This morning I took part in the 3R Watopia Flat Route Race, which as the post title hints gives away, was 4 laps of Watopia Flat.
The race was well attended, with 160+ riders spread across the 4 categories. I competed in Category C.
A small number of pre-ride mistakes from me:
- No hydration before getting on the bike
- No food before getting on the bike
- Very little warm up
In short I was going to take part in an Alpe Du Zwift race (which was also well attended), which started at 10:15. However, due to kids waking me up bright and breezy, I wanted to get on the bike early doors and was aware of this race after checking late last night.
Also, in truth, this one looked easier 😉
In summary, I finally got out of bed at 8:45, and whilst I got my water bottle and towel ready, I forgot to get my usual 1 litre pre-food (as I skipped food), and by the time I was dressed, ready, and on the bike, I had only ~5 minutes left. Most of that was spent finding a mix to ride too. Good times.
I had no real plan for this ride.
The best I came up with was stick to ~170w for as long as possible, and see how I fared.
I was hoping to get in with a little pack, and if at all possible, be involved in the sprint at the end.
As ever with Zwift, the race started at a strong pace.
I went around 230w for the first few minutes, and settled into a more realistic pace after the first short climb of the lap.
In this time I managed to find a small bunch of riders around my pace who I clung too. I’m never really sure how realistic my pacing will be in a race when with a pack. I’ve found many times I can keep with them for a while and then inevitably get dropped.
In this case the pack I was with split into two bunches. The faster bunch went up the road and out of sight, never to be seen again.
I hung with the remainder, but almost got dropped towards the end of the first lap.
My mistake was to slacken off the pace too severely, and I really had to work hard to get back on to the end of them.
I fully credit the Zwift Academy training for helping me get back on to the pack. Once with them I had to really work hard to not fall off the back of them again, essentially recovering at a higher intensity than I might have otherwise been used too.
By the end of the first lap I was feeling pretty tired. Fortunately the pace dropped off a touch on the second lap.
During the second lap, and for pretty much the remainder of the race, I found myself with a small pack of riders who were keeping me working at a good pace.
I noticed that many of them were spinning their legs much faster than me. All my high cadence work was for naught today as I tended to find myself grinding at low RPM’s for the majority of the race.
If anything I was a little surprised at my lack of stamina, having had 3 days off the bike.
A couple of things I noticed during riding with this pack:
- I was very rarely at the front – I think maybe twice in the whole race
- Sitting in the pack meant I could keep up with them at a much lower intensity than I expected
- I found myself sitting up (not holding the handlebars) and trying to spin faster in an easier gear
The biggest point of interest for me was noticing that when sitting in a pack, it didn’t seem to matter much whether I was at 2.2w/kg, or 2.7w/kg. I seemed to maintain a position similarly.
Obviously I couldn’t stay at 2.2w/kg for too long whilst everyone else was on it, but I was able to get a number of very helpful, and much needed rest periods. Typically in a pack I just try to keep going hard. Lessons learned.
Towards the end of the third lap, a small band of riders broke away from the larger group.
Much like on lap 1, I found myself falling off the back of these riders and had to make a choice: “give up” and let them go, or dig in and get back on their wheel.
Getting on to the wheel of this little pack took a big effort on my part. It was more a mental effort than physical. Once on with them, another little roller was immediately on us, and it was a case of pushing through that to keep with them. I knew if I could make the hill with them, I would be able to hold on to them whilst we “coasted” down to the sprint start line.
Keeping with them was a big deal for me, and was probably my biggest achievement of the race.
Whilst I didn’t capture the third lap sprint time, I can tell you it was in the 34s range.
It’s interesting as the sprints (and I’m guessing laps generally) got slower and slower.
The big question was: how would the last lap compare?
Coming into the fourth and final lap I was still with the riders I considered to be stronger than me.
Using them as a marker post, I had some idea of the pacing I needed to finish inside the top 100.
I was pretty pleased with all of my harder efforts on this race.
Whilst Watopia Flat is largely flat, as the name suggests, there are a small number of “bumps”.
In each one I managed to put in a good effort.
On the last lap I managed to hit 5w/kg on the little climb and mentally resolved to keep pushing through once I hit the top. I figured if I got my head down, pedalled hard, and really tried, I could at least put myself at the front of the group.
Ha.
Not so.
I did put my head down, and I did pedal hard.
And when I put my head up, I saw I was about 4 riders back from the front of the pack, and I was being left behind.
So much for that.
As I expected, the fourth sprint was significantly faster the the previous three.
The riders I was with clearly had a great deal more remaining in the tank than I did.
I kept up with them for the sprint. I kept up with them on the climb immediately after the sprint.
And then boom. They dropped me like a stone.
I watched in alarm as they powered up to 4w/kg and I just didn’t have it in me to keep up. Not even close.
I’m really not sure what I did wrong on this finish. I just wasn’t strong enough by a long way.
I’d made a bad assumption that because I’d managed to keep with this little pack until (almost) the end, that I’d be needing to dig deep for the sprint finish. As it happens I was dropped with about a kilometre to go.
The reality of it was a tough one to take and I definitely dropped off on that last drive to the finish line. So much so that I got knocked down from 93rd in to 94th along the way.
All said and done, I thought / felt like I’d put in a strong performance on this one.
The stats tell a different story.
I should have realised, really. Mostly I was riding in the green zone (endurance?).
I’m a little bit disappointed that I didn’t have more to give, with having had a decent amount of rest days. That said, I have done 142km of riding this week, and it’s only 6 months or so since I started cycling. Maybe I am too harsh on myself.
Looking at Category C, I managed 39th out of 55 riders.
I’d say this is about where I expected to be.
The positives are that I took part, burned through a bunch of calories, and had a good time (in hindsight ;)) in doing it.
For reference I was only ~11 minutes off the pace of the winner. I don’t think that’s so bad, considering the super human capacity of some of these Zwifters.
What I will say, and what I have said before is that Zwift’s rider honesty system is broken.
How can the winner of Category C be 5 seconds off the pace of the overall winner of the race?
Category C is 2.5 – 3.1 w/kg.
Only 1 rider in the top 8 of Cat C fell within this bracket.
My opinion is that the categories should be determined automatically after the race. Or someone with better knowledge of cycling than I should craft a system that makes for a fairer outcome.
As it stands currently the overall results are useful, but the categorised results, to me, seem largely nonsense.
I found out – thanks to the Cameron Jeffers scandal – that in order to get the Tron bike, I need to climb 50km. So, 3/5ths of the way there. Hoorah.
On that note, I think what happened to Cameron Jeffers is daft. I understand there are rules and stuff, but how can you break a rule retroactively?
All in all, I enjoyed this one.
I hit on my riding goals of 100km, and 3 hours on the bike.
That’s not entirely fair, as those goals are Zwift specific. I had covered them (almost) as of Wednesday this week. But RGT cycling stats don’t count in Zwift, of course.
Even so, glad to have hit the targets I set for myself.
Cadence-wise, this ride was a bit of a write off.
Lots more work to do here.
As ever, I really do enjoy Zwift racing. This is the best part of Zwift for me, and a major factor missing from other platforms.
Everything I do on the bike in the various training and workout sessions I do, it all comes into play in racing. But there’s also the competitive / mental aspect which is so compelling for me.
Honestly, if you haven’t raced yet on Zwift, you are missing a large part of the experience. It’s like playing Overwatch, but never playing in competitive mode.
Not that I do that, anymore.
As mentioned, this ride felt hard, but the stats show I was some way off my personal bests.
I think I feel good enough to carry on tomorrow, so will likely use an FTP Builder ride for tomorrow night’s session.
