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When the pandemic shut down outdoor events this spring and summer, competitive cyclists stormed Watopia to challenge themselves via Zwift virtual racing.
Many of them learned the hard way that just because you crush it on the road does not mean you'll be smoking the pack in the pixelated peloton.
“I’m not a terrible bike racer,” wrote Greg Kogut of San Diego, California this April during a spirited Zwift racing discussion on Slowtwitch. “I can sit in most regional Pro-1-2 USAC races just fine as a 46-year-old Cat 2. Very good at TT. Have podiumed in CA state TT in the Pro1/2 race.”
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In Zwift, it was another story, he wrote, “I’m fairly awful. I sometimes struggle to hang with a “C” race –even C races have guys who’ll do ~5W/kg for four to five minutes, which isn’t easy for me. I don’t know if it’s cheating, my lack of adaptation to Zwift, or just Zwift being a very, very big pond with lots of gifted people. Or some combination.”
The issues with Zwift racing are well-known: Incorrect data like the wrong body weight, poorly calibrated equipment, or faulty user set-up can skew power numbers and make racers go faster in the game than they can in real life.
But even when those variables are taken out of the equation with verified data and spot on set-ups, those who would generally be at the pointy end in a real-life competition can find themselves playing pack fodder or spit off the back in the racing world of Watopia.
The reason, says Jonathan Vaughters, manager of EF Education First Pro Cycling, is that Zwift is really just its own sport. Road racers can toe the line and be successful, but virtual racing is its “own thing,” where all your finely-tuned race tactics don’t apply.
“Bike races tend to reward those who can do the least work until one crucial climb or block of time,” Vaughters says. Zwift racing, on the other hand, is closer to running, he says.
“Zwift is a measurement of what’s a fairly straightforward effort—such as running a 10K. There are variables in running, sure, but the outcomes often have more to do with the honest assessment of an effort, not a mixture of factors like a bike race,” he says.
One of the biggest factors that can put you on the pointy end of a real life race, but that is considerably dulled in virtual racing (aside from the very obvious bike handling issue) is aerodynamics, Vaughters says.
“As a sport we’ve spent a ton of time looking to minimize aerodynamic impact,” he says. “On the road, results have a lot to do with how much power you can produce while still staying in an aerodynamic position. All the top riders can produce a ton of power while staying quite sleek on the bike. Bradley Wiggins being a gorgeous example of that. In Zwift, it just doesn’t matter. At all. Drag and resistance is determined by height and weight. Period.”
So if you have a rider who is super effective at standing and pedaling, there’s no penalty for that, he says. Your super aero bike fit and finely honed CdA (coefficient of drag times frontal surface area)? No advantage, he says.
This is a particular disadvantage to taller riders in the pro peloton, says Lauren Stephens, 33, who won Stage 2 of the Virtual Tour de France (vTdF) with UCI Women’s Continental Team TIBCO–Silicon Valley Bank. “My teammate Emily Newsom is 5’9”. On the bike she's aerodynamic, but put her height into Zwift and her CdA is higher than mine, though it is probably the same in real life, just because she is taller.”
Though you can technically draft in Zwift, that too is different on the online platform than it is in real life, Vaughters says.
“In any given road race, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of ‘micro-sprints’ that keep you glued to the wheel in front of you to optimize draft or to prevent a rival from sneaking into the slot right in front of you,” he says. “In Zwift, it’s just a mechanical number in the draft. Or a mechanical number in the wind. Lots of black and white. Not much gray. Road racing is all about the gray.”
The ticket to success is treating Zwift as its own sport and applying your training and tactics appropriately, Stephens says.
“So many people come into it and want to compare everything to the road. They’ll be like ‘the draft isn’t significant enough’ or ‘a rider can’t stay away’ and ‘it’s not like this in the real world,’ and I’m like, it’s a video game,” Stephens says.
“It took me about a month to accept that and figure out how to play the game,” Stephens says. And when she did, she went from missing key moves in the races she lined up for to winning nine in a row.
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Here is what Stephens, Vaughters, and other Zwift racers and coaches have figured out:
Warm Up Well
It is absolutely key to be warmed up, Vaughters says. In fact, you want to be spun up and already initiating your sprint when the countdown to the race finishes to ensure a good starting position. “These races are hard from the word ‘go,’” he says.
Trust Your Numbers
“The biggest thing I figured out was to focus on your speed. Your avatar might look like it’s getting dropped a bit, but depending on the grade you’re riding, that might be okay,” Stephens says. “If we’re on a 2-percent decline, and I’m going 52 kilometers an hour, I can back off the pedals a bit and give myself that micro-recovery until we hit 0-percent grade and it’s time to push again,” she says.
“It’s like a time trial. If you’re going downhill in a time trial, you don’t want to be doing 300 watts because you’re only going a little bit faster for a lot more power. You want to save that power until you hit the uphill where that 300 watts will help you make big gains. It’s exactly the same in Zwift,” she says.
Stay Vigilant in the Draft
“Suppress the in-real-life tendency to think of the draft as being a safe, resting place,” Kogut says. “In a real-life, mass start race, you get sort of an unconscious feel for the ebb and flow of a pack. Outside of deliberate attacks, you can predict when you need power, and when you can rest. In Zwift, it’s different.”
The ebb and flow are more random and unpredictable, Kogut says. “You have to continually monitor the avatars and the W/kg readings of the people in front of you. Spikes in those readings tend to come a few seconds before you see the corresponding movement on the screen. You want to gently surge when you see W/kg spikes in front of you in order to preserve a good spot. If you don’t do this, you can find yourself accidentally gapped.”
Punch Over the Crest of Climbs
“Crafty Zwift racers will drill over the top of a climb and punish anyone who naturally let up slightly,” Kogut says. “That is a useful tactic in real life, too, but the effect is exaggerated in Zwift. Surging over the top helps you go a little bit further and continue down the beginning of the descent, so you’re aggressively defending a position.”
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Maintain Your Position in the Pack
Keep an eye on the whole pack, not just the riders in your immediate vicinity and make sure you maintain the placement you want. Zwift will tell you to “close the gap” when you lose the wheel directly in front of you, but not when the rider or riders you are following have lost their wheels.
“Your avatar is really affected by the riders immediately around you,” Stephens says. “If you just go 20 watts harder than those around you, you won’t move up in the group. So I started doing these micro-sprints, taking two really hard pedal strokes, to move up in the group when I needed to. Then I could settle in and stay there.”
Use Fan View
Pros will have a friend of partner log in and use the fan view feature, where you can change your view to that of another rider, to act as a manager during the race.
“At home, my husband will be logged in and fan viewing while I’m in a race and check in on the competition,” Stephens says. “Seeing the power and heart rate of riders off the front lets you determine if you think they can stay there and win or not. It’s the only tool you have to see what they can do.”
Play Those PowerUps
Check the race description ahead of time to know if there will be Zwift PowerUps (pro races use them, but many community races will disable them) and know how to use them.
Though these gamification elements (think: drafting boosts) won’t generally make or break a race, the right ones definitely can, says Holden Comeau, 42, the 2019 Zwift National Champion who served as the virtual coach for Rally Cycling in the vTdF and is currently with Saris + The Pro’s Closet.
“The aero helmet is a requirement if you’re going to contest a sprint finish,” Comeau says. “It lasts 15 seconds, the duration of the sprint. If you don’t have one, you’re at a real disadvantage.”
PowerUps are randomly awarded when you go through key points on course like the start/finish, KOM, or sprint arch. If you have an unused PowerUp as you pass through an arch, you won’t receive a new one. “Once you get the aero helmet, you just sit on that until the end of the race,” Comeau says.
Here are some of the other key race PowerUps according to Zwift's page:
- Feather Lightweight: The Feather (Lightness) PowerUp reduces a percentage of your weight. Perfect for climbing, it offers all riders a helpful assist while heading up an incline.
- Truck Draft Boost (van): Great for those trying to get that extra edge, this PowerUp cranks up the draft effect your avatar experiences for 30 whole seconds.
- Aero Boost (helmet): A consistent favorite, the Aero Boost decreases air resistance and makes you more aerodynamic for 15 seconds. Be sure to use it at higher speeds like flats and descents.
- Breakaway Burrito: With the Burrito, drafting is disabled for all riders in a small radius around you. For 10 seconds, Zwifters in the immediate area will have to rely on their legs and lungs only—no drafting allowed.
- Invisibility (ghost): An event-only PowerUp, Invisibility turns you invisible to other riders for 10 seconds. This is especially helpful when you want to break away from one or more riders.
- Steamroller: Only available in off-road events on Watopia’s Jungle Circuit, this 30-second boost reduces rolling resistance in a big way—you go as fast as you would on a smooth bit of tarmac.
- Anvil: Perfect for speed demons, the event-only Anvil PowerUp makes you heavier for 30 seconds to descend faster on descents. Think of it as the opposite of the lightweight Feather PowerUp.
Dial In Your Set-Up
This is everything, Comeau says. “You wouldn’t race on beat up old tires, because you are almost guaranteed to get a flat. If you don’t have the proper technical set up, you’re almost guaranteed to have a drop out [where your connection dies], which can be the end of your race.”
Drop outs can happen from momentarily losing internet connection or from having your Ant+ or Bluetooth signal drop. If the Wi-Fi cuts out or lags momentarily, Zwift continues offline, and you can usually get back in the race, Comeau says. When you lose your Ant+ or Bluetooth signals, it ends your race.
What to do? Make sure you have a solid internet connection where you set up your trainer and eliminate or minimize any signals that could potentially interfere with the ones you need in the game.
“If I’m doing an important race, I’ll turn off and unplug other devices that are using the Wi-Fi,” he says. That means also coordinating with his family so his wife’s phone is in airplane mode and his kids don’t suddenly fire up a movie and cause an internet lag at an inopportune time.
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Check Your Ego and Practice, Practice, Practice
Stephens says she succeeded in Zwift because she wasn’t afraid to fail as she learned the game.
“I let go of worrying about what everyone else thought. I wasn’t afraid to take risks. I wasn’t afraid to lose. A lot of riders do the opposite. They run away from it. But I found my old self when I got into Zwift. Before I was a professional, I won sprints. I won long stage races. But on a team, I put myself in a box. On Zwift, I was like, I can sprint. I can try and do it all. If I fail, I fail. But I fail trying,” she says.
Ultimately, the more you try, the more you are likely to succeed, Vaughters says. “It’s like anything. The more you practice, the better you become.”
