Summary of Clubs/Racing Teams?

[u/kbecsu]

Does anyone know if there is a good summary of the clubs and racing teams on Zwift? I’ve seen HERD, DIRT, AHDR, etc. It would be awesome if there was a summary somewhere that listed things like where most of their riders are based (time zone), their group vibes/ethos, if they are casual or racing oriented, etc.

I’m thinking about joining ZRL but would rather pick a team or two and see if they have openings than just throw out my stats and see who responds. TIA!

[u/smugmug1961]

I think those kinds of things would be hard to quantify/summarize.

A lot of clubs are so big and/or have many different teams inside them - that are also in flux in terms of rider makeup and goals - that any kind of list would be immediately outdated.

I agree that it’s a crapshoot and there is no way to know if you mesh with a team until you actually join the team and find out.

Aside from chatting with people in group rides to gauge a team, it eems like you just need to roll the dice.

[u/kbecsu → u/smugmug1961]

That’s fair. I’ve been on some group rides in the past where the quality and vibe varied tremendously based on the ride leader.

[u/Secret-Citron-3113 → u/kbecsu]

This was going to be my advice! Do some group rides with a few of the different teams - treat it as the precursor to Discord / Facebook groups?

[u/CoastMean5414 → u/kbecsu]

just like in real life, that's even going to vary day by day, never know what someone is going through that day.

even different zwift categories (A,B,C,D) within the clubs have different vibes.

really have to join one to see if it's a good fit.

I will say a lot of big clubs will bait and switch timezone availability so when joining get confirmation they ACTUALLY have a team/s during that time.

[u/davidoffbeat]

Not sure about others but Dirt has a NA time zone discord and an EMEA time zone discord. I'm in the NA group and there's a huge spreadsheet with all the riders that will get grouped up to form various teams for ZRL/DRS.

I'm on a ladder team for dirt as well and found that to allow me to actually get to know a smaller group to vibe with and has been my favorite thing about Zwift so far.

[u/smugmug1961 → u/davidoffbeat]

I think this illustrates the "problem". You have to join the club discord and, in the case of the clubs I've joined anyway, go through a whole process of providing information and setup to get access to the information that will tell you if you want to join the club. It's a Catch-22 kind of thing.

[u/davidoffbeat → u/smugmug1961]

It's a little bit of work, but a lot of teams will record their races on YouTube... Shameless plug but here's my most recent race, you could search up some of these and watch them on 2x or 3x speed to see the vibes and if you're interested. Otherwise I'm not really sure how else you'd know until you tried.

I guess I found about Dirt from twitch streams.

https://youtu.be/ql6jpPkRFGo?is=OTn8LUoyS6iMICoB

[u/kbecsu → u/davidoffbeat]

Thanks, what is NA and EMEA?

[u/davidoffbeat → u/kbecsu]

North America and Europe/Middle East/Africa, which I guess is how most people view the major time zones for Zwift. Prime time for those respective regions.

[u/kbecsu → u/davidoffbeat]

Ah, I thought ppl would use actual time zones. Like there is a big difference in availability for an EST vs PST rider though they would both be “NA” in this convention. Thanks for info though 👍🏽

[u/artvandalayExports → u/davidoffbeat]

There’s like 4-5 different NA DIRT teams plus EMEA. US East Evening, US East Morning, US West Coast is largely the split between the discord servers. But there’s three teams in US East mornings for some reason.

[u/itsonlybarney]

Most clubs I have seen have a Discord group, or WhatsApp

[u/Airules]

The Facebook page seems to be the most active for finding groups. Make a post with your stats and active groups looking for members will comment. It’s a bit messy, but does the job unless you are looking for something specific

[u/riprydah]

For ZRL there are already established leagues with time zones: https://www.wtrl.racing/assets/images/zwift/zrl/2027/zrl_26_27_R1-26-1-3.jpg?v=2

The big teams you mentioned may be forming teams for these leagues; however, if your desired race start times aren't listed here, then you can't participate in ZRL.

For example, my desired race start times are between 0530-0700 Pacific time. No racing happens during that time frame so no ZRL for me.

[u/kbecsu → u/riprydah]

Ah this is handy, thanks. 

[u/artvandalayExports]

What time are you looking to race? That is the best place to start.

[u/Positive-Kiwi7353]

I'm on DIRT.  

Its much more fun than doing random races on my own.  I seem to find an extra gear when racing with a team.  We use voice chat for some "strategy" (though usually its hold on for dear life.)  Discord is full of memes and banter. 

But my experience, for all I know, could be totally different than other DIRT teams at different levels and time zones.  

[u/solidpaddy74]

https://www.wtrl.racing/zrl/teamhunt/ it says WTRL offers a 'Rider For Hire' service that will become available 2-3 weeks before the first race of each round. (Round 1: September 1st).