For the eighth week of the NCC Zwift Fall Hill Climb/Time Trial Series, we travelled to Virginia.
This week, our challenge was the Richmond UCI Worlds course from 2015. This 10.1 mile course includes 198 feet of climbing, which is concentrated in the final three miles.
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.
As we continue to adjust to our new Zwift Club, we learned that you need to sign up for a ride in advance if you want to join late. Melissa somehow forgot about the TT today and could not get into the event, while Zinj was just late as always. Fortunately, Melissa was able to schedule a meet up for the two of them so that they could complete the ride. Granted, setting up the meet up was full of challenges, including the fact that Zinj was not following her until this evening! It has only been two years, Zinj. I would just like to say, setting up rides is not as easy as I make it look!
We have three social rides coming up (Wednesday at 8 PM, Friday’s Post Thanksgiving Ride at 9 AM, and our Saturday ride at 9 AM). Please sign up in advance to make life easier.
Henry taught us a Dutch expression: “The bite is in the tail.” Considering the first seven miles of this course are flat and there are three sharp inclines in the final three miles, I think this expression is applicable to the Richmond route.
Despite several people forgetting about tonight’s ride and not eating well before hand, the times were very impressive. Jonathan returned to the top of the podium with a winning margin of five seconds.
Congrats to Patrick, Melissa, Tim, and Iggy on their PRs today.
Here are today’s results:
1. O’Keeffe, Jonathan; Time: 0:24:40; 24.5 mph; 8 points
2. Ryan, Patrick; Time: 0:24:45*; 24.4 mph; 7 points
3. Guo, Zinj; Time: 0:25:03; 24.2 mph; 6 points
4. Warwick, Melissa; Time: 0:26:02*; 23.2 mph; 5 points
5. van den Broek, Henry; Time: 0:26:24; 22.9 mph; 4 points
6. Downey, Tim; Time: 0:26:46*; 22.6 mph; 3 points
7. Bello, Michael; Time: 0:27:38; 21.9 mph; 2 points
8. Gaydamovich Grzelazka, Iggy; Time: 0:31:16*; 19.4 mph; 1 points
*Strava PR
Here are the series standings:
1. O’Keeffe, Jonathan; Event(s) 8; Points: 59
2. Guo, ZInj; Event(s) 7; Points: 47
3. Ryan, Patrick; Event(s) 7; Points: 42
4. Warwick, Melissa; Event(s) 8; Points: 36
5. Downey, Tim; Event(s) 8; Points: 35
6. Bello, Michael; Event(s) 8; Points: 18
7. Bailey, Charlie; Event(s) 5; Points: 17
8. van den Broek, Henry; Event(s) 2; Points: 10
9. MacDonald, Andy; Event(s) 5; Points: 8.5
10. Gaydamovich Grzelazka, Iggy; Event(s) 3; Points: 3
10. Daube-Valois, Ari; Event(s) 1; Points: 3
12. Coleman, Jeremy; Event(s) 1; Points: 2
13. Bilodeau, Megan; Event(s) 1; Points: 1
Next week, we will do a hill climb of the Epic KOM in Watopia.
Here is the NCC Zwift schedule:
- Tuesday 6:00 PM – Time Trial / Hill Climb (invite required)
- Wednesday 8:00 PM – Social Ride (invite required)
- Thursday Evenings – Road Race (times will vary between 5 PM and 7 PM EST)
- Sat 9:00 AM – Social Ride (invite required)
Join the NCC Club on Zwift or select the link in the discussion board/calendar for 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.
