The Zwift Games are upon us, and with them big race packs on fresh routes. Having finished third in stage 1 (read more) and second in stage 2 (read more), I was really enjoying myself in the 450-570 group.
But then the climb stages arrived, and everything changed. Here are my summaries of stages 3 and 4 of Zwift Games.
Stage 3: Warmup
It didn’t take long for me to realize that today wasn’t going to be pretty.
As I spun my legs to gently warm them up prior to the race, I could tell today (Tuesday, March 11) was a bad leg day. You know what I’m talking about. Sometimes these days are expected, other times they come as a surprise. Today was a bit of a surprise since I had ridden the day before and felt fairly good.
What was the cause? Poor sleep? Insufficient nutrition? Getting sick? I wasn’t sure. But I could tell something was off.
Stage 3: Volcano Implosion
Stage 3 took place on the new Downtown Eruption route in Watopia, and I knew exactly where I would have trouble here: the Volcano KOM. This segment has often been my undoing in races, as it’s just a bit too steep and long for me to hang on!
We had a big pack of 144 starters in the race, so I knew the effort was going to be extra tough. That’s just how it works on Zwift: bigger packs mean more strong riders, generally.
The course begins with a quick climb up the bottom half of the Hilly KOM, and it took ~450 watts for 50 seconds to hold onto the group here. Job done, but I knew the big test was up the road.
I made it to the foot of the Volcano KOM without incident, but it wasn’t long (around 600 meters in) before I saw my avatar drifting backward in the group. At 1.1km into the climb, the white flag came out. 75 riders rode away in a long string ahead, and I was quickly passed by several more.
At first, I sat up and spun easily, sinking down to 93rd place. Then I realized there was still a GC competition going on, so I pushed a bit to catch the wheels of the small group just ahead as we hit the flat halfway point of the Volcano KOM.
But then the road tilted up again, and that group rode away from me too! Jimmeny Christmas. This was bad.
Over the top, I found myself with just a couple of riders. We descended together, and I used the supertuck and some well-timed power to bridge us up to a small group just up the road.
The race may be lost, but you can still make it interesting, right?
You can tell it’s a bad leg day when your legs like you’re riding at threshold, but your heart rate doesn’t want to get above tempo zone. That’s what I was feeling on this day – like I couldn’t even push my legs hard enough to make my heart work hard!
Stage 3: Finish
Six of us made our way through Downtown Watopia, then it was time for the final challenge: the Hilly KOM. This climb is around 2 minutes long and, again, has been my nemesis in past races, seeing me dropped by just a few seconds as we crest the top.
Our group strung out and separated up this climb, and I finished somewhere in the middle of my pack of 6, for a final placement of 94th overall.
See my ride on Zwift.com >
See my ride on Strava >
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Stage 4: Warmup
On Saturday, March 15, I raced the second climbing stage on the new London Uprising route. I knew this one would be rough, too, because it features two big climbs: Fox Hill and Box Hill.
My legs felt nicely recovered during the warmup, and I spun my legs for around an hour prior to the race.
I’d been chatting with Nick Kalkounis from ZwiftHQ about the Zwift Games stages prior to this, sharing my results as he shared his. (Nick is a cool dude who’s done a lot of work with Zwift Racing Score. We met on my trip to the Specialized Win Tunnel back in October – read more about that here).
We decided to meet up for this race, and Nick invited Tim Hanson (of zwiftracing.app fame) along. So the three of us were having a sort of informal “race within the race.” Nick is a fit dude without a scrap of fat on his body, so I didn’t think I stood much chance against him on this course. But it’s always fun to race with friends anyway. Let’s go!
Stage 4: Outfoxed
The London Uprising route begins by taking riders straight up Fox Hill. Then you descend, do a lap of the Classique, and head up Box Hill for the finish.
Simple. But not easy.
The start was pretty chill, since everyone knew the work would begin just up the road. 67 riders left the start pens, and soon enough we hit Fox Hill, and things exploded! Despite holding some solid power numbers (for myself, at least), I was dropped from the front group by the time we hit the first flattish spot just ~400 meters into the 2.4km climb. And I kept drifting back. 34th… 36th… 39th.
At 3.4km, I saw a gap to the group behind, so I pushed to hold the wheels just ahead. “Maybe Nick is in that group behind?” I hoped, against hope. Then I tapped his name in the Companion app and hit “Fan View”… and saw that he was sitting in 2nd place, on the 1st place rider’s wheel. Crap!
I finished Fox Hill in 39th, and joined a group of 7 riders. We were caught by a group of 8 from behind, despite my valiant supertucking, and that group headed to the Classique.
Soon enough, a few riders from our group got bored and attacked, leaving me in a pack of 10 riders with 3 up the road. By the time we hit the base of Box Hill, I was in a group of 8 constituting places 34-42.
Stage 4: Finish
On the first section of Box Hill, our group stretched out, and I simply didn’t have the legs to hold on. Most of them went up the road, then as it leveled out I found a bit of energy to push hard to reel in some riders just ahead.
I made it to the flat top of Box Hill with two other riders in 38-41st place, and my only goal was to beat both of them to the line. I deployed my aero powerup and went hard with 250 meters to go, but M. Moore (ART) had a much stronger sprint and blew past me. I finished 39th overall.
Chapeau to Nick Kalkounis, who hit the bottom of Box Hill with the front pack, and ended up finishing in 21st.
See my ride on Zwift.com >
See my ride on Strava >
Watch the Video
Takeaways
Races with climbs over a few minutes are always tough for me, and Zwift Games stages 3 and 4 were no exception. Stage 3 was especially rough because my legs just didn’t show up!
I actually had some decent power numbers in Stage 4, hitting 2025 bests in the 6-11 minute range as I climbed Fox Hill:
But that simply wasn’t good enough. It’s clear that my racing score puts me in a group where I have a shot at the podium in flat races, but will get dropped handily if the race features any significant climbing.
Which is how it should work. I have no complaints. If I want to put in a hard effort and know I won’t have a shot at a win, I can do a climbing race. If I want a shot at a podium, I need to stick to flatter events.
Lastly, I think it’s worth mentioning that my two terrible finishes in the races above each only dropped my racing score by 1 point! After stage 3 I went from 550 to 549. Then stage 4 knocked me down to 548. Ha! (If I was doing these races to tank my score, it would take a long time…)
Your Thoughts
Did you race Zwift Games stages 3 and 4? How did they unfold for you? Share below!
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