Zwift: Hilly Route Reverse - Race Review

For Round 2 of the "Bag That Badge" series, Zwift have reversed one of their oldest routes. The "Hilly Route" is  a very popular badge and race course on the platform. It is focused round the "Hilly KOM", which is a tough hill to race on. It's short at only 1KM long but with an average gradient of 5.5%. The reverse version of the Hilly KOM, is more than twice as long with only a 2% average incline. The question is, will this longer climb at a lower gradient still favour the light weight climbers? The rest of the course includes the popular Esses with its rolling section, the EWB bridge sprint and Italian Villas. The new reversed version feels more like a course for all-rounder type riders, the ones who push everywhere and aren't afraid to go it alone in a breakaway. 

Obviously, I've never raced on the "Hilly Route Reverse" course before, but I have raced on the standard version. It was June 2023 and the early stages of my Zwift racing. Out of the 26 riders that competed, I managed to finish 20th. I remember not enjoying the course and being dropped on the first climb. I managed to average 2.5 W/KG during that race, I'm pretty sure I would be more than 2.7 W/KG now with all the racing and training I've done. I can't promise that I wouldn't still get dropped on that climb though. 

Making a Zwift race plan

While looking at this reversed course, I felt like I would be strong in the Esses and Italian Villas sections. Flywheeling on the run down to the EWB bridge always seems to gain me an advantage. I just need to hope that I can hold onto the group up the Hilly KOM. My worry is always the first part of the KOM where the gradient hits its peak. The rest of the climb looks manageable. If I could survive the climb, then I felt the run up to the finish sprint would suit be a bit better as there isn't a clear place to launch. 

Another plan I had was with my bike choice. For the climb stage of the "Zwift Games" I purchased the "Specialized Athos" and been very impressed at how it had helped me get a better result. This course didn't really suit a climbing bike, but maybe using my "DT Swiss Disc Wheelset" might inject some speed on the flats. I tested this setup twice on Robo partner rides and was impressed at how well it worked on the flats. I decided to give it a go in this race. 

The race, with additional nerves at the start 

I was a little nervous at the start, not because of the race, it was because the HUD Watt counter was stuck at zero. I could see my rpm were registering, so it wasn't a problem with the connection to my trainer. With only 1 minute to go I had no choice but to risk it. With luck, it was just the heads up display that wasn't working and my avatar raced off with everyone else. Later I found out that it was a known problem on the Apple TV Zwift App. The start went as I expected it to. When races start from the pier starting pen, they always start fast, then quickly ease, but then explode again up the small ramp that leads to the Esses. I'd warmed up well so the start went smoothly. Out of 34 starters, only about 20 made it to the Esses still in the lead group. The first half of the lap went well, from experience I know lead groups naturally push on the ramp out of the Italian Villas. I expected this, it happened, but strangely I nearly got dropped. It was a my first worry of the race, especially has it was just before we started the steep part of the Hilly KOM. I had a feather power from the sprint banner, I used as the gradient ramped up. To my surprise I stayed with the group. 

As we crested the first part, around 5 riders pushed on to break from the group. They didn't breakaway as a group, so I didn’t try to chase. My focus was to test how the climb would go on the first lap, then look at who needed to be chased down. I was easily able to crest the summit within the group, the few guys that had broken away were more than 20 seconds ahead of us. My hope now was the group would catch them on the flat sections before the second pass of the KOM. The Esses and Bridge were very comfortable, I also didn't lose touch after the Villas this time. By the time we started the final assent of the KOM, we had only caught two of the breakaway riders, the other two seemed to be long gone. I pushed on up the first part of the climb with my finger on the power up button, I was ready to launch my feather boost if needed. A few activated their power ups, but I was able to follow them allowing me to save mine for the final part of the climb. 

I feel like my flywheel technique saved me some energy on the middle part of the climb. It got me a head of the group, I them recovered a bit while letting them catch me up again. I was feeling good and had made a plan to attack when the summit banner came into view. With about 300m to go, I launched my feather and dropped the hammer. I averaged over 400 watts and left the group. By the summit I had made over 4 seconds on them, from there I continued to push on the descent to try and extend the gap. I rested briefly on the descent before pushing again at the base to try and maintain the speed. My gap had extended to nearly 6 seconds as I settled into a time trial effort for the last 800m to the finish line. By this point, it looked like the group had realised their mistake at letting me escape, a few charged after me but it was too late. By the time I had crossed the line, I was still 2 seconds ahead of them in a rewarding 3rd place. 

Zwift Race debrief: How did I beat other riders with a lower average W/KG?

I was over the moon with another podium position, especially given that I had marked this race as one I didn't expect to do well at. Looking at the results, my average W/KG were the lowest in the top 13 riders. I think there are 4 factors that made this possible; 

• Bike setup: Even with a mini breakaway, I had managed to be more efficient than all the riders round me. I think the Athos setup did help, however I don’t think my Giant Propel would have had similar results. Either way, it’s a confidence boost I can use at the next hilly course. 
• Power up usage: I felt I was very lucky with the power-ups. With three points to collect them from, it was easy to manage them to gain advantages. On the last lap I made sure I had a feather for the final climb. 
• Technique and drafting: I feel like my flywheel technique helped save some watts. Just that little burst at the bottom of the ramps helped me fly past others, I then could recover and settle into the pack. 
• Tentative competitors: The final factor was that maybe the race was made up with competitors who were afraid to attack. The 4 riders who gambled early, got big advantages from this. I noticed this on the first lap, which gave me the confidence to go for a break instead of waiting for the final sprint. 
  
  

So my tips for anyone tackling this course is not to be scared of the climb. I would also suggest you look at the course to work out where you think you would be strong, then plan to attack on it to see what happens. It was a route that was a lot more enjoyable than I expected. I hope you have found my experience useful. Please reach out to us if you have any questions or want to share your experience. Next weeks Round 3 should be a very different race in London, see you then.