My First Season/League E-Racing

One of my closest friends races. We cycle a lot together and know that one can count on the other when there’s a stupid idea being raised and the other wants company. We are generally responding as ‘are you mad? count me in’. I like friends like that.

When she was trying to encourage me to join a team to race on Zwift I would smile and nod but had no intention of trying it. However, I have seen her go from strength to strength with her cycling and she had joined a team that she spoke so highly of. So I joined.

The team I joined is Aeonian Race Team and I am so pleased! The season has just finished and I have definitely caught the bug from these ladies!

The Initial Set Up

I have written a post previously about my set up at home that you can read here. I was racing in the Zwift Racing League with my team, Aeonian Divas, and to take part you have to have:

• Register a Zwift Power account – you will need to have completed 3 races in order for your category to be accurately worked out. The categories are based on your FTP and average power held from previous results.
• Register a WTRL account – this is where the team is registered for the Zwift Racing League, categories are selected and time zone you are registered to race in. You can see results and league tables here for both the team and individual riders.
• Equipment that transmits power data – I use a Wahoo Kickr smart trainer that has a built in power meter and cadence sensor.
• Wearing a heart rate monitor – this is mandatory for category A but the use of this with power provides more accurate data but you will lose 50% of your points if no heart rate data is transmitted during racing.

What Was Involved

• 1 race per week that have to have a minimum of 4 riders take part or the team will be disqualified
• 8 events in total that included 2 team time trials and 6 races
• Points are scored from FAL (first across the line on segments and overall) and FTS (fastest timed sprint on segments)
• TTT (team time trial) can have up to 6 riders and 4 have to finish
• Our team captain would receive all details each week and circulate the race pass to sign up to the events
• Ensuring height and weight is updated weekly if needed

Full rules and regulations can be found here if you are interested in reading more.

What I Learned

• There are so many tactics!
• Drafting and riding in a line is more difficult than you would imagine in the virtual world
• Just when you think you are nailing drafting with a team Zwift changes the set up and it’s like starting again
• Listen to your team mates and their advice from previous racing as they know what they are talking about!
• Despite it being a race you need to play to your strengths and remember you are part of a team so you may focus on segments, sprints, or finishing positions.
• Having a DS (directeur sportif) is so useful – they can see overall where you are and provide advice, especially in the TTT where they can inform if gaps are forming or you are approaching teams to overtake.
• Bike choice can make a huge difference depending on the course.
• When you are awarded a power-up use them wisely (and don’t leave your apple tv remote out of reach as I did on my first ride so unable to activate the power ups during the race).
• Find a team that are encouraging and supportive as I did – it makes all the difference! Aeonian have 69 ladies spread across all categories and collectively they represent 20 countries worldwide.

I am looking forward to continuing with racing and have set this as a winter goal of mine so I don’t lose everything I have learned!