I’ve been racing for a while, long before we had pens. But whilst my racing history is lengthy, I can’t say it has been very varied in the last few years. So I thought it was finally time to try something new.
The Coalition community was founded in order to compete in the community version of the Zwift Racing League – making its debut with only five teams in Round 2 of the first season. This is the league I have personally been more involved with as our community is still driven primarily around ZRL racing. However, since those early days, a bunch of other racing initiatives have popped up and it hasn’t always been easy for me to participate in them. Take FRR for example – it’s very similar in its design to the Sufferfest’s Tour of Sufferlandria. I completed two editions of that before Zwift even existed, but have done nothing like it since. Probably the day with 100 sprint intervals gave me PTSD! I love that FRR exists, and maybe when I have the space for a proper ‘pain cave’ again, I can take part.
Over the last couple of years, I have focused more on running with the goals to set new PBs in the half-marathon and marathon, and compete at longer distances. That meant giving up bike racing on the road (easier in a pandemic) and slowly dropping from an okay B to a floundering C cat rider. Last year I returned to ZRL, rejoining my old team Awakening. And... I had my ass handed to me every week. It was humbling, but somehow it still enjoyable. As is often the case, this was mainly down to the comradery and encouragement of my teammates.
I have a habit of doing a lot of hobbies at once, and Tuesday evenings are dominated by a three-hour Welsh lesson every week. So for 2025, I decided to only do one or two ZRL races and instead try out Ladder League!
Like ZRL, Ladder League started very small with only one or two teams to start off with. However, over the last couple of years, under the stewardship of Josh Wallner it has grown to twelve teams competing across the full spectrum of categories. Ladder League doesn’t use the traditional A-D cats and instead utilises the 10 vELO race categories: Diamond to Copper. I think these are also the same as Duolingo?!
Having so many more categories means you should be pitted against other riders of similar ability. I am currently a silver and this feels about the right level for where I am at currently. So far so good. After filling out a plethora of forms and completing my new weigh-in video, I was placed in the (newly rebranded) Vexus team. The Vexus team is mainly made up of silver and bronze-level riders, and I haven’t previously ridden alongside any of the riders. So as well as getting to try a different racing format, it’s a good way to meet other people in the community.
Alright, what is Ladder League?
Okay, for those who don’t know: Ladder League is a 5v5 racing format involving different teams challenging one another to race. You can move up the “ladder” (leaderboard) by beating teams above you. The challenging team chooses the courses and power-ups and luckily these tend to be quite flat. This is great news for someone such as myself who is 84kg with very little penchant for virtual hills.
One of the first things you realise about Ladder League is that there is a lot of paperwork! Because there is no fixed schedule, the captains need to know your availability weeks in advance and because of this, there is always a fresh form to fill out. It feels a little bit like being let out on parole with an ankle tag – ensuring your whereabouts are precisely defined in 30-minute increments for every day of the month. I jest, as I can imagine it is a unique and laborious task to find the perfect time to race multiple times a week. Bravo to the captains on the other end of those forms.
With the paperwork out of the way, I am offered the chance to partake in my first two races. This is already very different from the usual once-a-week slog with ZRL. The captain of Vexus, Mike, asks which courses and power-ups to choose as we are the challengers. My teammates and I reel off a list of some of the flattest options available. Well, almost. For the first race, we decide on 10 laps of Downtown Dolphin; for the second, we go for two laps of Electric Loop.
Race 1 (4v4 against ART Space Cadets)
Originally I had thought that Crit City would be a great course for me. After all, it’s “flat” with a few key points where to attack. On paper, our team looked much stronger and I was expecting an easy ride. I was wrong. Not long into the race I could tell that my power was a bit lower than anticipated and that our opponents were much stronger than they’d initially appeared. Bang! The first attack goes off early with two of their riders getting away and only one of ours. Simon managed to stay with them, while Yoshka and I took on their other two riders. Sadly we lost Sam in the attack and the numerical advantage was against us. Up front, Simon was getting tag-teamed and behind we were doing our best to stick with the riders in order make sure it was a sprint at the end. They were lighter and I had a sorry streak whereby they had feather power-ups and I had damp burritos. My luck changed in the latter laps and it’s just as well! And so it all came down to the final sprint. They attacked early and got a bit of a gap; but I was patient – launching my sprint just at the right time to swoop past the other riders to claim 4th place just behind Simon who had gallantly fought for 3rd. First race done and dusted, along with the cobwebs in the legs.
Race 2 (5v5 against Vikings Bezerker)
For whatever reason, I had also agreed to do a race two days later. I was now very glad that we had picked an even flatter course and was also not going to make the mistake of underestimating our opponents. So all the talk of attacking early felt foolhardy and I planned to just cling on for as long as I could. As the race started, I was the first out of the pens and decided to just stay on the pedals as I would any other race. Nobody came around me, so I pressed on and applied some early pressure. I felt completely different… I felt, dare I say it… strong. This gave me confidence that I would be able to manage if and when the attacks went down. After a long pull on the front, I decided to sit up and as I did… kerblammo! The other guys attacked and it even took me by surprise. I was able to react this time and managed to stay with the front group. After the dust settled, it was we who had the numbers in our favour: our four versus their two. Mwahaha. Because we didn’t want the riders behind to make it back, we had to keep the pace high. For quite a while the gap hovered between seven and ten seconds but by the time we were into the second lap it was over twenty. As long as we didn’t let them get the better of us in the finish, then the win was all but assured. The Vikings riders didn’t make it easy, they decided to tactically start steering off onto the side of the road so that we couldn’t get any draft. I told the guys over Discord that as soon as they swung in behind us to sit up – there was no way I was going to give them any draft if they were playing that game. As I didn’t have steering turned on, this was game was super irritating, but I was still feeling good. The final sprint came up and I led out from the front. The Viking riders attacked and Alastair was quick to jump on a wheel. For whatever reason I launched my sprint too late and had to settle for third. Alastair got the win, and Vexus team did too. Hurrah!
What next?
Next week I plan to head back to ZRL to see how I get on in a bigger race again. WTRL have finally put Awakening in a more suitable division and if I can carry some form, I might do okay. But with a big points race, it’s always hard to predict what will happen. However, I have to say that I enjoy both the format and the flexibility of Ladder League. So expect to see me in quite a few more races in the coming weeks! But next time I’ll remember to turn steering on!
Based on my own experience, I would encourage more people to try out this format of racing. I still like the ZRL mass-race format, even if it’s full of sandbaggers, but Ladder adds something different that doesn’t directly compete and instead adds to the overall racing experience. So if you’re in a busy ZRL team where everyone wants to race each week – this is an option so you never have to miss out.
If you want to find out more information about Ladder League and our teams then look here. If you are already a member of our community then just head to the #i-want-to-race channel on Discord and choose Ladder League. I hope to see many more of you racing in this fun format!