Zwift Racing League Week 1 Guide: Tick Tock TTT

November 6, 2024

LAST UPDATED November 5, 2024

The first race of Zwift Racing League 2024/25 Round 2 happens Tuesday, November 12, when we’ll be in Watopia for two TTT laps of the Tick Tock route.

This route hasn’t been used in ZRL since December 2020, back in ZRL’s first season! Lots of water under the bridge since then, but one thing hasn’t changed: Tick Tock is still a magnificent route for a flat, fast TTT since it has just enough bumps and false flats to keep it interesting.

So let’s discuss route details, bike choice, and all things TTT…

Looking at the Route: Tick Tock

Watopia’s Tick Tock route is a loop that is 16.8km long, with 53m of elevation gain. We’ll be riding two laps of the loop, and there’s also a short lead-in from the start pens, so our total length will be right at 36km with 112m of elevation gain.

The lap profile might make it look like the course has a couple of punchy climbs, but the truth is, it’s a fairly flat course:

I like to visualize this loop in 5 distinct sections. I’ll include distance markers for laps one and two:

Part 1 – Across the Desert (begins @ 0km and 16.2km)

For the most part, this section is as flat as Zwift gets, so use it to tighten up your rotation and pour on the speed. There are some slight rises, though – notably heading into the lap banner at the rock arch (@2.2km), and the first part of the oasis (@5.1km). Make sure you increase your power a bit on these rises to keep your speed high!

Part 2 – Col du Saddle Springs (begins @ 9.8km and 26.7km)

Your first climb of any significance comes just after the LAX roundabout. Jokingly called “Col du Saddle Springs”, this is just a short, slack hill around 2% in gradient and 800 meters in length. Let your lighter, stronger climbers sit on the front and offer a bit of draft to heavier riders who don’t climb quite as quickly, and you’ll be over the top and descending through the redwoods in no time.

jump ahead and create a split! Rein in those riders and keep everyone together. This first little hill is just 2% for 900m before you head back down and into the undersea tunnels.

Part 3 – Descent to the Ocean (begins @ 10.6km and 27.5km)

This is the only descent on the Tick Tock loop, so enjoy it while you can! It begins with a twisty road down through the redwoods, then there’s a bit of flat road before you descend further into the Ocean Boulevard tunnel. Heavier riders should be rolling to the front on these descents, and if you time it just right, the front rider may even get a speedy supertuck that the rest of the team can follow.

Part 4 – Underwater Flats (begins @ 12.5km and 29.3km)

Get back into formation and hammer your way through the pan-flat ocean tunnel. You’ll be hitting the longest uphill portion of the loop next!

Part 5 – Climb to the Desert (begins @ 14.5km and 31.4km)

The climb back to the start pens begins with a ramp out of the ocean tunnel. You get a bit of flat at the top, then turn right onto the desert road for another very draftable, draggy climb to the Fuego Flats. Keep the power high here so your speed doesn’t drop, then brace yourself for the second lap!

Your race ends on your third time through the desert rock arch.

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.

Whatever you do, do not use a road frame. Because just like in real life, even a “slow” TT frame is much more aero than a road frame.

Route Recon Videos and Resources

Here are some recon videos. You may also be interested in the short but sweet recon notes from LevelVelo.

Zwifty Zwifter

John Rice

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.

Flatter courses like this week give valuable seconds to teams with big pure-power riders who can keep their power high on the front while staying in single-file formation to conserve in the draft behind. A few extra seconds can also be grabbed if you ride smart and keep speeds high over little bumps and false flats. (Staying in formation while surging your power for these rises is challenging, especially if riders use various Trainer Difficulty settings. I recommend turning up your Trainer Difficulty for this race, so you can feel the slight rises and naturally increase your power at those times.)

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. 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. We also highly recommend using Dave Edmond’s Zwift TTT Calculator tool.