Most of us have got used to different ways of working in the past year – but for professional eracers, it’s been more of the same.
The life of a Zwift rider means logging on for virtual interactions is nothing new – but there have still been plenty of challenges to overcome.
Canyon Esport’s Ollie Jones talks us through online training life and how the InfoCrank power meter has helped him meet his goals.
It’s funny. I haven’t met most of my teammates in real life, but it still feels normal.
Everyone works hard on communication, so even though we have some obvious difficulties with time zones, we probably have a better understanding of each other than in regular teams.
Sometimes I plan training times with Alex West and with Aiden from the development team because our training times align. It’s harder to train with the rest of the team, but it is possible with a bit of planning.
For racing, we always have a clearly outlined strategy before the race and we’re also on our race radio on a Discord channel. This allows us to be adaptable during races – we can change our plans on the fly, with input from Rhys Howell as our DS.
We’ve all faced plenty of changes in the past year, but thankfully I haven’t been too affected. In New Zealand, we had a lockdown for about a month and a half where I only rode on the indoor trainer.
It wasn’t too much of a problem because I had all of the resources available from the team to make consistent indoor training a breeze.
The InfoCrank is used as our secondary power source, necessary for data authentication. It’s paramount to have a power meter as reliable and tamper-proof as the InfoCrank for peace of mind in the quality of the race data and to really dial in on specific training zones.
In the past year, we also did testing with Diagnose Berlin with data from our InfoCranks which gave us a better understanding of our training zones and capabilities as riders. Having a power meter as precise and reliable as the InfoCrank gives me confidence that I am training in the right way and clearly shows progress.
It’s sometimes a bit of a challenge to stay focussed when a major goal is over six to eight weeks away, but luckily there is a lot of virtual racing to stay in form for. Also, with the precise training from power zones, it is easy to find form much quicker than in the past.
If I have a major goal, I find it important to split it into smaller goals along the way. For example, in my training, I highlight one or two sessions per week as key sessions which I almost treat as races in terms of nutrition etc. It really helps me to focus when my major goals are a little further in the future.
