By Jonathan O'Keeffe
Published 12/14/2020; Updated 05/29/2021

We returned to the Crit City Boost Mode this week, with myself, Charlie, Kevin, Mike, and Zinj racing in the Bs, and Michael and Melissa in the C group. I think Chris J was in the C group as well, but again he is not showing up on ZwiftPower, so Chris, if you were there, let us know how you did (and double-check your ZwiftPower registration).

There was a bunch of discussion at the start line about which boost to choose. I think all of us ended up with either the middle boost (17 seconds @ 200W) or the long-term one (90 seconds @ 50W). As in the previous boost-mode race we did, it seemed like most people were just conserving their boosts for the finish. I tried deploying one on lap two or three, and briefly established a bit of a break, but it was quickly closed down. It would be interesting to see if the boost mode races developed into more dynamic, attack-friendly races, but so far that hasn’t really happened.

The B race ended up in a strung-out sprint, with a group of three out in front. I chased them down and caught them at the end to finish second in-game, with ZwiftPower showing first. Zinj just missed the podium in fourth. In the C race, Michael continued his consistent high-placement streak, getting on the podium in third, while Melissa continues to get stronger every week as she comes back from her shoulder injury, grabbing another top-half finish.

We are going to run this series through the end of the year (two more weeks), and then take a couple weeks off and restart a new series in January.

Tonight’s results:
1. Jonathan O’Keeffe – 1 of 23 (B race)- 100.0 points
2. Michael Bello – 3 of 21 (C race)- 90.5 points
3. Zinj Guo – 4 of 23 (B race)- 87.0 points
4. Kevin Weinman – 8 of 23 (B race)- 69.6 points
5. Melissa Warwick – 10 of 21 (C race)- 62.9 points
6. Charlie Bailey – 13 of 23 (B race)- 47.8 points
7. Mike Hempstead – 21 of 23 (B race)- 13.0 points

Overall standings after week 7:
1. Jonathan O’Keeffe (7 races) – 613.6 points
2. Michael Bello (7 races) – 604.6 points
3. Kevin Weinman (6 races) – 512.3 points
4. Zinj Guo (7 races) – 432.1 points
5. Melissa Warwick (3 races) – 176.1 points
6. Charlie Bailey (6 races) – 167.7 points
7. Jeremy Coleman (1 race) – 100.0 points
8. Chris Johnson (1 race) – 76.9 points
9. Mike Hempstead (2 races) – 39.7 points