Tour de France 2018 winner Geraint Thomas has, like everyone else, had his access to the outside world somewhat curtailed. But in response to widespread self-isolation across the UK, the Team Ineos rider will be joining a series of rides on home virtual cycling platform Zwift, including stages of the app’s fictional Tour of Watopia and certain recreated real-world routes. Thomas, who is himself a Zwift ambassador, spoke to GQ about what it’s like to train indoors and how fellow Zwifters can join him from their own homes.
GQ: Tell me the plan – when are you planning on leading the Zwift rides, how regular are they and how can people join you?
Geraint Thomas: I’ll probably just incorporate it into my week from now on, really. It’s all online; your turbotrainer can be connected to it as well, so on Zwift, it’s heavier to pedal going uphill – there’s more resistance. Then if you’re going downhill, it’s easier. It’s super realistic, actually. I was surprised, the first time I used it, how it did link up pretty well.
Going forward, I have to do some heat and humidity sessions, because in Tokyo, if the Olympics are on, it’s hot and humid there at that time of year. Hopefully I’ll be riding the time trial, so it’s good acclimatisation for that. I still use Zwift in those sessions anyway, so I’ll incorporate it into that, day to day.
Which worlds and courses are you going to do?
There’s loads of things on it. There are group rides and races and at the moment there’s Tour of Watopia, which is their virtual reality world that they’ve created. Then there are other things, like there was a Harrogate course for the World Championships; they have “Alpe de Zwift”, which is basically Alpe d’Huez; they have the Worlds from Innsbruck and then a London course. They’ve got New York.
You’ve done a few of stages of the Tour of Watopia already, right? How were they?
Yeah. I’ve been training on the road in the morning in France and then jumping into the group rides on Zwift in the evening. I wasn’t too keen on racing!
It definitely helps if you’re at home and you’re going on the turbo. If you jump on the turbo and go, “Right, I’m going to do 30 minutes”, with nothing in front of you, just a wall, it’s pretty hard to do. A constructed programme helps, but just doing it and having riders in the virtual reality helps you. It helps the time go by a lot quicker, really.
Can people keep up with you?
They do… To be honest, I haven’t ever gone 100 per cent in Zwift, but a lot of the times I can just be riding it, like “I’m just going to be doing an hour, easy”, but they have King Of The Mountain sections – I can end up going up there. It has an estimated time and you can see what the quickest time has been. Nine times out of ten I end up getting drawn into it and I end up going a lot harder than I intend. Luckily, whenever I have gone for it, I’ve got it!
Do you have preferred worlds, or routes, on Zwift?
In Watopia there’s a volcano part to the world. You go through a cave and lava fields and there’s a bit of a climb too. It’s just a bit different. There are other bits with dinosaurs in them; it’s just something to see when you’re indoors.
How are you finding training in the real world so far during the pandemic? Is it frustrating?
I’ve actually got a rest week now; I’ve just done an intense block of training and I needed a bit of a break, which has come at the right time, really. A bit of a rest when everything seems to be kicking off.
For me, there’s no better thing than being outdoors and doing it, exploring different roads and being in the fresh air, but at the same time, Zwift definitely helps with the indoor stuff. It just makes it more interesting. I think for Joe Bloggs on the street, as well, who’s busy and working, and has a family at home? I think it can be really productive – you just have to jump on it for 30-odd minutes. You can really be time-efficient and do lots of good work. Sometimes, if you go out on the road, you need to do 3-4 hours to feel like you’ve done anything. You can’t just go around sprinting in the city.
Were you in France for the lockdown?
We were in the South of France, where we live, and restaurants were closing, and we were being told that we couldn’t leave the house other than for a food shop and so on. Then, when cycling outdoors was banned and fines handed out to anyone on a bike, we made the call to come back to Cardiff. Mainly for Sara, my wife, and the baby. It’s a lot better for them. If you’re going to be locked in anywhere, it’s better to be locked in our house in Cardiff rather than our apartment in France. It’s nice to be home; we feel a lot more comfortable here, and understanding the language, for starers, makes a massive difference, especially if someone were to fall ill. The idea of family down the road is a big comfort, even though we won’t be able to see anyone.
Do you have any tips for people doing it themselves?
I think if you sign up for an event at a certain time, then you know, “OK, I’ve got to be on at five, because that’s the one I’m doing” and it makes you get on. Especially now, if you’re sat at home, working, you might sit there and say, “Right, I’m going to go on the turbo today”, and you play it by ear and it ends up getting to six o’clock and you just say, “Oh, I’ll do it tomorrow.” If some of your mates are going on as well, doing the same event, you’re all in it together. That’s the main thing for me – actually setting a time for yourself.
Music definitely helps as well, when you've got your own session to do. From a racing point of view, I always used them on the track – it was a good way of zoning out from everything around you, especially noise-cancelling headphones. You get the music going, and you’re in your own little world, focused on the race you’ve got ahead of you. With training it's the same thing, especially if it’s upbeat music. If you're doing efforts, or you’re racing on Zwift, it can give you that little bit of extra impetus.
Just doing any sort of exercise helps so much. For me, in the off season, after maybe a week of doing nothing, I just feel so bad in myself. You feel fat and lethargic, and as soon as you have a bit of a sweat, no matter what you’re doing, you just feel better for it.
A selection of upcoming Zwift rides can be found here.
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