While I haven’t shared a tale of race loss for several weeks, there’s no reason to fear, dear reader: I’ve been losing races both handily and frequently despite my lack of reporting. The simple truth is, they haven’t been interesting losses.
Today’s race, though, was worth recounting about because it was on a brand-new and (I think) quite interesting route. The race course 1 lap of Turf N Surf, as featured in Stage 3 of November’s Race Makuri series.
If you haven’t ridden this route yet, give it a go! I found it to be visually stunning, with ever-changing views. You begin and end in Neokyo but will also covers the two Urukazi connector roads (which I think are the coolest parts of the new map) and Urukazi proper as well.
Warmup with Coco
Since this was just a “fun race”, I did my typical casual pre-race prep: two pieces of caffeine gum (200mg) around an hour before the race, plus some PR lotion on my legs.
Then I hopped in with the Coco pace partner pack in Watopia and spun out my legs for about half an hour, getting my heart rate up around 160 to blow out the cobwebs. With a few minutes to go I joined the pens, seated atop my trust virtual S-Works Venge + DT Swiss Disc wheels.
What I Knew Going In
Having spent no small amount of time in and around Urukazi these past few weeks, I had a solid idea of what I was getting myself into with a race on Turf N Surf. Or so I thought. In my head, the course was a fairly simple counter-clockwise loop starting at Neokyo Harbor, riding through Neokyo, then descending to Urukazi before climbing back to the finish at Neokyo Harbor.
I knew there would be two difficult spots: the climb up to the Shisa sprint (not an official KOM but I made a segment anyway) and the climb up through the cavern back to Neokyo (another newly-minted segment). Interestingly, both of those climbs have very similar specs, on paper. Both are just over 2km, averaging 2.5-3%. But the Pain Cavern Climb (as I’ve named it) just hurts so much more. Maybe it’s because the gradient isn’t steady. Maybe it’s because it comes later in the ride.
Regardless, I figured Pain Cavern would be my nemesis in this race. If I could survive in the front group through the cavern, I might have a shot at a good result.
The Start
Turf N Surf begins tamely enough, with ~8km of flat roads through Neokyo and out Neokyo Tunnel, before taking a left into the slot canyon connector descent. We had a big group of 163 Bs which included some strong riders, meaning the pace would be high regardless of what I did. So I just sat in the pack and conserved my energy!
The Weirdness of Large Pelotons on Zwift
Racing with large groups on Zwift can be a bit crazy since Zwift only renders the closest 100 riders. Yes, it’s true: whether you’re looking at the avatars on screen, or the dots on your minimap, Zwift only shows the 100 nearest riders! (This is done to keep the CPU load down, since each rider’s position must be constantly computed by your machine.)
This presents an obvious problem in a race with 163 Bs: what if I’m so far back that I don’t see what’s happening at the front?
It can be a real problem, especially in places where attacks happen and gaps form. If you’re too far back your minimap and screen will make it look like you’re sitting in the front pack, but there may actually be a pile of riders ahead who aren’t even visible on your screen. Yikes!
One way to get some added visibility in this situation is to have ZwiftPower’s live view of your event up on another screen. This only updates every 30 seconds, though, so it’s far from perfect.
The only foolproof method of seeing what’s happening ahead is to stay near the front. I like to ride a few bikes from the front, which put me around 30-60th place in today’s race. Be warned, though: this strategy gets increasingly challenging as pack size increases, which is why big races of 300+ riders are never easy on Zwift – because everyone is pushing to stay near the front!
Ascending to the Shisa
Our first climb of the day (which I’ve named the Festival Harbor Climb CCW) came 14.5km into the race. At 2km long and 2.6% gradient, last week’s Tiny Races taught me that this climb is draftable and short enough for me to hang on, even with a strong pack. So I buckled down and hammered my way up, staying in the wheels and averaging 342W over 3:36 to stay with the front group.
This climb whittled our front group down from over 100 to around 70. I settled in for the descent to the boardwalk, then surfed the wheels through Mangrove Maze to the next big challenge: the cavern.
Pain Cavern
We turned right out of Urukazi, and the road tilted upward. That’s when I realized something unsettling: I really didn’t know this climb well at all. I knew it wasn’t terribly long – my HUD said we only had 3km left. But where were the steep bits that required hammering, and where were the flatter parts useful for recovery?
Some riders are content to just hop onto an unfamiliar route and hammer away. That makes me nervous. I like to know the route intuitively, but you don’t get that by looking at route maps or riding it once. It takes time, repeatedly riding a route at race pace, to make it something you can ride intuitively.
The group began hammering, and I did the same, just trying to climb efficiently while staying in touch with the front. I thought I was doing well, holding a good position up the figure 8 climb. But I didn’t know what was ahead.
The road flattened a bit after the figure 8, and one rider attacked. Another followed. I was on the rivet just trying to hold on, and as the pack began to stretch out, riders were passing me and I had nothing left. You know that feeling, right? The. Worst.
With only 1 flat kilometer to go, a pack of ~25 front riders formed ahead, with a few pushing the pace off the front. All I could do was sit in the wheels of my chase group, trying to recover a bit for the final push to the line.
That final push was nothing special – a weak-legged standing half-sprint, bringing me across the line in 32nd place.
Race Results on ZwiftPower >
Activity on Strava >
Takeaways
My first takeaway is that Turf N Surf is a fun race course. Everyone gets to spin together for the first 14km or so, riding on the flats and through the connector canyon descent. But the two key climbs prove attritional: they whittled our pack down from ~100 to ~70 to ~25.
Those two key climbs are brilliant places to push the pace and shed some competitors if you’ve got the legs for it. The Pain Cavern, especially, can reward a late attack near the end of the climb when many others are already on the rivet.
Takeaway #2: this route is a perfect example of how strong VO2 power is so crucial for much of Zwift racing. The two key climbs on Surf N Turf are 3-5 minutes long (depending on your race category), so if you’re strong in that power window you can push hard on the climbs, sit in for the other parts, then smash the finish against a much-reduced pack.
For me, I hammered hard on that final climb, averaging 364W for 3:48, which is near my limits. It just wasn’t enough. I set a 6-week power PB in the 15-33 minute window with this race, but a combination of me riding that last climb a bit inefficiently plus some strong Bs attacking at the right time (wrong time for me, right time for them) meant I wasn’t even close to the front at the end.
Last takeaway: the B category is growing more competitive as winter arrives. Almost all of the top 10 finishers had a ZwiftPower ranking of 150 points or better (I’m currently at 147), and a few were close to 100. A strong bunch of killer Bs for sure!
Final Note: An Elevation Mystery
Here’s a fresh Zwift mystery for you to ponder: how is it that Neokyo Harbor, which sits just above the ocean, is ~60m higher in elevation than Urukazi’s Festival Harbor? Here’s the Strava elevation profile for Turf N Surf:
Based on the minimap from Zwift, both harbors are on the same ocean:
Clearly, Zwift’s worlds allow real-world physics to be warped. Or perhaps there’s a series of giant locks outside of Neokyo Harbor that isn’t visible on the minimap? 😊
Your Thoughts
Have you raced Turf N Surf yet? What did you think? Share below!
I raced this and my impression of the final climb was “how is it possible that we’re _still_ climbing?”
My thought on the race in general: The front pushed really hard every time we hit dirt. Which makes sense because increased crr makes it harder to draft those attacks. It made me wonder if it would be easier to race this course on a gravel bike. Those dirt attacks would hurt a lot less and the blob was tame enough on the tarmac that it might still be possible to sit in.
There’s very little dirt on this course. If you ride a gravel bike, you’ll get dropped. Don’t mistake Zwift’s new sand surface (which rolls like tarmac) for dirt!
As soon as I free rode Turf N Surf I declared it my new favourite route on Zwift and predicted it would make for good racing. Glad to know my enthusiasm in the face of negativity is shared. 🙂
I think this will be the go to course for racing on Urukazi. Raced it last weekend and it played out similar to your race. I think smaller fields will make it a bit more interesting with the possibility of attacks in other sections. Thanks for creating segments for the two climbs, Pain Cavern is a great way to describe the finishing climb, it seems to just drag on forever despite being a relatively short climb.
I noticed the different elevations of the water, and it is mentally cracking my brain. When I first climbed the cave (I call the cave Xanadu because of a song by Rush based on a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge) I was expecting a decent back to the harbor. Surprised and confused. Makes me think of a lake in Colorado called Hanging Lake. I guess we call the harbor “The Mysterious Hanging Neokyo Harbor”, and the city is “the shining city on the hill”.
Wait…your photo shows you as “100th/163” in the box with the list of riders on the right. Is that not reliable? In large groups that’s what I keep an eye on. Also, on the companion app isn’t the running list of “Zwifters” updated fairly quickly? Have I been doing this wrong all along??
That’s reliable, but in a tight group of 100 riders, it can change by 50 places within a second or two.
If just a handful of riders attack off the front, and you’re sitting back in 100th place in a group of 150… you definitely won’t notice a change in your rankings that tells you an attack is happening.
I raced this yesterday and had a very similar experience (Eric, our numbers are also very close). Also the reason the final climb seems longer is because there’s a little bump with that beautiful overlooking switchback, about 1k before the climb starts. The group definitely stepped it up here, raising my HR by 15bpm after being able to sit in beforehand. I ended up having a good result though, as there weren’t any breakaways and I was able to save my draft powerup until the finish. Ended up setting my best 5min power in almost 3 years! (and best ZP… Read more »
The zwift literal pain cave statement made true visually. Needs to be a official climb segment.
Have you tried using the Sauce for Zwift groups app in a large race? Does that only get the data from Zwift for the nearest 100 riders or would that tell you if a small group has broken off the front (not that there’s a ton you can do about it if you’re cruising back in 100th place at the time – by the time you get up to the front they’ve either been chased down or are gone).
I have. It only shows the closest 100 racers!
What is going on with the race standings in your final picture? You have a time of 34:00.1 which is worse than someone with 34:00.4 but better than someone with 34:00.7 and 34:00.0. How does that work? Really didn’t enjoy this course, but that’s primarily because I am fat and weak so climbing always kills me. Got dropped from the front group at the Shisha, teamed up with another guy for a bit and then got passed by several in the Pain Cavern. Maybe I had just given up all hope by that point but I didn’t find the Cavern… Read more »
That’s a good question, I hadn’t noticed that! All I can figure is the TIMES shown are what my own computer computed, while the actual PLACINGS are coming from the server. Because the placings match ZwiftPower, but the times don’t quite.
maybe there is a short lead in or something so depends how far forward/back you are when you pass through the start banner?
I really liked the two connecting roads. Are there any courses / races going the opposite way around?
Makuri 40 goes the opposite way. I do wish more routes were using the connector roads!
Very Good Race description Eric! I noticed the Elevation gap between the two harbors… Yes, the laws of physics can be twisted in the Zwift World sometimes. When riding the Makuri 40 route, I thought I would be going up the pain cavern, but No… This was downhill… I knew it didn’t make sense… I rode the Turf N Surf a few days before, so I remembered about that climb…Was surprised about this… You’re the first person to report this though… Is it an error from Zwift? Is it intentional? Who knows? Will they fix it? I’d be tempted to… Read more »
I have come up the idea that much of neokyo is on a sort of platform. From a view point in the urakazi part you can see the city wall/ platform. Instead of a slope in neokyo it is flat then drops off via the cave. Others said canal locks for the harbor. Goes with the mech battle theme background art setting I guess.
Was in this race as well, pack dynamics very odd and difficult to pace, one second 100th in pack the next second nudging off the front. Noted that a lot in front had lower power and w/kg which doesn’t make sense for gradients that should easily draft or generally flat, didn’t make sense winner had power 70w less than you or I (came in just behind) seems like some were able to draft well and some not. ? Processor dependant.
Wait?! You tell me Zwift isn’t a real world 😱 So many questions….
“Pain Cavern” is such an apt name for this course. I did the Cat C version and the final section just turns into an outright brawl. Everyone is totally cooked, but if you can see someone ahead then it’s time to light up the afterburners again and again and again 😀
I had the pleasure to do the same race in the same pack as you were! I loved it because it’s one of the very few race which doesn’t end in a massive sprint. An opportunity for light racer (and poor sprinter) to succeed. Well, actually I didn’t succeed because of a bad final timing and no power up. But the strategy is to make the brake in the “pain cavern” and trying to resist during the final km which is flat…
Yes—I think it’s a great race course, with a mix of strategy and strength needed if you want to take the W!