Josh Harris

This year feels a little uncertain, but there’s also a strange level of motivation, enjoyment and routine that’s come with it.

I’ve been fully dedicated to esports cycling since I got hooked at the end of 2022, but I think I’ve reached the point where there honestly isn’t that much more to achieve. “2026 feels different.”

I’ve placed as high as 8th at Worlds. Realistically, if the platform and format stay as they are, I’m probably not making any meaningful inroads on that. Simple reasons: I don’t have the raw power for MyWhoosh or the short-term physiology needed to make the podium.

While I prefer points races, the reality is the cream usually rises to the top in those. Random athletes don’t win a points race, where every segment accumulates points. A scratch race on Zwift is almost the polar opposite. More draft, kinder to lighter riders, and races that can genuinely come down to a split-second decision or moment of chaos.

Making the Top 20 to travel to the UAE for Worlds is obviously still a goal, but having already done it, it’s far from the end of the world if it doesn’t happen again. The trip itself is amazing — spending time with like-minded athletes and consolidating a spot near the top of the scene — but honestly, I don’t think I’d care that much about my actual performance if I made it again this year, especially with my documented struggles on Elite Justo trainers and in warm environments.

And if that’s the case, it’s hard to justify the level of sacrifice I’ve put in over the last two years.
That said, I think I’ve found something important recently. By stripping things back and focusing on enjoying it, I can still train really well, hold good shape, and do the same hours without it feeling like a sacrifice.

Nationals gave me a lot of confidence in that regard. I went in flying with fun as the only focus of the lead-up. I won convincingly at a live event, it's almost the final tick of things I hadn't yet done in esports. I have the jersey (on Zwift and TPV, MyWhoosh lost it 😂) for another 12 months, so the year is somewhat of a success regardless of what else happens.
Anyway, part of the reason things feel more sustainable is stepping away from SRC. SRC just sucks for me personally. Showing up week after week — last thing on a Sunday night (before work Monday morning) — with effectively no chance of winning eventually wears you down.

I know the goal should be personal improvement, but it’s hard to be truly motivated or race freely when you know you’re not realistically in contention. Especially compared to Zwift events where I can race aggressively, dominate weaker fields sometimes, and enjoy the gameplay itself.

Because honestly, the gameplay matters too.

SRC just isn’t that engaging to me. You psychologically lose a few percent before the race even starts, and in events where you need to be operating at 110% just to get close to the top 10, that matters. Then you add unnecessary dynamics like wind and the awful steering inputs that still somehow exist despite the prize money involved.

So many people seem sucked into the hamster wheel of it all. Or maybe they really enjoy it.

Maybe if it was Sunday morning instead, with fewer weigh-ins and a feeling that success was actually attainable, it would become an enjoyable part of the week. Maybe even more so if it was possible to actually get the prize money out of the Link app.

One thing I’ve loved this year is not having to weigh in much. Even for resilient people, it becomes draining. When you’re good enough to almost feel competitive — but not quite good enough to win — you’re regularly thinking about that extra 6 watts (1.5%) at threshold that might be the difference between hanging on or getting dropped. It’s definitely been nice having my weekends back.

Instead, I’ve really enjoyed building my weeks around things like WTRL TTTs with the strongest guys on Zwift. They’re such a good stimulus and foundation session for the rest of the week.

Then I can sprinkle in events that interest me — ECRO (occasionally), RWB bunch rides, random races that take my fancy — and suddenly training feels fresh again. Add in the new season of Career Mode on TrainingPeaks Virtual and the next few months will probably take care of themselves. Although honestly, TPV isn’t doing it for me right now.

It probably has the best customisation options out there for actually getting specific, engaging work done, but Zwift’s community, upgrades and overall gamification are still streets ahead of every other platform. Career Mode is still a fun little side quest though.

And speaking of side quests, I’ve got this whole “50 days to 5km” mission filling the gap right now.
Part of the reason I started it was because there’s just such a long stretch between Nationals and Worlds. It gives me a couple of months to focus a bit less on riding, come out of it with a good aerobic base but still room to build, and honestly just see what I can still do after four years away from running.

It’s going surprisingly well.

I think I’ll run a pretty respectable 5km on May 31 off very limited running. More importantly though, it’s helped me reconnect more with a lot of good mates again, and after about a month of consistently getting a few hours done each week, my body is finally starting to tolerate running again. Which is good, because running absolutely sucks when you don’t do it.

Will I keep running afterwards? Probably not. It definitely hinders my cycling training!

But at least by then we’ll be into June, and hopefully the rest of the season will start to have a bit more clarity.

I’d probably do MWC again if it happened too. Financially, just participating was better than working for a few weeks, even if surviving on no sleep for the week was brutal and the racing itself sucked from the back of Category 1. Still, those championships actually flowed really nicely into my Worlds build in 2025, and I’d possibly structure things similarly again.

The one genuine motivational carrot that’s disappeared though is the idea of the esports Olympics.

That goal meant a great deal to me.

The possibility of that was genuinely what kept me hanging on so tightly to my standing within Australia and the world rankings. I was doing everything possible to stay relevant long enough to qualify. But its postponement has definitely changed my feelings toward all of this. Because realistically, I don’t know if I can keep hanging onto this level for another five-plus years.

Or maybe I can.

And maybe I will.

Lots of little objectives on this morning ride. Gravel mountain reverse was open for the route badge on Zwift, so I stayed there while I checked out the newly opened world champs routes for 2026. Wanted to get gpx files for all of the routes and combinations, so that I can do some speed testing on TPV in some bunches..

They wont be fully useable because of the superior dynamics and faster speeds, but it'll at least give me more data than riding solo on MyWhoosh, and will be able to hit some intervals/races on the actual profiles over the next 10 days or so.

It will be a tough ask to qualify for the top 15 (they keep making it less) this year, in this format and on these courses, but we will continue to prepare well! Stage 1 is way harder than it looks on paper, but there are so few points available for that whole race.

A little 20 min effort at threshold here before the TTT tonight. Threshold focus type day. HR was sub 150bpm early at the power, but drifted to 159 by the end of the effort. It was really early spring, sweaty type conditions so I think although the effort was comfortable, this would've started to fatigue temp wise if I continued much longer

Has to be one of my better sessions. Ask me to do 400w once in a workout and i'd fail, but can do it 4 times back to back in over/unders when mini races are involved! Reps avg around 430w NP for the key durations of each.

Race 1: ITT vs bots: 4 times up a really steep KOM that must be around 45sec, which is quickly followed by a descent and a flat section. The loop continues in this fashion.

Race 2: 5 min ITT vs bots: As many laps as possible of a loop that must have around 20sec or so steep KOM each lap. Think a lap is around 45sec of this loop.

Race 3: 6 lap scratch race vs bots of my Holy Grail O/U loop. Each KOM is around 30sec and a lap is around 50sec.

Race 4: ITT vs bots. 4 times up the Paterburg? with a little loop around and back up, finishing slightly lower down on lap 4. This one took closer to 6 mins but at around 440w NP

All on a 10 min cycle with light spinning between. 6w/kg NP including the 5 mins of ~100w between each!

Double file from Qualifier. Ticked it off. Did a sick bike swap while I was going down a hill on MW and didn't miss a beat with the group I was rolling with! Finals in 2 weeks, will be good!

~9 min block with 5 kicks. Into some 30sec strong at 95% min power that felt super comfy really!

Havent done 3 hours for many weeks now and wont again for a while. I'm preparing for a 9 min race into a 25 min race and have plenty of volume of hours behind me. Did an hour and then opened an old workout I had there to keep things ticking by. Almost finished the Tron level 5 upgrade.. 34km left