Yesterday was the last day for stage 3 of Tour de Zwift, so I needed to get a race in. Two laps of Watopia Hilly Reverse–this would be interesting! I knew from racing it in the past that I should be able to hang onto the front of the race, but thanks to the reverse KOM I also know it would take everything I had.
Since this was TdZ I knew I could plan on a larger field, a shorter race, and at least a handful of sandbaggers pushing the group pace. Even though I’ve raced this route many times, those races were usually four laps long. Two laps meant the pace would be furious and I would need to push harder to stay in contention. Was I ready? I was about to find out!
Warmup
The race began at 6:11am, so I set my alarm for 5:15. Rolled out of bed, grabbed my kit, then headed upstairs for my typical pre-race ritual: a piece of caffeine gum and some PR lotion on the legs. Hopped on early and got a nice 30-minute, ~10-mile warmup in on Tempus Fugit.
The Start
The start wasn’t too bad, around 340 watts for the first 2 minutes kept me in the front group. We had 61 riders at the start, and I think many of them knew that the real action would come on the KOM. I just sat in the pack, conserving as much energy as possible, know the KOM would require me to push it to the limit.
As we approached Hank’s Gas Station (the beginning of the reverse KOM), I made sure I wasn’t too far back in the group. I didn’t want to get caught off the back if a big gap opened up! So I stayed within a few wheels of the front, and when the road got steep heading into the right-hand turn I activated my feather powerup (yes, the powerup gods had smiled upon me), stood up, and hammered.
I was sitting 10th wheel as we crested the first portion of the KOM, and that was a good place to be, provided I could keep the power up enough to join the riders up ahead. If I ran out of juice a gap would quickly form, and I’d be dropped. So I pushed hard to stay in contact with the riders ahead, and when we grouped up after the second uphill push I was still in the front pack. KOM #1: survived!
Wearing the Same Kit
Can I register a complaint? I don’t like wearing the same kit as everyone else – especially in a race. In a social ride I don’t prefer it, but I can accept it. But in a race, I need to be able to tell riders apart. That’s pretty much impossible when we’re all wearing the same kit.
There may be certain riders I want to “mark”–to follow if they attack, because I know they’re strong enough to stay away. There may be other riders who I know are sandbagging, and I don’t need to chase them at all. Lastly, I’ve got teammates in almost every race on Zwift – but if we can’t see our team kit, it’s pretty hard to work together!
Everyone knows we’re in a TdZ event. We don’t need the kit to remind us! Zwift: please let us wear our own stuff for the race events, just like the top racers at the TdZ Pro-Am races are doing.
Back to the story…
The Middle
After cresting the KOM, I knew I could hold on until at least the second KOM. Things got a little loosey-goosey supertucking down the descent: I waited too long to start pedaling again. The group whizzed past me and I had to hammer for about 10 seconds to get back in the draft.
Classic supertuck mistake. That’s the thing with the Zwift supertuck: it works great, until it doesn’t! You’ve got to stay alert, because when you pop out of the tuck you slow down quickly. Typically I start pedaling a few seconds before I know I’ll come out of the tuck, so Zwift is seeing my power when I need it.
zPower Fliers
As we went through the start/finish banner at the end of lap one, one of the riders asked: “flier?” He was referring to one “Hiroaki Sakai”, a Japanese rider who had been off the front since the start of the KOM. “Yes” was my typed reply. No way Hiroaki was holding B category wattage.
The group basically ignored the flier after this exchange, which I was happy about. He would go on to “win” the race by 18 seconds with an average of 369 watts (5.4w/kg). I didn’t notice until the race was over that he was on virtual power (aka “zPower”) along with one other rider who kept attacking off the front. Not surprisingly, neither rider was registered on ZwiftPower.
The Finish
Through the second lap’s sprint banner I received another feather powerup. Hurray! I knew I’d need all the help I could get, as the strong climbers typically hammer extra hard on the final climb of the race, hoping to drop sprinters like me.
There were 15 left from the original 61 riders. I attacked the KOM the same way as I did the first lap, deploying my powerup on the steepest section. I found myself mid-pack in a strung-out peloton, and gaps were opening up all around. This was a dangerous situation, and if I didn’t keep going hard I would lose the group.
The problem was, I was on the rivet, feeling like I was going to hurl. Have you been there? This is where you have to be strong mentally as well as physically. When everything screams “ease up and give up” it’s the mind that enables you to push just a little bit more.
And that’s what I did! I stayed in contact, and as we crested the KOM I took a deep breath, prayed for a good powerup, and tried to recover as much as possible before the final sprint.
Unfortunately, I’d used up all my powerup mojo and the gods only gave me a 10XP bonus. $#%@ XP bonuses!
As we entered downtown Watopia I kept a wary eye on the pack, watching for a rider to begin sprinting. My plan was to follow the first sprint and hold that wheel with the hopes of coming around once they tired.
The first rider went, I shifted up and got out of the saddle, and went all in. But I didn’t have much left, apparently. Even though the sprint only lasted ~10 seconds, I didn’t have the power to get my nose into the glorious wind at the front. I crossed the line in 8th place, which would become 6th place on ZwiftPower thanks to 3 unregistered riders finishing before me.
See my ride on Strava >
See race results on ZwiftPower >
Lose Weight or Race Flats?
Here’s something interesting in the results above: my w/kg (3.6) were lower than anyone else in the list. In fact, the next rider at 3.6 w/kg or less was in 35th place!
This doesn’t necessarily mean that I rode this race super-efficiently: you can see my wattage was not the lowest.
What does this tell me? It tells me I’m chubbier than all the top riders in this race! Here are the weights of the riders who finished ahead of me: 68kg, 54kg, 80kg, 73kg, 73kg, 70kg, 79kg. And I’m the 84kg monster barely hanging on up the climbs!
I could be proud that I was able to hang on – I guess that’s something. But really what these numbers always make me ponder is whether I should slim down and climb better, or just keep being an “overmuscled cyclist”. I like cookies, so the jury’s still out.
Takeaways
Here are my lessons from this race:
- When I feel like I can’t go any harder, I’ve still got more. Push and hold that wheel.
- I need to lose weight. Or maybe I don’t?
- Gotta be careful supertucking.
What About You?
Did you race TdZ stage 3? How did it go? Share below!
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