I’ve been enjoying the Zwift Classics series currently underway. Medium-sized fields on short, punchy routes… and the chance to attempt the race again later in the week if you screw it up the first time around!
Which is exactly what I did last week in NYC, where I miss-timed my sprint and finished 9th. A follow-up attempt earned me a solid 2nd place, which was good enough for me.
Monday rolled around and it was time for the next race: three laps of Watopia’s Two Bridges Loop. I’ve raced this route several times in the past, so I knew the drill: surf the wheels through the Esses, maintain good position out of the Italian Villas, then be ready to go all-in after Hank’s Oil & Gas before recovering on the descent to downtown Watopia and doing it all over again.
This was a short race, at only three laps (~21km total). So I decided I would push the pace a bit on the first climb to thin out the herd, if I was feeling good. Little did I know that my own attack would be my undoing!
But I’m getting ahead of myself…
A Weak Warmup
In hindsight, it’s possible that an inadequate warmup is partly to blame for how this race unfolded. 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 Danny Draft Pace Partner group, since she was on the flat Tick Tock route riding at 2.2 w/kg. I spun around Fuego Flats for a while, but my legs didn’t feel great so I never really pushed my pace to get my heart rate up into that racing zone. (Which was probably a mistake. Always put in some efforts and break the ice before joining the start pens!)
Eventually, I grabbed my Tron bike and headed for the pens.
Lap 1: The Early Attack
The race started easily enough, and I had to laugh as riders got Anvil powerups through the start/finish banner and promptly used them on the uphill ramp into the Esses.
(The Anvil adds 50 kilograms to your body weight, for 30 seconds. Yes, you read that right… 50 kilograms! That’s a lot of weight, and you’ll really notice it on a climb.)
Anyway, I got an Anvil too. I used it on the descent to the reverse sprint, then got a Ghost powerup through the sprint banner. Boooo…. I’d much prefer the Feather!
Soon enough, we began the key section of this course – the climb that begins at Hank’s, winds around the statues, then cuts across to drop you onto the Hilly KOM descent.
The group wasn’t pushing very hard at the base of the climb, so I upped the watts a bit and found myself floating off the front.
The legs felt alright, so I upped the effort a bit more, hoping to initiate a split in the group that would whittle down the pack size and give me a better chance in the final sprint.
As the road got steeper, one rider pulled up next to me. I activated my ghost, hoping to trick them into pouring on the watts, thinking I was attacking hard while invisible.
It seemed to work – the rider went into the orange numbers and sprinted up the road! The climb was nearing its end when three more riders came around me, and I started digging hard to grab onto their wheels.
As one more rider zipped past me (Tom Meese, who I’ve raced with many times before) I realized I was in big trouble. There was no group of riders just behind to pull me back to the front guys, and I was at my limit.
I pushed as hard as I could on the descent and the flats that followed, but within a minute they were 9 seconds ahead and pulling away. My race was over… I’d been dropped by my own attack!
The Rest of the Race
The rest of the race was fairly uneventful. I sat up and got swallowed by a group of 8 riders, and we chugged along for two more laps. Five of us contested the finish together, and I finished in the middle of that pack at 9th overall (6th on ZwiftPower).
Takeaways
This is the first time I can remember initiating an attack and getting dropped as a result. Two takeaways for me:
- Make sure I get my heart rate up with some short efforts during my warmup. Break that ice.
- Pay more attention to how I’m feeling, to avoid digging a hole I can’t get out of when attacking. If I had sat back and followed the attackers’ wheels I could have hung onto that front group.
The good news is, it’s only Monday. I’ll be back to contest this race again before the week is out!
Your Thoughts
Have you ever been dropped by your own attack? Please say I’m not the only one…
More than once! Go too deep to get separation then get dropped by the smarter/stronger guys who surfed wheels…
At least for me it’s always the better tactic to follow and stay with the group until the final sprint. I don’t think I’ve been successful trying to attack on a punchy climb, although I’m able to create a 5-10 second gap.
I love that you gave that move a go! Sometimes you just don’t know where you’re at until you push that bit too far. Looking forward to seeing how you go next time.
Hello, “sneaky ghost fake attack” twin!
Did exactly the same on a “Big Apple” race last week – attacked half way through the second (of two) laps of a sharp climb, created a lead group of three, and the other two just rode away from me, should have waited for someone else to initiate it. Heigh ho.
Eric, have you tried the 20 minute INEOS Pre-Race warm-up? You can enter the pen 30 minutes before the race to secure your spot then exit to do the 20 minute warm-up and get back to your spot in the pen with plenty of time before the start.
Haven’t tried that one yet. Maybe I’ll give it a go one of these days…
Hey Eric – you fooled me. I hit the gas as soon as I saw you ghost on that climb and only realized you didn’t attack when you reappeared. By then you were 2″ behind me and the front was still pushing very hard. It took an effort to hold their wheels. Sorry I couldn’t give you a wheel.
No worries, man. I fooled myself! Legs just blew up… it was weird. Next time.
This is gold – be careful what you wish for Eric!
I’ve been dropped in every way possible. This morning I felt great chugging up that climb until 14 guys whizzed past me right where it turns right and gets steepest. I had beaten the rest up the hill and had no help. ITT’d it the rest of the race. Too slow on the first climb to hang with the front group, and too proud to slow down and let the chase group catch me so I’d have some relief. I do blame my bike choice though. Went with the Tron, but the Dogma F might have kept me in the hunt better on the climbs. I’m going to run this one again with the Dogma and see…
I think one common error (which you and I both made) is attacking too early on this climb. I always seem to forget how LONG it actually is. My first attempt was about 40s long from when the road first tilts up to when you make the left-hand turn onto the cutoff.
When I try this again, I’m going to sit in the wheels, near the front, on the shallow portion of the climb. Then be ready to hammer on the steep bit, which is where the big attacks happen and the gaps open up.
Yes, that’s exactly the error I made. I know that about that climb too, but my Zwifting brain doesn’t seem to work as well as my non-Zwifting brain. Next time I’ll put a sticky note on my handlebars.
That’s it. I try to hold almost “normal watts” at Hank’s Station that I have a bit more in the tank when it goes steeper shortly before the right turn. And then fighting hard until the left-turn. But after this last effort in the 3rd round, it’s hard to find my sprint-legs at the finish 🙈🤣
I am in love with the Dogma + DT Swiss Swiss combo