Thread to discuss all things ZRL: course recon, tactics, tips, experiences, and of course, some proper venting after the races!
This season’s overview:
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Race 2: September 23, 2025
Tactics: unless you are in the top 20% of your Cat, the recommendation is to conserve, conserve, conserve. Pay attention to key segment and points where there could be attacks and position yourself ahead of time to give yourself the best chance to follow any moves.
If you are in the top 10-20% of your Cat, you can consider tactics depending on your rider type/strengths…
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Thanks for this, @Coach_Theia! Since I was recently bumped up to C, I’m most definitely not in the top 20% of my cat. But I was invited by a very chill group of women (Pink Cheetahs) to join them for ZRL. I hope that I can follow through because my work is getting very busy and I already missed the first race due to travel back from Spain. (Racing in the early afternoon is tough for one’s work life!) I did a couple of the ENVE races before I left on the trip to get back into the feel of racing and I felt good about those efforts (especially when I beat men - lol). So, we’ll see what happens!
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I jumped into ZRL this season because I needed something to keep me motivated with training. Honestly, I was pretty nervous about the TTT—I didn’t think I’d be able to hang with the group. But I’m so glad I gave it a shot last night. Everyone was super kind, and I had no problem keeping up!
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Point structure is a bit different than how it was previously. From what I read, FAL points are awarded to everyone in the race as n, n-1, n-2…. 1 where n is the total number of racers so I would think trying to hang onto the front for as long as possible will be key. I never kill myself for FTS because I have no shot at getting anything there 
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Interesting about the points this time around. I like that they are doing 4 mini-seasons within the main season and treating each independently for points and team composition. Also glad they eliminated the Finals.
As for segment points, the times I got them were all through hanging on with the front group. Any time I tried to go for 1st, I burned too much energy and that cost me later in the race.
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I appreciate you saying this because I don’t have enough experience or power to be strategic about targeting sprints. I will probably just need to hang of for dear life and hope to get a point or 2.
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that seems to be the theme for every Zwift race. Always hanging on for dear life!
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That’s my entire race strategy. Hang on for dear life to the front group as long as possible and draft as much as possible.
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I am a high D currently and would love to stay there as I can try and hang with the front group and actually try a strategy. I sometimes get sprint points but I usually can’t do the sprint and then hold the power afterward. Same in WOs. So something to work on. My usual strategy is to suck wheels as much as I can. NOw that I’m racing with REVo I can suck thier wheels without feeling bad!
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Calling all Race 2 reports!
Here are my comments:
- All those hills and sprint segments were no joke, and they seemed to be all condensed and just everywhere and all the time!
- The first time we hit the hill at 1.5km into the race the field already split. You had to be well positioned and ready to go hard.
- The start was a good 6 min of agony at heart rate 180 bpms before it settled a bit. I had not raced since last Winter, so the race was definitely a shock to the system, mentally.
- I went for finish points so didn’t contest any segments and just focused on staying in that front group, following wheels.
- In the last kms riders started to go early so it was hard for a good 3-4 minutes before we even got to 300-500m to the line. Because of that, my sprint wasn’t as powerful.
Needless to say, this was a Puncheur’s course!
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There were 56 riders in our C cat race. I tried my plan of staying with the front group as long as possible, but they dropped me less than 4 mins in, which was disappointing. What was fun, though, was that two of my other new teammates ended up in the same no man’s land so the three of us raced together for most of the rest of the race until one of them had to drop off. Two of us stayed together until the very end. If I was alone, I would’ve been miserable.
By the fourth time up that little climb, I def had a nasty name for it – lol. 
Was wishing the race was over after 2 laps, rather than 3 (it was 3 for C&D). I didn’t bother sprinting.
I was reminded how hard it is to race against a stronger field. I mentioned that I recently catted up to C, but I can’t hang with C. (I don’t fully understand what causes me to cat up.) A couple of my teammates were more bummed out than me because they are D’s racing in C cat because there weren’t enough D’s to field a team (which is an ongoing issue in women’s racing). 
For me, personally, I noted how I just can’t maintain threshold power for a full hour. My screen was mostly green for the second half of the race. I’d like to learn to stay in yellow longer. While I’m racing, I sort of hate it and wonder why I do it, but as soon as it’s over, I want to do it again. Is this normal? 
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P.S. – I was almost the last C to finish, lest you think I’m being remotely humble about not being able to hang with C’s lol
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Comments on the Romp around Fine and Sandy
- My goal (mission) was to stay on wheels and be brave
- The group split quickly after the start (at least that is what our DS said) I was busy hanging on
- I worked hard to stay in the pack and was able to stay with the front group during the race
- I didn’t work hard to contest the sprints but took Coach’s advice and just get points by surging with the group
- I did ok with the climb but was really tired of them after the second lap. lol Six times up was excessive. I had to have a conversation with my legs on the final pass of the Mech Isle Climb
- I sprinted at the finish and nipped a lady at the line.
- Something I did during the final sprint set off my Apple Watch asking me if I fell and was about to call 911. HaHa
- I was amused that my race finish place was plastered on my butt after the race
- Our little team of 5 placed second and probably would have won if we had 6 riders
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I raced after all of you so I’m not sure if reading your reports are helpful or make it more scary!
My goal was to place in top 10. I am at the upper limits of cat D and agree with @laurasibson that catting up to the next group is reaally hard and lonely. So despite knowing that catting up is good, I’m not sure I’d race there. But this was brutal.
I broke the climbs down into segments or times up so I could count down how many left or how many done, “50%” done, “2/3s done”. The same with the sprints, treated them like intervals and counted them down.
The sprints were tough I just tried to stay with the pack and didn’t really concern myself about time.
I tried my hardest to stay with the main group on the hills, second lap we had a 3 person breakaway because they had the steamroller. We were about 7 seconds behond them. At some point they slowed down and we caught back up to them and we continued as a group of about 11 or 12. We spread out on the last climb. I was not in the front, but managed to get 5th before someone came up from behind me.
During the race some woman said she was stopping because there was a skunk in her house. She couldn’t find it and thought the cat got into with a skunk and brought the smell in. It was comical.
I need a nap.
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Well done, Gossimrr!!!
Last night while talking over the race with my husband and son (who don’t race Zwift, but race in other sports), I said, “Man, I’d be killing it if I was still a D.”
My husband said, “You did. That’s why you’re a C.”
I also said that I had misplaced confidence after doing well in two ENVE races. My husband said, “Yeah, I always do really well when the fast guys don’t show up.”
He’s keeping it real for me!
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That’s a great perspective and as a friend said to me one time “comparison is the stealer of joy”. And sometimes it is.
I don’t really care where I place I just hate racing alone if that makes sense. I like working with others and having fun.
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It is definitely better to have at least 1 or 2 more racers around us even if we are having a “party at the back”. I had my fair share of being in no woman’s land racing alone and you just have to turn that into a grind and use it to callus the mind. Having said that, if every race is like that, it gets old pretty quickly.
@laurasibson some nice perspectives there!! hahaha!
Unless it is a 1h or less Time Trial or a 20-30 min short race, very rarely a racer is at threshold for the whole race, be it in Zwift or IRL. Race 2 was 1h long for most, and being mostly in the green zone is exactly what I would expect to see. Remember, these races are not steady state efforts, and we need to be able to do hard surges and accelerations on top of our “cruising” power zone. So imagine cruising at FTP and throwing in hills and sprints on top! If you ever see someone’s Zwift graph showing yellow for most of it, they either have a higher FTP or the most incredible mental strength and pain tolerance (rare). This is consistent with the races I see also as a coach.
That’s why working on the Tempo/Sweet Spot range (~80%-95% of FTP) pays off. You become very efficient in those zones, build tolerance when pilling on surges and hard efforts, and over time, you increase your race pace, becoming a faster rider. That’s one of the things the new program will focus on. I put this to the test in my own training over the last 6-8 months.
Having said all that, some Rider Types love these long hard efforts because they come more naturally to them. The rest of us need to take it as medicine, but I assure you, it gets better and better over time, to the point of becoming enjoyable.
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Thanks for clarifying this for me, Coach. I look forward to the new program!
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