You’ve almost certainly heard of Zwift Racing and its opportunity to compete on-line. But you’ve maybe been intimidated by the quality of the fields it attracts – after all, some former amateur Zwifters are now racing at WorldTour level.
Racing on Zwift is a fantastic way to train and now Zwift has introduced a totally new ranking system, which it’s spent years perfecting. Called Zwift Racing Score, it ensures that you are matched against riders of a comparable level, but still allows you to rise up the rankings as your performance and race results improve.
Here’s how it works.
There are hundreds of races which you could join on Zwift at any time of the day or night. You can browse upcoming races, the course and distance and when they’re scheduled both on Zwift’s calendar and on the Zwift Companion phone app. You can join some races as an individual rider or join a team on Zwift.
There are more details of how to get started with racing on the ZwiftInsider blog.
If this is your first entry into a Zwift race, you’ll be able to find races at the right level for your abilities, and you won’t be competing with elite racers. There are five race categories from beginners to experts, dependent on racing score.
Initially, your racing score will be based on your power numbers when using Zwift.
As your fitness increases and you start to garner race placings, your Zwift Racing Score will change to reflect your results. Your Zwift Racing Score points total will change dependent on your race performance and there are extra points for podium finishes, as well as when you race against larger, more competitive fields.
Athletes are graded from 0 to 1,000, so there’s plenty of room to improve. You can enter races at a category above your current level, to help you move up more quickly, but are prevented from joining many races in lower categories.
Your score can go up or down, dependent on your power output and your race placing. Immediately after you finish a race, you’ll be shown your score and any movement in your profile in the Zwift game and your new score in the Zwift Companion app and on Zwift.com.
Zwift Racing Score is a great addition to Zwift to help make racing more rewarding than ever, regardless of your level and your ambitions and is designed to track personal progression and make every race even more competitive.
Workouts to help you improve
While racing on Zwift will give big fitness gains, it’s not just about racing, as Zwift has a comprehensive range of workouts and training plans. You can work on specific aspects of your fitness, to maybe increase your anaerobic capacity or your endurance to improve your performance in Zwift races.
There are new hero workouts each week and you can pre-select workouts in the Zwift companion app, which will be on your home screen next time you log into Zwift, ready for you to follow.
The best hardware for Zwift
Zwift has the hardware to help you achieve your indoor racing ambitions too. Its innovative products give you an ideal platform to race and make it easy to select the best Zwift set-up for your needs.
You can, for example, now leave your outdoor bike outdoors and have a dedicated Zwift set-up, with the Zwift Ride smart indoor bike. It will be ready to ride when you are, with no need to remove your wheel or mount your bike on your trainer.
Zwift Ride connects up to a turbo trainer to provide a complete, modular indoor bike, with in-built shifting, steering and Zwift control. It includes the second generation Zwift Cog. This is a single sprocket freehub that fits on your trainer in place of a multi-gear cassette and gives you smooth virtual shifting with up to 12 speeds, with no more crunched gears.
You shift from the Zwift Ride Smart Frame’s handlebars via the in-built Zwift controllers, which also provide buttons for steering and in-game control for Power Ups and other functions, so you don’t need to interact with your screen while riding hard.
At present, Zwift Ride is designed to work with the Wahoo Kickr Core trainer, and you can buy the complete Zwift Ride with Kickr Core set-up from Zwift. If you are looking for a turnkey indoor riding package, Zwift Ride with Kickr Core gives you all you need for your smart bike set-up to get you Zwifting. Just bring your pedals.
Alternatively, you can now buy the Zwift Ride Smart Frame stand-alone. It includes everything except the turbo trainer and its resistance unit, including the Zwift Cog. It’s compatible with all Zwift Ready trainers – there’s a list of current Zwift Ready models on the site. The number of options is ever-expanding and currently includes trainers from Wahoo, Elite, Decathlon and other leading trainer brands.
An offer from Zwift on its smart bike hardware
Zwift is offering a discount on a range of its hardware from now until the end of the year, when bought from the online Zwift Shop.
The discount applies to the new Zwift Ride with Wahoo Kickr Core and Zwift Ride Smart Frame, as well as the Kickr Core trainer, with or without bundled Zwift membership.
Just input CYCLINGZ10 in the promo code in the basket during check-out and Zwift will automatically apply the discount.
It’s not available on other products in the Zwift Shop and valid for a single use per customer, while stocks last. You can’t combine this offer with other offers, can’t redeem for cash and the offer is void where prohibited.
If you’re looking to join Zwift, rejoin Zwift or want to set up the ideal indoor cycling environment, now’s a great time to purchase the hardware you need, maybe bundled with a year’s Zwift membership to kick-start your Zwift racing.
