Yeah I was wondering more for future potential integrations and sponsorships. Not that it’s that mature yet but it would be an interesting thing if things were to take off.

Many bike brands already have a lot invested in the Pro Pelton and it costs them $ and of course equipment. If they could cut the equipment expense and only pay riders to use their “virtual” bikes it may be a worthwhile investment. Obviously that all depends on growth.

I’m also curious if a person was to be sponsored virtually would have the same influence over purchasing decisions of outdoor riders. I would assume not, but I’ve seen some stupid things sold in the endurance market with Pro Endorsements.

---

------
"Train so you have no regrets @ the finish line"

I’m also curious if a person was to be sponsored virtually would have the same influence over purchasing decisions of outdoor riders. I would assume not,//

You are looking at this all wrong, it would be a whole new set of sponsors. What about all those smart trainers, or Zwift and the other platforms like them, or power meters, heart rate monitors, Video screens, etc. Then you have the endemic clothing companies, you still have to ride a bike with parts on it, nutrition, and all kinds of crossovers. It could be argued once the sport matures that they will have more sponsor choices than just the road folks..

I’m still waiting for that phone call, Cannondale/Zipp/Tacx/Garmin/Powertap/Pactimo/Camelbak!!! Any day now!!

In all honesty, I would stream a video feed of myself suffering daily for a small kickback from the companies I wear/represent. I’m going to be suffering in the basement and racing on Zwift anyways, might as well get something more than fitness gains at the same time!

I was trying to stay on topic of the virtual items and not get too ahead of things. All of those are absolutely viable but the bikes, wheels and kits specifically would/could save those sponsors millions. Specialized sponsors how many pro teams and supplies how many bikes? Imagine instead they headed their bets that the top virtual racer could covert into real world sales.

Would also be amazing if they used a baseline CdA for the Zwift branded bikes and use tunnel results to give those brands a competitive edge reducing that number virtually by equipment choice. Potential is orrery robust

---

------
"Train so you have no regrets @ the finish line"

Put it on the IRL section of twitch.tv Let the masses subsidize it before the established brands get in on it. That’s only slightly glib. There are people who exercise on live stream and answer or suffer more for donations.

I've watched Zwift on Twitch before, its sorta entertaining. They have an announcer crew (Bahati is there sometimes) that's good but there are lulls and a few exciting moments...kind of like a bike race (except no crashing, argy bargy, and emotions).

As far as athletic eSports goes, I have an Oculus Rift and some of those games are amazing; the Table Tennis feels like the real thing, there are a few futuristic sports, and Echo Arena is a next level experience; you're basically in an Arena with no gravity trying to get a frisbee in a goal. It feels like zero gravity (yes you can get sick) and definitely takes skill. Like anything once people show enjoy playing these games, they'll watch them as well.

Additionally, with USAC on the rope in terms of participation, they should 100% jump aboard the virtual train. Obviously it should not mix with other disciplines, but someone getting a Cat 1 in Zwift will definitely push him to try out actual racing.

Forgot about that one. I actually did that too, but you could jump off the mat and then jump back on for one heck of a long-jump. It was digital doping in the 80s and early 90s. But yes, it is good to see it coming back. I kind of wish with something like an FPS though that your character could move at the speed and endurance of your real life character. I don't see too many video game junkies "playing" Zwift but maybe hopefully I will be proven wrong.

---

---

Save: $50 on Speed Hound Recovery Boots | $20 on Air Relax| $100 on Normatec| 15% on Most Absorbable Magnesium

Blogs: Best CHEAP Zwift / Bike Trainer Desk | Theragun G3 vs $140 Bivi Percussive Massager | Normatec Pulse 2.0 vs Normatec Pulse | Speed Hound vs Normatec | Air Relax vs Normatec | Q1 2018 Blood Test Results | | Why HED JET+ Is The BEST value wheelset

Honestly I do. There are a number of guys who are putting down 2-3 hours/day riding. Group rides, everesting, racing, playing Gold Rush, Zwift Quest.

I’d consider myself one of them, but I average about 1:45-2:00/day, split between racing, focused intervals, and recovery. The game’s social aspect has me coming back daily—but I’m riding and training with guys on Discord which is exactly the same as I’d do back in the day on Halo. Chat and play for hours.

Plus side is that now I am able to justify eating a box of pop tarts and a bag of pizza rolls!

Matt
I had a blast routing for you and watching the races this past weekend! I put a link in the other thread for others to check out the live feed, and hopefully people did and watched.

I especially enjoyed the chat box and comments, which I presume was from your coach. 'Breathe' was my favorite-HA! There were a lot of tactical comments, which I am guessing is not the usual thing for you. Were you communicating with anyone directly in the race? Anyway, super fun to watch.

Also, if I may ask, do you have any comment on how you changed your training once you went to a more cycling focus? You mention intervals, which I presume includes SS/tempo and vo2max, done in various amounts per your coach. Do you do those during races predominantly or just use Zwift for the background noise? Was it a slow morph into cycling or pretty fast? Do you still consider yourself a triathlete, not a cyclist?

I know Dan thinks you're a pinball wizard, but I believe you are becoming a legend for the average 'Joe'.

Thanks,
Dale

Thank you so much! Glad to know people were watching and rooting for me.

All the comments were actually a friend and fellow racer that was domestique during the league to help me qualify. I told him I would have someone in person giving me race cues (Jesper Anker from CyclingHub), so if he could just watch my cadence and give me cues to “relax my shoulders/breathe deeply/spin a higher cadence/recover/etc”. It’s funny how hard it is to remember to breathe deeply when you’re hammering away at 350W+.

I actually don’t have a coach! I race very frequently on Zwift, so as far as tactics, I was good, but Jesper was more watching other riders w/kg so I knew when to surge and follow attacks.

As far as my training focus, I’ve been doing 2 major races per week since December—Tuesday and Thursdays. The other days have either been zone 2 Endurance, Zone 3 tempo intervals of 20-45 min 2-5 times, or cadence drills/recovery. Racing really hits the threshold and VO2 max hard. I don’t have a coach, but I’ve been tracking my TSS very carefully and making sure I’m not overdoing it and tapering correctly for “A” races on Zwift (seems weird to taper for virtual racing), but Zwift Nationals, KISS eCrit and all my CVR World Cup League races required extreme focus and energy.

At the end of the day, I have been running 35-45 miles per week since October and I still absolutely consider myself a triathlete. My swimming was moreso neglected, but i still have been going 1-2 times a week, and I’m not in bad shape. I just signed up with Tower 26 swimming and will be putting a lot of work into that going forward.

Looking forward to racing 70.3 St. George in May and riding “easy” for 2 hours compared to the smash-fests I’ve been racing on Zwift. Going for a 70.3 Worlds spot there!

And honestly, my transformation from “mediocre” to where I’m at now on the bike has come from two things: consistency, and pushing myself very hard in Zwift races. You saw Lionel at CVR trying to push through barriers he hasn’t touched yet. That’s what Zwift races did for me, and it did it again last week. In Saturday’s race I hit a massive PR: 451W for 5 minutes to try to break Lionel and the rest of them—glad Lionel and Zimmerman survived because it allowed our breakaway to succeed. Sunday I broke through another with 10 minutes at 410W chasing Lionel up the mountain.

I know from talking to him that Saturday he hit new 1, 2, 5, 10, and 20 minute power PRs. Takes some serious mental strength to hit new PRs. It takes even more to do them all strung together in 1-2 days, or in 1 race.

Sign up for Zwift races and dig deep! It works!

Thanks for taking the time to answer, Matt, I appreciate it. Like you, I have found that the Zwift racing really adds a layer of interest and makes me want to push harder than I would otherwise. Heck, I (almost) would say that I 'like' the trainer now. In reality, I really like the results I'm seeing.

That race series that you did was just so fun to watch. The timing of answering those attacks seems like a tricky thing that cyclists probably understand and I certainly don't, but it was wicked cool to see all the red on the right side of the screen as the W/Kg went off the charts!! It was clear that LS was trying to push himself into new cycling territory and the repeated attacks were unbelievable.

Yes, I went through your prior races on Zwift Power and saw that it was a huge 5 min PR. That was the first time above 6W/kg for you. Nice! I noticed that the overall improvement was slow and steady with a lot of watts in the same range and then a breakthrough race where you must have pushed especially hard, maybe after a training block or something. This alludes to your consistency. You seemed to have PR's every month in the Oct/Nov/Dec period before the next big breakthrough during the CVR series.

What distance do you think helps the most? I would think that races of ~1hr at/near FTP would get the biggest bang for the buck with over and under that distance thrown in for variety. You seemed to have done a lot of the 18-22 mile races which would be the preferred distance, but you even did a few of the 10 K all out sprint efforts-ouch, those hurt.

It's just tricky for me to find the right race with enough people at the right time with my work schedule. Not to say there aren't a lot of race offerings! I am just learning how to suffer and have been trying to make the 10 K pain stretch out to 20 K and then 30K.

Anyway, I wish you luck in the future and if you ever make it to CT, feel free to PM me.
Crush the St.George bike course and grab a world's spot!
Dale

I believe had broken the 6.0 w/kg level 3 times prior to Saturday in Zwift races, and a bunch in training working on my VO2 max power up climbs in the game. It’s not often that a race requires that level of power output! I broke it back in February which triggered ZADA to request my outside power data, which I provided and it matched my Zwift data.

Personally, I think the 40-60 minute races are the best workouts, but I really pay attention to the courses because if a race goes up Box Hill two-three times, I need to be prepared for VO2 max work, if it’s on Watopia flat, I plan for that race to be a threshold day. It helps to plan your racing at the beginning of the week.

The 1-lap races are brutal. All out, great for adding into a tempo ride for an FTP/threshold interval! That’s how Lionel at least does some of his rides on Zwift. Ride easy, do one race, ride easy, do another, etc. The courses are all built to elicit somewhat specific workout type (VO2 max, threshold, w/ more random recoveries).

I expect nothing slower than a 2:10 bike split for you at St George. Don’t let us down :)

---

Alex Arman

Strava

I'm sorry if I insulted you by saying that you hadn't broken 6.0 previously. I just saw >6 listed only once in the 5Min max power data on ZP, so I thought it was a first.

I hear what you are saying about the various climbs and needing to incorporate that into the long term plan, especially if it is in a race. Of course, a 9 minute Box hill effort for me is like a 6 minute effort for you, so I'm closer to FTP (~100%) and you are vo2max (~110%) for those efforts. I need a Watopia Forward hill for 3 minutes for vo2max, or maybe Libby...(so pathetic, I know)

It'll be a happy day when I'm asked for ZADA certification.

Alex, you told me a sub-2:10 was likely out of the cards when I asked a couple months back!! I told Lionel after the races ended that I wanted 2:10 and he laughed and told me I’d be 2:05. We’ll see what happens, need to run after still!

I agree with the 40-60 minute races being the best workout. Hands down I have my best wattages on those rides; outdoor rides have too many variables that screw up efforts (including asthma induced by pollen for me) and downhills, tailwinds, and a slow pack can just sap an effort. Rarely do I get a perfect 20 minute effort outdoors, and if I do I'm usually 100 TSS in and not fresh. Now that its group ride / race season in SoCal they're going to be harder to fit in, but I'm going to try and get at least one a week.

I'll have to try the 1 lap races, looking forward to it but really not.

“Tell a man he can’t do something.....”
Go get em!

---

Alex Arman

Strava

Ok I'm registered with CVR to race Tuesdays at 5am. And according to the site it starts tomorrow. So how come I can't find the race listed in the Zwift events on the companion app? Is there somewhere else I need to look?

---

For whatever reason Zwift is being very slow to set the race up on the companion app. They had Easter off and had a huge event last week in Los Angeles, and one guy is in charge of setting up the events on the app apparently.

Check back later today and I’m sure it’ll be there. Race course is 3 laps Volcano Flat Reverse!

My teenage son has daydreams about being a professional gamer. In his case it's DOTA 2, that big tournament every year. I wish I could get him to cross over to something like Zwift! He was moderately curious when I showed it to him but I haven't been able to get him into endurance sports yet.

Anyway... it's always fun seeing Lionel Sanders on Zwift. Here I am putting the hurt on him last month! (OK, not really... lol)