). Because of this, I have a new favourite race map where the categories always seem to race separately – Crit City.

To date I have taken part in 8 races on this map but never have I taken part in one of the shorter 8-lap events, instead preferring to sign up for the longer 16 to 20 lap options. I did however quite fancy really testing my legs in a super explosive (and presumably harder) 8 lap event. So, the challenge was set – 8 laps of the Downtown Dolphin route setting off at 09:46 am.

(I must say that having now raced an equal amount of times on Downtown Dolphin and the Bell Lap I much prefer Downtown Dolphin as the effort seems to be more steady with the one big surge up the cobbled climb each lap whereas Bell lap can be much more on/off over the rollers and doesn’t seem to settle into the same rhythm.)

Lap By Lap

I have always heeded the advice to join the start pens early and aim to be there at least 10 minutes before any event to be in a position at the front of the start grid, so imagine my surprise when even 10 minutes before the scheduled start time I was the 46th rider to join! This would have easily been the most I have seen on a Crit City race if we had started then and by the time the timer hit zero we were up to 158 riders in my B event!

I followed my usual routine in the final 10 seconds of the countdown, ramping my watts up to around 700 as the clock hits 0 to make sure I am near the front when we all leave the pen and the hardest part of any Zwift race begins.

Can I hold on long enough to make the front selection? When I first started Zwift racing this was always an issue for me as my VO2, 5-minute type power is one of my weakest points. However, a winter spent really focusing on improving my 3-5 minute power has helped me to usually able to hold on long enough to make the front selection in Zwift races.

The initial group size made it difficult to track how many riders made the front, but after a first lap average power of 380W and a new best lap time for me of 2:04 we appeared to have ~40 riders in the front group. I tried my best to maintain my position in the top 10 as our group was further whittled down to around 25 after the second lap average of 330w.

The pace didn’t drop after the second lap, with my power for the next 5 laps averaging between 324 and 337 watts. We fell into the predictable rhythm of steady as you cross the finish line up to the base of the cobbled climb before raising the power to ~500W to stay towards the front on the climb, pushing hard on the top before a slight recovery back over the rollers.

The pace felt hard but to my surprise, I didn’t feel totally ‘on the rivet’ and was able to hold between 5-10th position in the group that had been slashed from the initial 158 riders to 14. To my even greater surprise, I managed to close a gap that started to open after the brick climb on lap 4 when the rider in front of me lost the wheel!

However, by lap 6 I felt I needed to use the draft van I had been holding to have a little respite from the relentless pace after we pushed hard to move through a large group of dropped riders on the rollers and across the finish line. I just hoped that the powerup gods would smile on me in the final two laps!

The Finish

Lap 7 passed by fairly uneventfully but I now had a decision to make: do I use my feather powerup and hope for a slightly more useful one such as the Aero Helmet for the final lap? Or do I keep it and use it on the bricks during the final lap? I chose to chance it, activating the feather just before we hung a right onto the bricks on lap 7.

I was filled with a little trepidation as we passed through the finish banner for the final time. Would I get the aero helmet I so desired? “No” was the answer. In fact, I only got an XP bonus! Not that much use in a race!

The much-expected surge in pace I have previously experienced in Crit City races did not fully materialise in the final lap, maybe because of the relentlessly high pace. I was in 9th position of a final group of 11 (a little too far back in hindsight) as we hit the base of the brick climb for the final time. I pushed hard to make sure I was not distanced on the climb and held position until the top. Was I going to get to the sprint in the final group? No. As the road flattened out after the climb the group in front of me pushed ever so slightly harder and the elastic snapped, leaving me riding in a no man’s land for the final 500m with a group of 8 ahead and 2 behind.

I held my position with a solid effort but without needing to sprint as I stayed away from the two chasers without being able to catch those ahead.

The Zwift results placed me in 9th position, 2s ahead of the chasers and 9s back from the winner. But I was mightily happy with my performance as I felt I had really dug as deep as I could go and left nothing in the tank. I finished the race with an average power of 335W, far above anything I have managed before! I was further vindicated when I received the notification saying I had added a full 11 watts to my FTP. I was a happy boy!

And this, I thought, is where the race was lost. Until I took a closer at the results to find that all 8 riders in front of me were well above the category power limits, meaning they were disqualified. Zwift Power raised me to 1st, so the race was in fact won! My first gold cup as a B grade rider… now I was a happy boy!

In fact, many riders behind me were also well above the category limits. As I looked at the results in Companion I discovered that only 10 of the top 50 had an average power within cat limits.

Although I do realise the allowable number can be a bit higher when Zwift Power apply their 95% principle, what I do know is that many were well over 4 w/kg and this told me two things

1. There were an awful lot of sandbaggers in this race and
2. I must be quite good at drafting and conserving energy to have held the front group where many riders averaged 4.6-5 w/kg while I stayed within the power limits!

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Takeaways

1. Push yourself: When I was racing in cat C I felt as if I was pushing my limit but knew I kind of fell between two cats and was wary of what cat B had in store for me. However, I have discovered that I could go deeper than I knew and within a few races I am competing at the pointy end of the category above! So my advice to anyone who feels as if they fall between categories is to challenge yourself and race in the one above, as it’s unlocked potential for me I didn’t know I had.
2. Work on that final lap power: I need to work on improving my ability to go beyond my threshold in the final lap to hang with the very front of the race and stay in contention at the final sprint. All bar one of my B grade races have gone like this, where I haven’t quite been able to push that bit harder in the final km, which means I come in 10 or 20 seconds back from the winner.
3. Indoor training is a powerful tool: This year I have trained more indoors than ever before and I am fitter than I have ever been! Even though I have done fewer training hours it has been more focused and each session has a purpose. I am seeing the benefit of this.
4. Aims for the future: My current aim is to try and become a solid ‘upper end’ B racer before progressing into the A’s. I also want to develop a racing team mentality by competing in events with the newly-formed Bike Doctor Zwift race team I have joined.

I hope you enjoy reading my write up as much as I have enjoyed writing it and I’d like to extend my gratitude to Eric and the whole Zwift Insider team who do a great job at bringing us news and content from the exciting world of Zwift. Ride On!

Questions or Comments?

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I signed up for the “Haute Route Community Rides // Quatch Quest” event last Saturday because I was looking for a longer, harder race effort. Turns out, I found exactly what I was looking for.

The Warmup

I started my race prep the same way I always do – a couple pieces of caffeine gum and some PR lotion on the legs. Running a bit late once again, my warmup was abbreviated (18 minutes). That would be just enough time to formulate my race plan and select my frame and wheels.

Race Plan

By my estimation, I would be finishing this ride in just under 2 hours. So I had no intention of going all out from the start! Still, I planned to push it for the first few minutes to hopefully make the front selection and get a free fast tow until we hit the Epic KOM at around 10km.

I had no illusions about what would happen once we hit the Epic KOM. This was a combined start event, so even if I managed to hang with the front group of A’s and B’s to the foot of the Epic climb, I would be quickly dropped by the climbers in both categories as we tackled the ~25-minute mountain. I can’t hang with the strong climbers up long climbs like the Epic KOM even on a good day, plus I wasn’t going all-out on this climb anyway, knowing the Alpe was waiting.

Everything between the top of the Epic KOM and the start of the Alpe would be recovery. Then it would be ~55 minutes of draining whatever I had left to summit the Alpe.

I knew the B podium was far from attainable for me in this race. So today’s goal was just to push myself to the limit in a long, challenging race effort.

Frame and Wheels

I knew I didn’t want to ride my typical aero race rig for this route, since approximately 80 minutes of the 120-minute effort would be spent on long climbs. I used our frame ranking charts and wheel ranking charts to decide which equipment to ride. Here’s what I settled on, and why:

• Specialized Tarmac Pro Frame: 15s slower on our ~50-minute flat test compared to the Specialized Venge I use for flatter races. But it’s 15s faster up the Alpe (~50-minute climb). So I was essentially making an even trade for performance on the flats vs performance on climbs. With 2/3 of this race being on climbs, and me always losing the most places on the inclines, this is a smart trade to make!
• Zipp 454 Wheels: 11s slower on our ~50-minute flat test compared to the Zipp 858s I use for flatter races. But they are 5s faster up the Alpe (~50-minute climb). With twice as much climb time in today’s race as descent/flat time, this meant I was making a roughly even trade in terms of performance, but shifting the advantage to where I’m weakest: on the climbs.

The Start

The clock hit zero and we jumped out of the desert start pen. This route begins by heading through Titans Grove, which is a punchy way to start a race!

This was a combined category event, and we had a total of 773 riders in all categories. (I’m not sure how many of those starters were B’s, but we ended up with 115 B finishers.)

I hammered in an attempt to hang with the front pack, but the riders strung out quickly thanks to strong racers on the pointy end really pushing the pace. Due to some combination of those strong riders, my somewhat fatigued legs, and knowing the Alpe was up the road, I just didn’t have the heart to keep pushing. I sat up after just a few minutes, jumping into a small group around 95th place where I could ride tempo and save my legs for the big climbs.

I would end up with a PR on the Titans Grove Southband segment. Not entirely surprising, since I’ve rarely raced this section!

Epic KOM

Soon enough we were at the start of the Epic KOM, and I found myself in ~120th place, surrounded mostly by B’s, with a few tired A’s and some obviously confused “C’s” in the mix. I set a goal: to finish in the double digits. (This goal would keep me fighting to the end of the race, as you’ll see!)

There were lots of Spanish speakers on this ride, which was cool to see since this was a benefit ride for Mexican medical services. Lots of flags from South American countries, Mexico, and Spain – and plenty of Spanish dialogue. I jumped in with joking replies of my own, but never got any response. I envisioned the Spanish dudes reading my messages and shaking their heads. Gringos, am I right?

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I averaged 268W for the Epic KOM, putting in a time of 25:38 – almost 2 minutes off my PR, which was set in the Haute Route stage 1 back in April. Not impressive by my standards, but you can’t PR everything all the time! When I’m a little off my game, I try to focus on keeping my effort high, and race smarter so my mind can hopefully offset my body’s weakness a bit.

For the Epic KOM, riding smart meant using drafting and momentum to my advantage. For drafting, I would sit on wheels as much as possible, especially on flats and descents where air resistance is a big factor. Momentum is an interesting one to play with near the top of the Epic KOM – if you hammer a bit while descending, so you carry extra speed/power into the starts of the rises, you’ll usually put some time into nearby riders. It takes practice and some route knowledge, but using the game’s momentum to your advantage is a very useful technique when racing routes that have descents leading into short climbs.

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Soon enough I found myself off the front of our group, supertucking down the Epic KOM’s backside. With no packs up the road in the sight there wasn’t much incentive to hammer, so I took it easy until the chase group behind caught me on the climb into the Jungle Circuit. We would ride together at a tempo pace until the foot of the Alpe.

The Alpe

I started the Alpe around 110th place, but there were a fair number of riders just ahead or behind. How hard would I have to work to finish into the double digits?

My pacing strategy wasn’t exactly consistent, as I flipped between holding a steady tempo, chasing a wheel ahead, getting out of the saddle for short, harder efforts, and chasing the powerup countdown timers. The pressure to keep my power up was constant, though, as I could see a steady line of B riders just behind me! I found myself trading places with the same handful of riders repeatedly: Nutriperformance, Braz, Hincapie (not that Hincapie), Sura, Oso, Buenaventura.

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One third of the way up I began to notice how sweaty I was. Now, I’m a pretty sweaty dude – I get warm easily, and sweat a lot when that happens. So I use a strong fan and dress to stay as cool as possible on Zwift. But sweat was dripping everywhere. I could feel it in my shoes, which wasn’t normal. Was it because the shoes were new? I didn’t think so – they were the exact same shoes I’d had before (Specialized Torch), just a new model year. I had already used up one sweat towel and headband, having swapped to fresh ones at the bottom of the Alpe. My KICKR Headwind had been on high the entire time. But I just couldn’t seem to cool down!

As we neared the top I was still ranked in the double digits, but just barely. Rounding the final hairpin I was in 97th, with Hincapie just ahead and Meza and Buenaventura just behind. I always seem to have a little extra left for that final push to the line after the final Alpe turn, and today was no different. I pushed it extra hard all the way to the line, which was a good thing because other riders around me were pushing too! I finished 97th according to Zwift, 48th in the B’s. ZwiftPower would place me 41st.

See activity on Strava >
See activity on Zwift >
See results on ZwiftPower >

Performance Analysis

I was pleased with my performance overall, although I think I could have done a bit better if I had handled my cooling better (see below). I set some power bests for 2020 in the 1:40-1:56 range. And I set a PR on the Titans Grove Southbound segment, as well as destroying my Quatch Quest PR (I had ridden it twice before, but as solo efforts). I was 3-4 minutes off my best time Alpe times, but that’s not surprising given my two faster efforts were both in races on the much shorter Road to Sky route.

Takeaways

I have a theory on my sweat issue for this ride, and it centers around humidity. While my smallish office/pain cave wasn’t particularly hot, it was enclosed, and a two-hour hard ride made the room quite humid, as evidenced by condensation on the windows and that lovely “rain forest feeling” I got when I walked back into the room after finishing the ride.

My theory is, once the room hit a certain humidity level, my sweat was no longer evaporating at a high enough rate to cool me down. So my takeaway here is: for races over an hour or so, I need to run my A/C unit in dehumidifier mode, to keep the air dry.

Hydration Note

Because of all the sweating, I decided to weigh myself when I got out of the shower. Despite emptying almost 4 bidons during the race, I had dropped from 180 to 176 pounds during the ride. Wow!

One strategy I’ve heard riders use is to weigh themselves before and after big rides, then drink enough water to replace whatever weight was lost. That would mean drinking around 60oz of water in my case, and you know what? I didn’t do that.

Instead, I drank a big glass, changed my clothes, and headed outside to work on fixing our pool – a job that would involve several hours and a lot of sweat. And I didn’t drink enough water during that job, either.

The result: I was still feeling my Quatch Quest effort 3 days later. Re-hydrating is a big key to recovery, and I really blew it on this day. Never again!

Your Thoughts

Questions or comments? I’m especially interested in your thoughts on sweating/room humidity and hydration. Share below!