The 8 types of Zwift racers

For many, Zwift racing will take the place of a missed road season. For others, it’s an easy way to dip their toes in the world of competitive cycling. Whatever the reason, everyone brings their own personal flare to virtual competition. Here are the eight types of Zwift racers:

The race recap Strava essayist

“The race started out pretty standardly, I managed to slip into the break after the first lap and stayed with the front pack until I dropped a gear slightly. I think there’s something wrong with my trainer because looking at the data file I noticed a few power spikes around this point. My finger slipped when I tried to use my powerup and because of that I ended up falling back and finished the race mid-pack.”

The weight underestimater 

When your friend who always finishes IRL climbs and sprints in the mid-to-back of the group is sailing over 5 per cent gradients and winning races in Zwift there are sometimes questions that arise. We should give these riders the benefit of the doubt though—it’s always possible that they don’t own a scale and have a very positive body image.

The mid-race comedian

While most are struggling just to stay in the race, a series of little text boxes pops up beside the names of the racers. How is this cyclist able to come up with clever things to say while racing? How are they able to type so much? The mid-race comedian is committed to their craft.

The one who immediately jumps on Zwiftpower

Zwiftpower is where these racers will find all the real information about the race. Before even showering the Zwiftpower connoisseur will sweatily pull out their computer and comb through the results of the event eating up information about everyone who competed.

RELATED: How to create your ZwiftPower account

The 6 watt/kg up Alpe du Zwift gang

These racers instil a sense of awe, envy, respect and fear. For the majority of cyclists the reaction is: “Who is that?” and “how did they get so strong?” Followed by 30 seconds planning to train more then another 30 seconds of remembering that the current race is already hurting quite a bit and will definitely be enough training for the day.

The late racer

Maybe it’s a commute that’s makes them cut it just a little too tight or maybe they’re just that type of person, but this chronically late racer makes it into every race with absolutely no time to spare and a very inadequate warmup. Their bibs have been hastily thrown on and water bottles filled at record speed as they watch the timer count down to the start of the race, BPM already high from rushing to get ready.

The sandbagger

A cyclist that should compete in a category above what they’re racing in, but they love the feeling of being at the top of the list a bit too much to take the leap.

The first time racer

Confused and overwhelmed, everyone has been this racer at some point. The race starts really quickly and you don’t understand what the truck symbol above your heads means, also why is everyone sprinting now? Is this the last lap?

Normally after a few races they’ll get a better handle on what’s going on and they’ll grow into one of the other racer types.