By Michael Bello
Published 12/17/2022; Updated 12/17/2022

The badge hunt continued today. There were six riders (Dusty, Melissa, Tim, Steve, Zinj, and me) that gathered to earn the Richmond UCI Reverse route. This route was unveiled a while back, but it became a route achievement in last month’s Zwift update.

Zinj shared the passing of his cat, Yari. Yari had joined us for many Discord video conversations, so it was sad for the group.

Melissa was very competitive this morning. Every time we encountered a sprint or hill climb segment, she went for it. Dusty, Tim, and Melissa put out some big watts. In the end, Melissa collected all five in-game jerseys, while Tim and Dusty traded a few per lap.

The conclusion of the race series surprised several of us. Tim’s performance vaulted him ahead of me, which was not appreciated!

We discussed heart rate monitors, Whoops, Apple Watches, and Garmin Watches. We also discussed cycling goals for 2023. Half the group sets mileage targets, while the other half does not.

In total, we went 30 miles with 1,290 feet of climbing. It took us approximately 1 hour and 35 minutes to complete three laps of the route. Melissa earned the “Just Scrape It” achievement, which is for hitting 800 watts. Again, she is not competitive and she is not trying to win every timed segment.

Our Zwift Hill Climb/TT series and our race series will resume in early January. We will have a Wednesday night ride this week.