Interviewer: Custom kit, white shorts, national champs bands.
James Phillips: Hey, you've got to be a national champ to wear that kit, good boy.
[music] Interviewer: You're on Zwift and you're fully
set up. Now, how can you take your racing to the next level? Coming up are the pro tips
from James Phillips, the British national Zwift champion.
[music] Interviewer: If I wanted to race Zwift and
I wanted to take it to a next step, how do I do that? How does it work with teams and
qualifications for races? James: Well, you're just going to get set
up, really. You need to [unintelligible 00:00:41] yourself a Turbo trainer, some internet, and
you can just play it out from your laptop if you like. It's just a case of just jumping
on board, entering a few races, learning how to use that draft effect, and practice at
the end of the day. Then there's lots of teams on Zwift. Some teams are quite big teams.
The team I race for is Canyon and they approached me, and they wanted for me to ride on their
team. They offered me a full setup, Wahoo Kickr. We're sponsored by Nuun Hydration.
We get our Canyon bike. Yes, so I race for them. Some of the bigger races are invite
only, so just by being a part of that team I'm able to jump into one of the bigger races.
[music] Interviewer: James, talk us through the start
because that's quite different in Zwift as it is on the road, isn't it? Because you're
obviously not standing still. You can warm up and you can ramp your effort into it.
James: Yes. It's a bit like a cyclocross start, to be honest. Five seconds before, I'd really
be just ramping up my power up to five, six hundred watts. I just know for that first
30 seconds to a minute, it's full gas really. Interviewer: Yes, so you're really ramping
up. Five seconds before, start building that effort right to maximum, really-
James: Yes, that's it. Yes. Interviewer: - and then try to hold it for
that 30 seconds. James: Yes, that's it. I'll just try and position
myself 10th to 15th so that I'm not going to be in any dangerous splits if you like.
I'm in a good side with the split, and then I'll just look to use the draft and to maintain
my position. [music]
Interviewer: Now for power-ups. Now, I want to know which one's best, which one to use,
and when to use them? James: You've got lots of different power-ups.
For me, the best one's the Aero, really. Whenever I get an Aero, I'll always look to save that
for the end. The feather power-up, I'll use that on the climbs. If I'm going up past a
certain gradient, I think it gives you 15-- I think it lowers your weight by 15 kilograms.
You got the burrito look, so the burrito is not draftable. Again, that would be quite
a good one if you're going on the attack. If you've got an invisibility, so that's a
real good one. If you want to do an attack and you don't want anyone to come with you,
you can pop that. You've got the draft, so again, that could be a good one come a sprint
if you haven't got an Aero. Interviewer: Would you say when to use them?
Like when is best to use the Aero when you're coming in to the finish?
James: It's only 15 seconds, so a lot of the sprinting in Zwift is quite a long sprinting,
so it's just trying to time that best you can because some of the sprints can be 20
to 30 seconds long, and if that Aero's only 15 seconds long, last thing you want to be
doing is trying to push that Aero. Interviewer: Yes, so there you have it. If
you've got an Aero, then make sure you save it for the finish. Don't use it too early.
[music] Interviewer: Right, tell us a little bit about
what best fitness works for Zwift, do you know what I mean?
James: Yes. It is like a time trial effort with those short power efforts in between.
Yes, you really got to look at your anything-below-five-minute power. One-minute power, two-minute power
up to five-minute power. If you've got that, and a good 20-minute high power, I think you're
going to do quite well in Zwift. [music]
Interviewer: Big question. Can you make a living off Zwift?
James: Well, just over the last couple of months, I've probably come back with about
2000 pounds' worth just from jumping in my garage and racing.
Interviewer: Making money from in your garage. That's quite something
James: That's it, yes. [music]
Interviewer: Would you say it's worth getting better bikes and better kit through unlocking?
James: Yes, the Tron bike looks cool, doesn't it? It's all glowing up. One of the first
things I did when I was on Zwift, I thought, "All right, let's get the Tron bike." I set
up the climb or whatever, number of feet it is and, yes, six months later, eight months
later I unlocked the Tron bike. I'm on level 46 at the minute and there's 50 levels in
total and I've pin on the game for the last three years now. Yes, there's lots of targets
to reach. Interviewer: James, you're current Zwift National
Champion, but what is the future of Zwift? James: This year is the first UCI sanctioned
World Championships. The goal for Zwift could it be in the Olympics where you've got a stadium
of people all watching virtual cycling. Surely that's going to be one of their goals if you
like it. Who knows where it's going to leave [unintelligible 00:05:39]-
Interviewer: Watch this space, I guess. Are we going to see you in the World Champs rainbow
jersey riding Zwift? James: That would be the goal wouldn't it?
But getting there, there's a lot of good competition out there.
Interviewer: If I'm wanting to ride the nationals, how does that work?
James: The way it worked out last year was there's a qualification race. It was end of
February where anyone could enter and then the top 10 were invited then to a live finals
which was in BT Sport in London. The race was an hour and a half over a particular course
on Zwift. I think it's the Watopia Hilly course. I finished second in that race and I had my
ticket to the live finals there. Interviewer: There you have it. James, thank
you so much for joining me, teaching me all about Zwift, the ins and outs, the pros and
the pro tips. I guess I should start having a go at it-
James: That's it. Yes, you can jump on. Interviewer: - and then get set up and then
get racing. James: That's it.
Interviewer: Hopefully, I would have got some better results than my last few.
James: That's it. Interviewer: Cheers to you.
James: No problem. Interviewer: Now, I hope you found this video
useful. Thank you so much to James Phillips for coming in and explaining all about the
pro tips. Now, I guess it's my turn to get racing. Don't forget, click on the screen
now for another video? Here we go. Thumbs up already.
[00:07:06] [END OF AUDIO]