“Sprint” races were something I’ve seen in Zwift’s events list for years, but never actually tried. So when it just happened to work into my schedule last Tuesday morning I signed up for the 3R LaGuardia Super Sprint Race – one single lap of NYC’s LaGuardia Loop route. 4.3km total, meaning the race would take just over 5 minutes. This would be interesting!
The Warmup
Knowing this would be a short, hard effort, I got on Zwift with plenty of time for a complete warmup. As any bike racer will tell you: the shorter the race, the longer the warmup needed. And vice-versa!
Of course, I had already chewed a couple pieces of caffeine gum and rubbed PR lotion on my legs. It’s just standard race prep for me.
After joining C. Cadence for a half-hour with a few short sprints mixed in to get the legs opened up, I was ready to head to the pens. Let’s do this!
Strategizing
Having never raced a sprint event, I tried to visualize how it would unfold so I could make decisions before the race began in order to maximize my results.
This start (and the whole race) would be especially tough because 3R had set up the event so all categories raced together. Sure, the final ZwiftPower results would be separated by category. But in the actual race the A’s would be pushing the pace, and any B riders wanting a chance for a win would need to hang with those A’s for all or most of the race. So that was my first goal: stick with the front riders if at all possible, regardless of category. In fact, I decided I wouldn’t be paying attention to categories until the race was over.
The only road rise of any significance comes just a couple hundred meters before the sprint banner/finish line. We would hit this twice, and I figured I’d need to push hard into this rise, as well as up and over it, in order to stay in touch with hard-charging A’s. Second goal.
Third, I thought we would get powerups in two spots: the start/finish banner just out of the pens, and the first time through the sprint (finish) banner. So I made a mental note to use two powerups wisely. I would need all the help I could get!
Lastly, I knew that, racing with the A’s, this would essentially be a maximal ~5-minute effort for me. So I steeled myself for the effort ahead, reminding myself that it would hurt, but it would be over before I knew it. And maybe, just maybe, I’d get that coveted bump in my power curve…
The Start
The start was about as tough as most flat Zwift race starts: 379W for 90 seconds kept me in touch with the front group through the lead-in section. But with only 5 total minutes of racing, I figured things wouldn’t calm down much. And they didn’t!
As we made our way through the sprint/finish banner, A’s were pushing hard on the front, and one zPower dude (“J. Herck”) was making life hard for all of us by riding off the front and stringing things out.
Only 3 more minutes…
You can do anything for 3 minutes.
The Middle
The middle 2 minutes were the calmest of the race: I averaged 353W to stay in touch with the front. At one point I found myself very close to the front of the pack, which is when teammate Kyle Benson messaged everyone, “Dirty up here” – and he was right. We had 4 DIRT riders in the front pack. This wasn’t an organized DIRT effort, though – we weren’t on Discord, or working together in any way. Just out for a hard, short race.
The Finish
As we neared the left-hand turn toward the bricks less than a mile from the finish, zPower Herck was still pushing the pace off the front – but two smart A’s had bridged onto his wheel.
It was a bridge too far for me. If I went all-in to catch those front riders I would just blow up and get passed by everyone. So I sat in the wheels and hoped some stronger riders would pull me up.
We had just 15 left in the front pack. I had no idea how many of those were B’s, but like I mentioned above, I had already made the decision not to think about categories for this race. My singular goal was to finish as close to the front as possible.
As we hit the little kicker before the sprint I bore down and bumped up the watts, trying to hold a good position but reserving a bit for the final push. Then as the group’s numbers turned orange (much too early for my taste) I shifted, stood up, and started hammering!
The final meters are slightly downhill, and as we zoomed to the finish line I looked up just in time to see my avatar edge out a DIRT teammate across the line. Then the results screen popped up, showing me in first place for the B’s. Hurray!
The final ~90 seconds were (not surprisingly) the toughest of the race – I averaged 408W.
According to Strava, my average wattage for the full 5 minute, 12 second race effort was 379W – precisely the same average wattage as the first 90 seconds! Now that is something you don’t see in most Zwift races.
See race on Strava >
See race on Zwift.com >
See race results on ZwiftPower >
Watch my race video:
Takeaways
I had planned on wisely using powerups, but alas, none were given. This isn’t something I thought about much in the race, but I really wish Zwift would indicate if powerups were going to be used in events. Right now there’s no way of knowing, unless you dig into event details via ZwiftHacks or ZwiftPower. And that’s a bit silly.
I had hoped for a power curve bump from this race, but alas, it didn’t happen! I was just a few watts low right around the 5-minute mark. Races like this would definitely be a wonderful test of VO2 effort power, though – especially if you’re in that sweet spot where you aren’t the strongest rider in the pack, but have to stay on the limit to hang with the front. That’s pretty much where I was at – or within a few watts of it, at least.
My watts in the final sprint were probably some of my lowest sprint watts in a long time, with my 5s critical power showing 621W. That’s what happens when you go all-in after 5 minutes of already going all in.
Would I do it again? For sure. This race was quick and hard – the perfect prescription if I’m just looking to smash myself without a bunch of fuss.
I had big plans to follow this event up with a longer race 30 minutes later… and that’s exactly what I did. But it wasn’t pretty. The flat bits of London weren’t bad, but once we hit Box Hill I was suffering. This sprint race may have only lasted 5 minutes, but the maximal 5-minute effort really drained my top-end power.
What About You?
Have you tried a sprint race? How did you do, and did you enjoy it? Share below!
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