Zwift Time Trial Tactics

I'll be having a go at some Zwift team time trials so I thought I would give a quick brain dump on thoughts about how to handle them.

Key thing is that it is not like a real TTT. 

There is no element of luck.

There is minimal skill, just the ability to hold a pace-line rather than a blob and to shift the lead every now and then.

So the main risk is not luck or lack of skill but mistakes and miscommunication, both can be minimised by clear planning.

This planning is easy. It simplest to think of a Zwift TTT not as a race but a combination of

• Mathematical puzzle
• Specialist roles
• Individual workouts with intervals and recovery
• Bell Ringing
• Communication

Puzzle

The puzzle is an equation where the variables are the power capabilities of all the riders. The solution is the one that uses these capabilities to produce the maximum average power for the expected duration of the ride.* 

If the team has  a mathematician they may be able to create a model that does this. If not then it will take a bit more time to come up with a solution but not that much. 

It will just involve picking a target power, say 350W and then seeing if its possible to plan individual workouts that will hit it. Depending on result then just need to increase or decrease target and reiterate.

The first time will be the most difficult thereafter it will be more straight forward.

The key information needed is the power capabilities of the riders. A simple MMP will be a good starting point.

The other vital information needed is the effect of drafting, luckily this is covered by Zwift Insider article here.https://zwiftinsider.com/speed-tests-ttt/

* The course profile is another variable but less than in real life so can be ignored on all but courses with significant climbs (not sure if these will feature in TTTs anyway)

Roles

The objective is to get 4 riders across the line at the highest average power possible. This implies at least 2 different roles.

• Finishers – who will finish the race
• Shooting Stars – who will burn themselves out during the race knowing they do not need to finish

Depending on the mix of abilities in the finishers there may need to be an additional role

• Stayer – who must finish but to do so will spend less time at the front and maybe do no pulls at all in the final stages.

According to the Zwift article the fourth rider already has a significant advantage. So my guess is that only four finishers are really needed, having more will not offer any advantage only some contingency, which should not be needed given the absence of luck.

Individual workouts

Each rider will have their own "workout". This will have consist of a series of time durations, power and position in group. (Power will either be a specific watts target or a rough zone) 

When combined all the workouts will end up with a constant seamless power in the lead position 

As an e.g. For a Shooting Star who will do 3 pulls

1 minute Tempo Postion 2

1 minute 350W Lead

3 minutes LSD Position 6

1 minute Tempo Position 2

1 minute 350W Lead

3 minutes LSD Position 6

1 minute Tempo Position 2

1 minute 350W or more Lead

Recover, stay with group as long as possible then stop

The only difference from a normal workout is that each interval shift, especially into and out of lead position will not be sudden but a ramp of around 5-10 seconds.

Each team member sign off that they can do their workout and will then be able to practice doing it individually e.g by joining any Zwift race.

Bell Ringing

This is synchronising all the workouts so that everyone knows what they are doing when and the changeover at the front is smooth. My personal opinion is that in order to minimise errors pulls should be on the long side rather than quickly alternating. The latter may be faster (depends I think on the capabiliites of the team) but the cock up potential is much bigger too.

Basically what you end up with is a spreadsheet showing all the riders, who is doing what when. If this is executed then the team will have ridden at close to optimum.

This may sound a bit complicated but it pretty much the same as ringing a peal of bells and much less complicated (thanks to Mrs M for specialist advise on this matter)

Communication

In an ideal world this will not be needed but things don't work out that way and clear communication will be needed in order to help things run smoothly and deal with issues if they crop up.

The best way to handle this would be to have a "sporting director" watching the race who is also on the discord channel. They would have the master schedule in front of them and call up the changes as they are due to happen just in case riders get confused. So if things go well and according to plan the sporting director should be the only one who needs to talk and that only to announce the changes.

The sporting director will also make calls in case of issues.

• The default in case a rider blows up early will be to call up the next one on the rota. This may mean calling things on the fly at the end of the race but with fewer riders at this point it should not be too difficult. The rider blowing up will continue to try to complete the rest of their workout.
• The default if a rider is dropped ahead of schedule will be to let them drop. Depending on the race situation some riders may then be asked to do longer pulls in order to cover for the one missing.

Other thoughts

The biggest risk of gaps is on climbs. Everyone should have the difficulty slider set all the way to the left to reduce this. It may also be necessary to compromise bike choice so that some riders sacrifice a bit of aero for a faster climbing bike especially if the climbs spend any time over 7%. Trial and error is probably the only way to find out if this is necessary and/or works.

Everyone should check their height is really what they think it is (rather depressingly I did this and found I have shrunk a couple of cm.) Smaller riders get an advantage and this is one time it's best not be a six footer. (Unlike in real life big riders do not, to the best of my knowledge at least, provide more Zwift drag protection than little ones)