Week 3 Results: NCC Zwift Fall Hill Climb/Time Trial, 10/19/21

By Michael Bello
Published 10/19/2021; Updated 10/19/2021

For the third week of the NCC Zwift Fall Hill Climb/Time Trial Series, we rode in Austria.

The challenge for the day was the Innsbruck KOM. The climb is 4.61 miles with an average gradient of 5% (1,311 feet of climbing).

To give a brief summary of the series rules, 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. For time trials, participants must use a time trial bike, which prevents drafting. For hill climbs, participants may choose any type of bike.

Participants may ride any time during the day or participate in the group ride version at 6:00 PM. In the group ride version, we typically warm up together before individually completing the time trial.

It was a short group warm-up of approximately 4.5 miles today. Unfortunately, Andy had Zwift challenges that prevented him from completing the hill climb. It has happened to all of us and can be very frustrating! Most of us were on Discord this evening. Melissa encouraged us all as she went for another personal best. I popped my chain off with about a mile to go, but I was not at top form today anyway.

Congrats to Melissa, Tim, and Patrick on PRs today. The Innsbruck KOM is a difficult climb. Although this is only Tim’s third week of Zwift HCs/TTs, he seemed truly pleased with the FTP efforts.

Here are today’s results:

1. Guo, ZInj; Time: 0:21:51; 12.7 mph; 7 points
2. O’Keeffe, Jonathan; Time: 0:22:10; 12.5 mph; 6 points
3. Warwick, Melissa; Time: 0:22:24*; 12.4 mph; 5 points
4. Downey, Tim; Time: 0:23:22*; 11.9 mph; 4 points
5. Ryan, Patrick; Time: 0:24:17*; 11.4 mph; 3 points
6. Bailey, Charlie; Time: 0:24:22; 11.4 mph; 2 points
7. Bello, Michael; Time: 0:27:03; 10.2 mph; 1 points
8. MacDonald, Andy; Time: DNF; mph; 0.5 points

*Strava PR

Here are the series standings:

1. O’Keeffe, Jonathan; Event(s) 3; Points: 22
2. Guo, ZInj; Event(s) 3; Points: 21
3. Warwick, Melissa; Event(s) 3; Points: 16
4. Downey, Tim; Event(s) 3; Points: 15
5. Ryan, Patrick; Event(s) 2; Points: 7
5. Bello, Michael; Event(s) 3; Points: 7
7. Bailey, Charlie; Event(s) 2; Points: 5
8. MacDonald, Andy; Event(s) 3; Points: 4.5
9. Coleman, Jeremy; Event(s) 1; Points: 2
10. Bilodeau, Megan; Event(s) 1; Points: 1

Next week, we will do a two lap time trial of the Champs-Élysées in Paris.

Here is the NCC Zwift schedule: