Saturday Morning Zwift Ride Report, 1/21/23

By Michael Bello
Published 01/21/2023; Updated 01/21/2023

We had two concurrent rides this morning. In the words of Henry III, the rides were “the very definition of type 2 fun.”

Our normal ride covered the Surrey Hills in London. There were three riders (Chris, John P, and Zinj) on this adventure.

The other ride took six riders (Dusty, Henry III, Jeremy, Melissa, Steve, and Tim), up Ven-Top, the GPS recreation of Mont Ventoux, the famous Tour de France climb, which ascends approximately 5,000 feet.

At times today the Discord conversation was brief. This should not have been a surprise considering the effort needed for the climbs.

On his rollers, Zinj attempted to bunny hop a few times. The camera angle made it look like he was very close to the overhead light, but that was a perspective trick. Zinj used the Zwift ride to warm up for his outside ride. We suggested that he bunny hop off the rollers and start his outdoor ride without pausing. For some reason he did not take that suggestion. He did leave his Discord on for his outdoor ride and amused us when he was surprised that is was snowing at the Quabbin.

Dusty was on a mission climbing Ven-Top. He wanted to break 90 minutes. He was 27 seconds over his goal, but Tim is willing to round down, so we are counting this as a 90 minute ascent. Midway through the ride, Henry wondered out-loud if he had ever ridden Mont Ventoux in real life. This was in the pre-Strava days, so could that even be counted?

Steve was the last person up the mountain. He told us at the beginning that he was already planning a three hour nap this afternoon.

We spent time helping (maybe not) Chris with potential bike upgrades for the coming outdoor season. There were a variety of opinions on a new bike, drive train, and/or wheels.

I did another workout during the group rides. For those playing along at home, in ERG mode at 1.9 w/kg, it only takes 1 hour and 38 minutes to climb Alpe du Zwift. Alas, I did not earn another set of wheels at the top, but got bonus points with another pair of gloves.

Since I was not signed up for either ride, Dusty was concerned that someone else would have to do the writeup. In my absence, he was prepared to drive the Discord conversation in uncharted intellectual territory such as the post modern interpretation of medieval French literature. Fortunately for the other riders, I was on Discord.

Jeremy earned the Ven-Top route achievement, which doubled his XP points for the route. Chris unlocked the Into the Wind achievement by pulling his first u-turn in game.

For the Surrey Hills ride, the final rider dropped at the 1 hour and 18 minute mark. He covered approximately 17 miles with 2000 feet of climbing.

The Ven-Top group covered 24 miles with 5053 feet of climbing. The last rider on course completed the route in 2 hours and 23 minutes.

Here is the NCC Zwift schedule: