On the first ride of Zwift’s Community Live Event, I found myself in a position I could never have imagined. It was a surreal moment that I literally thought “is mad.” And you literally couldn’t make a story up like this if you tried.
I was rolling out on Zwift’s first ride of their Community Live Event, which took us to the beautiful lighthouse at Cap de Formentor on the island of Mallorca, Spain.
Within 5 minutes of setting out, I had Canyon-SRAM’s professional rider, Florence Nakagwa to my right, YouTube Tech sensation Shane Millar, aka GP Lama, directly ahead, and next to him was Olympic legend, Sir Chris Hoy. My second thought was “How did I end up here?” But the answer was simple. Zwift.
Their first Community Live Event has brought the stars of cycling together in a way that I have not seen ever before, and they are naturally engaging with riders like myself.
We tackled a 84km loop that took us from our hotel to Cap de Formentor, it also included a coffee stop on the return.
To put it simply, it was an unforgettable day. We rolled out on time at 9.30am, after a detailed safety briefing, and my group was under the leadership of Zwift’s Director of Women’s Strategy, Kate Veronneau, an accomplished cyclist in her own right having previously ridden professionally. Kate has been the driving force behind the Tour de France Femmes.
We soon reached the first climb on the way to the lighthouse. It was here I found myself climbing shoulder to shoulder with Sir Chris Hoy. He was barely breaking a sweat, whilst I was thinking at this point that my long-sleeve jersey was probably a bit too much.
As we descended and reached the flat section before the next ascent, smaller sub-groups merged together. For those that have ridden group rides on Zwift, it followed this exact pattern, groups linking up, riding together and new ones forming. This group included Jett Black trainer Founder, Tony Simmonds, Tim Searle, the Zwifter with the most accumulated kilometers who told be on the ride it was in the region of 350,000km, and Eric Schlange, the host of the popular website, Zwift Insider.
As we transitioned to the second climb, up to the lighthouse, my group splintered and I found myself in the company once again of Sir Chris Hoy and Florence Nakagwa. My goal was to hang with them to the top, which I managed to do.
The climb was not too difficult, but what was challenging was the cross wind whipping from the sea, so you needed to be careful. A quick photo stop at the top and I found myself descending with Zwift’s PR Director Chris Snook, who had also cycled to a very high level in his younger years and, once again, Sir Chris.
We regrouped at various points to ensure no one was left behind (there were even multiple support vehicles) and people’s safety was paramount. We made our way to a prearranged coffee stop where we met more key figures from the cycling world, such as commentators Matt Stephens and Matt Rendell, who had set out in an earlier group.
A quick drink and we hit the road again. This time my group was led by Matt Stephens, and it was a quick spin back to the hotel, where sat by the swimming pool was former professional rider, Rick Zabel!
This is really only day one, and it’s not even over and there are still two more to go!
It’s safe to say that no one in the cycling industry has done this before. It’s probably safe to say that no one else in the industry could. Zwift have literally taken the formula that has made them the industry’s leader in indoor cycling platforms and applied that here.
Cycling holidays won’t feel quite the same after this. Zwift often talks about “leveling up” – well, this does feel the “next level.” I wonder what tomorrow will bring? I can’t wait!
