Cycling Weekly Autumn Chase Series

Compete in our virtual handicap race series on Zwift every Saturday morning at 10.30 am.

(Image credit: CW)

Current standings after race #4
1. Kouros Driscoll 27pts
2. Jon Hurst 23pts
3. Tom Knight 23pts
4. Matt Bradford 22pts
5. Eddie Pottrill 21pts

Cycling Weekly's Autumn chase series on Zwift takes place over six consecutive Saturdays from November 7 to December 12. The handicap races start at 10.30am and are another chance for you to race alongside CW staff members and get your name in print in the magazine. 

Each race is 30km and follows the time-honoured handicap format – riders are grouped by ability level and set off at staggered start times, the slowest taking off first and the fastest last. It’s easy to keep tabs on the riders in your category, so as to work together as a group, because you’ll be wearing the same jerseys – auto-selected upon entry to the start pen. The beauty of this format is, everyone stands a chance of winning.

The top 15 finishers score points (15 points for first place, 14 for second, and so on), with each rider’s best three scores (from six races) counting towards their final position come 12 December. He or she with the highest score will be declared the Autumn Chase Series champion.

There are a few important rules to keep in mind before entering: 1) the results – which will be published in the print edition of Cycling Weekly each week – will be taken from Zwift Power, so you need to be registered on Zwift Power in advance; 2) you must race in the appropriate category group as calculated by Zwift Power, based on watts per kilo and roughly corresponding to FTP (Cat A: above 4.0w/kg; Cat B: 3.2–4.0w/kg; Cat C: 2.5–3.2w/kg; Cat D: under 2.5w/kg); 3) you must use a heart rate monitor; 4) and use the same display name in each race (preferably your real name).

The race dates and courses are as follows: 

Nov 7 - Innsbruck worlds course short lap - winner Troels Nakel

Nov 14 - London loop with Box Hill finish - winner Emmanuel Lejeune

Nov 21 - Richmond, Cobbled climbs - winner Kouros Driscoll

Nov 28 - Watopia, Mountain 8 - winner Andy Nichols

Dec 5 - Greatest London

Dec 12 - France, Casse Pattes

You can enter now, either on the Zwift website or via the companion app. 

>>> Here’s everything you need to keep you riding through the winter 

Upon entering, you’ll be given a start time – bearing in mind that the slowest set off first, and the fastest last. You’ll be given a prompt to join the event in the bottom left of the screen, and your group-specific jersey will be automatically donned upon entering the start pen.

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David Bradford
Fitness editor

David Bradford is fitness editor of Cycling Weekly (print edition). He has been writing and editing professionally for more than 15 years, and has published work in national newspapers and magazines including the Independent, the Guardian, the Times, the Irish Times, Vice.com and Runner’s World. Alongside his love of cycling, David is a long-distance runner with a marathon PB of two hours 28 minutes. Having been diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) in 2006, he also writes about sight loss and hosts the podcast Ways of Not Seeing.