Advanced Zwift Academy Finish Line Ride

Well, that’s it for Zwift Academy 2021. It took me until Make Up Week to get it done, but I finally saw it through and completed the Finish Line ride. Have to say, wasn’t looking forward to it. But I went in with a plan… and the end results have left me scratching my head.

Let’s dive in.

For those unaware, the Finish Line ride is a repeat of the Base Line ride. The idea being that after completing the various Zwift Academy workouts, your time should have, hopefully, improved.

There are four metrics taken on the Base Line ride. For me, these were:

• Sprint: 12.78
• Short Climb: 2m 14s
• Long Climb: 23m 32s
• Overall: 1h 03m 30s, 220w average

My plan today was to focus individually on the three efforts, as last time I didn’t really do that. Last time I kinda went too hard, too soon, and by the final climb I was utterly shot.

Today I had the plan as follows:

• Sprint: gun it
• Short Climb: 330w target (for 2 minutes)
• Long Climb: 230w target (for ~20 minutes)

I didn’t consider the overall time or wattage, as my hasty maths assured me that if I did better on each section, surely… surely I must come out ahead overall. Right?

Let’s get some excuses in early. I had only had toast for breakfast, two slices, buttered. Not exactly a winner’s diet. Also, I didn’t get a warm up – save for 60 seconds or so prior to the event starting.

But then let’s mitigate them, shall we? I’ve just had three days off the bike. Sure, I had a bit of knee pain over the weekend but I have to say, I felt fresh as a daisy setting off today.

One other thing today – perhaps a biggy, perhaps not. Last time, in the Base Line, I don’t know how many people were in that ride, but it was definitely more than the 31 who turned up today. Why does that matter? Well, wait till the end.

So, as above, out of the gate I felt good. I used the start line up to the first sprint as a bit of a warm up and then I really went for it. I actually managed to top the sprint leaderboard for the first time in as far back as I can ever remember, and although I was shortly dethroned, I was happy to see I’d beaten my previous effort.

Sprint time: 12.64.

A good start.

I mean, this killed me. This hurt to the point where my wife later commented she was going to come in and check I hadn’t just had a heart attack. It was one of those enjoyable efforts where half way through, you look up at the screen and realise it’s only been 6 seconds and the finish line is still a good distance away. And when I finished I urgently needed a wee. The body is really quite mysterious.

After this I took a good long recovery period. This didn’t happen on the Base Line ride, and this is important later on. I definitely recovered longer and more thoroughly today.

Next up was the short effort.

And again, today I did things differently. Last time I pushed way too hard all through Titans Grove. By the time I hit the actual timed segment I was fairly maxed, and the whole effort took a lot out of my legs. This was largely because with so many other riders around, I was racing them. Trying to keep up, pushing harder than I was capable of, given the length / difficulty of the ride still to come.

Not so today. Today I paced myself far more conservatively and then gave a solid ~2 minutes on the bit that counts.

Short Climb time: 1m 58.8 seconds.

Really pleased with this. Held my target wattage well.

And again, after this it was time for a long, looong recovery portion. Again, not what I did last time. Well, that’s not true – last time I certainly recovered, but was definitely back on the gas a little sooner, and a little harder.

Lastly, heading into the Reverse Epic KOM, I can’t say I was “fresh fresh” but I was in as good a shape as I was likely to be. Crucially here I didn’t plan to go at FTP. Maybe that was wimping out a bit. I don’t know. My target was 230w average, giving me a rough time up the climb of 20 minutes. I knew it would be a little longer than this, but I also knew it flatted out just a touch for the final portion.

Of all three efforts, this one was the hardest. I don’t think that’s unexpected. With the undulating surface, I do struggle to maintain consistency – it’s easier on the Alpe as it’s all up up up. Here there are some flats, and some false flats, and then even a couple of descending portions.

But overall I felt like I had done a better job today. And by feel I mean I had forgotten my time and not taken my hastily scribbled notes over to the bike, so couldn’t be absolutely sure. But I was fairly sure I’d beaten my previous, but only just. That part I couldn’t really fathom. Had I really managed ~230w last time? I was so sure it hadn’t been anything like as controlled. My only real memory was of being slowly but surely overtaken by lots of other riders.

But that’s the thing today. There was hardly anyone on.

It was like a time trial. No drafting. No hiding in the pack. No way to conserve energy. It was me versus the world. And the world kinda won.

See, once over the top of the KOM I knew I wasn’t going to beat or even meet the previous time. I was about a minute over. It was soul destroying.

How could it be?

I’d put in three better times. Had I really slacked off that much in between?

Well… I guess I must have?

It’s weird. It felt better. It felt stronger. Yet the final time was slower, and the overall average wattage was way down.

In my mind I tried to convince myself that drafting – or lack thereof – played a large part in my slower time. But the lower average wattage tells me I’m dreaming.

So maybe the previous approach was better? I really have no idea… I’m questioning everything.

But regardless. Let’s not take anything away from a 840 calorie workout here. I was never in contention to become a pro. It’s just a great exercise, and I’m happy enough to have completed the darn thing.

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Just feels a bit bitter sweet, you know?

Anyway, enough blathering. It’s time to “get after it” to the supermarket and buy some tea. I forgot to take something out of the freezer… bad times. Life goes on.