Zwift Racing League 2023/24 Round 3 Week 6 Guide: Out And Back Again (TTT)

February 21, 2024

LAST UPDATED August 27, 2024

The final race of Zwift Racing League 2023/24 Round 3 happens Tuesday, February 27, and it’s a banger! A team time trial on Watopia’s Out and Back Again course, this is the longest race of round 3 (42.2km), and may just be the longest TTT in ZRL history. This will test teams’ technical abilities, communication skills, and endurance.

There’s much to discuss including route details, bike choice, and team time trial best practices. Let’s go!

Looking at the Route: Out and Back Again

Out and Back Again is 42.2km long, with 334 meters of elevation gain. The course is mostly flat/rolling, apart from two key climbs: the Volcano KOM and the Hilly KOM Reverse.

There are lots of places where a team can be caught out and needlessly slowed on this course, so we’ve broken the entire route into logical sections:

0-9.9km: Flat start in the desert. Get yourselves into a solid rhythm and rotation, as this is the least technical part of the ride.
9.9-10.8km: Climb out of Saddle Springs. Very draftable 3%, so keep your speed up.
10.8-13.9km: Descent from the Redwoods and into the Ocean Boulevard tunnel.
13.9-14km: Ramp out of the tunnel and onto dirt. Push to keep speeds up while staying together.
14-15km: Over the docks and dirt of the Fishing Village. Try to keep speeds up on the dirt.
15-16.9km: False flat bends and slight climb up toward Italian Villas.
16.9-17.6km: Recover as you descend to the Italian Villas, go through JWB Sprint to the start of The Esses.
18.3-18.6km: Ramp into the Esses. Push hard to keep your speed up, then regroup at the top.
18.6-22.2km: The Esses to the base of the Volcano KOM. Keep your speed up on The Esses, pushing hard near the bottom of descents to gain speed that will carry you up the short climbs.
22.2-25.8km: Volcano KOM. This will be the longest, hardest effort of the race. Keeping the team together here will be challenging, but you’ve still got ~17km after this climb, so you don’t want to drop too many riders. Plus, this climb is very draftable, so staying together helps everyone.
25.8-30.3km: Volcano descent. Recover.
30.3-31.8km: Flat Volcano land bridge. More recovery, but keep the speed up.
31.8-32.4km: Dirty Sorpressa. Power up here to keep speeds up, but be aware that there’s a bit more climbing just ahead.
32.4-34.1km: Rollers to base of Hilly KOM Reverse. Push at the start up the climb past the waterfall, then grab a bit of recovery before the next climb begins.
34.1-36.6km: Hilly KOM Reverse. The second-longest climb of the race. Push hard at the base so you don’t lose time, then regroup as the road flattens after the first push. If you need to drop a struggling rider, this may be the place to do it.
36.6-38.2km: Hilly KOM descent to left turn toward desert. Recover.
38.2-39.4km: False flat up to the Titans Grove intersection. Stay in rotation, keep your wits about you, and keep your speed up.
39.4-42.2km: Flat finish. Try to rotate those pulls until the Fuego Flats sprint begins, then go all-in for the final push.

Bike Frame + Wheel Choice

This week, bike choice is easy: grab your most aero TT setup! The CADEX Tri is the fastest frame in game by a solid margin, and the DT Swiss disc wheels are the fastest wheels. If you don’t have access to that setup (level 40+) then see this post to determine the fastest TT setup available at your level.

The Canyon Speedmax Disc is the next fastest frame, so also a solid pick. And if you want just a bit less weight on the climbs without sacrificing much on the flats, both the Felt IA 2.0 (available at just level 16) or the Scott Plasma RC Ultimate (level 19) are very capable frames.

See Fastest TT Setups at Each Level or dive into our TT Frame Performance Charts for more nerd-level detail.

Whatever you do, do not use a road frame. Even a “slow” TT frame is much more aero than a road frame.

More Route Recons

Many events are now being planned each weekend on the upcoming ZRL route. If you’re unfamiliar with this course, jump into an event and do some recon! Here’s a list of upcoming Out and Back Again events.

Si Bradeley

TTTips

Team Time Trialing on Zwift is a challenging mixture of physical strength, proper pacing, and Zwift minutiae like picking a fast bike and understanding drafting in a TTT context.

Technical courses like this week give valuable seconds to teams who can push on climbs where power matters most. But it’s a delicate balance that has to be struck on a longer route like this, where pushing too hard too early may blow apart your squad.

You will want a target pace and attack plan for the two key climbs, as well as good comms on Discord throughout. Ideally, a team director can be on comms, helping everyone maintain focus and keeping the team together over what is sure to be a trying course.

Your goal in a ZRL TTT is to get four riders across the line in the shortest time possible. That means every team’s pace plan will differ based on the abilities of each rider. Given the length and technicality of this week’s race, chances are good that one or two of your riders will be dropped before the line.

Again, we highly recommend having an experienced DS on Discord directing your team, especially if your team contains some inexperienced TTT riders.

If you really want to go down the TTT rabbit hole, check out Paul Fitzpatrick’s zwift-ds.com site and particularly the Excel Power Planner sheet.