Today concluded the NCC Zwift Winter Hill Climb/Time Trial series.
As has been our tradition as the finale for each series, we ascended the Alpe du Zwift. The climb is only 7.59 miles; however, it ascends 3,398 feet at an average gradient of 8.5 percent. Alpe du Zwift is a recreation of Alpe d’Huez in France. The recreation includes the mountain’s 21 hairpin turns.
The warm up for today’s event was entertaining. Ben, through the Zwift chat, played mind games with our series leader, Henry Weis. The text chat was very pleasant, but Henry was put on edge. Ben won again today with an impressive time of 45 minutes and 22 seconds. Henry finished three minutes back, but his second place today cemented his series victory.
Not to be outdone, Melissa extended her NCC QOM and won her billionth NCC series title in a row. Kathryn’s PR today moved her to second on the QOM list.
I made another attempt at breaking the hour mark for the climb, a feat that has alluded me for years. Dusty was extremely kind and tried to pace me up the hill. Looking at the clock, I realized at several points that I was behind pace, but Dusty would not let me give up. I did not beat the hour, but my heart rate for the ride was at the max the whole way. At the organizer’s discretion, Dusty is awarded 4.25 bonus points (which gets doubled) for his selflessness.
With double points on the line this evening, every place was extremely important. PRs earned Ben, Zinj, Melissa, Henry Wheaton, and Kathryn an extra point this evening.
Here are today’s results:
1. Weinberg, Ben; Time: 0:45:22*; 10 mph; 27 points
2. Weis, Henry; Time: 0:48:53; 9.3 mph; 24 points
3. Ryan, Patrick; Time: 0:49:25; 9.2 mph; 22 points
4. Guo, Zinj; Time: 0:50:58*; 8.9 mph; 21 points
5. O’Keeffe, Jonathan; Time: 0:51:42; 8.8 mph; 18 points
6. Warwick, Melissa; Time: 0:53:12*; 8.6 mph; 17 points
7. van den Broek, Henry; Time: 0:54:26; 8.4 mph; 14 points
8. Wheaton, Henry; Time: 0:55:20*; 8.2 mph; 13 points
9. MacDonald, Andy; Time: 0:57:46*; 7.9 mph; 11 points
10. Eckman, Mark; Time: 1:02:41; 7.3 mph; 8 points
11. Kothe, Kathryn; Time: 1:05:59*; 6.9 mph; 7 points
12. King, Dusty; Time: 1:08:49; 6.6 mph; 12.5 points
13. Bello, Michael; Time: 1:08:49; 6.6 mph; 2 points
*Strava PR
Here are the series standings:
1. Weis, Henry; Event(s) 11; Points: 160
2. Ryan, Patrick; Event(s) 11; Points: 146
3. O’Keeffe, Jonathan; Event(s) 11; Points: 140
3. King, Dusty; Event(s) 11; Points: 140
5. Weinberg, Ben; Event(s) 7; Points: 124
6. Guo, Zinj; Event(s) 10; Points: 105
7. Warwick, Melissa; Event(s) 11; Points: 90.5
8. MacDonald, Andy; Event(s) 9; Points: 85
9. Pazmany, Andrew; Event(s) 6; Points: 81.5
10. van den Broek, Henry; Event(s) 9; Points: 67
11. Downey, Tim; Event(s) 7; Points: 63
12. Wheaton, Henry; Event(s) 8; Points: 62
13. Bailey, Charlie; Event(s) 9; Points: 52
14. Eckman, Mark; Event(s) 9; Points: 50
15. Bello, Michael; Event(s) 11; Points: 29
16. Kothe, Kathryn; Event(s) 6; Points: 16
17. Krause, Ross; Event(s) 1; Points: 13
17. Cunniffe, Lauren; Event(s) 3; Points: 13
19. Clarke, Jeb; Event(s) 2; Points: 10
20. Wilson, Donna; Event(s) 3; Points: 8
21. Krause, Ashley; Event(s) 3; Points: 7
22. Page, Zachariah; Event(s) 1; Points: 5
22. Armen, Chris; Event(s) 1; Points: 5
24. Goodwin, David; Event(s) 1; Points: 4
25. Fentin, Gary; Event(s) 2; Points: 3
26. Streeter, Keith; Event(s) 2; Points: 2
27. Tauscher, Julianne ; Event(s) 1; Points: 1
Tomorrow’s social ride is the Tour of Watopia (Standard Ride – B version). This will be a flat ride as many of us attempt to recover before the conclusion of the race series on Thursday.
