After 275 events we’re relaunching the Wednesday evening Cycling Weekly club ten as part of Indoor Training week. We’ve selected six new Zwift courses all perfectly suited to time trials, the first of which is Bon Voyage in the France world. Our club ten starts at 6pm every Wednesday night with the race running as a time trial, with staggered starts and no drafting.
>>> Enter our club ten each week via our events page on Zwift
Having started in 2020, thousands of people have ridden our races over the last five years with course records set on the five courses we’ve used in that time. Now it’s time for some new records to be set, and maybe some new names on the results sheet that appears in Cycling Weekly magazine each week.
New courses
Bon Voyage, France world
With very little elevation on the profile this will be a fast circuit. The full Bon Voyage route is three laps of a circuit that then finishes on an extra section of road that features some Paris Roubaix style cobbles. The roads used for a ten mile race will be revealed on the night.
With no climbing we recommend selecting the aero focused equipment from your Zwift garage. Or, if you want to gradually get faster and faster, setting PBs along the way, start our with slower kit and gradually select faster and faster equipment.
Zwift’s Bon Voyage route in the France world
(Image credit: Zwift)
Countryside Tour, Makuri Islands
(Image credit: Zwift)
A ten mile route so perfectly suited to our club ten, the Countryside Tour features a 2.5km climb and some off-road sections, meaning this won’t be the fastest of our new courses and will make for some interesting kit choices.
The climb is the Temple KOM, a 2.5km climb with an average gradient of 3.6%. Makuri Island was launched in 2021 ahead of the Japan 2020 Olympics. Although not linked, the virtual world was perfectly timed ahead of the Covid affected Games.
Loch Loop, Scotland
Zwift’s Scottish routes were launched in February 2023 and designed specifically for the UCI esports world championships. According to a Zwift insider this section of the Scottish world was designed with ten mile time trials in mind, so we had to include it. It’s another flat course with a few little rises in the second half of the 8km circuit so be sure to make sure you have enough in the tank for the second lap.
Loch Loop, Scotland Zwift world
(Image credit: Zwift)
Jurassic coast, Watopia
Anyone who has ridden in Zwift has ridden in Watopia, and if that’s you, the chances are you’ve ridden these roads. The Jurassic coast route starts on the twisting roads of Titans grove (look out for dinosaurs) which is anything but flat, but as it moves out to the coast road the inclines disappear and it’s fast and flat all the way to the finish line.
(Image credit: Zwift)
Waisted 8
The Waisted 8 course is our second in Watopia, and another virtual route that features a short climb – Jarvis KOM – in an otherwise flat circuit. The full course is 30km long, but our race only features 16 of those. The usual start position for this circuit is just before Watopia’s volcano, that it skirts around, before the Jarvis sprint. From there it island hops over to the Fuego Flats in the desert.
Gentil 8
It’s back to France for the last of our six new courses and the Gentil 8 circuit. The full course is 25km, and takes in the Petit KOM and four sprints. The 2.7km, 4% climb is the only section of the route with any gradient in, meaning it should be another fast course.
All our events will be run in time trial format, with riders setting off on in small groups from the conveyor belt and drafting turned off.
Tips for riding a ten mile TT on Zwift
(Image credit: Future)
- Get set up: Ensure you have everything you need before getting on your bike. This starts with logging on in plenty of time. Zwift rolled out new sections of their New York world on October 28 and your app will need some time to update before you ride. Then it’s you and your bike. Ensure your bike is correctly set up, you have water to hand and a fan ready to go. A towel over your handlebars is also a good option for keeping the sweat out of your headset and stem clamp
- Warm up: Ten mile time trials are fast and furious, you do not want to star with cold muscles. Ideally you’d spend at least 20 minutes on a warm up. Start by spinning your legs gently before gradually increasing your effort. You should end with 2-5 minutes at the pace you will be racing at. If you ahve time it’s a good idea to then spin gently for 2-3 minutes before a couple of activation efforts. These are typically 10 second sprints with high cadence and low resistance.
- Starting effort: Don’t fly out of the gates too fast as that initial effort can come back to bite you in the end. Gradually build up to your race pace over the first 1 – 2 minutes
- Pacing yourself: On a flat course you’d ideally ride at a steady state throughout the race. A pace that you can sustain evenly over the course of the race, no matter how long that takes you. If that’s 250 watts for you, then any effort over that will likely reduce your power output at the end. If you’re new to this it will take a few weeks to get to know your effort. If you don’t know what wattage or heart rate you can hold for 10 miles, we’d suggest riding at an effort at which you could just about hold a conversation at, using short sentences inbetween breaths.
- Warming down: It’s a good idea to keep spinning your legs for at least five minutes after you’ve crossed the finish line, bringing your heart rate down steadily.
Our old course records
|
Course |
Female record |
Male record |
|---|---|---|
|
Tick Tock |
Rachel Lieberman 21:40min |
Ceri Pritchard 19:42min |
|
Bologna TT |
Naomi De Pennington 26:47min |
Ed Laverack 22:43min |
|
London 8 |
Rachel Elliott 24:16min |
Calum Johnstone 22:38min |
|
Tempus Fugit |
Frances Owen 21:46min |
Will Lowden 19:53 |
|
Innsbruckring |
Rachel Lieberman 21:46min |
Ceri Pritchard 20:10min |
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