Our friends over at Zwift Community Live have announced a weekly series of “Test Labs” races. Each week’s race will feature custom event parameters, with the end goal being to “encourage more tactics, skill, and entertainment in Zwift racing.”
Schedule
Races are Tuesdays at 11:25AM PT/2:25PM ET/7:25PM BST.
Tweakable Parameters
Zwifters may not realize how many options are currently available for Zwift events. Here’s a partial list:
- Bike frame restrictions (TT only, etc)
- Double draft, standard draft, or no drafting
- Changing air resistance (used recently in the High Desert Speed Challenge)
- PowerUp distribution (turning some powerUps off completely and/or changing the award ratios)
- Group spacing–do we start categories separately, and with what gaps?
- Category culling: do we hide other categories, or make them visible?
- Lap count
- Route
- Custom finish lines
- Race type (road race, TT)
- Leader fence (on or off)
Some of these changes will be made known to racers before the event, while others may be “hidden” to see if racers notice the difference.
Feedback Requested
For the Test Labs races to really “work,” racers need to give feedback on their experience. Currently, the best place for that feedback is on ZCL’s Facebook page.
Some racers give feedback during the race via the live stream’s Facebook thread, while others may wait until the event is finished. Do what works for you!
Discord Enabled
ZCL has set up a Discord server for these races, allowing races to voice chat in real-time.
Learn more about how Discord works for Zwifters >
Live Streamed
Each week’s race will be live-streamed with commentary from Nathan Guerra, and all of the categories will get plenty of airtime in the stream.
Watch the First Race
Yesterday was the very first ZCL Test Labs race. 123 riders turned out for an exciting set of laps around the classic Watopia Hilly route.
All “offensive” powerups were enabled, while XP and drafting powerups were disabled. Double draft was enabled, and other tweaks were made which Nathan Guerra didn’t disclose. He just said, “You might be rewarded for attacking today…”
