Virtual cycling is Bringing The Hague Home

To bring our international Invictus Family together during the week of what would have been the Invictus Games The Hague 2020, we are inviting international wounded, injured and sick (WIS) cyclists to take part in a series of Zwift rides and races as a member of the Invictus Games Foundation virtual cycling team.

During 9-16 May there will be four virtual opportunities to ride with fellow cyclists from across the 20 Invictus Games participating nations. Two rides will be deemed ‘social’ with a further two rides being set up as opportunities to race against each other as members of the newly-formed Invictus Games Foundation Zwift team.

(If you aren’t sure what Zwift is, and want to find out more, then click for an explanation from Cycling Weekly here.)

You do not have to be a member of the WIS community, or an Invictus Games competitor to join us on a ride to Bring The Hague Home. Friends, family and supporters of the Invictus community are welcome to join.

Thanks to the support of US Military Endurance Sports (USMES) the first social ride will take place on Monday 11 May. All abilities and experience levels are welcome as cyclists will ride out together for an hour across the Route Watopia Waistband course on Zwift.

The idea to host a series of virtual events during the week of the Games has been led by former Invictus Games competitors, Zed Pitts (Team USA) and Andy Perrin (Team UK). Andy said, “Zed and I regularly train together and despite being miles apart we can share the suffering of brutal training rides. Cycling with friends, even virtually is a great benefit to the mind and body and we want to share our experience with as many members of the Invictus Community as possible.”

They are encouraging WIS servicemen and women to join the rides this week to demonstrate the Invictus Spirit of resilience and commitment to staying fit and healthy. Not only this, but by using the rides as an opportunity to catch-up within the armed forces community, we can look out for one another and build new networks at a time while we can’t be together in the same place.

Another former Invictus Games competitor, Mark Reidy (Team Australia), will also be leading a group meet-up ride taking on the Zwift Sprint Classics on Thursday 14 May.

For the two races, WIS cyclists registered with the IGF ZwiftPower team can be in with a chance to win a Racing Forward tee from our IGF collection.

The four events include:

Monday 11 May – SOCIAL RIDE

USMES Back to Work ride (60 min social ride)

Times: 0845 EST USA / 1345 BST / 1445 Central Europe / 2245 Australia

Thursday 14 May – RACE 1

US Paracycling Time Trial Series (17.5km)

Times: 1200 EST USA / 1700 BST / 1800 Central Europe

Thursday 14 May – SOCIAL RIDE

Australian Invictus Pathways Program meet-up

Times: 0930 Australia

Saturday 16 May – RACE 2

Zwift Crit City Race (15km)

Time: 0945 BST / 1045 Central Europe / 1845 Australia / 2045 New Zealand

You do not have to be a member of the WIS community, or an Invictus Games competitor to join us on a ride to Bring The Hague Home. Friends, family and supporters of the Invictus community are welcome to join.

How to join the Bring The Hague Home recommended rides:

How to join the Monday 11 May USMES ride 0845 (USA)

  • Login into the ZWIFT Companion App or at www.zwift.com/events and search for the USMES Monday Morning Back to work ride (roughly 24 hours prior to the event you should see it.)
  • Join the event and select when you want to be notified it will give you choices if you use a mobile device.
  • Prior to the event make sure you are logged into ZWIFT and all of your gear is setup roughly 30 mins prior to the event.
  • You will get a join event button on your screen if you click that you will be taken to the starting area where we will gather for the ride and you will be given the USMES kit for the ride.
  • The ride leader will have a Yellow Beacon/Chevron above them and will have Heads Up Messaging in ride.

Now for the ride details:

  • Route Watopia Waistband: https://zwiftinsider.com/watopias-waistband/
  • 1 hour the ride is Scheduled 2-2.5 w/kg but we will adjust for this ride.
  • We leave at 08:45 sharp but you can late join up (this means you can join us after the start) you will be placed by the ride leader.
  • Also THIS ride does not have a Sweeper
  • We use Discord to speak to each other but if you join DISCORD we ask you go to push to talk as ambient noise can ruin the experience. Here is the server info. https://discord.com/invite/hExnM7B
  • Enjoy the ride stay with your ride leader and have fun!!

To win an IGF tshirt:

  • Join the IGF team on Zwift Power, visit: https://www.zwiftpower.com/team.php?id=7659, log-in to your ZwiftPower account, click ‘Join I AM’
  • To be a member of the IGF team you must first be registered on the We Are Invictus app: https://weareinvictus.co.uk/#/welcome
  • Select IGF as your primary team prior to joining a ride and [I AM] will appear alongside your name in the race results
  • For the Paracycling TT, the top three WIS cyclists will win an IGF tee
  • For the Crit City race, the top WIS cyclist in each Category (A-D) will win an IGF tee
  • No duplicate winners across the two races. In the event a cyclist appears in the top 3 of Race 1 and top in Cat in Race 2, the 2nd placed cyclist from Race 2 will win a tee.
  • Prizes will be awarded based on ZwiftPower results available online.

About US Military Endurance Sports
US Military Endurance Sports (USMES), a division of American Servicemembers Amateur Sports (ASAS) Inc, is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization chartered to support amateur athletes, endurance sports education and activities for current, retired, and Veteran members of the United States Armed Forces. The mission of USMES is to promote endurance sports as part of a healthy lifestyle to active and Veteran members of America’s Uniformed Services. usmes.org

 

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