An interview with Team Switzerland and Wahoo Le Col’s elite cyclist Kathrin Fuhrer.
Tell us a bit about yourself. Where do you live, and what do you do? What do you like to do for fun? Family life, that sort of stuff.
I grew up in a small town in Switzerland up in the mountains, where I skied my entire life, practically doing it as my profession until 2012.
Right now, I am living with my partner a bit further down where streets and life is closer 😉 working as a nutritionist, coach, and personal trainer for athletes as well as working in the field consulting doctors, therapists, and pharmacists about micronutrients and their importance for human beings’ well-being and performance.
What is your virtual cycling story? How and when did you get involved in esports? What is your most significant accomplishment racing virtually?
Cycling was always a big part of my ski training in summer to get a good fundament endurance and to recover quickly. After I stopped skiing, I increased the amount of cycling and did joy rides and bike tours for many years. In 2018 I moved to Denmark (no mountains, no ski slopes), and I started doing longer bike pack tours and, in winter, started training on Zwift.
Michael (Knudsen), my partner, got me into racing, and I found it so much fun, especially racing on a team was my absolute favorite. Back then, I never took it too seriously and just did races when I felt like I wanted to do it. Then after I stopped skiing, I was fed up with competition for quite some time.
Last year in 2022, I started with a personal goal of getting into the Zwift Grand Prix season with my team, Wahoo le Col.
I also wanted to participate in the UCI Cycling Esports World Championships in 2023. I accomplished my most significant result (7th).
Click here for Kathrin’s ZwiftPower!
Click here for her Strava
Click here for Kathrin’s Online Workout Site!
For a frame of reference, how tall are you, and approximately how much do you weigh in competition? What is your indoor PB for Peak Power, 15-second, 1-minute, 5-minutes, and 20-minutes?
I am 1.69 m
64kg
Peak power is 1096w
10 sec: 909w
20 sec 822w
1min: 536w
3min: 408w
20min: 286w
What type of rider are you? Has your riding style evolved as you become more involved and successful in esports?
I am a sprinter and a punchy rider, likely thanks to my former ski training and genetics.
What is your go-to training workout, and why do you enjoy it so much? Has your training emphasis and philosophy changed to make you a more successful eracer?
My favorite kind of training workout is lactate shuttling. I love it so much because I can feel that I am working on my weak spots 😉
What are your short and long-term esport goals? Do they involve becoming the UCI Cycling Esports World Champion? What does that mean to you?
As I am sitting here right now, my goal is to get the best performance out of this 35-year-old body 😉 The only thing I can say so far for 2023/2024 is that I will try to get the best out of myself in the Esports Worlds Championships next year.
I am open to any races up until then and will make a plan soon. For now, I have a training camp planned in March, and some outdoor rides and tours are coming up—no specific races.
How much do you factor in the gamification side of esports? Is there a learning curve that you must master? How vital are PowerUps and other things unique to virtual cycling?
To race on a high level in esports also means understanding the whole platform’s algorithm, draft, powerups, racing points rules, routes, etc.
You need to learn to time your efforts, to hide when you can, to push when needed, to understand and know the other riders and their skills, to learn the difference in the riding technique (indoor/outdoor), etc.
There is lots of stuff to look at when you want to develop your race skills and race IQ. Different skills than an outdoor athlete needs.
Do you feel cycling esports will ever gain acceptance as a trusted discipline and gain popularity as a unique discipline? What challenges does it face?
I hope it will be trusted and more popular one day. Verification will always be the biggest challenge. I hope one day, they will organize big esports events at offline locations, where cheating will be impossible.
Tell us about your setup. Where is it located, and what do you use? What steps do you take to verify your accuracy?
My setup is simple: Kickr V5, Wahoo fan, TV, Apple TV, and my lovely Factor bike with its Rotor in Spider Powermeter. I am racing and training in our apartment on the ground floor, where we have our peace from neighbors 😉
Thank you, Kathrin!
Anything you’d like to ask or say to Kathrin?
Ask away. Comment below! I’ll see what I can do.
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Semi-retired as owner and director of his private Orthopedic Physical Therapy practice after over 20 years, Chris is blessed with the freedom to pursue his passion for virtual cycling and writing. On a continual quest to give back to his bike for all the rewarding experiences and relationships it has provided him, he created a non-profit. Chris is committed to helping others with his bike through its work and the pages of his site.
In the summer of 2022, he rode 3,900 miles from San Francisco to New York to support the charity he founded, TheDIRTDadFund. His “Gain Cave” resides on the North Fork of Long Island, where he lives with his beautiful wife and is proud of his two independent children.
You will read him promoting his passion on the pages of Cycling Weekly, Cycling News, road.cc, Zwift Insider, Endurance.biz, and Bicycling. Chris is co-host of The Virtual Velo Podcast, too!
