Anyone have any thoughts on which regular (non league, invitation) races on Zwift in the top category are the fastest, hardest?
I’m looking to find races where I can make the most of the time I have to really destroy myself just to survive in the bunch.
In my experience, the EMU Japan crit race in Dolphin City is a tough one, as in the ZEAL Japan Friday lunchtime race.
Anyone have any other suggestions?
Have you tried any of the chase races? Rhino Crash on Sundays, but there are others. If you are in A you would be expected to make up a couple few minutes on a larger pack of Bs.
You just need to find the best attended 690+ or A pace group races on zwift power. There aren’t many unfortunately. As well as the ones you mention, DBR thursday race is well attended ADHRs the chop is too. The zwift epic races are okay attended but longer obviously.
That’s true. The more riders, the faster it goes. The lowly attended ones are usually exciting, but less strenuous.
True! my 20 min PB is still the first 20 of the DIRT saturday chase race. Brutal.
Tiny Races? Maybe not so brutal during northern hemisphere summer.
Tiny Races or ECRO. Or find the one with the most cheats in 
Probably some races organised outside Zwift like FRR, ECRO or Sisu. Some might demand dual recording but that should not be a problem for most 690+ racers I guess.
Unless they are pretenders.
In the meanwhile, it’s safe to assume any of the ZMonthly races if you find folks with 900+ ZRS they’ll be a challenge to keep up with… real or, most likely not 
FRR is coming up in a few months though and certainly worth looking out for. A proper challenge at all categories.
Hi James, As you know, ZEAL races are bonkers. Its just frenetic pedalling regardless of gradient. No rest anywhere. I’m sure most of the racers aren’t even looking at the screen. Add in the riders doing 400w flat or 600w on/off (eBike, spin bike, bots, who knows). Its one big 20 to 30 min FTP test as long as you don’t mind the anomalies.
zRace series is good, look at the sign-ups and join races with the 350w (65kg) guys who haven’t changed weight in 5 years and have 101 reasons why they are so epic on their profile (apparently its supplements). They will give you the run around.
Tiny Races, not too difficult if you have anaerobic punch, and a big sprint under fatigue. Its stringing all 4 back to back that hurts. Great VO2Max training, and brings out the riders who like to improve their race rank.
Friday SZR afterparty is similar to ZEAL.
If you like racing where you are always flat out then you can always do the TT series. I miss the Hill Climb series, I used to love attacking <5min climbs.
But if you want close to legitimate racing, then the Ecro series is the best there is. Everything else is just training.
If you fancy team racing then ZRL and Club ladder is really good fun, much more tactics and less about individual performance.
Hi Steve,
Yeah I love the Zeal race. My coach has me do a hard race on Friday after a 3 day training block tues, weds and thurs….so the race is a ‘finisher’.
I will look out for the Friday SZR after party.
the 350w (65kg) guys who haven’t changed weight in 5 years and have 101 reasons why they are so epic on their profile
These are the guys that make Zwift racing such a great workout. 65kg when they are cycling, 85kg IRL.
My coach recently did the Marmotte sportive and some of the top riders from one of the top teams on Zwift were there. Apparently they are nowhere near as fast riding outdoors, almost as if they drop 5kg as soon as they see a smart trainer….