WTRL TTT - Compiled info

P

Pollock

Guru
Table of Contents
NOTE: If you have any questions, reach out to @Pollock and/or @trplay. I would advise directly questions about registration process to @Pollock. Send questions about the race and teams to @trplay.

WTRL does have useful information as well. Here are a few links that you might find valuable.
WTRL is based around teams made up of different classifications of riders. Here is the overview of it.
signon.jpg
 
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P

Pollock

Guru
Registration Process
The registration process is a bit cumbersome the first time that you go through it. It will require you to access several different systems in order for you to successfully join your team both in game and also in voice chat.

Signup for WTRL TTT Race
The WTRL TTT series occurs on Thursdays each week. There are currently 8 zones plus the Premier League. This allows the races to be spread out through the day. For riders in North America, this usually means Zone 7 or Zone 8. Currently, we are racing in Zone 7 which is 7:35PM ET on Thursdays.

Signup through WTRL
The easiest way to sign us will be to use the WTRL site. If you go to https://wtrl.racing//WTRL_events.php, you can view the upcoming races. Look for the Zone race. Just to the left of the title (WTRL Team Time Trial - Zone7) is a big orange rectangle that will take you directly to zwift.com. Continue on to the next section to signup through Zwift.com.

Signup through Zwift.com
If you click on this orange rectangle/button, you will land on the description page for the event. From here, log into Zwift using the 'hamburger' menu on the top right (three small parallel lines). In the menu, the login link is not evident, look on the bottom right of your screen.

Once you have logged into Zwift.com, you can now select any of the groups to ride in. If you do not know which group to join, you are likely in the Mocha division, so join group B. Your team captain for the week will also let you know which group / pen to join for that week.

Signup through Zwift Companion
Zwift Companion can be installed on your mobile device (iOS or Android). Once installed, launch the app. On the bottom of the screen, there is a button for EVENTS; select this button. On the events page, I would recommend opening the FILTERS button (top right) and make sure all groups (A, B, C, D, E) and all checkboxes (Group Ride, Group Workout, Race, Fondo, Time Trial) are selected.

You can page through events by days by using the small triangle/arrow pointing to the right just under the FILTERS button. To find the Zone 7 TTT at 7:35PM ET, I recommend paging forward through days all the way to Friday. This will put you on Friday but at midnight. Now just scroll (up?) by pulling down on the screen. You should be able to get to the WTRL TTT much quicker this way than by scrolling from the start of Thursday.

Once you reach the WTRL TTT event in Zwift Companion, select it on the screen. You can then scroll down and find the groups / pens to join. If you do not know which group to join, you are likely in the Mocha division, so join group B. Your team captain for the week will also let you know which group / pen to join for that week.

Joining Zwift Power
WTRL utilizes a combination of data provided about the race and the racers involved by using Zwift Power. Because of this, joining Zwift Power is a requirement for racing in this series. Start by going to https://zwiftpower.com/ and creating an account.

Once you have your account created, log in and navigate to the Profile (top left) section. From there, select the Settings option from the menu bar just below Profile. This profile page will serve two functions for you.
  1. Review your Rider Name to ensure it has the correct team tag (discussed later)
  2. Accept and review registration between Zwift and Zwift Power
Luckily, the folks over at Zwift have a page to explain how to register correctly; https://support.zwift.com/en_us/connecting-to-zwiftpower-SyldRc_4H.


Change Zwift Power name to reflect your team
When you sign up to race in the TTT with us, you will be assigned to a team. Usually at least a few days before the race, your team captain will reach out and let you know what team you are on. As WTRL uses the data from Zwift Power, we will need your team name to be added to the end of your rider name in Zwift Power.

Lets assume you have been assigned to the team Recuments Rock. In order for WTRL to know that you should be counted as part of that team, they require you to add your team name within parenthesis at the end of your rider name. This means you rider name will need to look like Mary Beth (Recuments Rock).

In order to change your rider name, log into Zwift Power. Select the Profile option (top left). From there, select the Settings option that appears just below and to the right of Profile. You can change your Rider Name to include your team name. Don't forget to press the big green Update button at the bottom of the page.

NOTE: You do not have to put your team name as your name in Zwift. It only has to bet set in Zwift Power. Because you linked your Zwift profile to Zwift Power, the two names can be different and WTRL can still find you for your team.

Setting up Discord
For the TTT's, each team will use the CruzBike Discord server to communicate with each other. Each team will have their own channel on the server so we can run several teams at one and there is no conflict in communication.

To use discord, you will need to install the Discord app. There are versions for mobile devices, Windows, MacOS and Linux (pretty much any device you have can support it). Keep in mind, you will want a headset so you can talk to and hear your team, so pick a device where you already have a headset you can use.

You will need to create a user account in Discord; their app will take you through the process. Once you have done that, you need to join the CruzBike discord server. You can do this by following the link just below.
Once you have joined the server, just select your team channel by name in order to talk with your teammates.
 
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P

Pollock

Guru
R.G.V Course Recon
Zwift Insider has an overview of the course at https://zwiftinsider.com/route/rgv/.

For this discussion, I will focus on a few key areas of the course. If you find other areas are worth calling out, let us know in the comments and we will update this post!

This course can be broken into two main sections; before or after the aqueduct.

Before Aqueduct
There is little to say about this section. It is mostly flat, but there are two very small hills that go up about 3%. Don't worry about these hills as your team will cover them without any real notice :)

Aqueduct
The aqueduct is going to be a challenge for many. This climb is not long and it is not real steep. The issue is that if the front of the team does not watch out, they can quickly outpace the slower climbers. Luckily, if that does happen, just wait on the flat section on top of the climb for everyone to regroup.

In the photo below, you can see the start of the climb. It goes up to about 5% gradient.

Aqueduct Climb.PNG

Balloon Field Rollers
Shortly after the aqueduct, you will start to see hot air balloons flying in the air. This starts the roller section of the course. None of these rollers are long or steep; they are just constant. As with the aqueduct, the front of the group needs to pay attention to the rear of the group. If the rear loses the draft, a 1 second gap will quickly widen in just one or two of these rollers.

We still need a good strategy for this section. For now, I would advise the rear of the group to press on the uphill to keep contact. The front of the group should can relax just a bit on the uphills. This should keep everyone together.

The photo below shows the turn into the balloon fields after the aqueduct.

Balloon Fields.png

River Squiggles
After the balloon fields, we head straight into the river squiggle area. The first half of this section you must still content with rollers. They are a bit higher than the balloon fields, but not significantly. The real challenge here is the 3-4% climb right in the middle of this section. The climb is only about 200m in length, so a good 30 second effort will get you through it. At this point, we should be maybe 5km out from the finish. For the faster groups, you might shed a rider on this climb.

After the climb, you have a downhill and then flat. That only lasts until the end of the river squiggles. At this point, you have your last climb. Another 3-4% climb about the same length as the one you just finished. Once you finish this climb, you have 1km to go.

The photo below shows the approximate location of the climb in the middle of these squiggles.

River Squiggles.png

Sprint Home
After all of the above, you have a short distance to go. If your team has not already started it, ramp up the pace. The rest of the course is flat and fast. Everyone should be going hard, but stay together for the blob effect. Once you get to 400-500m out, call out to the team to sprint and everyone go.

Remember, your teams time is calculated by the 4th place rider (when you have 5+ riders). If your lead sprinter is 2-3 seconds ahead of everyone, they are doing the team no good. Those strong sprinters need to pay attention and ensure the 4th place rider has their best sprint so the team gets the best time that they can.
 
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P

Pollock

Guru
Preparing for the your first TTT race!
Somehow, you actually listened to @trplay and you have signed up for your first TTT race. First, congratulations. You have taken the first step to having a great time racing with a bunch of your now closest friends who also ride recumbents.

Aside from having a bit of ginger ale to help with that nervous feeling, what do you need to to to ensure a successful first TTT race?

First, start with the Registration Process. If you have questions, feel free to reach out to @Pollock as he is a sucker for IT support problems without being able to see the screen.

Great, so now you are registered and have created accounts across half the internet. What else should you do before the race starts so you can just focus on pedaling?
  1. Give yourself at least 30 minutes to log in, fiddle with your devices and warm up.
  2. On Zwift, make sure you have a source of power (usually your trainer, sometimes a crank or pedal based power meter), cadence sensor and heart rate sensor paired. HR data is not required for the race, but it is great to make sure you are not a vampire yet.
  3. When you are warming up, spend a few minutes to open Discord to the CruzBike server and find your team's channel. Click on the channel with your team name on it and get to know your new friends.
  4. In the bottom left of your Zwift screen is a button that constantly nags you to join your event. When you are down to 10 minutes before the event, make sure you join the event. This gives you plenty of time to make changes if something is not right. You don't want to be a Mocha rider is pen D when all your teammates are in pen B.
Excellent. You are warmed up and waiting for the count down to zero so you can show everyone the huge power you can drop. Not so fast, we don't start when the clock hits zero. OK, how does this race thing start then?
  1. Your team captain will tell you how long your team gets to play card games in the pen before you can start.
  2. Before the race starts, your team captain should have a conversation about the team strategy for the week.
  3. Your team captain will keep you informed as the clock ticks by. Ideally, a reminder every minute helps. Unless you have a 15 minute wait time (it has happened!), then maybe not every minute.
  4. As you get to the last minute, expect updates at 30 seconds, 15 seconds, 10, 5, 4, 3 (pedal!), 2, 1 and POWER!
  5. Yes, start pedaling around 3 seconds before your teams time based on what your captain says. This gives your trainer enough time to register that you are no longer playing cards and want it to actually do work. The goal is to cross the start line as close to zero as you can.
Awesome, so now I can show all to all my new friends that I can push out 1.5Gigawatts of power? Sorry, that's probably not what your team or captain want right now. Hopefully your team captain has set either a speed or a w/kg target for the start so the team can come together quickly. This number will vary by team and by week based on the current team make up.

The goal of the TTT is to cover the course as fast as possible as a team. We are judged on this by based on the time of the 4th rider (teams with 4 or fewer riders use a different rider number for the team's time). Coupled with this, Zwift gives a rather nice draft effect once you are over 12kph and within 5 meters of another rider.

Using this information, most of our teams will find their best start by picking a speed or w/kg that allows everyone to join up together quickly. From there, the lead riders will pick up the pace to whatever the team's goal is while everyone else rides at a slower pace in the draft. Keep in mind, riders 1-3 are doing more work as the draft effect is lower for them. If you need to recover, sit in at the number 4-6 rider.

If you make it this far and you have a good start with your team, then you will want to have an idea of what your team's race strategy is going to be. I would start by seeing if we have any course recon notes posted (see Table of Contents). That will give you a good idea of what to expect, but perhaps not your teams strategy. Your team should have a conversation around strategy either while warming up or while waiting for the count down to your actual start time.
 
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P

Pollock

Guru
Course Recon: Out and Back Again
Zwift Insider provides a good overview of the course at https://zwiftinsider.com/route/out-and-back-again/.

The Out and Back Again course begins in Fuego Flats on Watopia. The first ~10km are going to be flat and fast through the desert area. The course goes up the climb at the end of the desert. This climb is not real long or steep (~3%). It is important to remember that there is a downhill right after the climb. If the team splits on the climb, the lead riders should slow and wait for the rest before going downhill.

The downhill out of the desert leads you into the underwater tunnels. There is a very small climb leading into the tunnel followed by a nice descent. Keep the blob together and you can carry the pace a long way into the tunnel. When you arrive at the Jarvis Tree area, take a left. This will quickly take you into the climb out of the underwater tunnel. This climb is again not long, but at least feels a bit steeper. Keep a good pace with the group going up.

As soon as you come out of the underwater tunnels, you are on a dirt section of road. This is going to drop your speed a lot, don’t worry, everyone has the issue. The dirt continues until you go past the blue house. Once you are off the dirt, you enter into a climbing section that is not steep. The first part is a 1-2% climb that takes the team up through a series of switch backs. The finishes with a short climb that is steeper followed by a quick downhill into the Italian Village. As with all these downhills, make sure the group is together.

In the Italian Village, take a right and head to the sprint. The sprint is not interesting; the hill on the other side of the bridge is. The first hill will be a test for the team. It is maybe as long and perhaps bit steeper than the one back in the desert, but the team is going to be a little more tired here. Once you crest this hill, just stay together through the rollers known as the Esses. At the 20km mark, you should be through these rollers and heading over towards the volcano.

img_0286.png

The Volcano KOM is going to be a test. It is about 3.8km in length and most of the time is around 5-6% gradient. Our current recommended strategy is to have a mid-weight all around rider set a pace for the team. The fast and/or light riders should help pace the slower and/or heavier riders. Make sure to give your teammates as much draft as possible; every bit helps. Around half way up the climb, you enter the volcano again. This little section is flat so rest while you can. With about 300m to the top, the climb pitches up significantly and flattens out about 30m from the banner. Now that you made it to the top, get the team together and fly down the volcano; use this rest time wisely.

img_0287.png

As the team leave the volcano, you will head across the little land bridge back to the Italian Village. Just as you are about to climb up to the Italian Village, we hit another section of dirt. It stays as dirt all the way through this climb up to the fountain. Don’t rest too much, once you go through the tunnel, you have one more short climb to get through. Don’t miss the waterfalls on the left!

img_0288.png

At this point, prepare yourself for the Zwift KOM. This climb starts just before you get to the huge bicycle statues. The start of the climb is the tough part. On the first sharp right turn, it pitches up to 11%. If you can stay with the team through this section, you are good. The climb flattens out and then has one more area to climb shortly after. One you get through these two parts, the rest of it is 1-2% to the top of the climb.

img_0289.png

From the top of the Zwift KOM, the team is going to have a very fast downhill. As always, stay together. The course turns away from downtown Watopia and heads back out to the desert. When you take the left turn to heads towards the desert area, just remember there is a low 1-2% climb. It doesn’t sound like much, but by now everyone is tired. This climb will feel much harder than it really is. Finish going by the starting pens and then head for the Fuego Flats sprint banner; the course finishes at the sprint.
img_0292.png

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benphyr

benphyr

Guru-me-not
Awesome work @Pollock.

What does R.G.V. mean? Found it: the Route Grande Vitesse or something like that - the name of the Zwift route which mimics one of the Tour du France stages.
 
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