By Michael Bello
Published 03/18/2021; Updated 05/28/2021

For the ninth week of the NCC Zwift Winter Hill Climb/Time Trial Series, we rode in Watopia.

This week, our challenge was the Epic KOM.  This 5.8 mile mountain took us up 1,361 feet.

To give a brief summary of the series rules, participants must use a time trial bike, which prevents drafting. Points are awarded based on the number of competitors and individuals’ overall placing. For example, if there are 19 riders, the person with the best time is awarded 19 points, second gets 18 points all the way down to the last rider, who gets 1 point. At the end of the Zwift series, the rider with the most points will be awarded the NCC Zwift Series title.

Participants may ride any time during the day or participate in the group ride version at 5:30 PM. In the group ride version, we typically warm up together before individually completing the time trial.

We had twelve participants were in the group ride. The Discord conversation was lively as always. Joe had issues with Zwift and was about to abandon the ride during warm-ups. Melissa came up with the solution and had Joe unplug and then plug in his trainer. As always, Zinj amazed us with his bike tech and his air purifier knowledge.

Henry and Dusty went into tonight’s hill climb tied for the series lead. Henry came out on top tonight, but it is still anyone’s series with two weeks to go.

We had seven riders earn PRs on the climb: Andrew, David, Henry vdB, Jeremy, Joe, Kathryn, Kevin, and Melissa.

Here are today’s results:

1. Weis, Henry; Time: 0:22:08; 15.9 mph; 15 points
2. Weinman, Kevin; Time: 0:22:27*; 15.6 mph; 14 points
3. King, Dusty; Time: 0:22:54; 15.3 mph; 13 points
4. van den Broek, Henry; Time: 0:23:51*; 14.7 mph; 12 points
5. Guo, Zinj; Time: 0:23:55; 14.7 mph; 11 points
6. Pazmany, Andrew; Time: 0:24:12*; 14.5 mph; 10 points
7. O’Keeffe, Jonathan; Time: 0:24:36; 14..2 mph; 9 points
8. Warwick, Melissa; Time: 0:24:52*; 14.1 mph; 8 points
9. Lellman, Joseph; Time: 0:25:03*; 14 mph; 7 points
10. Bailey, Charlie; Time: 0:26:08; 13.4 mph; 6 points
11. Krause, Ashley; Time: 0:26:40; 13.2 mph; 5 points
12. Goodwin, David; Time: 0:27:00*; 13 mph; 4 points
13. Bello, Michael; Time: 0:28:04; 12.5 mph; 3 points
14. Kothe, Kathryn; Time: 0:28:56*; 12.1 mph; 2 points
15. Coleman, Jeremy; Time: 0:29:07*; 12 mph; 1 points

*Strava PR

Here are the series standings:

1. Weis, Henry; Event(s) 8; Points: 98
2. King, Dusty; Event(s) 9; Points: 96
3. Weinman, Kevin; Event(s) 7; Points: 86
4. O’Keeffe, Jonathan; Event(s) 8; Points: 80
5. Guo, Zinj; Event(s) 9; Points: 75
6. Pazmany, Andrew; Event(s) 8; Points: 64
7. Bailey, Charlie; Event(s) 8; Points: 55.5
8. van den Broek, Henry; Event(s) 7; Points: 54
9. Warwick, Melissa; Event(s) 9; Points: 46.5
10. Bello, Michael; Event(s) 9; Points: 34
11. Lellman, Joseph; Event(s) 7; Points: 30
12. Weinberg, Ben; Event(s) 2; Points: 23
13. Krause, Ashley; Event(s) 5; Points: 16
14. Goodwin, David; Event(s) 5; Points: 14
15. Poe, Carson; Event(s) 1; Points: 13
15. Niesen, Chris; Event(s) 1; Points: 13
17. Coleman, Jeremy; Event(s) 5; Points: 6.5
18. Condon, Sean; Event(s) 2; Points: 4.5
19. Kothe, Kathryn; Event(s) 3; Points: 4
20. Cahillane, Dan; Event(s) 1; Points: 3
21. Wise, Greg; Event(s) 1; Points: 1

In a few days, details about next week’s time trial will be posted on the discussion board.

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.