Zwift Racing League 2020/21 Round 1 Week 5 Guide: Everything Bagel

The fifth week of Zwift Racing League is upon us, and it’s going to be a punchy climber’s dream racing New York’s Everything Bagel. Let’s dig into the course, including some tips for bike choice and key selection areas.

Looking At the Route: NYC Everything Bagel

Here’s a route preview from Rick over at No Breakaways:

Route Breakdown

This route is basically never flat, but it’s not as pitchy as the profile below might lead you to believe. Still, the key selections of the race will happen on the first climb, which begins just 2km into the race!

The NYC KOM Reverse climb is an interesting one, because it’s really two climbs. First you’ve got the lead-in of ~800m, then the actual timed segment of 1.1km. Make no mistake – the effort will began at the bottom of the lead in, and it will be an all-out slugfest because riders know that all the intermediate bonus points will go to the group that makes the front selection.

After a quick descent (can the chasers recapture the front group?) the next intermediate is a sprint at ~13km. This has a quick kicker climb leading into it, so keep your eyes open and hammer that climb if you want to take sprint points.

Our next climb comes at 18.5km as we transition from the ground-level tarmac to the glass roads. This section is about 1km long, and is the longest climb on this route apart from the two KOMs.

Then we arrive at the forward KOM, which like the reverse has a lead-in (at 24.2km) before the official timed segment. Expect another all-out effort here as riders push to thin the pack and increase their chances for intermediate points at the top of the climb and the upcoming sprint.

Our final intermediate is the forward sprint at the bottom of the KOM descent, 28.1km in. This is a longer sprint section, so timing is crucial. Then it’s 6km of rolling roads to the finish, where timing is also vital! Many riders go too early here – a course recce is recommended.

Bike Frame/Wheel Choices

We tested various setups over this full course, and looked at segment times for the crucial KOMs. Here are the results:

Keep in mind the reverse KOM has a lead-in climb as explained above, so the time gaps above will actually be 30-40% larger over this first crucial climb. Is it worth going with the “pure climber” Tarmac Pro + Lightweights in order to gain an advantage of ~0.3 seconds, if you’re going to lose so much in terms of overall lap time due to the wheels not being very aero?

We don’t think so. Our pick for this course is the Tron bike, which performs next-best on the climbs and is fastest overall on the lap.

If you don’t have the Tron bike, look at the Aeroad 2021 + DT Swiss wheels for a rig that climbs almost as fast, but is available at only level 10.

And definitely do not go with a disc wheelset. That’s going to hurt you on the crucial climbs.

Strategic Options

There are 4 intermediates on Everything Bagel, each awarding extra points for those first over the line (5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 points). They come in this order:

• KOM Reverse
• Sprint Reverse
• KOM Forward
• Sprint Forward

There’s no escaping the fact that this is going to be a tough race for the sprinters. Because if you’re not able to get over the top with the front group, you’ve lost your chance at intermediate points.

There’s a slight chance that the front group will be small enough (and the chase group large and strong enough) that chasers could rejoin the front group on the descent after the first KOM. So if you find yourself just behind the front pack, don’t despair. Your group will have to work together to make something happen and pull back the front group, but especially if you’re still in or close to the top 30, it would be worth pushing to rejoin that group.

Some teams may attempt to “protect” their sprinters and try to get them over the first climb. We think this is a fool’s errand. The group will be too fast in the initial kilometers for you to attack and get a significant gap on the climbers, and that first climb is too long for you to preserve a gap of only a few seconds. (The only scenario where this may work is if your sprinter is just a few seconds back over the KOM, and another teammate gives them a wheel to pull them back into contention.)

This week’s race, more than any other on the ZRL season schedule, will see many riders dropped within the first 5 minutes, with no hope of getting anything except the single point for finishing the route. Enjoy your gruppetto time – it’s a rare experience on Zwift!

Lastly, powerups: there will be five opportunities for a powerup on this route. Make sure you know how each powerup works, and use them wisely! Hint: the anvil may prove useful on the descents following the KOMs.

Your Thoughts

Care to share your thoughts about Tuesday’s big race? Comment below!