Saturday Morning Zwift Ride Report, 2/4/23

By Michael Bello
Published 02/04/2023; Updated 02/04/2023

The NCC peloton headed to France today and rode the Tire-Bouchon route.

We had eight riders (Chris, Henry III, John, Melissa, Tim, Steve, Zinj, and me), which was a healthy number, but smaller than I expected considering the extremely cold temperatures this morning.

Today’s ride was challenging. It was nice to have the Discord conversation going to pass the time.

The “feels like temperature” at my house this morning was -26 degrees, so it was cold today. Steve’s dishwasher was having challenges this morning. He believed his water pipe to the dishwasher froze. Other riders said that their windows were covered in ice. Tim even had ice from his humidifier on his door hinges, which was letting the drafty air in.

Melissa’s chickens survived the night. For those concerned, she only raises hardy chickens, the type that do not “need” a heater to survive. Instead, her daughters cover the chickens with vaseline. Although Dusty did not join us, we all remarked on his camping adventure from last night. He was testing his cold weather gear.

Zinj was missing for the first 50 minutes of the ride. Then, magically, after I mentioned a new cycling term, dynamic threshold power (DTP), he appeared.

Melissa is our fashion icon. Last week, she wore sunglasses inside. This week, her daughters had her wear a necktie. I encouraged her to discard the sweaty tie because it was now a lost cause.

We continued our never-ending discussion of cycling YouTube. I mentioned the latest GCN video comparing high end wheels with cheap tires versus inexpensive wheels with expensive tires. We also talked about the recent CyclingTips exits and the power of cycling influencers.

I shared that I lubed my chain last night, which is different from Zinj doing it during the ride. He brought up the automatic chain lubrication system, which I believe that Zinj will purchase or 3D print a better version of soon.

I tried a new drink mix today. Unfortunately, it was disgusting. My wife and daughter were nice enough to bring me a new bottle, and the NCC crew was amazed to hear my daughter saying the drink was “poison.” After the ride, Tim shared that his watch labeled his ride as “Unproductive.”

There were nine jerseys available on the route today. Melissa was slacking and only took six jerseys. Chris earned the Tire-Bouchon route achievement, which doubled his XP points for the route.

In total, we rode approximately 40 miles with 1,940 feet of climbing. We finished in 2 hours and 7 minutes.

Here is the NCC Zwift schedule: