Watts Up in Watopia This Week? Our New Zwift Preview Article
We are taking a little bit of a new approach to our Zwift event previews here, expanding our view well beyond the 9 weekly events that we host and looking at the broader Zwift event context. That’s why we’re also changing the name of this recurring article, which will still post every Sunday or Monday here at Slowtwitch. We’ll separate things out into three categories: Group Workouts and Rides, Races, and Runs.
Group Workouts and Rides
Slowtwitch Indoors Rides, various times: As always, you have five opportunities to ride with us on Zwift: Tuesday morning’s Ride of the Valkyries, Tuesday evening’s Structured Training, our Thursday duo of Rise and Grind and Hilly Vanilli Chase, and Casual Fridays featuring our friends at Every Man Jack.
Our Tuesday rides this week will be hosted by Kelly Burns Gallagher and Slowman himself, Dan Empfield. These structured training, no-drop rides just force you to keep the pedals turning over in order to stay with the group. They are brisk workouts — think high TSS, short recovery, and plenty of fun. Thursday rides are more like your local shop ride; stick with the pack with every ounce of energy you have, because getting dropped often means a soft pedal until you get swept up in the group behind. Friday is, as you might expect from the title, a bit more casual in nature, with some efforts to help wake you up for a weekend of training or racing.
Zwift Tour For All Stage 5, May 20-23: If you’ve been participating in the Tour For All (or you want to kick it off, as Zwift is offering make up dates for all of the other stages soon!), Stage 5 is dubbed “Community Favorites.” Some of the largest teams on Zwift have selected their favorite routes. You can take your pick of Keith Hill After Party, Watopia Pretzel, Sand and Sequoias (women’s only), or Surrey Hills to complete (or start) your tour.
Pete Stetina Gravelleurs Ride, Tuesday 10:05 AM Eastern: Wanting to test out the Canyon Grail, even virtually? Here’s your opportunity while also riding alongside with Pete Stetina. This C group ride heads to the Jungle Circuit for a few laps. This ride is always a good time with good numbers, so be sure to head on over!
Team Charles-Barclay Social Ride, Tuesday 12:30 PM Eastern: Join Lucy and Reece for a ride that should have a little bit of everything. Their ride this week will take place on the Innsbruck KOM After Party route. The ride is scheduled to be social until the base of the climb, at which point Lucy and Reece will attempt to chase down the QOM/KOM jersey. We might recommend swapping your wheels out for the ENVE 3.4s, known to be one of the faster sets of climbing wheels.
CeramicSpeed Group MTB Ride, Wednesday 6:00 AM Eastern: Zwift keeps trying to push the mountain biking segments, and they’re really getting it moving along with their current CeramicSpeed challenge. To unlock the kit in game, as well as to potentially win a CeramicSpeed OSPW system in real life, you have miles to ride on three types of bikes: 25 miles on the MTB, 50 miles on the TT, and 75 miles on the road bike. Join this ride to thunder through nearly all of those MTB miles in one fell swoop.
Racing on Zwift
USA Cycling Race Series, Wednesday 5:45 AM/1:55 PM/8:45 PM Eastern: Looking for a Zwift Racing series that feels way more like racing in real life? USA Cycling is here with a weekly series with three start times (six if you include the women’s only versions), four categories, and no power-ups available. I have been racing these events each week, and have felt them to be the most “fair” Zwift races of them all. If you’re a USA Cycling member, there are unique weekly standings and potential prizes available as well. This week will see 2 to 4 laps of the Innsbruckring; the Legsnapper climb will be sure to be the site of numerous attacks.
Run Events on Zwift
Slowtwitch Group Runs, Monday and Wednesday at 7 AM and 7 PM Eastern: Looking to rub elbows with your fellow runners on Zwift? There’s no better opportunity than on May Field with a group. Watopia’s track is where you’ll find a significant number of runners at any one given point in time. We run four times per week — join us some time.
Turn It Up Tuesdays, various start times: Join your fellow Zwift runners for a series of structured workouts each Tuesday. Whether you’re a first time runner or someone who’s looking for an edge for your next virtual event, or anything in between, these up-tempo workouts are meant to help give you a boost.
We’ll see you on Zwift!
