The Zwift Grand Prix is a selection of the best teams and riders of Zwift racers worldwide. This year, it's a a 7-round race series held on Thursdays at 6pm/7pm UTC. See here for more information about races, courses, teams.
VERIFICATION
This season I am joining the team Saris|NoPinz. In order to be able to race, riders need to go through a verification process with several power tests, indoors and outdoors, following a protocol to ensure the equipment and rider's power and capability are accurate and real.
WEIGH-IN
Once that is done, there is a weigh in video to be made 2 hours before every event.
Personally I struggle with the little time frame since weight fluctuation can be severe and I am just learning to make peace with my healthy and not underweight body.
MOTIVATION
I am so thankful for being healthy, seeing training progress and being able to put my power out there to see what I can do while competing with amazing women and the best indoor racers. I am learning to stay motivated and see the races as an opportunity and not put pressure of performance or a stiff expectation. The main thing is to show up. I know that then I do what I can best with what I have that day.
SO FAR SO GOOD
We already have two races in the bag. The first one was a tricky points format, allowing riders to score only once and then being out of the race. I went for the finish line points and got second place, which brought our team a good ammount of points, besides what my teammates were able to get! Unfortunately, the race got annulled due to a technical issue with Zwift. Find out more here.
THE MOUNTAIN: RACE #2
The Alp du Zwift, is Zwift's Watopia virtual world hardest climb. The race took us all the way up. Still thinking my weight gain would give me disadvantage on climbs, I was able to prove myself wrong. With my healthy weight gain also came more power. So I was able to stay with the front group that quickly broke things appart with an high pace upfront. One insane strong french rider (Sandrine Etienne for team Hexagone) broke away all the way to the finish. I was dosing the power with a small group, when finally after over 40 minutes of climbing I kicked to the finish line grabbing second place. See my instagram reel for a quick look into how that looked like here or as a youtube short video.
That day I was feeling great and had a good race. Watch my whole livestream perspective on m twitch channel!
I posted on instagram, describing my happiness about a new PB 20 min power and learning about racing bold and finding that freedom in performance! See below:
I am looking foward to be racing the next races. Tune in to watch me live on my twitch channel. I hope you enjoy this now indoor journey with me! :)