Tacx World Championship Races this weekend, plus possible world record attempt

Will you be on hand this weekend for the largest Zwift race to date?

KISS race organizers have announced the Tacx World Championships to be held on these dates/times:

• Women’s Race #1: 10/14/16 at 2PM PDT
• Women’s Race #2: 10/15/16 5AM PDT
• Men’s Race #1: 10/15/16 at 2PM PDT
• Men’s Race #2: 10/16/16 at 5AM PDT

Hard time converting to your time zone? View these and other events on the official Zwift events calendar.

World Record Attempt?

KISS organizer Glen Knight is attempting to have Men’s Race #2 registered as a world record attempt, presumably for the largest indoor bike race ever. Application is still pending!

Race Series Details

You are racing for your country. The nation with the fastest average time (5 riders minimum to qualify) will be crowned the Tacx World Champion. No complicated registration. No categories. Mass start. Just turn up and race.

Race Rules

• This race is labeled “E” for “Everyone”. There are no separate categories – everybody starts together.
• Power ups allowed at all times
• No TT bikes

PLEASE NOTE: zPower riders with avg. W/kg over the duration of the race of greater than 3.99W/kg will not be eligible for the win. Riders producing over 5w/kg average will be DQd. They can be reinstated if real life matching performances can be provided.

Results displayed as you cross the finish line are preliminary. Final results will be posted on www.zwiftpower.com

Prizes

Prizes including Tacx and Zwift bidons, Zwift official real life kit and two Tacx Neo smart trainers. That’s right: one female and one male will win Tacx’s top smart trainer!

A Tacx Neo trainer will be awarded to one random woman and one random man. Just start and finish the race to be eligible.

UPDATE: here are the prize winners!

Neo
Women Marge Kleinhans Kaufmann (TFC) (D)
Men Hans Winter MGCC

Save the date: Ride On for World Bicycle Relief Zwiftathon December 3

Last year was Zwift’s first “Ride On for World Bicycle Relief” day, in which Zwifters were challenged to ride 100,000 miles in order for Trek to donate $40,000 for World Bicycle Relief. It was a wonderful day, with many thousands of riders turning out to ride anything from short stints to mammoth, multiple-hundred mile efforts on WBR’s signature Buffalo Bike. And the 100,000 mile goal was hit quite easily!

I personally completed my first 100km Zwift session that day, all the while chatting with a group of friends on Teamspeak as we rode together.

Zwift HQ has announced this year’s event, taking place Saturday, December 3.

According to the World Bicycle Relief event page, prizes will be awarded (how to qualify for the prizes isn’t currently clear), including a Hammer Direct Drive Trainer from CycleOps and a custom Trek Project One Madone! Also, professional cyclists Jens Voigt, Laurens ten Dam, Mirinda Carfrae, Jordan Rapp (and many more) will be riding on Zwift during the event.

More details are still to come from Zwift HQ, but everyone is encouraged to save the date and participate in some way.

Zwift Halloween Hammerfest announced

Trapper Markelz, organizer of various Zwift Hammerfest events, has returned from a summer of outdoor riding and business commitments to host his first Hammerfest of the season: the Halloween Hammerfest!

To participate, just register at hammerfest.bike.

Here’s the event description:

This five day, three stage Hammerfest will put you into a caloric deficit that you can fill with Halloween candy! It all starts off with a gut wrenching KOM of Box Hill on the London course. We then switch to Watopia for a single island lap. Then it gets crazy with something we’ve never tried before: A whole mess of sprints.  Complete the segments identified for each stage in the time allotted and upload a result to Strava. For more details about how this works, check out the FAQ.

Stage 1 – Box Hill KOM – Oct 24th and 25th
The Hammerfest kicks off with a 1.9 mile (3.06 km) hike up Box Hill on the London course. We are using the Zwift Insider Verified segment. Get ready to throw down a PR. We have faith in your suffering.

Stage 2 – Watopia Single Lap – Oct 26th and 27th
It all started with a simple hilly loop around the island. We are going back to basics on this one with a drop-dead-simple old-school original island circumnavigation.

Stage 3 – Watopia Sprint Fest – Oct 28th – 29th
Are you ready for this? It is going to be crazy (awesome). Go to the sprint segment on Watopia (the one that starts under the tunnel) and we will total up your best six (6) attempts into your total time. Sprint, U-turn, Sprint, U-turn, repeat!

Wondering how the Hammerfest events work? Read this description.

Be sure to follow the Hammerfest by liking the new Facebook page.

Tacx World Championship Races presented by KISS announced

KISS race organizers have announced the Tacx World Championships to be held on Zwift October 15th and 16th.

Each day will feature a Men’s race and Women’s race. Nations will compete against each other and have their times averaged across both races with the winning nation announced for both the men’s and the women’s competition. A minimum of five riders will be required for a nation to qualify for the competition.

Separate prize draws for both the men and the women, with prizes from both Tacx and Zwift.

Prizes including Tacx and Zwift bidons, Zwift official real life kit and two Tacx Neo smart trainers. That’s right: one female and one male will win Tacx’s top smart trainer!

Rules will be clarified closer to race time but expect KISS rules for the most part. Join the KISS Facebook group to keep tabs on these and other KISS events.