I Almost QUIT This Zwift Race. Here's What Happened...

Stage 4 of Zwift Games 2025 almost broke me. But I can break others in the process?

My name is Adam, I am 35 years old and I am a former marathon runner who shifted his focus on ZWIFT CYCLING.

Road to A is a channel focused on INDOOR ZWIFT RACING with the ultimate goal of reaching the A+ CATEGORY. Is it progression realistic? Maybe. I'll need to train a lot and lose a lot of weight, too. However, I believe the BIGGEST LIMITATIONS riders (and athletes in general) have are those they put on themselves and this channel is my way to prove that idea. If you feel like you are riding (or living) BENEATH YOUR POTENTIAL, you need to tag along! The destination is clear but the journey won't be easy.

Currently I am racing in B CATEGORY.

Bike: Van Rysel EDR CF SRAM AXS

As for my ZWIFT SETUP - I am riding on a ZWIFT HUB ONE indoor trainer. Steering can give you pretty substantial advantage during the racing and for that I am using the ZWIFT PLAY controllers. I use these for virtual shifting as well and to make sure I'll be covered if they run out of battery or generally stopped working, I've got the ZWIFT CLICK as well. I am running my Zwift in 4K and using the ULTRA settings.

#RoadToA

[guyhunter]

Congratulations ❤ thank you for all you do with Zwift really appreciate everything I learn so much about all aspects of racing and fitness.

[YiZhou]

I am feeling your pain. Struggling in each of race, when climbing came, i dropped. Just can't breathe mostly not even crazy power. All start with sick last December and slowly worse and worse.

[AnthonyUrch-jg]

Love the fact you carried on even when you probably shouldn’t have, the body might need a few more weeks to get the fitness back but the mind is still strong and that’s the hardest part of racing or indeed day to day life.
Also, the program you referenced, ‘Exert’, sounds like a useful training addition, could you add a link so myself and others can take a look? Thanks

[mattiapalombi]

It’s Long LOnG way to A. Have a great recovery. Racing on Zwift takes a lot out of you. I usually have one race max per week.

[MAxilixAM]

beware of myocarditis, only begin to train until your resting heart rate normalised AND you FEEL well rested. I know it is hard because your motivation might push you but your achieved level of fitness will come back soon if you rest proper. And you can protect yourself: use desinfectants, eat with cutlery, meet people outside rather than inside, use a mask indoor. Most people react with "immune strengthening" measures (and get to the store and buy random vitamine combinations because its easier to believe you lack of something) but infection prevention is important for a healthy sportsman and life in general. the corona pandemic has just been a reminder.

[smatx]

I think you mentioned running a caloric deficit. If you are and training hard/racing several times per week, it will wreck you. I also suggest supplementing vitamin D during the colder and darker months of the year.

[mattsammekull]

Nice riding Adam!
Loosing fitness is just as normal and expected as gaining fitness, - but we make sure to gain more than we loose long term.
And even when we're felling fit, we can have off-days.

I hope you're feeling happy with your ZG25, and next year will be even better!

[BikeBonkBiff]

Part of me feels that this stage is almost harder than the Queen because the short distance giveS the mindset of throwing pacing out the window!.

I also struggled after the first climb because of being extremely fatigued from the all-out 5+ min effort.

I'm sure your training in the Spring will get you back to normal strength on no time 😊

[ryancraig]

I noticed a real hit to my peak and sustained power after I had COVID at Christmas. In fact I still haven't quite gotten back to where I was before.

[arhu]

I feel your pain. I got the flu Wednesday February 19th, I wasn't even that ill, just 1 night of very high fever. Felt recovered enough to do a 3h ride that Friday. I sure felt that the next day, shouldn't have done that 3h ride (but I was bored and it was sunny outside). Anyway fast forward to today and I still haven't fully regained all the fitness I lost, 6 weeks later! Though I am at around 98% of pre-flu but 6 weeks no progress ....😪

Ps ignore heart rate, go by rpe especially after a break

[gneral]

Same thing here mate, mid February got like 4th illness in a row, it was type A flu. The illness didn't feel that bad, i wasn't even taking days off from work (i'm working from home).

In 4 days i felt normal in my routine, but not on the bike 😢 Lost 40 watts of FTP, HRV was in the red for 2 more weeks, and 1 month later, after hours and hours of Z2/Z1 rides i'm finally starting to feel i can start bringing the intensity up to get those numbers back, but still feels like a long way ahead 😅

Good luck with your recovery, take care mate)

[bonn]

Nice work..

My stage was 5 on the last climb I had to get off the bike for 2 minutes before slugging up the last climb

[TruthFactsLM]

AT 8:30PM I FINISHED MY 4TH STAGE 1 AFTER THE PARTY RACE, with portal finish . So after i got to the top, no finish banner, when i exited the portal it showed my time to climb the portal nothing else, when i went to my activities to see the results, its shows DNF . LOL I was little mad . Nothing showing I raced even on ZWIFT POWER . But on Garmin connect of course and Strava there as well . Glad it was not that UGA 5TH stage . Little heads up .

[mumblecake]

Fun fact. You said that you wanted to complete it for the kit itself. At that point you already had the kit in your garage. You didn't actually need to race any of the Zwift game races. Just joining into the pen already gave you credit from the achievement-completion side of things.

[MrLootshoot]

sick again Adam, where's your immune system🤔

[cya]

I had a cold/cough in last october. 2 weeks. Didnt feel very bad but stopped training a bit. I suspect it was covid. Took me several months to get back to normal. Still not sure if i have my peak performance back from before that. Its crazy.

[lukamalic]

Listen to the body, ZG 25 has been difficult, 5 stages all fatigue accumulation and recovery is compromised for us near 60 yr old, Stage 5 ZG25 will test you, April's ZR month is full of finishing climbs, but it has new routes, 😅, 1 race a week is more than adequate with structured workout the rest of the week,

[SliZZn]

Hey, i had the same problem in my zrl Race.
My Warm-up was totally shit + I overpaced at the beginning pretty hard. I didnt get my power Back eben riding in z2 like u.
Dont go too deep at the start. Better watch for the 2nd pace group and attack at the end ;)

[salvatormund]

ps. I am not at fan of the racing points idea. In the beginning I listend to others saying the strongest will get promoted fast. But, I still thing there are some too strong riders in both C and B. Mayby D to... I do not know. But something is wrong when you have +4w/kg in C. Maybe there are missing some categories with this idea.

[Dustydayzz]

this to me is the hardest stage ive done. i did stg 5 too but this felt different