Here’s Your Guide to MyWhoosh’s Tune-Up Tuesday Series
By Tim Perkin
One of the main events each week on MyWhoosh is the “Tune-Up Tuesday” race series.
What is the Tune-Up Tuesday race series?
It is a series of three races, hosted at different times on a Tuesday, to cater for MyWhoosh’s global community. The series takes place across three consecutive weeks. February’s races took place on the 13th, 20th and 27th. One prerequisite is that once you race in one time slot, you must continue to race at the same time slot in the remaining races, for your overall points tally results to count.
This is fundamentally a points-based race where the overall winner is the one who has accumulated the most points, over the three races.
How to score points
There are multiple ways to accumulate points during the races and it is this accumulation of points that will lead to the ultimate victory.
Firstly, you get points for your overall finishing position, with a maximum 20 points available for finishing 1st, with points decreasing until 20th place, where you get 1 point for finishing 20th.
Secondly, there are points available for your position through each segment with 10 points available for being 1st and points all the way down to 10th position where 1 point is your only reward.
What this means is that there are races, within races. This is because some riders target the stage victory, whilst others try to achieve the maximum number of points through each segment, making the races dynamic and unpredictable. It can be the case where the stage winner will not be the one with the greatest number of points, so if you are targeting the overall points victory, being consistent through the segments and having enough energy left to secure a strong finish is key to success. Remember, to be crowned the “overall winner” of the series, you will have to perform consistently, for three consecutive weeks.
Parcours
To keep things fresh, there are different courses used each month. For example, race 1 in February was hosted in Belgium, on the Bruges course, which is 12km in length. Race 2 was hosted in Colombia, on the Coffee Trail, a slightly longer course than race 1, at 22km. The final race was hosted on Parramatta Park in Australia, measured at 15.7km in length.
(Image – Course graph)
Typically, the races will be around 15-20km in length, and the courses are selected to provide a range of challenges. The one thing each race has in common is that there will be multiple opportunities to score points, so you will need to be alert.
Notable winners
There have been some notable winners of the series over the last 6 months, of which includes Philip Graves who at the age of 20, became the youngest triathlete to win an Ironman competition, winning the Ironman UK race in 2009. So, don’t be deceived, the series is certainly competitive.
Origins of the event
Following MyWhoosh’s success with the “Sunday Race Club”, this series evolved as a direct response to rider’s desire for shorter races that also contained elements of fun. As MyWhoosh notes “Tune-Up Tuesday strikes the perfect balance between competition and enjoyment, making it an event you will not want to miss.”
Summing up
The Tune-Up Tuesday race series offers the opportunity to mix-up your weekly training by providing a race that, through a system of points, is different from the norm. These events not only provide you with the opportunity to sharpen your legs, but also your mind, as you will need to make split-second decisions throughout the races. These decisions can significantly impact your results, depending on what you are targeting.
About the Author
Tim has a passion for cycling and it was integral to regaining fitness after an arduous battle with cancer. Tim is the founder of Mountain Massif, who host esports cycling events. Over the years, Tim has written about a range of cycling topics, including testing and reviewing the major smart trainers. In addition, he has been fortunate to ride and interview some of the sports leading figures such as Tour de France winner Andy Schleck and sprint legend André Greipel.