An interview with Zwift Team Saris|Nopinz racer and elite cyclist Gabriela Guerra.
Hey there! Thanks for the chance to get to know you a bit better. Let's kick things off with a little intro. Can you share a bit about your background—where you're from, what you do, and what lights your fire outside of cycling?
Hello! I was born October 6th, 1994, in Curitiba, the capital city of the state of Paraná in southern Brazil. It’s a unique city worth visiting or at least Googling ;).
When I was 10 years old (2004), my Dad and Mom, both Brazilians with mainly German & Italian roots (also some Denmark and Austrian), and twin sister decided to sell all our stuff (which wasn’t much) and pack 4 suitcases and move to Germany after we got our German passport because of Family ancestry. We hoped for a better life and education there but had absolutely no idea what to expect and would have to learn the language and culture from 0, not even having a word of English to communicate.
I started playing the violin at the age of 6, and to the present day enjoy playing music, also piano, guitar, and singing. Drawing and arts, in general, have always been a little part of my activities. Sports were always in my life. Basketball, soccer, climbing… Bikes were always a mode of transportation. Running was a daily part of my life until some injuries got in the way… more later.
Education and work: I finished school in Germany with a business degree. I started my own little business project with native Brazilian honey and an export test to Europe Home | koahbrasil.com (koahbrasilde.wixsite.com) Currently, we’re developing specific honey types for athletes on the go.
Family: I am wife to Nathan Guerra and a stepmom to 5, two girls, 19 and 16, and 3 boys, 14, 12, 10. During the summer, we love hitting some mtb trails together. They are amazing children and keep us very busy.
SKATEBOARDING: In my teenage years in Germany, I got into skateboarding, and my inner-driven athlete got me serious about it, getting sponsors and traveling around the world to record videos. At that time, the presence of women in the sport was rather shallow, and with not much social media and smartphones also harder to make more out of the sport.
That led me to the idea of creating a provocative video that would break the prejudices that only tomboys would skateboard and not real women/girls. The video got A LOT of attention. At that time, YouTube didn’t have the music license policies and help it has today, so the video got taken down a couple of times and had to be modified audio, but you can still watch it here.
OTHER SPORTS & INJURIES:
On my Youtube Channel, you can also find some videos of other sports/activities I did after slowly giving up skateboarding. It all started with a torn ACL in my left knee. The reconstruction surgery took me 11 months to recover, and after that, it was 5 years in a row of torn ligaments followed by surgeries with long recovery periods and hard work.
My left shoulder ligaments were torn in a skateboard competition, my second left knee surgery to fix the first one’s complications, my right shoulder ligaments were torn while bouldering, and my right knee ACL was torn during my Mum’s team soccer training that I was guest training.
I took a 10-day solo bike traveling trip through half of France and throughout Spain to the coast.
Since then, I’ve been lifting weights, running, and getting more informed about nutrition and fitness in general.
That's awesome! Now, let's dive into your cycling journey. When did you first hop on a bike competitively, and what's been your proudest moment on the road?
In 2019 I moved back from Germany to Brazil and wanted a Mountain Bike to get around the city and be free to hit some offroad while recovering from my 3rd knee surgery. The Bike Shop I got my bike from immediately took me into off-road group rides and quickly introduced me to marathon-type racing in regional competitions.
I immediately found myself riding every day, winning all races in the beginner, then intermediate, and finally elite categories, while hunting QOMs everywhere and having fun with the community around the city. Now in the mass start races trying to beat some of the guys.
Now in 2023, I live in the USA, where I’m married to Nathan Guerra. Last season was my first XCO Mountain Bike training and racing season. First time on a full suspension, and riding technical trails was a huge challenge. We raced the whole Wisconsin Offroad Series, both becoming State Champions. Then I raced Ore to Shore, the biggest point-to-point Mountain Bike Marathon event in Michigan, taking the win. A 4th place in Chequamegon, with a Lifetime GrandPrix packed crowd and the best racers in the nation, made my year on a Mountain Bike.
Fascinating! Switching gears a bit—tell us about your transition into the world of virtual cycling esports. What got you hooked, and what's the crowning achievement of your indoor career?
Ok, then, a little back in time again. In 2021, I moved back to Germany to continue working with my Brazilian Honey company to bring products to Europe. The winter approached, and I really wanted to keep moving, so indoor activity would be my go-to since I didn’t want to go outdoors once it got wet and cold. I had no idea, so I bought a used SchwinnIC8 bike, and I think through Google, I found Zwift to have some sort of visual feedback to the riding.
I immediately got addicted to Zwift. After a bigger group ride on 4 horsemen, Sebastian from ROSE Beastmode messaged me and asked me what bike I was on. After knowing it was a spinning bike that probably gave me some extra watts, he believed I would be a gifted rider even on an accurate setup. So he embraced me to get into the team after visiting Teammate Pia Kummer, who at that time lived nearby in Germany, to do a test on her setup.
I am so endlessly thankful for him, the team, and all the effort they put into me to start elite racing on Zwift. Since then, I’ve consistently learned, got results, and trained. I am particularly proud of this year’s Grand Prix Alpe du Zwift Climb race taking 2nd place, and last year’s Women’s racing series, extremely hard races with an awesome crowd of competitive women.
Sounds like a wild ride! Speaking of rides, you're part of a Zwift Grand Prix esports team, right? How has being on a team shaped you, and is there something unique about your team that's led to its success?
We just finished a fun season, and I was riding with team Saris|Nopinz this year. It was hard to leave team ROSE pb Beast Mode. But I was almost not going to race at all.
I needed a different, comforting, easy space (meaning, enough riders to replace me in case I cannot race) to give myself some time to recover. I’ve been struggling with an eating disorder for a couple of years now, which led me to be extremely underweight. In November 2022, my bone density was so low that falling off my mountain bike while training in Brazil, I broke my hip in two spots, my right collarbone, and almost tore my shoulder ligaments again.
I knew it might not be enough time to start structured training, recover, and shift my mindset and habits, especially around nutrition, performance, and power.
The girls in the team and Jenn Real, the Team leader, have been so helpful during my journey. From almost not going to race at all, through ups and downs, some sickness and fallbacks to unhealthy ED habits, they still encouraged me and provided me a space to thrive, learn, race, and really enjoy it no matter the outcome. I also love the boldness to try out different tactics and help each other to achieve points or go for a win.
Great insights! For context, could you share some of your physical stats, like your indoor personal bests for various power intervals?
7-sec—752w (approx. 13.4w/kg) warming up for a mountain bike race (2023)
15-sec—573w (12.06w/kg) sprinting to the finish line with men is a tough, flat is fast race.
30-sec—565w Women’s Racing Series on The Muckle Yin in Scotland (2023)
2-min—421w latest ZADA powertest
5-min—321w (5.69w/kg) on the ZGP Alpe du Zwift climb Race
8-min—296w ZA Workout Fatigue Fighter, after some intervals, then all out 8-min.
9-min—290w (approx. 5.1w/kg) Fun race attack to break away in the Echelon Racing League Race #5 in the jungle
30-min—279w was another challenging ZA workout was the steady estate, after pushing 30mins of 243w, just under my threshold, followed by everything that is left for another 30min.
Impressive numbers! Looking ahead, what are your esports goals, both short-term and long-term? Is becoming the UCI Cycling Esports World Champion on your radar, and what does it mean to you?
The short and long term is finding a healthy weight and numbers mindset. I still struggle a lot with finding balance, and huge weight fluctuations bother me too much. Improving performance while being healthy and able to be there for my family.
I haven’t thought much about Worlds yet. I honestly don’t really know what it means to me. I’ve never raced it, and I would love to race the strongest esports ladies out there. I respect the title of a World Champion, but I never really went with my thoughts about trying to get it. My nationality situation is stuck at the moment. Also, changing to another platform and learning different game dynamics is quite some work. For now, I am looking forward to Zwift games!
I hope to try some outdoor Road Racing and Gravel Racing in the summer, but just like last summer, Zwift is always a big part of training, riding, and racing.
That's ambitious! How do you feel about the current multi-platform landscape of esports championships, both nationally and internationally?
I like the variety of options and styles each platform brings, but I feel like it’s hard to, as a racer, stay connected on multiple platforms. I have my preferences, and it’s uncomfortable adapting to differences on other platforms. The differences between the platforms need some time to get used to. It’s more like playing different video games. There is a World Championship for each.
Again, our sport is unique and probably shouldn’t be treated as regular cycling all the way. It is cycling, but it is a different domain, just like mountain biking is so different from roadracing and so on. Under each category, there can be other specific ones, like mountain biking has xcc, xco, xcm, xce. You can do them all, but each has its own World Champions and specialized riders.
Interesting perspective. There are skeptics who question the legitimacy of esports. What's your take on the challenges esports faces in gaining recognition and trust?
I think and hope we will keep working towards finding the best ways to verify riders and make the sport real, fair, and whole but also have honesty from the riders. Virtual numbers and the game itself are not real, but the movements we do on the bike, the power we produce, and the passion we ride with are real. Integrating those together makes it the unique sport that we have. It has so much potential to grow, but we really have to define what is a sport, what makes our sport, and how we focus on growing the sport, not something else.
Well said! With multiple platforms available for esports, where do you see yourself fitting in? Do you race on more than one platform? Are there features on one platform that you prefer over others?
Zwift is what I prefer by far. Especially the visual look of the game is what stands out to me the most from the other platforms. I spend much time in-game and like the pack dynamics. Different areas have room for improvement, but the overall game experience, whether going hard or easy, is unique. The community concentrated there is amazing, having friends all around the world and connecting with different people through this sport is awesome.
I do ride on indiVelo sometimes for specific training and races and am amazed by all the work that’s been put into it. Everything else, group riding, races, and workouts, I do and like it on Zwift. When the new levels got released, I couldn’t hold myself back and quickly leveled up to 100. I like the variability of ‘things to do’ and novelty, whether you need a hard workout, or a steady ride, it’s not always the same.
Certain series on RGT were fun, and it was a different experience.
On other platforms I don’t have much experience. I tried Mywhoosh only a few times and would have to invest more time and work to really get the experience, especially when it comes to racing.
Good to know! What do you think could make virtual cycling more engaging for spectators?
I see how much work and passion my husband, Nathan Guerra puts into Zwift Community Live, which livestreams many awesome races and has been the key to growing the sport, engaging community and spectators. Also, Podcasts like yours, Christopher, and Si Bradeley, The Virtual Velo that are indoor cycling or Zwift-related are a great way to keep the community engaged. Again, Nathan also puts up a weekly podcast called The Wrap show, where he and Anna Russell, an awesome esports woman, talk about all things around Zwift, news, and topics that week and often have a special guest for specific topics.
I livestream many of my races and workouts on Twitch, sharing my personal journey as an athlete, and love hanging out with chat. It is fun to hang out with other streamers in their sessions, and we can also learn from each other that way.
Even more engaging for spectators could be certain features on a broadcast, which ZwiftCommunityLive has been working on and developing. I hope passionate and gifted people like Nathan have the opportunity to develop the sport, especially in racing, that is the most exciting way to show our sport in full action and passion.
I also believe in more presence of virtual cycling topics around general cycling news, events, and podcasts to introduce all cyclists and sports fans to our world and hopefully get rid of wrong prejudices. Events in arenas could also be a way to engage more in big events.
That's a thought-provoker! Looking into the crystal ball, where do you see esports in five years or even further down the line?
I hope for development across different areas, such as gameplay, graphics, design, experience, racing, organization, personalization, communication, broadcast, equipment, and opportunities. I can see esports having even more community-grown initiatives, especially regarding racing. I see a growing environment for National Championships, more users, new worlds, and features.
Cycling esports could, with the right work, effort, and focus, be a well-presentable sport for outsiders and an amazing experience for users, players, and racers. I think each platform will do its own thing, and racers will focus more on one. I can imagine there would be a Zwift World/Nationals/Name It Championship and a, for example, Mywhoosh World/Nationals/Name It championship.
Before we wrap up, is there anything else you'd like to share with us?
One of my goals with the sport is to be able to encourage, inspire, and learn from/with others, especially women. No matter what level and goal, cycling and specific indoor cycling esports to get fit, stay fit and reach new goals and performance levels.
Fantastic! Thanks for this enlightening conversation. Wishing you all the best!
Semi-retired after more than 20 years as the owner and director of a private Orthopedic Physical Therapy practice, Chris now enjoys the freedom to dedicate himself to his passions—virtual cycling and writing.
Driven to give back to the sport that has enriched his life with countless experiences and relationships, he founded a non-profit organization, TheDIRTDadFund. In the summer of 2022, he rode 3,900 miles from San Francisco to his “Gain Cave” on Long Island, New York, raising support for his charity.
His passion for cycling shines through in his writing, which has been featured in prominent publications like Cycling Weekly, Cycling News, road.cc, Zwift Insider, Endurance.biz, and Bicycling. In 2024, he was on-site in Abu Dhabi, covering the first live, in-person UCI Cycling Esports World Championship.
His contributions to cycling esports have not gone unnoticed, with his work cited in multiple research papers exploring this evolving discipline. He sits alongside esteemed esports scientists as a member of the Virtual Sports Research Network and contributes to groundbreaking research exploring the new frontier of virtual physical sport. Chris co-hosts The Virtual Velo Podcast, too.
