Cyclopathon League

A monthly League of scratch races in three time zones using ZRS categories, which will vary from month to month so sometimes you’re the hammer and sometimes the nail. Individual and Team (best 4) “GC” standings based on finish points. Sign up to races here

One weekly 30-45 minute scratch race on each course type per month as a true test of all-round ability. No power-ups, no steering.

A: 650-750 ZRS (alternating 600-700)
B: 550-650 ZRS (alternating 500-600)
C: 450-550 ZRS (alternating 400-500)
D: 350-450 ZRS (alternating 300-400)
E: 0-350 ZRS (alternating 0-300)

September 2024 Routes

3rd Sept: London Classique 3 laps (flat)
10th Sept: Castle Crit 5 laps (rolling)
17th Sept: Roule Ma Poule 1 lap (hilly)
24th Sept: 2018 UCI Worlds Innsbruck 1 lap (mountainous)

ZwiftPower League for each time zone based on best 4 races.
Team results based on top 4 riders (based on your primary team set in ZP)

FIN points 100,90,85,80,76,72,68,65,62,59,57,55,53,51,50….1

Atlantic League races start at 0950 UTC / 0550 EST / 1150 CET
EMEA League races start at 1750 UTC / 1850 BST / 1950 CET
USW League races start at 0115 UTC / 1815 PDT

No Power-Ups, No Steering, Scratch Race, No Zpower, HRM Required

Fun Racing, Minimal Overhead

The most important thing for me here is that the racing should be fun. I don’t care much about having enormous numbers as long as those who show up and race have good fun doing it. I’m not going to set loads of rules because these are going to be public races and most people will not read them anyway.

I’m using ZRS which also acts as pen enforcement. If you’re eligible to race in a pen, feel free to race in it. If you’re too good for that pen, feel free to “race up” but hopefully the system would adjust you upwards soon anyway. (It’s new, so not everyone will be rated with 100% accuracy to begin with, but it should auto-adjust quickly.)

I’ve made it “HRM Required” because I don’t want discussions along the lines of “he wasn’t using a HRM”. To be honest, I don’t really want any discussions about how other people “cheated”, so I’m trying to use the tools available to minimize adminstrative overhead so that I can focus on enjoying the races and choosing next month’s courses. (If it isn’t fun to run, it’s likely to be unsustainable.)
Cyclopathon Race Signups Here

Potential FAQ

Is there any team admin? No. None at all. As long as your racers have their ZP primary team set correctly for the race, their score will count towards your team total in their respective category. (Each category counts as a separate team competition.)

My ZRS is >750 (700 alternate months) does that mean I can’t race? Currently YES – that’s exactly what it means. Sorry about that! At least initially we are trialling these boundaries. I wish Zwift could have more than 5 pens. To get the full spread of abilities into just 5 groups compromises the racing experience for a lot of people. If a large number of 700+ riders want to race it MAY be possible to do a second set of races at some point. But we’re starting small and we’ll see how it goes.

Do I need a Heart Rate Monitor (HRM)? YES. It will not let you in the start pen unless you have a Heart Rate Monitor connected to Zwift.

Do I need a Smart Trainer? YES. You will need either a smart trainer or power meter or you won’t be allowed in the start pen.

Will these Pen Boundaries Be Permanent? NO. Absolutely not. They will be reviewed on an ongoing basis. I’m already slightly sceptical if I got September’s levels correct after there was a tweak to ZRS this week. I’m now hoping they’re not set slightly too high. But it’s too late to mess about changing the September races so we’ll see how it goes and adjust in October.

I am above the pen limit but it let me race anyway. Is this OK? YES and NO. The ZRS pen enforcement system allows you to sign up to a race if you are within the category limit at the time of signup. So, if you are currently <450, you can sign up to any race that needs <450. But then, if you go over 450 before the race starts, it will still let you compete in it. I can’t stop that happening, but, I expect people to race in the correct pen for their ZRS at the time of the race. So, if this is spotted, I reserve the right to move people in the ZP results to the correct pen. Obviously lower categories are generally slower, so if your result is moved to a higher category, you will likely do less well in the League than if you had started in your true category. (Update 12 Sept 2024: It’s very likely that for October I will have the races created weekly to avoid this issue. That seems to be the best solution.)