The winter season of our Monday night road race series got off to a great start, with ten riders racing up the Watopia Epic KOM in the Tour de Zwift Stage 3. For these TDZ races, which have no categories, we are all racing together in the same event, which is fun. In sharp contrast to to the usual hell-for-leather Zwift race starts, this one started out at a comparitively sedate pace, with the big climb looming. The NCC group was not buying this easy pace, however, and everyone moved to the front, massing at the front of the peloton for the first few minutes to the base of the climb.
Once the gradient kicked upward, the race split up, but Kevin, Zinj, Henry W, Dusty and I set the pace at the front, along with with a couple of other guys. Charlie, Melissa, and Henry vdB hung tough a short distance back. Zinj eventually fell off into no-man’s-land, and the rest of our front group crested the top of the radio tower climb fairly close together. After a swift descent, Kevin, Dusty, Henry, and I worked together in TTT mode to pick off a couple riders who had slid off in front of us, and reached the 1K point all together. I unleashed my sprint a bit too early, but still managed to hold off Kevin, who was threatening to come around me the whole time. Henry finished just behind Kevin for an NCC podium sweep.
The rest of the riders ended up mostly solo or in small groups after the climb, which is a tough way to get through the second half of a race, but Zinj and Henry still managed top-ten finishes, Charlie and Melissa were in the top 20, and all the NCC riders finished in the top 40 out of 125 total finishers.
Note that the points awarded for TDZ races give bonuses for women (10%) and for categories (A 0%, B 5%, C 25%, D 40%).
Results for Week 1:
- Henry Weis (C) – 3 of 125 – 123.0 points
- Jonathan O’Keeffe (B) – 1 of 125 – 105.0 points
- Kevin Weinman (B) – 2 of 125 – 104.2 points
- Melissa Warwick (B) – 16 of 125 – 101.6 points
- Dusty King (B) – 5 of 125 – 101.6 points
- Zinj Guo (B) – 8 of 125 – 99.1 points
- Henry van den Broek (B) – 9 of 125 – 98.3 points
- Charlie Bailey (B) – 15 of 125 – 93.2 points
- Michael Bello (C) – 37 of 125 – 89.0 points
- Joe Lellman (B) – 21 of 125 – 88.2 points
Here is the NCC Zwift schedule:
– Mon afternoon – Road Race (times will vary between 5 PM and 7 PM EST)
– Tue 8:00 PM – Social Ride (invite required)
– Thu 5:30 PM – Time Trial / Hill Climb (solo effort, TT bike required) (invite required)
– Sat 9:00 AM – Social Ride (invite required)
Follow “Michael Bello – NCC” on Zwift for invites to the invite-only rides.
Check the NCC calendar for full details on all events. To learn more about the NCC and Zwift rides, please visit our Zwift page.
