Week 5 Results: NCC Zwift Winter Hill Climb/Time Trial, 1/31/23

By Michael Bello
Published 01/31/2023; Updated 01/31/2023

For the fifth week of the NCC Zwift Winter Hill Climb/Time Trial Series, we ascended a volcano.

This week, our challenge was the Volcano KOM in Watopia. This 2.33 mile climb has a 3% average gradient (394 feet). This is a short climb but still very challenging.

With the short climb but long warm up (13.8 miles), the group was very rambunctious. At many points, riders surged ahead with the hope of tiring out their competition. Lauren earned a jersey, which caused Melissa’s competitive spirit to kick into high gear. In Dusty’s words, “That was the most competitive, and fun, warmup I’ve ever done with the NCC.”

Tim took the early lead and held it for just under 2 miles of the climb. Jonathan, Zinj, and Dusty put out some big watts to retake the lead. In the end, Strava had Jonathan and Zinj tied with a time of 7 minutes and 40 seconds. Thanks to Andy’s screenshot from Zwift, Jonathan earns the victory by 0.5 seconds. If Zinj had more time to warm up, he may have been 0.6 seconds faster. Dusty earn the final spot on the podium.

Henry was purposely sitting back in warm up, which made him dangerous on the actual climb. He took fourth by 3 seconds over Melissa.

Jim and Lloyd rode the Volcano earlier in the day. They may not have intended to participate in the hill climb, but the met the requirements and our leaders appreciate the extra points.

Chris was the lone rider with a PR today.

Here are today’s results:

1. O’Keeffe, Jonathan; Time: 0:07:40; 18.3 mph; 14 points
2. Guo, Zinj; Time: 0:07:40; 18.3 mph; 13 points
3. King, Dusty; Time: 0:07:49; 17.9 mph; 12 points
4. Wheaton, Henry; Time: 0:08:01; 17.5 mph; 11 points
5. Warwick, Melissa; Time: 0:08:05; 17.3 mph; 10 points
6. Downey, Tim; Time: 0:08:18; 16.9 mph; 9 points
7. MacDonald, Andy; Time: 0:08:43; 16.1 mph; 8 points
8. Cunniffe, Lauren; Time: 0:08:53; 15.8 mph; 7 points
9. Stratton, Chris; Time: 0:10:02; 13.9 mph; 6 points
10. Wysk, Steve; Time: 0:10:20; 13.5 mph; 5 points
11. Lyons, Jim; Time: 0:11:03; 12.7 mph; 4 points
12. Streeter, Keith; Time: 0:11:05; 12.6 mph; 3 points
13. Cole, Lloyd; Time: 0:12:03; 11.6 mph; 2 points
14. Bello, Michael; Time: 0:12:55; 10.8 mph; 1 points

*Strava PR

Here are the series standings:

1. King, Dusty; Event(s) 5; Points: 63.5
2. O’Keeffe, Jonathan; Event(s) 5; Points: 57.5
3. Guo, Zinj; Event(s) 5; Points: 56
4. Wheaton, Henry; Event(s) 5; Points: 45.5
5. Warwick, Melissa; Event(s) 5; Points: 42
6. van den Broek, Henry; Event(s) 4; Points: 38
7. MacDonald, Andy; Event(s) 5; Points: 31
8. Downey, Tim; Event(s) 4; Points: 28
9. Cunniffe, Lauren; Event(s) 4; Points: 22
10. Wysk, Steve; Event(s) 5; Points: 20
11. Weinman, Kevin; Event(s) 2; Points: 17
12. Stratton, Chris; Event(s) 5; Points: 16
13. Krause, Ross; Event(s) 1; Points: 12.5
14. Streeter, Keith; Event(s) 4; Points: 10
15. Bello, Michael; Event(s) 5; Points: 5
16. Lyons, Jim; Event(s) 1; Points: 4
17. Cole, Lloyd; Event(s) 1; Points: 2

Next week, we will do a time trial on the Park Perimeter Loop in New York City.

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: