Definition of supertuck
supertucked; supertucking; supertucks
su·per·ˈtək | \ ˈsü-pər·ˈtək \\ ˈtək
noun, verb
1: an extreme cycling position wherein the rider sits directly atop the bicycle’s top tube and places the weight of their chest flat to the handlebars and level with the front wheel’s hub
he bombed down the hill in a supertuck
she was supertucking the entire descent
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I first saw the supertuck used back in 2013, by Matej Mohoric on his way to victory in the 2013 UCI U23 Road World Championships. He looked insane, hunched over the bars like a madman, even spinning a painfully slow cadence down a few of the hills. But he won. He dropped everyone on the climbs and gained even more time on the descents. Maybe there was something to this.
Over the next few years, the supertuck was used sporadically, until in 2016 when Chris Froome used the technique to pull away from his rivals on Stage 8 of the 2016 Tour de France. Froome’s style was clearly practiced, still looking awkward but more solid, and pedaling at such a quick cadence he had to have been putting out close to 300 W.
Either way, it worked. The super tuck was fast. Despite the obvious dangers and inherent sketchiness, it was clearly a success. Subsequent studies later found the super tuck to be only equal to or less effective than other aggressive descending styles, but those studies were done in a lab, at 0 W, and anyone who has ever ripped down a mountain descent knows that no lab can ever replicate those conditions.
Fast forward to 2020 and millions are stuck training indoors. Across the world, there are restrictions on travel, outdoor activities, social gatherings, and more. Thousands of riders cannot leave their homes to train for more than two months, leading many of them to turn to indoor riding platforms such as Zwift.
I was one of these riders. Before March 2020, I had ridden on Zwift only a handful of times. Races were getting cancelled and group rides were no longer happening. Excited by the prospect of *virtual* social interaction, I bought a Zwift subscription and entered my first race. Immediately I was hooked.
The convenience and quality of indoor training was a huge plus for my busy schedule, and so I’ve been riding Zwift almost every day for the last couple of months. There’s a million and one things that I have learned, but in this quick article I wanted to talk about the Zwift Supertuck:
In order to activate the Supertuck, you need to make sure these 3 requirements are being met:
- You must be traveling at 36 mph (58 kph)
- The decline must be below -3%
- You must be pedaling at less than 11 W
Experience has taught me that pedaling backwards is better than coasting – it prevents your legs from tightening up, especially on a long descent such as Watopia’s Epic KOM which can last over five minutes.
It is important to note that the Supertuck behaves differently in races than a free ride. Specific details are hard to come by, but basically, the Supertuck is faster and more effective in races than a free ride.
In my experience, the Supertuck is equally as fast as pedaling at:
- ~2-3 W/kg down a descent during a free ride
- ~3-4 W/kg down a descent during a race
Takeaway: Use the Supertuck as much as you can during races because you will save lots of energy and it is highly unlikely that you will get dropped.
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What else do you want to know about Zwift? What features have you heard about but have never tried?
Would you like to hear more racing tips, free ride features, courses, or the different unlocks when it comes to bikes and wheels?