Zwift Racing League. I remember now, it's hard.

Zwift racing’s back! And for the 2024/25 season of the Zwift Racing League there are road.cc teams that you can be a part of. We’ll be tearing it up in the Open EMEA-W Eastern leagues all winter. And possibly other time zones too, if there’s enough demand. Get involved!

Round 1: TTT, Douce France (24.8km)

Zwift decided in its infinite wisdom to start each season with a team time trial, the most technically complex and team-oriented format of the lot to test your equipment and your team dynamic. You need to be able to ride together for the duration of the race – not a given, considering what a wide level of ability each pace group can include – and you need to be able to talk to one another so you know who’s meant to be pulling on the front.

road.cc Chopper Division (C)

We lost one of six riders and one of our two Richards right at the start to technical issues, but after that it went surprisingly smoothly: a well-matched team of five, and Iwein calling out the turns over discord, sergeant-major-style. It helped that three of us – Iwein, Dan and myself – have been riding TTTs together for a long time, but Richard and other Dave slotted in perfectly and a decent finish together never really looked in doubt. I’d forgotten just how hard those race efforts are on Zwift though. There was a lot of stem-staring and I completely forgot to get a nice side-on shot of the team in action for this blog… 

In the end we came third out of eight teams, about half a minute off the pace of ZSUNderdogs who top the table for now. Next week it’s a very different beast: a 40km points race on a rolling course, with a climb at the end where I’ll be saying goodbye to the lead group, if I haven’t already been distanced.

road.cc Baller Division (B)

A tougher night for the B team, who had a barebones squad of four for the TTT, and with less riders pulling on the front and no margin for error it's always tough.

"Our team was the only one with just four riders, but we made a strong start, staying organized and working well together," says the Ballers' Adam Reynolds. "Despite a split in the second half, we managed to regroup and finish strong, thanks to a long effort at the front by Joe. Although we recorded the slowest time, we were not far off the pace, especially considering our smaller team. With a bit more practice and better pacing, we’re confident we could climb further up the leaderboard. Overall, it was a great display of teamwork and determination, and most importantly, we secured points on the board!"

Hopefully there will be more riders available next week. There's plenty of room in the squad if you want to join in, just let us know!

Given that I spent the summer not riding an awful lot, and most of the riding I did do was longer rides at no great pace, I was pretty happy to see that my power hadn’t dropped off all that much, although my power-to-weight has dipped thanks to the amount of eating I’ve managed to pack in since I was last riding indoors. The TTT marked the end of my short-but-glorious stint in the D cats (raced 1, won 1) after Zwift reappraised my racing score and pace group to something more fitting.

Race on Zwift with us!

We’re still looking for more riders to fill out the rosters of both the B and the C teams. There are five more rounds in this season, and then two more through the winter. Get involved! Head to this form to register your interest. We’re looking for A and D riders too for next season!