Zwift Race | How to Race Cat B - Zwift Techniques and Tips

I decided to try and save as many watts as possible while doing this Zwift race and raced this as smart as i could. it was certainly a bit less fun but it definitely made a difference in how it felt and how much power i had to put out.
Rate my Zwift technique and let me know how you think i did
Find me on:
▶️ Instagram - / maxwilko
▶️ Strava - / strava
▶️ Zwift Power Profile - zwiftpower.com/profile.php?z=...

[@TheITNerd]

This is a good tutorial. Thanks for doing it. By the way, I should direct your attention to the fact that you were racing with a Women's World Tour Pro. At 5:00 into the video you'll see "T.Erath" on the right hand side with a checkmark next to her name. That's Tanya Erath who won Zwift Academy a few years ago and raced for the Canyon SRAM World Tour Team for many years. Also a free tip for you. There's a workout on Zwift called the Coryn Labecki Sprint Workout. It looks easy but is brutal. But it will improve your sprinting. Especially at the end of races. You might want to give that a try.

[@thewattlife]

Ah nice- I didn’t realise she was riding, very cool. Will also defintely have to check out that workout. I really need to work on my sprint and max watts

[@johnl4310]

Thanks Max. Great tips. Pretty much how I ride a Cat B race. If i ever start to get a top 5 finish in a big field with a 3.8-4w/kg average then I will change my mindset from trying to podium to driving the bus, attacking off the front on climbs, not worrying about my finishing position but hoping for 4.1-4.2w/kg and a potential promotion to Cat A. My dream as im sure it is yours too....then start the process again......cling on for dear life!!!!!!

[@KD_cycling]

I see a beast maker in the background. A man of taste and iron fingers

[@thewattlife]

Used to climb a whole lot- nowadays with all the cycling and running it doesnt leave much time for anything else

[@aaronpower8741]

I just finished this race an hour ago after getting home from work too late to ride on Monday night. Was hoping to see your video tonight *before* the race, as I couldn't remember the course 😀 Much smaller group of only 40 riders. I held the front group until the final castle climb, but couldn't keep up with the kick at the end. I'll try again next week!

[@thewattlife]

Apologies- i raced and then went straight out for food so wasnt able to get it out last night! ha. I love the Rollingn Highlands route- its brutal, especially the castle corkscrew into Breakaway Brae

[@user-it8pb1xr8x]

Can't wait to race this course again this weekend!

[@thewattlife]

Likewise- smaller lunchtime group and sending it up the hills!!!!

[@DanielSweden]

Well done mate! Big gains last year 💪

[@thewattlife]

Yeah, its been a very fun 12 months and hoping the next 4-5 before summer really help me put some watts on

[@DanielSweden]

I’m following the journey! Fun running project also! I’m ramping up my km as well to try and get at least a marathon in and perhaps my first ever ultra too this summer. Otherwise I’m a happy Cat B indoor trainer guy in my 40’s. Have a nice week and happy training!

[@thewattlife]

Cheers man

[@scottbohachyk388]

Well done! That's a smart race from your end. My only suggestion would be to hit that draft power up a bit earlier. You used most of it because the finish was uphill, but I find on a flat finish anywhere around the 750m mark maximizes the draft.

[@thewattlife]

@scottbohachyk388 Thats a great tip, im always too late with the last power up, i need to get used to using them easier so that they run out just before the line

[@francodellamura7471]

Well done! You were only 10 places short from being announced by Nathan Guerra and David Towle!

[@thewattlife]

My day will come lol

[@alistairoswin7787]

Loving the videos. I'm Cat C and took your advice on Rolling Highlands this morning. I lasted half way in the lead group then it split. Those little kickers really hurt. Would love your advice on cadence and progression.

[@thewattlife]

It’s one of my favourite courses but the finish is a killer with the double kick

[@PauloBurgio]

Really good post. It’s natural to want to push super high average watts in a race because many of us are looking for that 4 wpk so we can look to move up to Cat A. This reminds us though that in order to win races you are actually trying to rest as much as possible. Even stop peddling where possible.

[@thewattlife]

@PauloBurgio Techniques plays such a big role, this wk however im back to hammering the hard races and pushing my limits

[@PauloBurgio]

@@thewattlife I remember when I was in cat C. I just had more than the average cat C rider. When I had won enough races and I got moved up to B the feeling is the same but the other way around. There’s some that just have more than me.

[@1carusjohn32]

NIce max. Last time I did this when you were racing you finished behind me ... not yesterday though!! FYI I finished in the first group but died a death on that last climb, overall pace a bit rich for me to have any finish in my legs. 266w ave, lap 1 270 and lap 2 244. Overall NP 274 so it was a little spikey. My ftp is currently about 258 so I have to ride these efficiently to get to the end in the bunch, but it is a maximum workout for me just doing that. Issue is you are running into is the cat limit for sure, if you contribute more at the front it doesn't take too much to put you through the limit. But like you said it is not exactly a full on effort for you now when sitting in. However, you are now in a position to choose when to deploy in these races to help whittle down the bunch. That in itself would give you a harder ride, still keep you in the bunch and get you closer to those podium spots. So not attacking all of the time, but not sitting in all of the time either. These races are dominated by heavy watts at the front as there is not much climbing, it's not quite flat is fast but not far off. If you can find a race on Climbers Gambit you should try that - Tempus,Titans and finishing at the top of the epic KOM. Watts push it along the flats and the spikey Titans KOM, then W/kg sorts it on 18mins or so of the epic. Slightly longer, but it pushes your Time To Exhaustion out further and increases the load somewhat. Wonder if Rigby got upgraded?

[@thewattlife]

Ill have to give some climbing events a go because i do need to change things up slightly. Finally feels like im over this bronchitis so back to hard racing. Will give this another go at some point this week and go Full Gas

[@1carusjohn32]

@@thewattlife You mentioned sandbagging in the stream. I am against it in general, but I think it only applies when you can clearly ride at 4.0 to 4.2 for 20 mins in the race and consistently drop watt bombs at the end to get on the top 3 steps, with the amount of people that zwift there is now going to be a lot of people who ride around the cat limit with honest efforts so the front end is going to be rightly competitive.

[@thewattlife]

Yeah, I think this is exactly it. Strong Cat B riders will just be able to ride the group and recover much better than someone with lower base watts. Maybe not sandbagging but taking a very tactical approach to a race will deliver you to the finish with the ability to sprint at the end

[@phydomir909]

As a reasonably well B cat rider. I agree with everything said in this video. Just not the "sandbagging" part. If you're racing for a win, your ultimate goal is saving as much energy as possible. That's not sandbagging, that's just racing. But there's a big difference in fitness in B. And not necessarily on pure watts or FTP, but, as u mentioned, in repeatability. That's why for me, these races are a bit to short. For me, the fun starts when the races are at least an hour, preferably 90mins.

[@thewattlife]

I tried to make it clear that it felt a bit like sandbagging- rather than calling it straight up sandbagging. If you race smart I can see how you can make the race much more manageable for yourself and give yourself more legs for the finish. I guess the same would be true if you rode with a domestique outside. There’s a bunch of different ways to approach these races and sitting in certainly makes it easier to get to the finish with matches left

[@tombarnes2652]

I'm of the opposite opinion haha, why enter a race not to race it? Practising race craft is the fun part of a race that you don't get from other types of rides. Save the matches for decisive attacks that benefit you. Pulling front to split the group yes, sitting on front to "feel like you helped" nope. Not that I'm against people using races as workouts, just that they aren't really racing, they are just there for a hard ride which is fine as long as they don't get all butthurt over those who do want to race (like its not them who's in the wrong type of ride). The GC rides are a bit different as I can see why there'd be a mix of those going for GC vs people just wanting a race.

[@thewattlife]

Ha I see what you mean, and love the butthurt comment! I can see how someone could be a really strong rider and sit in then hammer a sprint. With big groups you’re not really going to break it up even with small punchy climbs so sitting in makes sense. Personally I’m going to go back to riding a bit harder as i ‘get more out of it’ in terms of training and that’s my end goal. Once I’m proper high B Cat watts then I might try a few tactical races and see if I can podium

[@PauloBurgio]

I’m gonna be 47 this year. I’m not looking to win a tonne of cat b races. Still doesn’t stop me trying though. I can stay till the end but don’t really have anything left for the sprint. I’ve started doing rides with the fastest cat A robot pace rider. I’ve started by following the pacer for 30 minutes with 2 sprints at the end which cover about a mile with a slight breather between them. So, kick sprint, rest and then final all out sprint.

[@thewattlife]

I need to start working some more sprint training into my program. Good job

[@blackflamesolutions526]

Zwift racing is weirdly different to real racing, as 'outside' when the peloton bunches up, that's when the attacks start. When it's strung out in a longer line, no one sensible dreams of attacking per se, but the high speed can break the bunch into groups, especially if there are crosswinds or a climb - so if you're in the front group you'll want to hit some big watts. Zwift racing seems to be all about knowing when the strongest guys hit the gas and being in the right place when this happens. This is a feature of outdoor racing too, of course.

[@thewattlife]

I’m really looking forward to getting into some racing later this year but I imagine I’ll be pretty clueless, still excited and hopefully enjoy the steep learning curve

[@johnl4310]

ive got the night off from ZRL TTT # not required....so Ive signed up to this race at 18.11pm tonight. After watching yours I too hope to finish with the front pack!

[@thewattlife]

How did it go? @johnl4310

[@johnl4310]

@@thewattlife cheers for asking Max. I copied your ride to a T apart from in the last mile I really pushed to stay top 15 and gave it everything in the last .5mile. I was in 4th with 50 meters to go but I ran out of gas and came in 9th. Very happy with that. 127 riders so slightly smaller field than in yours and my race was slower than yours

[@thewattlife]

@johnl4310 Awesome

[@niklasbirksted8175]

Came for the beastmaker, stayed for the content (surprisingly interesting, though not a huge zwift-racer). Anyway, practical quesstion. We seem to have pretty similar riding and stats profiles (albeit you are a bit stronger than I am), how big a difference in watts do you experience from zwift to outdoors? Your 30m efforts seem to be in the 300w region, so how well does that translate to outdoor riding? I find quite a discrepancy between indoor and outdoor, but I may not be acclimatized to indoor racing (yet?), as it's it is only a tool for winter training for me.

[@thewattlife]

I’ve only got a power meter on my new bike which I haven’t ridden outside much due to winter!! So I haven really been able to compare numbers exactly, but all the indoor training has obviously helped and I’m working on my 5 min power to get pick up a local KOM so will have a good comparison soon

[@hoops202]

Nice race Max. I have a guy in my race team who always does well but manages to keep his average wkg at around 3.4/3.5 for the race. It's impressive but I always want to feel like I've worked hard and get some satisfaction in seeing 4.1wkg at the end, Irrespective of the result. Smart racing gets results, but is it as fun or satisfying?

[@thewattlife]

Dude we’re in the same boat here!!! Going again Friday lunchtime if you’re atound

[@glennicol1361]

I have have been working on sitting in the front group and not putting out too much power and energy as I noticed that the top 3 usually have a much lower average power than myself and are maybe more economical.

[@thewattlife]

Theres definitely a certain style to riding and saving watts, if you can get your positioning correct and anticipate some of the moves then you'll have a way easier ride

[@joshvillen]

I totally understand not wanting to just sit in the peloton, definitely more about getting a workout for me too. Have you tried TTT, totally different

[@thewattlife]

I believe it’s a TTT this evening in ZRL- so will be getting a workout in with the team

[@joshvillen]

@@thewattlife yup mines in 30min; goodluck on yours

[@O.O85]

More tactical this week! I rode a similar race, was really trying to draft as much as I could. Almost got dropped on lap 2 as well. Hate that course and off it again with illness so that was pretty much max effort for me. Do it again on Friday?

[@thewattlife]

@O.O85 Still a great finish from you. Yeah will go again on fri maybe morning/lunch though to try get a smaller group

[@O.O85]

Ha lost this post and could find it, so did it again 🤷‍♂️ Sorry for spamming your video

[@CerveloS5rider]

Cat B is so weird for me. Couldn’t win one but now not allowed to enter Cat B.

[@sigfreed11]

0:56 do the Zwift sprint starts put the body into a Carbohydrate dominate fuel source right away? Or is the body able to bring back in a Fat for fuel system shortly after the sprint start?

[@thewattlife]

This is a great question- i think Road.cc did a video on something similar, the reality is you want to feather the start and not punch too hard because lactate clearance can take up to 10 mins, which as you said will stop you working as aerobically. Ill try and find the video @sigfreed11

[@sigfreed11]

@@thewattlife I always get to the race early to sag ride the start and put out the least amount of watts possible, BUT that still means well into anaerobic efforts for a good 10-15 seconds. Just not sure if that spoils the next segment of a race or if it is short enough to not worry about it 👍🏻

[@davidfiddling1467]

Just turned 60 and im max hr for the whole of b cat races nothing left in tank so frustrating ill keep at it though

[@thewattlife]

I was definintely the same when i first started riding Cat B- Max HR the whole way and nothing i could do about it other than try survive. Stay strong

[@bitminerbob6731]

Have you tried racing in first person camera view? It feels way more immersive, but you can't see the riders just behind you.

[@thewattlife]

@bitminerbob6731 Ohh, i might have to give this a go. I quite like seeing the bike though and like you said, being able to see if theres people behind you so you know how far back you can drop. Do you do it all the time?

[@bitminerbob6731]

Yeah, I only race in 1st person camera mode these days. Been doing this for 6mths now and takes a little getting used to but it feels realer, a bit.

[@VeloViking]

You should have made this video before I did my first cat B race yesterday. I actually didn't find the first 90-120 seconds to be the most challenging, and not that different to what I have been used to in cat C races, but the fact that the pace from the start was lasting for quite a bit longer compared to cat C races. Anyhow I survived with the front group for almost a lap before I got dropped and here's my video from the race if it would be of interest ; kzbin.info/www/bejne/sKDSnXeQndajnKM

[@thewattlife]

For sure- will check it out. We were in the same race here huh. See you again next week I hope

[@VeloViking]

@@thewattlife I'll give it another go next Monday for sure!

[@bartreijerkerk9225]

just got into B, impossible to hold the group with 3.6 w/kg 20 minute power

[@thewattlife]

I’d agree, but keep trying and you’ll get there. I went through a horrible time when I first levelled up

[@VeloViking]

Same for me at 3,5 w/kg!

[@samsemilia1717]

Same feeling here, iam so wrong in that group. But i had some nice races inside the main race so fare, and i dont care as much about the place at the end when i win against the small dropped group i raced in on longer races. It s like in real life, you have diffrent races inside a main race

[@blackflamesolutions526]

Yeah. My 20 minute power is 4.2 and I'm not guaranteed to make (and stay in) the front group.

[@iamlewi5128]

are you deliberately churning the majority of the race at 70-80rpm? my legs would be screaming at that lower cadence

[@thewattlife]

I’ve just found that as I’ve got stronger and fitter I’m more comfortable just turning the chain at 80rpm… I’m also a little fatigued most of the time, and find it hard to spin up

[@iamlewi5128]

Fair enough!

[@edster3994]

Want to race in B - be an A !

[@thewattlife]

Never a truer word said!