It’s been a while since I’ve regaled you, dear readers, with a thrilling tale of Zwift race loss. But the Zwift Games are upon us, and with them big race packs on fresh routes. A Zwift racer’s dream! So today I’m unpacking my story of racing stage 1…
The Warmup
It was the middle of my workday, and I was two espressos to the wind as the lunch hour approached. First I gave myself a front-row call-up, then I spun for around 20 minutes with RoboPacer Coco until my legs were warm and my heartrate was up. While I spun, I thought through the upcoming race…
The Makuri Madness route is new in Zwift, and I hadn’t ridden it yet. So I did a bit of online recon, ironically reminding myself of the route’s details by looking at the page I’d built weeks ago.
The route lays out quite simply: it’s 10km of flat, a 2km descent through Pain Cavern (which could be named “Recovery Cavern” in this direction), 2km more of flat road… and then the action begins. You hit the one climb in the whole race, a counterclockwise dusty corkscrew on Mech Isle, then descend the other side onto a flat run-in to the finish on the Boardwalk Sprint.
Or to simplify it even more, for “overmuscled” riders like myself: the first 14 kilometers are easy, and the last 2 are hard work.
Along with new routes, there are three things worth noting about Zwift Games races that make them different from a typical Zwift race:
- Equipment is neutralized: use any bike and wheelset you’d like. They all roll the same.
- Everyone gets one powerup, in the pens. And that’s all you get.
- Steering is disabled: I don’t know why this is, but I think it’s a bummer. Steering makes racing more fun!
Category Choice
With a racing score of 532, I decided to join the 450-570 group. I knew that meant I wouldn’t get a great GC time (read more about Zwift Games GC strategies here), but I also wanted to see if I could get on the podium in what should, in theory, be the easiest possible group for me, on a route that suits me nicely.
For most riders participating in the Zwift Games, that’s the choice you have to make: do you pick the event/category where you have a shot at the podium (so, competing against a smaller number of riders, with lower scores)? Or do you pick the event/category that will give me the fastest GC time (a larger number of riders, with higher scores)?
Having chosen my category, it was time to race. Let’s go!
The Easy Bit
We blasted out of the start pens with 72 riders, but that quickly dropped to 57. Based on the number of aero powerups I saw flying in the first minutes of the race, clearly some riders hadn’t gotten the powerup memo:
The group settled into a tempo pace as we spun around the perma-night urban flats of Neokyo. With 57 riders in the group, it seemed everyone knew they couldn’t get off the front and stay away… so nobody even tried. That meant the pace stayed steady, with my heart rate comfortably staying in a zone 3 range of 145-160 all the way to the final 2 kilometers.
It was fun to chat with some of the riders in the pack, a few of whom were definite Zwift Insider fans. We joked about the impossibility of starting the race at sea level, then riding downhill and still being… at sea level. And we made good-natured fun of riders burning their aero powerups early.
Soon enough we were approaching the 14km mark as we crossed the land bridge onto Mech Isle. Everyone knew it would soon be on like Donkey Kong. Deep breath…
The Finish
As we neared the corkscrew climb, I positioned myself a few bike lengths from the front. This would give me the benefit of the draft, while allowing me to sag and stay in touch even if the front was too fast for me to hold.
I revved the power up, knowing the effort would only last for a minute. And as we flew up the climb and came over the top, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself comfortably near the front!
65 seconds at 477W got me a Strava segment PR over the climb and left me well-positioned near the front of the pack.
One rider “H. INOX” attacked off the front as we descended the other side, and the pack began to stretch as the front gave chase. Soon the elastic snapped, and our strung-out group of 53 became a compact group of 33 as we began to reel in Mr. INOX.
This is where riders who didn’t fancy a short pack sprint began to show their cards. One rider in green, “B. Amin (JOIN.cc)”, executed a masterful jump, bridging up to INOX quickly by going all-in with his aero powerup as he accelerated away from our group and through the draft of INOX.
But the day wouldn’t be his. No, the win would go to the next rider, one Marc Visser, who jumped with 500 meters to go. Visser (despite only having 14 races to his name in ZwiftPower) executed a perfect bridge up to INOX before powering past Amin, never to be seen again.
For my part, I jumped a bit too hard, too early. My aero powerup timing was solid, but I overcooked it and quickly went off the front of the pack! I looked up at the screen after sprinting for a bit, and the finish arch seemed so far away. 160 meters to go. I figured I would get swamped by the chasers, but nobody was coming around…
I flew past Amin and into 2nd place with 133 meters to go, but with 50 meters left, “G Mraz (OTR)” slingshotted around me with a well-timed effort to grab silver.
I would finish 3rd, just barely grabbing a podium slot. But out of 72 starters, I won’t complain!
See my ride on Zwift.com >
See my ride on Strava >
Watch the Video
Takeaways
This was a fun race, on a course that is just about perfectly suited for me. Too bad stage 1 only lasts three days!
Visser got the well-deserved victory, risking it all in a long attack. I could have possibly finished higher if I’d done the same, but I’ve always struggled with committing to an all-or-nothing attack. Chapeau, Visser.
Looking ahead, my chance at good stage results will be dropping as we progress through the Zwift Games and the climbing intensifies. But that’s alright. It’s all training!
My 3rd place finish earned me a racing score upgrade from 532 to 543, and a finishing time for the Zwift Games GC of 22:17. That time is not even close to the top times among riders with a racing score of 500-600. No, all of the top times are from riders who jumped into the advanced races to sit in the draft of the big dogs! Smart. Their lap times are in the 20 minutes range, with a few even sub 20.
I also earned a nice 2025 power curve bump in the 2-5 minute range, which basically covered the final 2 kilometers of the race. Yup… those final 2 kilometers are hard work.
Your Thoughts
Did you race Zwift Games stage 1? How did it go? Share your experience below!
Great job, Eric! I’m a high-B rider based off of FTP, but my sprint to FTP ratio is just under 3:1, the finishing sprints always kill me. I held position 1 of 43 comfortably in Zone 3 (159bpm average) in my group (Racing Score starting: 488) up until the last kilometre. From there, I knew the race was lost. Right at the banner I fell to 12th place, sprinted to 2.5X FTP for a long time and hit 186bpm on cardio (still cardio in the tank, but no mass behind the legs in the tank). I can hold 4W/kg as long as I am not bonked and am hydrated. If I am bonked, I can hold 3.2 at a lower cadence, if I’m dehydrated, I can hold 2.9 at a lower cadence, and if I’m bonked and dehydrated (which is usually…) I can hold 2.8 at lower cadence until I finish a ride. However, as my (max) sprint power versus my FTP is just a bit under 3X, that kills me in Zwift races because generally, it’s based off of sprinting in the end. At 71kg, I was afraid of getting dropped on the descent, but remarkably that wasn’t the case. I knew I would lose the finish! The bonus is that my racing score went up to 493, so there’s that.
This was also my first race on KICKR Bike V2 versus V1 – no letting off of the pedals in Race Mode – the power will go to zero very quickly. It felt so much better than the V1. I admittedly do not race that often, and always go into these thinking “ugh”, and always come out feeling great no matter what position I take.
I go out in the recommended group D, I’m 70 in a few weeks time & only ever raced on Zwift. I was having a great time bouncing around the front 40 riders, sometimes at the back & a few times off the front. All went well until, oh no, a hill! I wasn’t expecting it so I was too busy being disappointed to really work hard over it. Hit the hill in 6th & ended up finishing 50th. Moral of the story for me, do your recon you mug.
Tough run it alright – the kicker is intense and close enough to the finish that you get someone off the front and full gas to the finish. One of those fatigued sprint efforts after all that, a lesser peak power and just trying desperately to hold it to the line 😰
I like the course. I like the short hill near the end – it’s like a mini Milan San Remo! 😎
There was no recover in the cave in my C2 race. I ended up with 90 best 20 min. (And 1,2,3,5,12, 15 as well.) It was HARD the whole way.
What was similar was that we had a bold early break that held to the line.
Also similar — I jumped out of the pack and got passed like I was standing still while still going around a couple of others. Also finished 3rd (84 starters)
As a top C rider, having to keep pace with better riders (such as Eric) in the 450+ category is quite tough given a significant power difference, but gives me good times for my level and a (very) tough challenge 😅
Great ride Eric! This was an exciting race for me as I did it on Monday and claimed my first ever first place in a Zwift race out of 130 riders. I was very lucky that my racing score fell near the top of the category (was 490 and jumped to 495 afterwards) so just within the 390-510 category. Almost everyone used their powerups early, including me (it was one of the first races) so that was neutralised!
I stayed in the pack near to the hill, and felt good. I figured the hill would be a decisive point so went to the first few wheels and pushed pretty hard, near the front following wheels, and found 3 of us out the front with a small gap by the top. I did a pull along on the downhill and used the elbow gesture thing for the first time and one legend came round to help a bit, so I got a bit of recovery. We had maybe 5-6 seconds going into last 1km.
The other one of the 3 sprinted past with 200m to go, and I held on before a last ditch all in, and I pipped him in just the last 10m. The pack was within a second behind at the end. I was pretty excited for a computer game!
My (now biased!) view on the leaderboard would be that it would be better to reflect positions in races rather than just times, as that was way more exhilarating and more of an achievement than hanging onto a fast group and rolling in in 100th for a faster time.
Nice work, Colin!
I think it would be fun if we got podium time bonuses, which fluctuate a bit based on overall pack size. That would give people more incentive to go all in on the finish.
Thanks Eric! That’s a neat idea – I just think there should be some element that recognises the nature of bike racing being a competition for position. Excepting TTs obviously…
The group I rode with in Stage 1 (C) was pedal-to-the-metal from start to finish. Fast time for the GC but not a very interesting race.
I rode it on Monday and it was my first ever Zwift race. I had a race score of 306 and chose the range that put that on the higher end. Completely pegged out at in my maximum HR zone just to keep up with the front group. Calling shenanigans that most of the riders are really in my range. But I finished 21st just a few seconds behind the winner. It was fun enough, but not interested in going full throttle for an entire ride so probably my last race.
I’m kinda with you on this but it’s fuzzy. I’ve done a couple races where I’m towards the top of score range (but certainly not at the top) and I’m totally pegged just trying to hang in the front group. I end up coming off the pace and racing with the next (or the next) group.
I don’t really think I have any hope of finishing with the front groups, which is kind of frustrating. I do enjoy “racing” however so will probably keep doing them but I’m kind of experimenting with making little races within the race – i.e. finding a group that I CAN hang with and racing them – not worrying about the overall position. It scratches the race itch without sending me into cardio arrest.
I was one of many riders wasting their power-up early in this stage :p just as I pressed the button I realized I messed up…
Worst thing was, 2 of us jumped on the corckscrew and got a nice gap to the pack but we were ultimatly caught on the line. I came second only 0.08s behind… pretty sure that wasted PU cost me the win 😅
I would say: How the race was won! congrats to this performance 🙂