Virtual rides with real results: meet the co-founders of Aeonian – the e-racing team taking the virtual cycling world by storm
Back in January, we announced that we’re sponsoring the Aeonian Race Team this year. If you’re a keen Zwift rider, you may have spotted the team zooming around the virtual roads of Watopia in their custom in-game Stolen Goat kit as they make a splash on the e-racing scene. Growing from 5 initial members to now almost 80 women from all over the world, this team is certainly one to watch! We caught up with co-founders Jamie-Lee Wright and Karla Williams to find out more about the team, their journey so far and what they’ve got coming up this year…
“We believe that with the right support you can achieve anything and everything.”
What is the Aeonian Race Team?
Aeonian Race Team is an inclusive women’s e-racing team. Our aim is to promote women’s cycling and empower women of all abilities, across all categories, for any female identifying athletes. Our main vision is to support and encourage women. We believe that with the right support you can achieve anything and everything.
Why did you want to start the Team?
We wanted to create a supportive and encouraging environment for women that enjoy racing as much as we do. We all work together to share our experiences – from real life to Zwift – so that each member can grow and race smart.
Who are your teammates and how has the team grown since you started it?
We’re a global team. We have ladies from Europe, North & South America and Australia. We started with only 5 members, who were the initial management team, and now we have grown to be a team of 79 strong women connecting from across the world.
What have been your greatest successes so far?
Our greatest success is having grown this amazing team of women, who have believed in our support and guidance. Our second memorable success is to have won the promotion to the Premier Division, which was achieved within 3 months of starting the team. We had a very small number of women in each category but were able to make a huge impact.
“Virtual cycling makes cycling possible for some where it otherwise may not be. It provides a space for positive mental wellbeing… for people to connect with others.”
The Covid pandemic and lockdowns saw a huge rise in virtual cycling, what do you think the benefits are of getting involved with riding in the virtual world?
Virtual cycling makes cycling possible for some where it otherwise may not be – for example due to busy lives, location, other commitments etc. Being able to get involved not only promotes and enhances physical wellbeing, it also provides a space for positive mental wellbeing. It creates a space for people to disconnect from their busy lives, or any troubles and connect with others. The platform has something for everyone from chatty rides, to solo workouts, to races.
2020 saw the inaugural UCI Cycling eSports World Championships, and this year your very own Aeonian member Loes Adegeest became the 2022 World Esport Champion. How did it feel to see her achieve this?
We are very proud of Loes, she has worked incredibly hard. Loes trained hard both on and off Zwift, she studied the course and understood her strengths and weaknesses to ensure she made the best decisions during the race. This allowed her to be ready and prepared to take on the race and the high quality field – ultimately winning the rainbow jersey. The entire team was behind her supporting her and cheering for her during the race. It was very emotional and exciting at the same time.
Following on from the previous question – do you think we’re going to see eSports becoming more prevalent at this ‘world’ level and evolve alongside “real world” racing?
There is definitely space for eSport racing at this level, and you can see how it could work in practice with the premier events currently in place, and also the use of Zwift for the Super League Arena Games Triathlon. For esports it is crucial that the rules and guidelines are fair and enforceable to ensure the integrity of the sport.
“The shorter races are a great way to get used to Zwift racing and enjoy yourself. It is really good fun racing indoors.”
What’s the best way to get started with eRacing for someone who perhaps wants to give it a go but is a little bit nervous or unsure of how to get involved?
For someone who wants to compete in Zwift racing, second to downloading the Zwift app, you’ll need to create a Zwiftpower account and make sure you link it to your Zwift account. All your Zwift data will then be uploaded to Zwiftpower which in turn assigns you a race category (A, B, C or D) based on your previous race experience. Zwiftpower, turns your rides into understandable data, and can be used to benchmark yourself against the other riders in any race.
Once you’ve created a Zwiftpower account and been assigned a category, join a race based on this category. This will ensure you’re racing against people of a similar level, which will ultimately make it more enjoyable. Note, your Zwiftpower account will only have as much data as you have raced, so if it is your first race, perhaps find a general race (E) and you can find your pace.
The best way to get the correct category assignment is to do three 20/30 min long races as from there you are able to obtain your 20 min power which is the main benchmark for category assignments. We would also recommend the shorter races as a great way to get used to Zwift racing and enjoy yourself. It is really good fun racing indoors.
If you could take one ‘power up’ from the Zwift world and have it out on the real world roads, what would it be?
Karla: For me it would be the AERO power up, which makes you more aerodynamic (reduces your drag by 25%) for 15 seconds.
Jamie-Lee: I would choose the featherweight power up. I like a hill climb and the featherweight power up reduces your weight by 10% for 15 seconds – on a short sharp hill this would be a substantial advantage!
What’s coming up this year for the Aeonian Race Team?
We are looking forward to the last season of the Zwift Racing League, and then we are taking a summer break. Our riders have a pretty full schedule of real life racing, some riding and topping up their tan lines. We are continuing our two Stolen Goat group rides throughout the summer.
- AEO Fun Ride p/b Stolen goat on every Thursday at 13:00 BST/08:00 Eastern Time
- AEO Women’s Wind Down P/b Stolen Goat on every Friday at 18:30 BST/ 13:30 Eastern Time/ 10:30 Pacific Time.
Make sure you follow Aeonian over on Instagram to keep up to date with their latest races, and keep an eye out for their group rides on Zwift which you can join via the Zwift Companion App.