greetings to another video this is the final part of the six part video series with for beginners
and today we're going to talk about one of my favorite favorite things to do on zwift
and that is racing the races on zwift they're hard but they are just so so much fun i feel like
the racing i don't know i think because of that competitiveness it just pushes you
way further than i think that you could ever go in in like a free ride or a training session the
races themselves there are so many different kinds so you've got tt's which are time trials
you've got hilly races you've got flat races you've got really long ones
really short ones like pretty much any type of race that you want to do
is going to be on offer on zwift so i'm just going to show you now how to actually find and filter
and find which race you actually want to do when you're on the companion app go to the events
tab and you're going to filter out you know to find your perfect race so click on filters
and then you can click on which type of ride you want to show up in the app so i'm going to select
erase and time trials so apply filters and that is showing you now what is on today so we've got 3r
racing team draft monday race 3r racing honestly there are so so many different ones to choose from
and so now i'm going to click on one of these racing to show you what to look like so i'm
going to click on this evocc sprint race series so this is three laps london classic reverse it's
23.8 kilometers and now we're going to get onto the category so you've got a b c and d sometimes
you've also got an e which is the women's only so now we're going to talk about the different
categories and how to find which category you are going to be for each race how to determine what
your category is so if you haven't done a race before i would go back and look at say what your
hour like an hour ons with what your average what's pequela were for that hour so just using
easy numbers if you are 50 kilograms and you found that your last hour ride was around 100 watts
that means you were riding at 2 watts per kilogram and so you can then choose from the category which
one you're going to be in so if it's 2 watts per kill you'd be in cattle group d what to expect
in a zwift race they are so much fun they are so painful and you're going to push i think harder
than any other ride that you've ever done but they are just so worthwhile because it helps build your
fitness it's great for community and it's just really really good fun i want to give you a couple
of tips on how to you know do your first race and then how to progress and get better at with racing
to get into the pen 30 minutes before the event start time and i always think it's better to get
in there early because you get a better spot so the later you leave it the further back you're
gonna be in that pen and also you've got that time then just to warm your legs up before the race
just before you're setting off so i'd say between 10 and 15 seconds
push down like ride pretty hard because the starts are always i don't know i think people just get
really excited and just push really hard at the start and so you want to be ready for that and
then be able to keep with the pack it's not going to be that hard throughout the whole race but the
start it is going to be really tough so just make sure you're ready for it the next tip is know
your power up so power-ups are a way in game that you are able to get a little bit of an advantage
during a race so power-ups are awarded when you go through the start or a finish
a kom section a sprint arch and if you have unused power ups as you pass through the arch you don't
get a new one so it's important to make sure that you are using them when you get them the power ups
will appear on the top left of the screen and the different icons to determine which power you've
got so i'm going to go through them now so you want to make sure and understand you know what
these mean so you don't use them i guess in the wrong setting that is going to affect your eyes
i did that once i'm going to explain that at the end and it just i got dropped because i use
the wrong power now let's go through each of the power-ups so that you understand what they are and
how you can use them to your advantage in a race so the lightweight which is the feather icon it
reduces your weight by 10 for 15 seconds so you want to use this on climbs when weight matters
the most the draft boost which is the van icon this increases your draft effect by 50 for 30
seconds and you want to use this at higher speeds such as flats or descents and when you're already
drafting off another rider so this actually only helps when you're actually drafting somebody else
the aero boost this is the helmet icon and this makes you more aerodynamic for 15 seconds so again
you want to use this at higher speeds when you're on the flat or you descend in and especially when
there isn't a draft available even though it's still useful when drafting the burrito this is a
burrito icon and this turns off the draft effect for other riders within a 2.5 meter radius for
10 seconds and this is for only when you're in an event and you want to use this when you're
attacking off the front so opponents or other riders have to work harder to keep up with you
cloaking this is the ghost icon this makes you invisible to other riders for 10 seconds
and this is only available in an event and this is a bit of a sneaky one so if you want to like
push on and you know head off the front you can do this push hard and then hopefully people that are
riding with you won't see that you've pushed off the front the steamroller this is the steamroller
icon and this basically flattens any surface that you're riding on to make it feel like you're
you know on a road tire on smooth payment so if you're on like some like a rickety bridge or if
you're on dust or in dirt if you press this when you're going over those it will just make you go
faster your rolling resistance will be faster the anvil this is the one i messed up using
and again this is the anvil icon this makes you 50 kilograms heavier for 30 seconds so for example
using it when you're descending so you can go faster i didn't know what this one meant so i used
it while i was climbing and i got dropped pretty quickly so just use them wisely make sure you know
what they are and when to use them i'll leave a link actually there's a really good article um on
zwift insider about all the different um power-ups and when to use them so how to actually activate a
power up once you've got it you can either do it on the companion app you just actually press the
icon itself if you're on an ipad just press it on the screen or if you've got a computer and a
keyboard just click the space bar and the final tip is always have more water than you think
you're gonna need the amount of races that i have pushed so hard and just was really desperate for
more water just take more water and more snacks than you think you're gonna need and i know it can
be quite daunting like entering your first race but honestly just go and give it a go because it's
one of my like i said one of my favorite things to do on swift and i did have a season where i
raced outdoors and i just it just wasn't for me whereas i think racing on zwift is just something
just extra fun about it if you're a little bit competitive if you want to push yourself
then i would definitely give racing a go and there are so many um different racing leagues
i mean the main one is the zwift racing league and that is phenomenal if you want to get on a
team and be able to race and like that for community again is just phenomenal so i'll
leave some links below if you want to sign up to any of those so as i mentioned at the start of
this video this is the last of the six parts with the beginner series so i hope you found it helpful
and useful and it's giving you a little bit more confidence to actually get stuck into zwift
if you've got any other questions about zwift or any other videos you want me to make about
riding ons with leave them in the comments i might potentially make like another video series maybe
for like intermediate or advanced so yeah any of those questions leave them in the comments and i
will see you all next video also what is going on with my hair what what are they like little horns