Indoor Training 101 with Zach Nehr

Zach Nehr is rider for Project Echelon Racing and races on team NeXT on Zwift. He is also a coach and writer for VeloNews!  Zach has been cracking at the pro cycling door for a couple years and decided to focus more on building his business right as Covid happened. He had never ridden on zwift until the lockdown but spent the past year riding and competing mostly inside, and elements of his riding are better than ever! We spent some time trying to understand just why this is the case.  

For different reasons, Zach and Patrick are both riding a lot less than they used to, but certain aspects of their riding are better than ever- which has surprised us both! 

 We talk about:  

8m-What does Zach's indoor training look like compared to when he was riding 20 hours a week in Tucson.   

12m- Steady riding vs quasi steady Zwift racing "intervals"  13m-Endurance Sports do NOT happen over night!  

15m- another reminder- CTL does not reflect how strong you are. How does Zach look at this? 

 16:30 : your W/KG chart does not tell the whole story! You are always going to have to make your winning move after already pedaling hard!  

18m- There are long races on Zwift- the Kiss 100 series! Zach Raced and won the 4 hour PRL full!  

20m- Riding LESS does not make you faster. Training SMARTER does. 8-10 hours goes a LONG way for indoor and outside racers  23m- The quality and intensity of your Hard rides really needs to be hard- inside or outside.  

31m- The main differences between Zwift racing and The Echelon Race Series happening on RGT  

34m- Does having higher power for 40-60m Zwift races necessarily mean you will be a better road racer?    

Other things we covered:  Training distribution when you ride inside vs. outside- More intensity! The differences of racing a small zwift race vs a big zwift race  Riding outside OR inside you need to ride your terrain Premier outdoor Stage Race fitness vs. Full Gas indoor racing   Plan your schedule! Your hard need to be REALLY hard and your easy needs to be easy!  RGT vs. Zwift As it turns out, riding less doesn't necessarily mean training less, or that you will have to get "slower" it just means you need to find ways to optimize your use of time!