The competition heats up for week 6 of Zwift Racing League Season 2 as we head to Watopia’s Whole Lotta Lava route.
This course has never been used in a ZRL race, and it’s a challenging one for sure, with three efforts up the Volcano KOM. Let’s dig into the course, including some tips for bike choice, strategy, and more…
Looking At the Route: Watopia’s Whole Lotta Lava
Here’s the course preview video from Rick at No Breakaways:
Route Breakdown
Events on this route begin with a 4.9km lead-in from the downtown Watopia start pens. Once you hit the Volcano start/finish banner the actual Whole Lotta Lava route begins.
Next we ride around 2/3 of the standard Volcano Circuit CCW route before turning left onto the Volcano KOM. Ride to the top of the Volcano, descend back to sea level, then finish the Volcano Circuit CCW lap. That’s one lap of Whole Lotta Lava – and we’ve got three laps in this event.
The Whole Lotta Lava route breaks up nicely into three sections:
- Volcano Circuit (flat): 4.1km, mostly flat (See Strava segment)
- Volcano KOM: 3.75km, 3.2% (See Strava Segment)
- Volcano descent: 3.5km, -3.4% (See Strava segment)
The descent and flat portions combined will take 10-20% longer than the climb, meaning each lap will end being an over/under session with roughly half of the lap time spent over threshold on the Volcano KOM, and the other half spent recovering on the descent and flats.
Make sure you know how the finish lays out – it’s a challenging/technical one, with a short ramp up into the Volcano followed by another ramp before the finish line. It requires strong 1-minute power and good positioning skills. Riders who go early here rarely win! Instead, the win usually goes to the rider who holds a good position up the first ramp, then sits in the wheels and times their final attack just right.
The total course is 41.8km (26 miles), with 480m (1575′) of climbing. Top racers should finish in just under an hour, with lower categories finishing 5-10 minutes later.
Read all about the Whole Lotta Lava route >
Digging Into the Volcano KOM
Climbing up the Volcano is a 6-8 minute effort for most riders at race pace. This is far from a steady, “whoever has the highest w/kg wins” effort. Rather, it’s a low-grade climb which can be ridden strategically for maximum results.
While the average grade shows 3.2%, if you zoom in it’s more like 4-5% with a few flat spots and one steep section at the finish. It roughly breaks up like this:
- 1st climb (4-5% for 1.3km): Includes a few short downhills where you’ll want to be on a wheel for maximum draft benefit.
- Flat section (500m): the longest flat section of the climb, going through the heart of the mountain. Again, drafting is key here.
- 2nd climb (1km): ends in a short flat section
- 3rd climb (500m): end in a short flat section
- Final effort (400m): begins flattish, but ends with a kick up to 10%. Sit in the wheels on the flat portion, hold your position, then put in your final dig and use your powerup as the road kicks up to the finish!
This climb isn’t a steep one, and that’s so important to understand because it means two things:
- Drafting makes a big difference: hold a wheel if you can, and drop anyone hanging onto your wheel if you’re able
- Aero over lightweight: the gradient is low enough that speeds stay high, and aero wins over lightweight when it comes to bike choice. Speaking of bike choice…
Bike Choice
With half of your time spent climbing, you might think this route is one for a lightweight rig. But you’d be wrong!
In fact, our extensive speed tests show that aero setups beat lightweight setups up the Volcano KOM. And of course, aero always wins on descents and flats. So it’s really a no-brainer, if you look at the numbers.
At the top of the performance charts, the Tron bike turns in essentially the same time as the Specialized Venge S-Works + Zipp 858/Super9 combo, so just pick what looks better to you if you have access to both.
If you don’t have either of those rigs, go with the fastest you’ve got based on our “Fastest Bike Frames and Wheels at Each Zwift Level” list.
Strategic Options
The Volcano KOM banner is the only intermediate in this race, so riders will have three chances at intermediate points. Both first-across-line and fastest-through-segment points will be awarded, 10 riders deep.
The KOM effort will be a hard push on each lap, but expect the first and third KOM to be the biggest efforts:
- the first because riders are fresh, looking to force a selection before the first intermediate, and hoping to earn a top-10 slot in the fastest-through-segment list
- the last because climbers will be looking to shed a few more riders before the final run-in to the Volcano circuit finish
With no sprint points available and three punishing climb efforts to complete, pure heavier sprinters have no appealing options this week. They’re left with two choices: go all-in on the first climb in an attempt to grab some intermediate points, or conserve as much as possible while working for the highest finishing points.
Lastly, powerups: there will be seven opportunities for a powerup on this route, and powerups given will be an even mix of the Helmet, Ghost, and Feather. All three powerups could prove useful in the final meters before the KOM or lap banners, so make sure you know how each powerup works, and use them wisely!
Your Thoughts
Care to share your thoughts about Tuesday’s big race? Comment below!
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