For June, Z-Racing have created the 'Sea Breeze' series. It consists of 4 weekly stages with the final one featuring an exclusive route on new virtual roads. With all the Z-Racing series, you can enter one of the races at the start of every hour. Each race has 4 different ability categories so that the racing is a little fairer. The stage routes change every Monday, the courses are usually fast paced and last between 30 minutes to an hour. The amount of riders can vary depending on category and peak times, but most races have at least 30 riders to compete against. This month's series routes are all races that run alongside the virtual coast line during some point of them. They all look great to me and seem suited to all-rounder type riders. I'm particularly looking forward to stage 3: Beach Island Loop, as I always seem to have luck racing in that area of Watopia. If you want to find out more about the series, you should checkout Zwift Insiders detail page here: “Sea Breeze” ZRacing June Series Details
Stage 1 of the series was the "Going Coastal" route in Watopia. This is a 18.7KM point to point course, it starts at Fuego Flats and finishes on the new evergreen coast line. I rode this course in November 2023 when it was released for the "Race Watopia" series. I found it a little boring for the first half through the flats, but the second half was a great challenge with all its ramps and a brutal finish.
The race plan for Watopia's Going Coastal
Having raced the course before , I had a pretty good idea how I was going to handle it. On my last attempt I managed to finish 17th out of 60 riders. I remember feeling like I'd had a good race and was happy to only finished 4 seconds away from the winner. I was planning to do a similar strategy to before and see if my fittness was better 6 months on.
The plan was to try and save as much energy as possible on the flats. Then on the Evergreen rolling hills, push hard to stay on the front and keep an eye out for any attacks. Coming towards the finish line, there is a small hump before the 300m uphill drag to the finish line. Last time, I remember attacking too early and getting swamped at the finish line. I would decide what to do here at the last minute of the race, but focusing on just a sprint was plan A.
Racing on the Going Coastal route in Zwift
For the start, I didn't push as hard as I normally would have. This was because there were 90 riders in the race and I knew a early break was unlikely. I was right and a large group of about 60 riders formed a peloton to steam across the flats. I sat at the back and kept an eye on the HUD map to make sure the group was staying together. I was surprised that there wasn't any big attacks this time, it would be crazy to go for a break on such a flat section, but you always get a few crazy ones in every race….. just not today it seems. The pace ramped up as we came to the end of the desert section and instantly a split broke the group into two halves. I had already expected this and used my draft boost to make sure I had pulled my way to the front.
As we moved into the Evergreen ramped section, the chasing group failed to join back up leaving a lead group of about 35 riders. I focused on staying towards the front of the group and expected to watch riders start falling off the back of the pack. But this didn't happen, with each ramp and surge of power, the group always seemed to stay together. As we made it to the sandy sprint section I was grateful to get my second and last powerup. I was hoping for an aero boost but it was of course the draft boost again. I held my finger over the activate button, just in case of any attacks I couldn't counter. I didn’t need to use it though as my legs were feeling good, it was just my confidence that was lacking with the group still 35 riders strong.
As we moved into the last 2KM, my focus was on a sprint and my hopes were to somehow beat 17th. The route completed it's final ramp and descended into the final 1KM. The pace had really ramped up and I was sat holding between 300 and 400 watts. I watched a guy sprint off the front but I held back with about 4 other riders and waited for that last hump. Some launched their sprint just before it, but I stuck to my plan and activated my boost to help. As I crested the hump I stood up out of the saddle the get some extra watts, but my legs had nothing! A few more riders came past me as I sat back down and tried to spin my way to the finish line. I was 9th with 100m to go! I was waiting for more riders to rocket past me, but instead I somehow managed to slowly pull past two other riders. I crossed the line in 7th feeling very dead and breathless.
Is Going Coastal in Watopia a good route to race on?
Going coastal is a great course for Zwift racing. There are plenty of opportunities to escape with a well-planned breakaway, but it is just as rewarding if the race goes to a sprint finish. If you win a sprint finish on this course then you shouldn't have any problems with other sprint finishes on Zwift.
I am so happy I managed to improve from 6 months ago. I was really doubting how the finish would go coming into the last quarter of the race. The opening half is still boring to me, but I do wonder if its want makes the second half so epic. I really hope they use this course again in future series and it's definitely in my top 5 favourites.
I hope you have found my experience helpful and you have good luck for when you attempt it. The next stage will be in Makuri Islands, it's my least favourite course of the series, so will probably make a better read next week. See you at the next one.
|
VeloHunt Steve