Cyclopathy
Winning Rides

Winning Rides

A bit self-indulgent, but I thought it would be fun to collect the videos of my wins all on one page. Most recent, at the top. They mostly end with a climb. I’ve taken a few podiums on flat finishes, but not yet a win (unless you count Glasgow Crit which seems to be one I can win on).

16/07/2024 πŸ† DRS SoC Amethyst & Platinum on Seaside Sprint in Watopia

This was a points race in DRS Summer of Champions. I was on the cusp of becoming a Sapphire and wanted to go out with a win. I crossed the finish line second, beating everyone else by 2s apart from the Emerald guy who was racing two categories too low. But I beat him on points anyway, getting FTS 1st, FAL 6th and FTS 3rd. So I depart Amethyst with a win.

31/03/2024 Zwift – RaceπŸ† Chasing Tour | Chasing Vlaanderen (C) on Cobbled Climbs in Richmond

This was an epic race. 5 laps of Cobbled climbs. 15 punchy climbs. I managed to hold onto the fast group up Libby and 23rd on lap 1 and gap the rest of the riders in my Amethyst/Platinum category.

15/03/2024 πŸ† Cyclopathy Friday Smash – Two Bridges Loop

Stephen beat me last week on Innsbruckring, but I was hoping to snatch this one on the final climb then hold on. Got it right, which puts me a few points ahead in the March Friday Smash League.

01/03/2024 πŸ† Cyclopathy Friday Smash – Champs Γ‰lysΓ©es

Wasn’t expecting to win this one, but my plan was always to attack at the underpass. When I got a feather powerup, that became “the only way”. Surprised I held on. First Zwift race with the Kickr v5.

29/02/2024 πŸ† indieVelo – iTT Omnium Tester

2 lap iTT on North Lake Loop to test the new bearings on the Kickr v5 and check out what an iTT looks like on iV. Won it by 8s.

25/02/2024 πŸ† indieVelo – Hilly Elimination Race 5 laps North Lake Loop

Same race as 10 days ago but in a slightly higher rank. Won it by 10s though by attacking the longer hill each lap. First race on the Kickr v5 (noisy – needed sorting).

16/02/2024πŸ† Cyclopathy Friday Smash on LaGuardia Loop Reverse in New York

Won it by going super-long at the end as recommended by Sam Atkinson. Wasn’t sure it would work, but it did on this occasion.

10/02/2024 πŸ† Hilly Elimination Race on IndieVelo

This one was an experiment. First time I’ve raced in an IV race organised by someone else. Got dropped before the final big climb and almost gave up, but then decided to have one more dig on the climb and got back in and ended up winning it.

02/02/2024 πŸ† Cyclopathy Friday Smash on City and the Sgurr in Scotland

Thought this one might suit me. It did.

30/12/2023 πŸ†: indieVelo – Preliminator

I fancied a crack at an elimination race so I set one up on IndieVelo. It was mostly bots – probably, but I managed to beat them.

29/12/2023πŸ†: Cyclopathy Friday Smash on Innsbruckring in Innsbruck

Cyclopathy Friday Smash #4 single lap of Innsruckring. Managed to shake off Cory on the Leg Snapper and just about kept him away.

18/11/2023πŸ†: Herd Climbers Gambit (B) on Grand Central Circuit Reverse in New York

New York fwd KoM hill climb. Took 10s off my previous best time and managed >300W for 4 minutes. Very pleased with that one.

08/10/2023πŸ†: Herd Climbers Gambit (B) on 2019 UCI Worlds Harrogate Circuit in Yorkshire

First proper win in B. It was a race based on the segment time for Yorkshire KoM fwd. Beat four others all with higher vELO than me for a good result. It’s a 2-and-a-bit minute climb, which suits my strengths quite well.

02/09/2023πŸ†: Zwift Insider Tiny Race (3 of 4) (C) on Two Bridges Loop in Watopia

A set of 4 Tinies on Two Bridges Loop saw four top 5 positions and overall bronze with 3, 5, 1, 5. The highlight was perfect timing of the anvil powerup to pass David Hivey and Richard Lutton on the final descent on race 3, which ended on the bridge. 2 guys in front were disqualified, having not done races 1 & 2, so I took the gold.

27/08/2023πŸ†: 3R Innsbruckring Sprint Race – 1 Lap (8.8km/5.5mi 77m) (C) on Innsbruckring in Innsbruck

Sprinty start to catch the B pen. One other C made it over a bit after me. Held with Bs then pushed hard on Leg Snapper. Passed the other C and got a few seconds (3s) gap by the top. Managed to hold onto the other Bs and the C got properly dropped. Hard to hold on, but I managed until the final sprint, by which time I had 25s on the next C.

18/08/2023πŸ†: WMZ Small Races (Race 2 of 2) (C) on Glasgow Crit Circuit in Scotland

πŸ† Won this one outright FAL over the finish and 1st on 6 of 7 primes.

18/08/2023πŸ† WMZ Small Races (Race 1 of 2) (C) on LaGuardia Loop Reverse in New York

πŸ† 3rd over the finish line but won it on points. Some of the WMZ races seem to be “accidentally” set up as points races, so, just in case this one happened to be, I made sure I went for the FALs on each lap. Turns out that worked in this case.

13/08/2023πŸ†: Backpedal Points Race (C) on Loch Loop in Scotland

Points race FAL on the Brae and the finish. 1st on both. Steering was a definite advantage, but I was out front most of the time. Gained 3s up the Brae and then extended it to 7. They brought me back to 1s before the final drag to the finish, but then I increased it to 4.6s again by the end.

12/08/2023πŸ†: DIRT Dadurday Chase Race (C) on Queen’s Highway in Yorkshire

Chase race so we’re meant to work together against the other categories. So we did one lap together in C and just as we were turning the corner after the descent, we merged with the As who were on their lead-in. Trying not to let them get away, I latched on and stayed with them for half a lap, gaining 34s on the rest of the Cs. Then it was a question of iTT and try to latch on to whoever caught or passed me to maintain the gap. I managed to stay with the Bs for a while – about a lap I think when they caught me too. So I murdered the other Cs who all fell off A straight away. But we were never winning overall with only 6 and a large pack of Bs.

23/07/2023 πŸ†: Weekend Crit (pb ZR.app) on Glasgow Crit Circuit in Scotland

ZR.app weekend Crit. I’d chosen this course as I like it. Only three of us turned up but it was still a fun race. I’d planned to go about 1 minute from the end, but Martijn forced the issue a bit earlier with a breakaway on lap 5 of 6. Great fun.

09/06/2023πŸ†WMZ Small Races (Race 2 of 2) (C) on Glasgow Crit Circuit in Scotland

In two minds slightly whether or not to include this one because it didn’t feel like a win at the time. I raced it thinking it was a scratch race, but I was aggressive on the primes – particularly Clyde Kicker. Then it turned out to be a points race, so even though I finished 4th, I was awarded the πŸ† on ZP. Since it will likely be my last category C race, I’ll chuck it in.

28/04/2023 Zwift – RaceπŸ†: WMZ Friday Frenzy Part 2 (C) on Glasgow Crit Circuit in Scotland

πŸ† I almost didn’t do this race after race 1, but thought “what the heck?” Didn’t get the aero I wanted for the finish, but the feather from Clyde Kicker arch forced me to go early again, which worked much better than expected with a win by >1s clear. First win on Glasgow Crit.

21/04/2023 Zwift – Race πŸ†: WMZ Friday Frenzy (C) on LaGuardia Loop Reverse in New York

Small and short race. Only 7 starts, I think. I wasn’t sure if my opponents had a sprint or not. Turns out, they didn’t.

15/03/2023 Zwift – RaceπŸ†: STAGE 2: RACE LONDONβ€” London Loop (C) on London Loop in London

I was particularly pleased with this one as it went exactly according to pre-race plan, which was to smash a surprise lead and hold it on the final Box Hill climb. I had planned to go a bit earlier, but in the end held off my attack until about 1/3 of the way up. It worked well.

05/03/2023 Zwift – RaceπŸ†: 3R Alpe Du Zwift KOM Race (12km 1000m) (C) on Road to Sky in Watopia

First gold of the year and first ever sub-1-hour Alpe (by 4s). In this one I hung with the Bs from the start to try and get a lead. Then, at the climb, I was watching those Cs who were listed on ZP Live to make sure there was a gap. I actually thought I was fighting for bronze because two Cs got ahead. But they were quite far over cat limits so were bumped into the B results.

24/10/2022 πŸ† STAGE 4a: RACE LIKE A CHAMP – Queens Highway (C) on Queen’s Highway in Yorkshire

Went long and took it on the sprinty climby finish, catching some others by surprise, winning by 2.2s.

20/10/2022 Zwift Race πŸ† Stage 3: RACE LIKE A CHAMP – Watopia Figure 8 Reverse

First win of a longer than 20km (or 10km, for that matter) race. Hung with the lead group and smashed the Watopia KoM finish for a >5s win.

29/09/2022 πŸ† Zwift – Race: Micro Mountain Massif TT – Race 2 (C) on Hilly Route in Watopia

Smashy smashy – one of my favourite sprint climbs on a TT bike to see if it made a difference. I actually also beat all the Bs in this race on ZP. πŸ˜‚

01/09/2022 πŸ† Micro Mountain Massif TT C

Played the ‘long’ game on a short race. Let the bigger guy get away on the flat then blasted him on the climb where I get more value for my Watts

25/08/2022 πŸ† Micro Mountain Massif TT Sea to Tree

03/04/2022 First ever race I won I didn’t video. There were only two of us in C on ZP though and it was a 10km flat(ish) race in NY. 1 lap of Park Perimeter Loop.