Almost a year ago, Zwift organized several test events using RoboPacers on Alpe du Zwift. The idea was that riders could join the RoboPacer holding their desired pace, then climb the Alpe with the bot instead of focusing on personal power numbers.
Schedule Details
This month, Zwift has brought back the climb pacer idea with a set of events titled “Summit Seeker”. James Bailey at ZHQ tells us that the plan for now is to hold Summit Seeker events on the last weekend of each month, alternating between climbing Alpe du Zwift and Ventoux.
The first weekend is on Alpe du Zwift May 26-28, and the events are already in the system, slotted every three hours beginning Friday at 11am UTC/7am EDT/4am PDT.
See upcoming events at zwift.com/events/tag/alpepacer
Introducing Summit Seeker Bots
Zwift has created a fresh set of RoboPacers for these events, and riders simply sign up for the category that corresponds to their desired pace. Each category begins separately, with faster Pacer Groups starting first.
Here are the categories, RoboPacer names, paces, and estimated Alpe du Zwift climb times:
- A – Andrew Alpinist – 4.0 w/kg – 49 minutes
- B – Beth Baroudeur – 3.3 w/kg – 59 minutes
- C – Christopher Climber – 2.8 w/kg – 69 minutes
- D – Danielle Danseuse – 2.15 w/kg – 89 minutes
- E – Émile Étape – 1.6 w/kg – 119 minutes
See upcoming events at zwift.com/events/tag/alpepacer
Starting with a Warmup
You don’t need to be warmed up before starting your Summit Seekers ride. Each Pacer Group will start you off with a gentle warm-up at 75% of the climbing pace until you reach the start of Alpe du Zwift. Once the climb begins, the RoboPacer will hold the stated pace to the top!
Pacing Strategies
How should riders use the RoboPacers in these Summit Seeker events? It’s up to you, and may vary depending on your personality, fitness level, and goals. Here are a few ideas:
- Steady on: sit on the RoboPacer’s wheel for the entire climb, letting the bot pace you like a Tour de France domestique.
- Catch me if you can: try to stay ahead of the RoboPacer for the duration of the activity.
- A hard finish: hang with your RoboPacer for most of the ride, then go hard near the end if you’ve got anything left.
- Hold on for dear life: join a Pacer Group slightly above your ability level, then hold on as long as you can. Do the same thing next month and see if you’ve gotten stronger!
Climbing Bike Recommendations
In Zwift, each bike frame and wheelset performs differently based on aerodynamics and weight. If you’re unsure which frame and wheel combo to use for these events, check out Fastest Climbing Bike Frames and Wheels at Each Zwift Level and learn which available frame and wheel combo will climb the Alpe best!
Questions or Comments?
Post below!
They missed a time slot on May 26th. I see (in my time zone) 5a, 8a, 11a, 2p, 8p, and 11p … I really want that 5p time slot.
That’s odd, because I see events every 3 hours here: https://www.zwift.com/events/tag/alpepacer
The Alpe pacers were hands-down my favourite Robopacer rides from last year. If you haven’t tried this you should! On most of my rides I did a combination of the suggested strategy 4/2 if memory serves hanging on as long as possible and then trying to keep the gap. Not un-grand tour like.
Does Strategy 5 work?
Perfect opportunity for the coffee stop feature!
Coffee stop doesn’t work in events.
Or, does it? I don’t think it should in these.
that would be good 😉 its a shame the bots are not a bit more granular…. (maybe 8 of them) I for instance need one around 3w/kg for the ‘hour’ but i guess with your strategies its time to give it another go (currently 1:06 🙂
ps keep up the excellent work, whenever asked a question by my teammates, I always say ‘Eric will know’ and delve into zwiftinsider to find out!
the hour needs 3,2-3,3 w\kg depending on what Bike and wheels people are using. Looks like they have one in for that.
If time is what you’re focused on, then you have a bot at roughly 59 minutes right there for you.
If you need 3w/kg to get the hour, then you can just tag along with Beth and get there in 59 minutes – and if your calculations are right you will have been putting put 3w/kg. The advertised watts are based on the bot’s weight, so the watts that you need to put out to stick with the bot may be higher or lower depending on your weight.
Like the ‘tag along’ Tony 😉when you are on the limit that minute extra will be a toughie, will try though, I weigh 68kg, so hopefully that will help😎
If you go by the proven robopacer formula, Zwift needs to add rough equivalents to Genie (3.7), Coco (2.6), Miguel (1.8), and Taylor (1.1 w/kg). Depends on whether this proves popular. I am hoping it does, and that we end up with 9 roboclimbers. This would make @Nathan Lipke ‘s Strategy 5 (and also moving up the ladder) much more doable.
As far as I know all bots weigh 65 Kg , many adults weigh much more so how about bots that would weigh 85 Kg and ride 2 W/Kg as an example specially going up . In my case I use bots to do Z2 and weigh in at 94 Kg so my only choice is Émile , what about Glenn who weighs 80-90 Kg and rides at 2 W/Kg ? The Glenn bots would be fun for all courses and this way engulf what I believe is a large segment of the population.
I suggest you focus on same time, which is pretty much what everyone did for 100 years.
If you’re interested in wattage, 85@Ben Reeve is 170, so 2.6 W/kg for the bot you mention. So same power.
If you want a really custom bot that has the same weight, same power, and same time, then possibly what you want is the HoloReplays (https://zwiftinsider.com/holoreplay/) — check out the ‘Custom Pacer Bot’ for one suggestion of how to do pretty much just that.
I have no idea (some sort of autocomplete magic I think? ) how Ben Reeve got into my reply. Apologies to you/him/everyone.
RoboPacers all weigh 75kg and are 175cm tall, FYI.
Hmmm…might be my best shot at sub 50 minutes outside of maybe a future TdZ/ToW stage.
Did one of these today, and it was great! Small group (24), and we split up pretty much immediately, with a bunch going off the front and staying there. A few fell off the back early on, and I fell off the back 3 or 4 turns from the top. But I still beat my PB by close to 10 minutes. Having the Pacer to keep me honest on some of the flatter parts, and really, just to keep me motivated and pushing, made a huge difference. Next time, the goal will be to not fall off the back towards… Read more »
Congrats Andrew on the PB 🥳 well done 👍 was it easier then normal to follow the pacer, do you get a little draft advantage?
I just did one of the rides, I didn’t get the spinner at the top. Do you not get it with group events?