By Michael Bello
Published 01/25/2022; Updated 01/25/2022

For the fourth week of the NCC Zwift Winter Hill Climb/Time Trial Series, we went to Paris.

This week, the challenge was a two-lap time trial of the Champs-Élysées. In total, that was 8.22 miles with an average gradient of 0% (224 feet of climbing).

For the group ride, we had twelve participants. A quarter of the riders were named Henry, which made for several confusing conversations during the warm up and cool down.

We had five riders (Henry Weis, Melissa, Andy, Tim, Henry vdB) put up negative splits, which was truly impressive. This meant 67% of the Henrys had negative splits. I promise I will be less amused by this as time goes on. In addition, Andrew, Patrick, Melissa, Andy, and Henry vdB got one-lap PRs tonight.

Melissa and Tim were battling tonight. They were focused on one another throughout the two laps. It may surprise them that Melissa and Andy put up the same exact time for both laps and tied overall. Tim was two seconds back, while Henry vdB was four seconds behind the tying pair. Melissa and Andy will split the points for seventh and eighth place.

Henry Wheaton did his first NCC Zwift TT today. Unfortunately, he learned very quickly not to follow the group’s advice. He seemed to enjoy the challenge and realized why we had the two-lap cool down.

Congrats to Dusty on the win this evening. He takes over the series lead.

Here are today’s results:

1. King, Dusty; Time: 0:18:56; Splits: 0:09:21|0:09:35; 14 points
2. Weis, Henry; Time: 0:19:03; Splits: 0:09:32|0:09:31; 13 points
3. O’Keeffe, Jonathan; Time: 0:19:19; Splits: 0:09:32|0:09:47; 12 points
4. Pazmany, Andrew; Time: 0:19:41; Splits: 0:09:51|0:09:50*; 11 points
5. Guo, Zinj; Time: 0:19:50; Splits: 0:09:49|0:10:01; 10 points
6. Ryan, Patrick; Time: 0:19:59; Splits: 0:09:52*|0:10:07; 9 points
7. Warwick, Melissa; Time: 0:20:04; Splits: 0:10:05|0:09:59*; 7.5 points
7. MacDonald, Andy; Time: 0:20:04; Splits: 0:10:05|0:09:59*; 7.5 points
9. Downey, Tim; Time: 0:20:06; Splits: 0:10:06|0:10:00*; 6 points
10. van den Broek, Henry; Time: 0:20:08; Splits: 0:10:11|0:09:57*; 5 points
11. Wheaton, Henry; Time: 0:20:18; Splits: 0:10:07*|0:10:11; 4 points
12. Eckman, Mark; Time: 0:20:40; Splits: 0:10:19*|0:10:21; 3 points
13. Bailey, Charlie; Time: 0:20:59; Splits: 0:10:20|0:10:39; 2 points
14. Bello, Michael; Time: 0:21:34; Splits: 0:10:37|0:10:57; 1 points

*Strava PR

Here are the series standings:

1. King, Dusty; Event(s) 4; Points: 51
2. O’Keeffe, Jonathan; Event(s) 4; Points: 50
3. Weis, Henry; Event(s) 4; Points: 48
4. Ryan, Patrick; Event(s) 4; Points: 42
5. Pazmany, Andrew; Event(s) 3; Points: 35
6. Warwick, Melissa; Event(s) 4; Points: 30.5
7. Guo, Zinj; Event(s) 3; Points: 27
8. van den Broek, Henry; Event(s) 4; Points: 24
9. Downey, Tim; Event(s) 3; Points: 22
10. Bailey, Charlie; Event(s) 4; Points: 18
11. MacDonald, Andy; Event(s) 2; Points: 16.5
12. Krause, Ross; Event(s) 1; Points: 13
13. Eckman, Mark; Event(s) 3; Points: 11
14. Bello, Michael; Event(s) 4; Points: 9
15. Page, Zachariah; Event(s) 1; Points: 5
16. Wheaton, Henry; Event(s) 1; Points: 4
16. Krause, Ashley; Event(s) 2; Points: 4
16. Goodwin, David; Event(s) 1; Points: 4
19. Cunniffe, Lauren; Event(s) 1; Points: 3
20. Tauscher, Julianne ; Event(s) 1; Points: 1
20. Streeter, Keith; Event(s) 1; Points: 1
20. Fentin, Gary; Event(s) 1; Points: 1

Next week, we will climb the Volcano KOM in Watopia.

Participants in the Hill Climb/TT series may ride any time during the day or participate in the group ride version at 6:00 PM. Please visit the NCC Zwift page for the series rules.

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.