My First Zwift Race in 3 Years
This past week I entered my first Zwift race in nearly three years. To say the platform has changed since then is an understatement. Zwift has sent the benchmark for the latest cycling discipline: E-racing. E-racing is much more than just a watts contest. There is strategy/tactics, an element of gamification, equipment choices and, yes, the ability to suffer and smash out some watts. Is it like racing on the road, track, cross, or MTB? NO! But it is its own discipline, and I respect those who do it at the highest level.
Entering the Zwift Race
I had no idea where to start beyond finding a race through the companion app. Inside the app, I found an upcoming race that seemed like fun. Looking at the race categories (which are based on watts per kilo) and signed up for the D race. I figured that in real life I started at the bottom, so starting as a D made sense. Plus, I had just begun training and was not in great shape. The race was 26km around the flat Innsbruckring course.
The only thing I knew about Zwift racing is that you must go all out at the start. I race a lot of cyclocross, so I am used to going all out at the start. Beyond that I knew that the category was 1.0- 2.49 watts per kilo (w/kg).
Time to Throw Down
Once we rolled out, I noticed that the pace was very, very fast. I just rode as hard as possible for the first five minutes, moving up as much as I could. I was a bit confused, because I was riding with riders from all categories. My assumption was that each category had its own race and you could not see people in other categories. After the race, I learned that Zwift racing has a mix of both. In this case, all the categories started together and the results were split out at the end.
After a few minutes, things settled down and I found a nice group of about 10 riders. They were all category D riders like myself.
The loop itself was very punchy, with plenty of false flats and quick descents. The key point was the “Leg Snapper”, a 0.43km climb that averages 6.9%. The first trip up the climb, my group got shredded. Some riders were hitting 6+ w/kg, while others were riding at closer to 3-4 w/kg. Not really understanding how the whole categorization worked I rode around 3 w/kg because I didn’t understand whether or not we were allowed to go over the 2.49 w/kg limit.
During the second lap, My now group of four rode together quite well. My biggest issue was that even though there were only four of us, I would drift off the back a lot. I would then pedal hard and suddenly be off the front. This continued throughout the race. We hit the climb for the second time and one member of our group took off at 5w/kg. At this point, I figured if other people are pushing the pace, that means I can too.
The Finale: I can’t Sprint!
As we headed into the third and final lap of the race, one rider attacked on the climb and continued to pull away as I began to run out of gas. I sat up and waited for the other two riders and the three of us rode towards the line. I still hadn’t figured out the finesse of pushing out the right amount of watts and soft pedaling when necessary to stay in the draft. Since I had no sprint,I decided to throw down the last time up the climb. I had a decent gap and from there it was a pretty long descent followed by 1k of rolling roads to the finish. With about 600m to go both riders caught me and I was able to hang on for a second in the sprint.
How Did I Do?
At this point, I knew there were a few riders behind me and at least five or six ahead of me. We started with about 20 riders, so I figured a top 10 for my first-ever Zwift race was a good result.
Taking a step back, in the process of signing up I noticed it said the results would be on zwiftpower.com. I went to the website, created an account and got everything set up. After the race I headed over to the website to see the “official” results. You can imagine my surprise, when it said that I won the race!
Upon further digging I noticed that there were a lot fewer people in the results than started the race. Including, the rider who attacked us earlier on the second lap and the rider who outsprinted me at the end. After clicking around, I realized that there were “unfiltered” results. That’s when I began to understand the whole categorization system. It’s based on your average w/kg for the entire race. Six out of the top eight riders were disqualified because their average w/kg was too high. Another two riders were disqualified for not having any heart rate data. Thus my ninth place turned into first place.
Moving Forward
With a deeper understanding of how the results system works, I developed a new racing strategy moving forward. My plan is to hide in the pack as much as possible and then throw down super hard when need be. This should keep my average w/kg low, while also allowing me to be competitive. With that said, I immediately upgraded to a C and have been racing there ever since. As one can expect, I’ve been sucked into the Zwift racing world. I’ve even found a club/team to join for the upcoming season of ZRL.
I can’t say that I’m surprised that I’m jumping into this with guns a-blazing. However, I must say I have newfound respect for E-racing and really enjoy the strategy and smashing out some watts.