This perimeter route covers portions of Watopia’s three “flat” routes, (Tick Tock, Volcano Flat, Watopia Flat). It’s called “Watopia’s Waistband” because it nicely encircles key landmarks in Watopia proper including downtown Watopia, Fuego Flats, the Italian Villas, the Volcano, and the Fishing Village.
We begin on Fuego Flats at the spawn point, moving clockwise around the desert loop until it drops us off on Ocean Blvd. Take Ocean Blvd toward the Fishing Village (away from Downtown), turn left toward the Italian Village, then another left at the fountain to head toward the Volcano.
Ride around the Volcano clockwise, make our way through the downtown start/finish line and onto Ocean Boulevard before a quick left back to Fuego Flats.
Profile
At 3.25 meters of climb per kilometer of travel, Watopia’s Waistband is flatter than all official routes except Tempus Fugit and Tick Tock. The only noticeable uphills are the rise outside of Saddle Springs, the ramp out of Ocean Boulevard and the climb to the Italian Villas which follows, the volcano kicker and the shallow climb back into the desert.
Mike Reilly on Triathlons: Then vs Now (Zwift PowerUp Tri Podcast #10)
Almost half-a-century old, the sport of triathlon has seen its fair share of progress. A pillar of the sport for decades, tri legend Mike Reilly is a staunch advocate of its positive effects. He stops by in Episode 10 to talk all about it. How it’s evolved. What the scene looks like now versus then. His experiences, and recently published book, Finding My Voice.
The crew also goes over a few recent races, and checks in on some interesting tech from E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo.
About the Podcast:
The Zwift PowerUp Tri Podcast is hosted by former pro triathletes Matt Lieto and Jordan Rapp, lending their in-depth knowledge of the multisport to the Zwift Tri audience.
This is the fourth year of Zwift’s groundbreaking mass training/global talent ID program. Last year 35,000 men and women took part, and this year Zwift expects over 100,000 participants.
For some, this is a unique opportunity to earn a professional cycling contract, but for many more, it’s a unique community-based program that encourages its members to get fitter and faster while having fun along the way.
Pro Contracts
Zwift Academy provides a way for talented riders to get noticed by pro teams. Last year’s women’s winner Ellsa Harris says, “I grew up in New Zealand where it’s incredibly hard to get noticed as we are so far removed from the professional scene–especially that in Europe. Typically I would have to travel long distances to races. However, Zwift allowed me to prove my ability on a global stage from the convenience of my home.”
Just like 2018, this year two professional cycling contracts are up for grabs: one with Women’s World Tour team, CANYON//SRAM Racing, and one with the U23 Men’s Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka Continental Team.
This year, all semi-finalists will receive a Tacx Neo 2 Smart Trainer for use in the next phase of testing in the competition. Zwift Academy semi-finalists will be announced in early October.
Dates and Graduation Requirements
Zwift Academy will begin August 5th and run through September 29th.
To graduate, Zwifters must complete a series of 8 workouts and 4 races or social rides. This is a slight change from previous years, to allow Zwifters to tailor the program to their own personal preferences or goals.
In-Game Unlocks
Those enrolled in the Zwift Academy are incentivized to continue to progress with special in-game unlocks for completing each quarter of the program.
At 25%, Zwifters will unlock the unique Zwift Academy Socks
at 50% Zwift Academy Shoes
at 75% the Zwift Academy Cap
and for those who graduate, the complete Zwift Academy Kit.
For those who continue to complete an additional 4 social rides or races, extra credit will be awarded: a unique Zwift Academy paint job applicable to the BMC SLR01 for the men, and to the Canyon Ultimate for the women.
Supporting a Cause
Again this year, Zwift has pledged to donate one Qhubeka bike for every 10 graduates of the Men’s Zwift Academy, with the ambition of seeing at least 10,000 men graduate the program this year. That’s a lotta bikes!
“Zwift has been incredibly supportive of the Qhubeka cause,” says Doug Ryder, Team Principal for Team Dimension Data. “Every year, we travel to Cape Town for our end of season camp and get to hand over the bikes to the community, and it’s incredible to see how much of a difference basic transport can make to the lives of those people.”
Today’s Plan Premium
All those enrolled in Zwift Academy will be offered free premium access to the online training platform Today’s Plan for the duration of the Zwift Academy.
In addition to getting the full suite of tools and analytics of Today’s Plan, Zwifters will be able to see how they stack up against their age group and the overall competition.
Note: all those in the hunt for the pro cycling contracts must sign up to Today’s Plan.
How to Enroll
Enrollment for the 2019 Zwift Academy is now open. To register, head to www.zwift.com/academy and choose your academy, or sign up in game.
Last month’s training was all about rebuilding following a long, lazy vacation. This month was about going beyond my previous levels and starting to reach new heights.
Month four (May) finished with a CTL of 81, up from 74 prior to my vacation.
My VO2 max and mFTP were right where March’s numbers had been as well, so the post-vacation rebuild was definitely complete:
TTE remained at about 45 minutes, but at 292w as opposed to 275w in March. (For a discussion of TTE, see my month one post.)
Boosting Functional Reserve Capacity (FRC)
My FRC is continuing to creep up as well (the red dashed line below), which I’m happy to see since this is one of the key areas I’m working to improve. (For an introduction to FRC see my month two post.)
I’m now at 22.6 kj, having begun my first month at ~15 kj. That’s a big improvement (nearly 50%)! According to one chart from TrainingPeaks, an FRC greater than 22.9 kj is considered high, while 13.5-22.9 kg is considered “medium”. So I’m just on the cusp of FRC greatness… maybe.
But FRC is probably best measured in proportion to body weight instead of straight kilojoules, since a larger rider will logically have more capacity in their larger muscles. I can’t find a chart showing a breakdown of kj/kg looks like, but my guess is since I’m a larger cyclist (84kg/185lbs) my FRC isn’t actually that impressive.
Here’s an example of what FRC looks like, applied to cycling performance:
If my FTP is 300 watts, and I have an FRC of 15 kj, what is the highest average wattage I can hold for 10 minutes?
10 minutes = 600 seconds
15,000 joules/600 seconds = 25 watts
300 watts FTP + 25 watts of anaerobic power = 325 watts. This is the maximum power I can sustain for 10 minutes.
What does boosted FRC translate to in my actual cycling performance? I’ve noticed I can follow multiple attacks without blowing up. I don’t get dropped as often on short climbs. And if the race isn’t too crazy I can launch my own attacks while still having something in the tank for the final sprint. In short–FRC is a game changer for races!
The Workouts
Here are two workouts coach Shayne gave me multiple times in this training block. Both are good examples of V02 max and SST work:
The VO2 work, in particular, has been so helpful to me–even though it’s painful to do. Doing those intervals above threshold trains my body so I can handle race attacks, and even dish some out myself. This has helped my Zwift B racing go from “hang onto the pack until I get dropped by an attack halfway through” to “stay with the front the whole race, launch a few attacks of my own, and still have a finishing sprint.”
Watch for my next post as I tackle another month’s training block, including putting in some big miles on a cycling trip to Girona!
In this wide-ranging interview, Zwift creator Jon Mayfield makes a number of interesting revelations. Did you know Zwift is full of hidden features, yet to be activated? Which driving game does Jon feel has close parallels with Zwift? When is rowing coming? Will Zwift Run succeed? Are we going to see wholesale changes to Zwift’s UI?
All these questions and a good many more are answered in this episode. I hope you enjoy listening.
If you recall, last month’s training was a bit stifled, due especially to a 2-week family vacation where very little cycling happened. This knocked my Chronic Training Load (CTL) down from 74 on March 23rd to 50 on April 8th:
CTL is a key metric of fitness, and is computed as a rolling 42-day (6-week) average of your daily TSS. This is an exponentially-weighted average, meaning the workout you did 15 days ago will impact your CTL more than the workout you did 30 days ago. So you can see how two weeks of zero TSS will drop CTL quite quickly!
This drop represents what coaches call “detraining,” and you can see it in my monthly numbers for April:
Here is a chart from WK04 showing how my modeled FTP dropped from 295 to 275 between March and April:
In the past I’ve never paid much attention to detraining–I would go on vacation for a week or two, then come back and start riding again. Sure, I felt a little wimpy for the first week or two, but eventually I would be back to full strength.
This time around it was interesting to see the hard numbers and hear from coach Shayne how he goes about rebuilding after a significant stretch of poor training. Here’s what he told me:
After some time of poor training due to vacation, illness, other reasons it’s best to reevaluate first, then come up with a plan to rebuild the fitness lost. The biggest mistake I see athletes make is jumping right back into what they were doing before their break which can result in an injury and/or be very demotivating due to being unable to hit the numbers they could before. So, it’s best to scale things back and rebuild things in a slower and more methodical way…
I wanted to jump right back into it, but of course I went with Shayne’s plan, because he’s proven to me that he knows his stuff.
The Rebuild
Here’s what the week-by week numbers looked like for my month of rebuilding, beginning with the week before my vacation:
I was a little overzealous in putting in some extra work during my regeneration week, which is why fatigue stayed quite high. But you can still see Shayne’s approach of reducing goal TSS, and methodically rebuilding it to pre-vacation levels. Shayne told me:
I aimed for a ramp rate of 5 per week which we hit perfectly. 5 per week is aggressive, but with your history, I was confident you could tolerate it.
Regeneration Week
Coach Shayne typically slots in a regeneration week every 4th week, and I find these very helpful. While day to do recovery is key (I find alternating every other day between hard and easy workouts works well for me), after three weeks of hard training an easy week is just what my body and mind need in order to rebuild, reorient, and be ready to rock for the next training block.
If you’re finding yourself physically or mentally fatigued after weeks of training, considering taking an easy week. Still ride the bike, but don’t push it too hard–remind yourself why you enjoy it so much! I think you’ll be happy you did.
The Results
As you can see, I was feeling good by the end of the rebuild and felt both mentally and physically ready to take on the next month’s training block. So once again, coach Shayne’s plan worked perfectly.
Watch for my next post as I tackle the next training block and work to push to new heights!
Zwift has announced a new set of one-day races dubbed the “Zwift Classics”. One race held each month women, and one for men, for July, August, and September. The first race is for the ladies and kicks of July 3rd at 7pm BST.
These are simple one-day races, with no series or team points awarded. Whoever crosses the line first wins, and that’s going to make for some full-gas efforts!
Who Is Racing?
Like the KISS Super League, the Zwift Classics races are not open to all Zwifters. Only invited pro and community teams will take part. From the looks of it, most of the teams will be community-based, probably because pro teams are quite busy this time of year with a full outdoor racing schedule.
Teams are limited to five riders, and teams will vary between races (remember, this is not a series).
Confirmed teams for the Women’s London International race on July 3rd:
Six races have been scheduled–three for women, three for men. One each month for July, August, and September. Zwift’s press release says there are “more likely to be announced in the coming months.”
London International (Women’s) Wednesday, 3 July, 7pm BST World: London Route: Classique Distance: 5.4km // 3.3mi Elevation: 19m // 62ft Laps: 6
The Apple Lap (Men’s) Wednesday, 10 July, 6pm BST World: New York Route: Park Perimeter Distance: 9.7km // 6.1mi Elevation: 120m // 393ft Lap: 4
Craig Edmondson, CEO of Zwift Esports, says, “The focus for the Zwift Classics will be on streaming; we want to deliver the best experience for the viewer at home.”
Hopefully, this means we’ll see some big improvements in race streams. As we wrote back in February, there are so many possibilities when it comes to improving the experience of watching Zwift races.
Nicola Cranmer, General Manager Sho-Air TWENTY20 pro team that rode so well in the KISS Super League series, clearly sees the potential eRacing holds in terms of attracting eyeballs (and thus sponsors) for pro teams:
“It’s still early days, but I feel strongly that a robust eRacing program can be pivotal for Women’s cycling, helping attract in new partnerships. The entertainment value is high, the media impressions are tangible, and there is a new fan base to be cultivated.”
Jolien D’Hoore On Balancing Uni And Racing (Zwift PowerUp Cycling Podcast #31)
At 29 years old, Jolien D’Hoore has racked up an impressive number of achievements. Olympic medalist. World and European Champ. Belgian National Champion, 33 times over. She stops by in Episode 31 to chat with the crew about balancing her life as a pro while pursuing a university degree, as well as her favorite course on Zwift.
Nathan Guerra is back with his Zwift Community Live weekly wind up, this time joined by eRacing professor Greg Leo and Nicola Cranmer, GM of the Sho-Air Twenty20 women’s pro team.
The hosts discuss the latest Zwift release, which includes two new powerups and time trial mode. There is also much discussion of Zwift eRacing’s evolution as a cycling discipline, as well as how pro teams such as Sho-Air Twenty20 use the platform.
This is an optional feature for ride leaders, and must be specifically requested before it is enabled for a group ride.
Here’s what riders see when they get close to the fence:
If you ride through the fence you will get an alert with a countdown. Stay ahead of the fence for 60 seconds and you are booted from the event.
Group ride leaders can configure how far ahead of the leader the fence is located, or turn it off completely. They also see a count of how many flyers are ahead of the fence, and how many have been removed–but they do not see a list of flyers or booted riders.
Other ride participants don’t see any details about the fence, or interact with the fence at all, unless they ride too far ahead.
Invisibility and Burritos
The new invisibility (Ghost) powerup makes you invisible to other riders for 10 seconds.
It looks like this powerup may be disabled in the final 200 meters of races, which seems like a good move.
The burrito powerup makes you undraftable for 10 seconds.
