Season ΣI · Stage 2

DIRT Racing Series Season ΣI Stage 2: BRAEk-fast Crits and Grits

Tuesday 6 October 2026

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Stage 2 is a team time race in Scotland, and your team's time is your fourth rider's time. There are no segment points and no individual points. The route climbs Sgurr Summit South twice, and DIRT has added 3 km after the second summit, so the finish is on top of The Clyde Kicker at 25.1 km.

How a team time race works

A TTR is a mass start with the draft on. Every team in your category starts together, so you can sit on riders from other teams.

• Your team's time is taken from your fourth rider across the line. Up to eight can start.
• Teams are ranked on that time. The fastest team gets 20 league points, the next 19, and so on.
• Fewer than four finishers costs places. A team of three uses its last rider's time and drops 3 places, a team of two drops 4, and a lone rider drops 5.
• Nobody scores individually. No finish points, no FAL, no FTS.

The course

BRAEk-fast Crits and Grits starts with a climb, runs through Glasgow, does four laps of the Breakaway Brae loop, and climbs back up Sgurr. The normal route is 22.1 km and ends at the Sgurr summit. DIRT's version is 25.1 km: it carries on down the gravel descent and finishes at the top of The Clyde Kicker. These are the parts that decide the race:

The start

The race starts uphill. After 300 m of flat you turn onto Sgurr Summit South: 1 km at 3.3%, up to 9% in the first 200 m, then easier and very draftable for the last 700 m. It takes under two minutes at race pace, and the first split happens here. If your fourth rider is dropped on this climb, your team's race is a chase from 1.3 km.

The descent off the top is 1.7 km of gravel at -3.5%. The group does 55 kph and touches 67, so a rider who crests a few lengths off the group loses it on the way down.

The middle

From Glasgow to the foot of the last climb there is nothing long or steep: The Clyde Kicker, the shallow climb up the cliffs, the corkscrew at 10.2 km (380 m at 4%, up to 8.5%), and four laps of the Breakaway Brae loop, each with two short rises of 2 to 3%. Each one is a place where the pace lifts for 30 to 60 seconds, and the rest runs at about 42 kph. None of them should drop a rider who is sitting in, but four Brae laps in a row wear riders down before the finish.

This is where a team gets its fourth rider back. A group saves 27 to 37% in the draft on the flat, so a dropped rider with two team-mates around them rides much faster than alone.

The finish

The last 6 km are the race. From 19.3 km the road drags uphill for 2.8 km at 2%, about five minutes. It flattens at the lap banner halfway, then climbs Sgurr Summit South again to the summit at 22.1 km. On the normal route that is the finish. Here it is not.

Over the top you take the gravel descent a second time, then a kilometre of flat, then The Clyde Kicker: 300 m in two steps, up to 9%, with a short flat between them. The line is at the top. Punch the first step, hold the wheel on the flat, and punch again.

For the team, what matters is where your fourth rider is at the Sgurr summit. A rider who loses the group there has a descent and 300 m to get it back, which is not enough.

Power-up and equipment

The only power-up is the Draft Boost, which increases your draft for 40 seconds. Use it in a group at speed, never alone. The best places are the run through Glasgow and the second gravel descent into the finish.

DIRT has asked Zwift to disable TT bikes, because they get no draft. Ride a road bike.

Pick a fast all-rounder. Zwift Insider's guide to this route found that aero frames beat light ones even on the last climb, because nothing here is steep for long. The S-Works Tarmac SL9 is the fastest all-rounder in the game, and an upgraded S-Works Tarmac SL8 gives up almost nothing. Zwift Insider paired its fastest frames with the DT Swiss disc wheel. The gravel descents are too short to be worth a gravel bike.

How it will be raced

• The race starts on a climb. Warm up properly and start near the front. The first split comes on Sgurr in the first two minutes.
• Ride for your fourth rider. A strong rider off the front earns the team nothing. The team's time is set by rider number four.
• Know who your fourth rider is before the start. Agree who drops back if they lose the group, and where.
• Use other teams. It is a mass start with the draft on, so a chasing group of mixed teams works together until the last climb.
• The last 6 km decide it. The drag, Sgurr, the gravel descent and The Clyde Kicker. Get your four over the Sgurr summit together.

From the author's ride files

I raced this route in ZRL in October 2024, to the normal finish at the Sgurr summit. From that file, pulled out of VeloGenius.ai:

• The 22.1 km to the summit took 32:02, at 41.4 kph.
• Sgurr took 1:43 the first time, at 35 kph, and 2:08 the second time, at 28 kph. The start was the hardest effort of the race.
• The gravel descent averaged 54 kph and reached 67.
• The flat middle ran at 42 kph. The hardest kick in it was the corkscrew at 10.2 km.
• The last 2.8 km to the summit took 5:02.

Before the race

Start times in UTC: Atlantic 09:45, Central US 11:00, EMEA C 17:15, EMEA W 18:30, US E 23:30, US W 01:30 (Wednesday in UTC). Your slot and pen show on Teams, then Rider Dashboard, once the race pass arrives.

• Heart rate monitor on and sending to Zwift. No HRM means an automatic DQ, though your team captain can ask for a review.
• Power sending to Zwift, or it is a DQ.
• Don't change height, weight or other settings between the pen and the finish, or it is a DQ.
• ZwiftPower registered with data sharing on, and your DIRT account showing your full name and Zwift ID.
• Keep your Zwift FIT file. Race Control can ask for it within 24 hours, and not supplying it is a DQ.
• Save the ride as public.

Running Sauce for Zwift? Open the free Race Report mod before the start, and afterwards relive the race: where the splits happened, which group you were in, and how the finish played out.

Sources

• DIRT Racing Series Season ΣI Stage 2 stage page
• DRS rules and scoring
• Zwift Insider: BRAEk-fast Crits and Grits, its ZRL race guide for this route, its segment pages and its Tarmac SL9 test
• What's on Zwift: BRAEk-fast Crits and Grits for segment positions