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Week 25 – I am so Tired… a Recovery Week that Wasn’t

Ian Murray
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Week 25 – I am so Tired… a Recovery Week that Wasn’t

Week 25 – I am so Tired… a Recovery Week that Wasn’t

Editor’s note: Ian Murray is using Zwift to train for the International Triathlon Union Long Course World Championships held in Odense/Fyn, Denmark July 2018. His weekly Zwift Insider series discusses the previous week’s training and the plan for the upcoming week.

This was my last week of work in the Dominican Republic before we pack up and move to the DC area.  When I originally built this week, I thought, “Self, you will have time to train, as you are way ahead of the curve regarding preparations.”  Isn’t it nice how you often lie to yourself?  Yeah, I may have been way ahead, but that only meant that I gave myself more to do.  Grrr.

The Non-Recovery Recovery Week

This week was supposed to be a recovery week.  However, due to work and preparing to move, I was not able to accomplish everything in the previous two weeks.  Thus, I figured that I would just add a little to recovery week, making it more like a maintenance week.  I planned on doing some Endurance Lab workouts along with an ODZ Cat & Mouse race on the bike and a few runs and swims.  Monday was ok but not great.  I had some systems issues, so I couldn’t get all of the workout done before making an appearance on the ODZ Chat and Chill ride for a Q&A with Endurance Lab coaches.  I got the required work in despite the issues, so I felt that the week was off to a good start.  Tuesday’s swim actually went better than I thought it would go.  I wasn’t as fast as I would have liked, but my slower 100s were faster than expected, and I did not need the recovery I thought I would.  Unfortunately, my strength workout didn’t happen.  I worked straight through lunch, as would be the trend for the week.  On Wednesday morning, our first packing appointment meant that I didn’t have to go into work.  So, I got in a quick ten-miler before getting cleaned up for the first round of movers.  Thursday was another solid swim, where I turned out pretty good times for the 400s and the 800, getting faster as the workout progressed.  By Friday, I was feeling pretty hopeful. I was still one swim short of my plan and I had not gotten any of my strength work done.  But, I planned to get some extra work during lunch and maybe after work.  As you can probably guess, that did not happen.  Not only did I not get everything done, I had to stay pretty late at work before coming home to get things moving on the packing front.

The weekend didn’t provide much relief.  On Saturday morning, I did a lot of work as a domestique for the B group in the ODZ Goats & Bears race, where we did the Volcano Climb route twice.  That was a lot of fun, and it was good work.  Basically, I sat at 4.1 w/kg for about an hour driving the pace from the front of the group.  On the second lap, halfway up the volcano, I hit the gas, throwing a grenade into our already small group.  After whittling it down to two teammates, myself, and one other rider, I told the other two ODZ riders to get ready.  I surged one more time, bringing the pace to 5 w/kg.  Within seconds, we dropped the non-ODZ rider, and I told the other two to get read to launch.  About 100 meters before the crest of the climb, my legs blew up, but we had a gap.  My teammates took off, and I sat up, trying to recover briefly before hopping on the back of a small group on the descent.  With the luxury of teammates up the road, I simply sat on, calling out time splits to them.  After watching them go 1-2, I tried to close out the podium but didn’t have the sprint to do it.  I was shot. The week of late nights and early days had caught up with me.

After getting off the bike, eating, and cleaning up, I got to work tearing down the bike room and disassembling the bikes.  We worked until about 10 PM getting the house ready, only breaking to eat some food.  Sunday morning rolled around, and we had not made enough progress.  So, I skipped training and went back to work.  I could barely keep my eyes open, I was so tired.

Planned TSS – 733; Completed TSS – 569

Moving Week

Technically, I’m not moving this week.  Monday through Wednesday, though, we’ll have movers at the house early.  After that, I’ll pretty much be reduced to running and swimming until June 6.  By then, we will have access to our place, and I’ll be able to get the bike put back together.  I just packed her up, and I already miss her.

Planned TSS – 389

In the end, the TSS looked like a recovery week, but it sure didn’t feel like one!  I’m ready to get this move done, so I can get back to my routine.  Being that I move quite a bit, I should be used to it.  That is not the case, though.  Well, time to suck it up and push through.  Unfortunately, I will be pretty much all outdoors until race day, so I won’t be able to see anyone on Zwift.  I’ll be here, though, posting away.  Until next time, Ride On!

All About ZwiftPower’s Temporary GDPR Shutdown

Eric Schlange
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All About ZwiftPower’s Temporary GDPR Shutdown

All About ZwiftPower’s Temporary GDPR Shutdown

On May 25th ZwiftPower, the central service for Zwift race results, announced a temporary closure due to GDPR-related issues. As a web developer myself I am well-acquainted with the challenges GDPR poses to companies working with personal data, so I chatted a bit with the ZwiftPower folks to get their take on the situation. (Note: I also reached out to Zwift, but haven’t heard back from them yet.)

First, a Bit About GDPR

The General Data Protection Regulation was passed by the European Union on April 14, 2016, with enforcement beginning May 25, 2018. It created an EU-wide set of standards for the protection of  personal data relating to EU Internet users. But it is important to note that GDPR standards apply to the personal data of EU users regardless of the location of the entity holding their data. So companies in the US (such as Zwift) who handle the personal data of EU users must comply with the law.

So this is why you’ve been receiving so many emails announcing privacy policy updates. You can read the full GDPR text here, but to summarize its purpose GDPR exists to give citizens back control over their personal data.

From the corporate standpoint, GDPR is a pain in the butt. But from the consumer’s standpoint, it’s a very good thing. As Techcrunch said, “… consumer trust is essential to fostering growth in the digital economy … trust can be won by giving users of digital services more information and greater control over how their data is used. Which is — frankly speaking — a pretty refreshing idea when you consider the clandestine data brokering that pervades the tech industry. Mass surveillance isn’t just something governments do.”

Zwift API Challenges

An Application Programming Interface is a set of tools which allow services to easily interact. In terms of Zwift, the API (until recently) allowed third-party sites to fetch your basic profile data, activity details, followers, followees, etc.

Third-party sites like ZwiftPower, ZwiftGPS and CVR’s CycleData have been pulling rider data from Zwift’s unofficial API for a long time. That all stopped this month when Zwift’s Wes Salmon posted the following on the Zwift Coders Facebook group:

Hey coders, I have some news about the current state of Zwift’s APIs and what some upcoming regulations mean for the future. It’s likely that no matter where you live in the world, you’ve heard of the new EU data protection law, known as the GDPR. The GDPR is going into effect on May 25th, 2018 and this will impact how the team here at Zwift HQ manages and secures our API endpoints.

While we work through the logistics of ensuring GDPR compliance in all of our data streams, we will need to make a few changes to our Zwift APIs.

First, we ask that any developer currently using the Zwift APIs to stop doing so by May 25th.

Second, we ask that you delete any personal data related to Zwift users collected through our APIs by May 25th…

So the core issue here is that Zwift’s API was exposing Zwifters’ personal data to third-party services in ways which were not compliant with GDPR standards. And since GDPR comes with potentially massive penalties for non-compliance, Zwift made the sensible decision to comply with GDPR even if it meant a temporary shutdown of some important community services.

In hindsight, it appears Zwift should have given a higher priority many months ago to GDPR-related matters. This would have let the API get updated earlier so Zwift and third-party sites would be compliant on May 25th. But let’s not cry over spilled milk.

When Will ZwiftPower Return?

ZwiftPower’s return timetable is in the hands of Zwift. Zwift has communicated June 1st as a target date for coming back online, but my sources at ZwiftPower (and myself) are doubtful that target will be hit, especially with the server team off work today since it is a public holiday in Rio.

What Are the Implications?

When ZwiftPower does return, Zwifters will need to explicitly consent to their rider/profile data being shared with ZwiftPower. ZwiftPower will not receive data from Zwift for users who do not consent (not even finishing lists) so this will have a major impact on ZwiftPower’s ability to display “accurate” race results.

For example, a race may have 100 participants, but if only 50 have consented to sharing their data then ZwiftPower’s finishing lists will only show those 50 riders.

Racers will know that a lesser but similar issue already exists with ZwiftPower, thanks to their proactive changes back in January 2018 when they implemented their own explicit opt-in which was required in order to be included in final race results. While this covered ZwiftPower legally, it created a new problem where racers could compete in-game without opting in to ZwiftPower and being included in final results (like the example above). While this issue effected final results, you could still see the “unfiltered” list of finishers if desired. With these GDPR changes, though, the only riders listed on ZwiftPower will be those who have given explicit consent.

More than once I’ve put in hard efforts to beat someone in-game only to realize they weren’t even in the final results list. With the new API restrictions this will become an much bigger issue. Yes, I hear you saying, “It’s just a game, you’re building fitness.” But I want to know the people I’m racing against are the people I’m racing against, and that will only happen if Zwift adds some sort of ZwiftPower GDPR consent requirement in-game. So I’m hoping that is exactly what happens, even though I don’t see that happening within the next few weeks.

Here’s how I see this shaking out: once Zwift’s API is updated (let’s say within a week), race organizers will need to make a big push to get Zwifters to consent so they can be included in ZwiftPower results. And eventually, hopefully, this will be streamlined and handled in-game so all racers are required to opt-in.

Zwift Update 1.0.26736 Released

Eric Schlange
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Zwift Update 1.0.26736 Released

Zwift Update 1.0.26736 Released

Zwift released a major update last night which includes two big items: flexible Training Plans and the ability for events to be on a different world than the currently live world. Read below for details on these and other changes included in this update.

Flexible Training Plans

If you’ve ever endeavored to complete a structured training plan over several weeks, you know the biggest challenge (apart from completing the actual workouts) is fitting the training plan into your life. What happens when you have to skip a workout for an emergency? What if you want to ride outside?

As Zwift’s Jordan Rapp says, “The best training is the training you actually do.” Zwift’s goal with these new Training Plans is to give you the structure needed to realize real training benefits, as well as the motivation to complete the plan. This is only version 1.0 of Zwift’s Training Plan system, but it’s a great start.

There are twelve training plans included at this time, with more to come. To access the plans, click “Plans” at the top of the workout picker screen.

 

You’ll see a full article on flexible Training Plans here on Zwift Insider in the near future. For now, click below to watch the ZwiftCast guys discuss them. You’ll also hear from key Zwift team members about their vision for this feature:

Three-Way Flexibility

When you select a plan, you also select the plan length, so you can target a particular completion date. That is one way these new training plans are flexible.

They are also flexible because you can mark a workout as being completed outdoors–so you aren’t required to complete every workout on Zwift.

Lastly, if you have to miss a workout, the plan will automatically do its best to make sure you complete the key workout(s) for the week. So you can take a much-needed rest day without derailing your training plan.

Off-Calendar Events

This update includes, for the first time ever, the ability for events to take place in a different world than the one currently scheduled. This is a very big deal, as it is the beginning of “world choice,” a feature Zwifters have been requesting for quite some time. Starting next week the calendar will contain events on Watopia, London, and Richmond–all on the same day!

Additional Updates

There are several other updates included in this release–here they are, with a few notes from myself.

  • Events now start counting at a new spot, right under the ‘Enjoy your Ride’ sign in Watopia, and a new painted line on the road on the other 2 worlds: this is good, especially for races where you pay attention to the distance. Distances weren’t always accurate previously, so this should fix that issue.
  • Previous efforts are now graphed on Alpe du Zwift segments: after checking out the Alpe this morning I’m still not sure what this actually means. But I do see that Alpe map on the right also includes your total distance up the Alpe, so you see how far you have left to go.
  • Percentages for earning prizes at top of Alpe tuned slightly: hopefully this means Nathan Guerra can finally get those Meilenstein Lightweights.
  • Graphics performance optimized: always a plus!
  • Added ‘enhanced drafting’ mode for events, as a test. Draft effect will be much stronger in events with this rule set: this will be good for rides who want to make sure the group stays together, although I’m curious how this will effect pack speeds.

See full update notes >

 

Week 24 – Running Long But Short on Time

Ian Murray
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Week 24 – Running Long But Short on Time

Week 24 – Running Long But Short on Time

Editor’s note: Ian Murray is using Zwift to train for the International Triathlon Union Long Course World Championships held in Odense/Fyn, Denmark July 2018. His weekly Zwift Insider series discusses the previous week’s training and the plan for the upcoming week.

With eight weeks left before the race and two weeks before I move back to the US, I just don’t have a lot of time left to pack in the hard work.  Lately it seems like I have even less than I could have imagined.  I will admit that I wasn’t really sure about racing ITU Worlds this year due to the move, but I had a number of friends who qualified with me, so it was an opportunity that I could not pass up.  However, the difficulties of the timing are adding up, and there is still work to be done.

30K Practice On “The Course”

With about 8 weeks to go, I wanted to get some practice on the simulated course on my treadmill.  The goal was to run 30K in about 2 hours 20 minutes.  It’s not a particularly fast pace for me, but I planned to do it on more or less no food to start, feeding as I go to simulate how I might feel during the actual race.  We’ll get to that though.

Like the previous week, work did not let up.  Well, it’s not just work.  It’s actually work, beginning the packing, and looking for a place all at the same time, while trying to maintain some hard training.  Against my own better judgement, sleep is the one thing that has suffered.  Unfortunately, as sleep falls away, so does quality training.  Actually, it is the recovery that falls away, which leads to lower quality training.

This week has been another one of those mixed bag weeks.  After a crappy ride on Monday, I had an awesome swim on Tuesday.  Wednesday followed up with a physical fitness test, and I crushed that.  I completed 82 push-ups and 82 sit-ups well within the 2 minute time limit for each event, getting maximum points for each.  We then headed over to the 2-mile run course, where I wanted to test the legs and test out my pacing using my Stryd power meter instead of perceived effort or min/mile.  I had a simple plan, go out the first 100 meters or so at 320 Watts and then settle into 280-285W by the 400m mark.  The plan held pretty good for most of the first mile.  Then I came across the chatters and the contratransitos.  You know who the contratransito people are.  They are the ones who walk on the wrong side the path/road.  They also strategically place themselves so they take up as much space as possible but not giving you enough to squeeze through and get by.  Anyway, I had to do some weaving in and out of the contratransitos, causing me to drop power a little bit.  But, other than costing me a second or two, it wasn’t too bad.  At the 1-mile mark, I made the turn and headed back to the start/finish point.  Although there are no significant hills, the course does have a slight roll to it.  That led to small variations in my power, as I transitioned from uphill to downhill, but I held fairly close to my goal power.  With about 400 meters left, I picked up the pace to the mid-290W range to finish off the test, crossing in 10 minutes and 45 seconds.

Of course, the next two days were crap after that.  A trash fire at the dump by the swimming pool made the air nearly unbreathable, so I cut the swim short.  I had a below average swim on Friday morning and ended the day by sitting in the mechanic’s office, waiting for them to finish fixing my car.  By the time Saturday came around I was under-rested, and I am sure the bottle of wine that my wife and I killed on Friday night didn’t really help any.

Saturday morning came early, and I got to work on the treadmill after my obligatory coffee.  I fired up Zwift, connected my Stryd pod, and pulled up the pre-programmed course in the treadmill.  Now, the actual course is only 7.5K per lap, so I would have to repeat it four times.  How’s that for making a monotonous treadmill even more so?  With legs that felt a bit heavy, I decided to take advantage of some warm-up time.  After about 15 minutes, I picked the pace up from my nice and easy 195-200W (roughly 7:30/mile) to 225W (roughly 6:40-7:00/mile).  That was still pretty comfortable; however, my treadmill has a safety setting on it that I hate.  Anytime the gradient goes into a decline, it slows down.  Below 0 drops it automatically to 9.0 MPH.  Below 1 percent, it goes to 8.5 MPH.  Below 2 percent, it goes to 8.0 MPH.  It actually caps the speed at that, so I can’t even override it.  It does not do the same thing with inclines.  No, that just punishes me.  Since this course has a lot of ups and downs as it goes through town, I was constantly being slowed and then having to pick the pace up.  I did not feel like I could get in a rhythm.  At the 17.5-mile mark, I started my cool down, finishing up right at 18.6 miles.  I’ll be honest.  It was not my best day.  I have done better many times before.  But, given all of the things going on right now, I’ll take it.  Besides, I basically just did the race distance with a feeling in my legs similar to how they will feel on race day… on a treadmill.

Planned TSS – 862; Completed TSS – 724

The Last Week of Work

After a mediocre week that was below targeted TSS, I want to bring it up a notch and not ease off for the recovery week so much.  If I can’t hit everything, that’s ok.  I just need to make sure I get some good quality work in during the week.  Oh, we also have to pack up the house, and I have to close out everything at work.  I don’t see this being stressful at all.  Easy week.

Planned TSS – 733

Well, we’re getting to crunch time.  I feel like I am behind on pretty much everything.  I’m not stressing it too much, though.  In two weeks, I’ll be moving, and things will settle down.  Ok, who am I kidding?  They absolutely will not settle down until I return from ITU Worlds.  That’s what makes this train-up interesting.  Speaking of, I need to start separating stuff for the move.

Unless you want to come help me pack, have fun training.  Until then, Ride On!

Zwift Coaching Podcast Episode 8

Eric Schlange
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Zwift Coaching Podcast Episode 8

Zwift Coaching Podcast Episode 8

Episode 8 of the Zwift Coaching Podcast digs into the the science and secrets behind HIIT workouts. The coaches also share some HITT session ideas.

Discussion points for this episode include:

  • What is HIIT?
  • Why we should do HIIT?
  • The physiological changes that HIIT promotes.
  • A typical HIIT session that you can try.

Download Kev’s HIIT Workout

About the Podcast:

The Zwift PowerUp Cycling Podcast features training tips from Matt Rowe (Rowe & King), Greg Henderson (Coach Hendy) and Kev Poulton (Powerhouse Cycling).

Event Sharing Is Easy with the Updated Zwift Companion App

Eric Schlange
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Event Sharing Is Easy with the Updated Zwift Companion App

Event Sharing Is Easy with the Updated Zwift Companion App

Zwift rolled out a minor update to Zwift Companion this week which includes a much-requested feature: the ability to easily share an event with a friend!

It’s as easy as 1-2-3:

1: Click the sharing button at top-right

 

2: Choose your sharing method

 

3: Select your contact(s) and share!

Zwiftcast Episode 49

Simon Schofield
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Zwiftcast Episode 49

Zwiftcast Episode 49

Episode 49 of Zwiftcast has been released. Here’s the full episode description:

Simon, Shane and Nathan are back in their usual places of the UK, Australia and the USA for a look at the ever vibrant happenings on Zwift. The Zwiftcasters kick off with a chat about the KickrClimb, or, in fact, its absence. Despite it being ever-present on the Zwift Tour of Australia, where Shane’s been hanging out, it’s still not available to buy.

The trio move on to to discuss another rare bird–the special wheels you might get if you ascend the Alpe du Zwift. Climbing expert Simon Warren, of the 100 Greatest Climbs series of books, gives his verdict on the Zwift Alpe – and he knows the real thing like the back of his hand.

Simon got to spend a bit of time with Zwift Academy Winner Tanja Erath at the Tour de Yorkshire and his report captures her feelings pre and post stage.

The Zwiftcasters debate how GDPR (it’s not boring honest!) might affect Zwift, with the news that on the back of the legislation, ZHQ are due to launch a development platform.

Finally, Simon talks to Jillian Bearden, the transgender athlete who’s forced resignation from Team Fearless cause a huge ruckus on the Zwift social medias.

Week 23 – Come On! Another Garbage Week

Ian Murray
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Week 23 – Come On! Another Garbage Week

Week 23 – Come On! Another Garbage Week

Editor’s note: Ian Murray is using Zwift to train for the International Triathlon Union Long Course World Championships held in Odense/Fyn, Denmark July 2018. His weekly Zwift Insider series discusses the previous week’s training and the plan for the upcoming week.

After a pretty good week capped off by a solid race, I was excited about a pretty solid build week.  Actually, I planned to have a hard week.  Oh, the week was hard alright.  Between working late every day and my legs wanting nothing to do with my training, it was pretty much a garbage week.  Granted, I had some solid workouts, but most of the week turned out to be a giant disappointment.

The conversation

Me:  Listen guys, we don’t have much time.  I need you to cooperate.

Legs:  Huh?  Sorry, we’re napping.

Me:  No, it’s time to get to work.

Legs:  Strike!  Strike!  Strike!

That was the conversation that took place this week. Actually, the legs showed up for work on Monday.  I had a solid Endurance Lab VO2 335 workout on Monday morning and a good commute.  That was pretty much the highlight of my week.  Bad weather and late work kept me out of the pool on Monday.  I forgot my swimsuit at home on Tuesday, and I could not get it going on Wednesday for my run.  It was a pathetic display.

Thursday I ended up having to work both early and late and missed my third consecutive swim.  If you remember how “awesome” my swim was during the race, you know that I don’t need to miss any swims.  Finally, by Friday, I started feeling better.  While I was dreading the Endurance Lab Long Grind83 workout, I attacked it with exuberance.  It turns out that there was a lot of time standing and just hammering away at the pedals.  That is what I love to do!  Saturday’s ride was ok, but I got a little excited working for some friends on the ODZ Goats & Bears Ride, pushing a bit too hard for too long and leaving the legs shot.  After that, I threw in the towel and went to help out the wife with some tasks around the house.  The next day, we got up somewhat early but didn’t head out the door until a little after 8 AM.  It was hot and humid, but it was a great little 14-mile jaunt.  Ruby rode her cruiser beside me with some ice cold water and some music belting out tunes from the early 90s.  It was not my fastest run by any stretch of the imagination, but it felt good.  I was dripping sweat by the end of it and a bit overheated.  Overall, though it was a good end to the week.

Planned TSS – 948; Completed TSS – 704

Fitting in the volume

The last few weeks of my training before departing the Dominican Republic are going to be a bit of a challenge.  Packing up for a move while wrapping up loose ends at the office, packing up the house, and searching for a new house remotely definitely adds to the stress levels.  I have some big plans for the week, but we’ll see how it goes.

Planned TSS – 862

Well, we’re eight weeks out from the race and three weeks from flying out of here.  I still have some time to train, but the work is pretty much done.  I am more concerned about keeping my form during the move.  I know that I will get plenty of running in, but I am not so sure about the bike and the swim.  Well, at least I’ll be very ready for the run!  That’s it for me right now.  I hope to see you out on course.  Until then, Ride On!

See Watopia Again, for the First Time

Eric Schlange
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See Watopia Again, for the First Time

See Watopia Again, for the First Time

Game Master Jon Mayfield gave us a new perspective on Watopia in today’s early-morning tweet:

Jon added this note to the thread:

What isn’t shown here is a stats heavy debug screen that allowed me to select/highlight a specific object, in this case, all the palm trees that were currently being drawn. They are flashing light blue. Everything else is color coded by detail level.

Click image above for full-resolution (4k) version

One major challenge video game developers face is determining the level of detail (LOD) different elements are rendered at as you move through the virtual world. The approach commonly taken is to set the graphics up in such a way that elements further away from the viewer are rendered at a lower level of detail than elements which are close.

There’s much more to it than that, of course, but this gives you a little peek into what Zwift developers and artists work with on a daily basis to deliver the quality experience we all enjoy.

 

Trans Rider Kicked from Zwift Team

Eric Schlange
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Trans Rider Kicked from Zwift Team

Trans Rider Kicked from Zwift Team

The Zwift community has been buzzing with news that Jillian Bearden was asked to resign from Team Fearless, one of the top women’s teams on Zwift. In this post you’ll read thoughts from Jillian as well as Team Fearless on this thorny issue. I’ve also invited Zwift HQ to chime in.

First, let’s be clear: my purpose in sharing this story today is not to advocate for one side or the other. I simply want to deliver the news, let those involved share their perspectives, and invite civil discussion on this topic. This discussion is important particularly in the Zwift racing community, where leaders and racers will need to grapple with developing policies in the coming months.

About Jillian

While there are undoubtedly other transwomen on Zwift, Jillian stands out as perhaps the world’s most prominent trans cyclist. She writes this about herself:

IRL I race as an elite athlete, competing in races such as the Colorado Classic and currently gearing up for Nationals. I’ve been an athlete for more than a decade, so yes I was an elite athlete before my transition. This has opened the doors for sport researchers around the world to study me. I ended up being the test subject for the International Olympic Committee and help draft their Trans policy. I have worked with USAC for years to help draft there current Trans policy. With these doctors helping to prove through science what HRT (hormone replacement therapy) will do to an athletes performance before and after transitioning, we were able to show the world data never seen before. All these test where performed at CTS (Carmichael Training Center) in Colorado Springs.

USA Cycling granted Jillian a racing license in April 2016. See her race results >

Here’s a short video about Jillian from the Denver Post:

From Team Fearless

I reached out to Team Fearless administrators and asked them to explain their perspective in writing. Below is the full text of what they sent.

The following is a statement from the Team Fearless admins, it does not represent the views of all the members of our team:

We want to lead by saying that we never told anyone they are unwelcome on any of our rides, races, or events. Like many teams on Zwift we have requirements for joining our team. In the absence of any sort of governing body or rules to govern Zwift racing and Zwift racers, we feel a responsibility to try to set some sort of rules for our team. Such rules also must be enforceable, to the capabilities and abilities of a volunteer virtual team. We have removed racers in the past for not meeting other requirements, such as not racing regularly, or for having questionable results/poor calibration and not willing to work on it. We understand other teams do not feel the need to make this distinction, but our goal is to try to avoid race results of our team being questioned.

In terms of the female question, in the lack of a governing body or enforcement, we felt there were two options for what is female and qualifies for the team: cisgender female only, or anyone who identifies as female. We do not see a middle ground that is enforceable on a volunteer virtual team level. Therefore, we chose to use the terminology “biological female” in our application, which traditionally means born female.

Jillian answered our application that she was biologically female and joined the team as such. When this came to our attention, we opened a dialogue with her. Unfortunately, her interpretation of biologically female differs from our definition and our intention as stated above. We want to clarify again, we at no point have said that transwomen are not welcome in our Team Fearless Fans group or any of our events. Our honest hope was that Jillian would understand our limitations and that she would remain active in our Team Fearless Fans group and in our events.

From Jillian

Jillian wrote an article on Facebook about this incident, and I’ve pulled a few quotes (with her permission) below. You can read the entire article here >

Up to this point I was under the radar as I’m fully transitioned and have been for years, not a single women knew I was Trans and I was just the same as everyone else on the team, as it should be. The team made kits for IRL just for fun and of course I wanted a kit to support the team and feel as though I belonged. As our kits came in last week and we all were taking kit picture as Amy the team owner had asked this of us but this was also fun for us girls, we wanted to! Sharing the excitement I posted this picture (above), first ride in the new kit! It got lots of addition with the beautiful back drop of Pikes Peak, so teammates started asking me where I lived and the rest is history.

I broke the news to a friend I have met through Team Fearless not knowing if she would support me, the msg was hard to write. With great anticipation of her response as she had no idea I was Trans, it turned out her response was amazing and she stands by my side as an ally.

I have been welcomed with open arms in real life by the women’s cycling community. These msg’s … came as a huge shock and I cried most of yesterday’s afternoon away. I have built amazing relationships with the women I race with IRL and they also were shocked with this news …I tried to put my best foot forward to show I was just like any other woman on the team but was quickly smashed down … I’m not here to win you over, just laying out what I experienced racing for a virtual team.

From Zwift

I reached out to Emily Mullen at Zwift, and here is the statement she gave:

Zwift’s for everyone who wants to be more active more often and we want to make sure all of our community can find the place that allows them to reach their potential, and most importantly get more enjoyment from their training. We’re continuing to work with all teams and clubs on Zwift to encourage them to adopt established competition policies, like those held by the IOC, and embrace an overarching spirit of inclusion above all else.

What Next?

Zwift is gaining acceptance daily among cyclists as simply another discipline of bike racing. As more trans cyclists get involved with racing, it is important that the Zwift community works together (and with Zwift HQ) to develop clear and enforceable guidelines for all Zwifters.

To that end, perhaps a look at the policies currently enforced by cycling’s key legislative bodies would be helpful.

Current Transgender Cycling Policies

The International Olympic Committee released new participation rules for transgender athletes in late 2015. Gender reassignment surgery is not required, and males who transition to females must demonstrate a total testosterone level below 10 nmol/L for at least 12 months prior to their first competition. Read the IOC’s Transgender Policy >

I was unable to find direct reference to UCI’s transgender policies, but did find reliable sources stating that the UCI has indicated they are going to follow the IOC guidelines referenced above.

USA Cycling has adopted the IOC’s policy for elite-level athletes. Non-elite athletes (Categories 3-5) may self-select their gender category, and any questions about each athlete’s eligibility may be determined on the basis of civil or medical documentation, how that athlete identifies in “everyday life,” and similar criteria. Read USA Cycling’s Transgender Athletes Policy >

Your Thoughts?

I would love to hear your thoughts on this matter below. Fair warning: personal attacks will not be tolerated. Please keep it civil.

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