The third race of the series last night in Crit City saw Charlie, Zinj, Kevin, and I racing in the B group, with Michael in the Cs. The novelty factor in this race was the Boost Mode, which has been around in Zwift since April, but which was new to all of us in the race. In a Boost Mode race, before starting the race, you choose one of three Boost Modes which can give you extra power during the race — one that gives you a short burst of high power (500w for 5 seconds), one that gives you a long burst of low power (50w for 90 seconds), and one in between (200w for 17 seconds). The downside is that you have to charge this “battery” before using it, by putting in a period of extra wattage.
I went for the “intermediate” boost option, which seemed to be the most popular choice in our group. All of us spent some time trying it out during the first few laps, finding that you definitely pay a price during the charging period, but that the boost provides a nice power surge when deployed. In our B race, all four of us were in the mix entering the final lap. Kevin took a flyer off the front early in the final lap, but was reeled in. Charlie slid off the back as we went up the little cobbled hill, and then it was a mass sprint to the finish. I passed one guy at the line and ended up second on ZwiftPower. Kevin and Zinj were just behind, in 5th and 7th, and Charlie ended up 13th. In the C race, Michael got on the podium for the second week in a row with a second-place finish.
Results for this week:
1. Jonathan O’Keeffe – 2 of 16 – 93.8 points
2. Michael Bello – 2 of 7 – 85.7 points
3. Kevin Weinman – 5 of 16 – 75.0 points
4. Zinj Guo – 7 of 16 – 62.5 points
5. Charlie Bailey – 13 of 16 – 25.0 points
Series results through Week 3:
1. Jonathan O’Keeffe (3 races) – 257.4 points
2. Michael Bello (3 races) – 252.4 points
3. Kevin Weinman (2 races) – 167.3 points
4. Zinj Guo (3 races) – 161.8 points
5. Jeremy Coleman (1 race) – 100.0 points
6. Charlie Bailey (2 races) – 61.4 points
7. Melissa Warwick (1 race) – 33.8 points
