Week 8 Results: NCC Zwift Winter Hill Climb/Time Trial, 2/21/23

By Michael Bello
Published 02/21/2023; Updated 02/21/2023

For the eighth week of the NCC Zwift Winter Hill Climb/Time Trial Series, we travelled to Virginia.

This week, our challenge was the Richmond UCI Worlds course from 2015. This 10.1 mile course includes 198 feet of climbing, which is concentrated in the final three miles.

For some reason, probably just to annoy me, everyone acted confused by the distance of today’s TT. For the record, the warm up lap was 10.1 miles, the TT lap was 10.1 miles, and the cool down lap was 10.1 miles. There, I’ve said it and have the last word so I can sleep tonight.

Dusty won again and extends his commanding series lead with three weeks left. Those outdoor rides are not slowing him down. Jonathan finished 20 seconds back for second, while today’s only solo rider, Henry III, surprised everyone for the final podium spot.

Andy finished ahead of Zinj, but Zwift crashed and his ride did not make it to Strava. Zinj stated that Andy finished one second ahead of him, so Andy is fourth and Zinj is fifth.

Melissa, who may never buy the long awaited climbing bike, finished in 6th, while Henry II was seventh. Melissa was flaunting her five jerseys earned on the course. Jonathan and Dusty traded jerseys throughout the ride. I had the last laugh and had all the jerseys when I was the last rider on course. Slow and steady always wins.

Congrats to Steve on his PR tonight.

Here are today’s results:

1. King, Dusty; Time: 0:24:23; 24.8 mph; 9 points
2. O’Keeffe, Jonathan; Time: 0:24:43; 24.5 mph; 8 points
3. Wheaton, Henry; Time: 0:25:13; 24.3 mph; 7 points
4. MacDonald, Andy; Time: 0:25:17; 23.9 mph; 6 points
5. Guo, Zinj; Time: 0:25:18; 23.9 mph; 5 points
6. Warwick, Melissa; Time: 0:26:17; 23 mph; 4 points
7. van den Broek, Henry; Time: 0:26:35; 22.8 mph; 3 points
8. Bello, Michael; Time: 0:28:20; 21.4 mph; 2 points
9. Wysk, Steve; Time: 0:29:18; 20.7 mph; 1 points

*Strava PR

Here are the series standings:

1. King, Dusty; Event(s) 8; Points: 96.5
2. O’Keeffe, Jonathan; Event(s) 8; Points: 86.5
3. Guo, Zinj; Event(s) 8; Points: 77
4. Wheaton, Henry; Event(s) 8; Points: 68.5
5. Warwick, Melissa; Event(s) 8; Points: 60
6. van den Broek, Henry; Event(s) 6; Points: 45
7. MacDonald, Andy; Event(s) 7; Points: 43
8. Downey, Tim; Event(s) 5; Points: 38
9. Weinman, Kevin; Event(s) 3; Points: 29
10. Wysk, Steve; Event(s) 8; Points: 28
11. Cunniffe, Lauren; Event(s) 5; Points: 27
12. Stratton, Chris; Event(s) 7; Points: 21
13. Weis, Henry; Event(s) 2; Points: 16
14. Poe, Carson; Event(s) 1; Points: 15
15. Krause, Ross; Event(s) 1; Points: 12.5
16. Streeter, Keith; Event(s) 5; Points: 12
17. Bello, Michael; Event(s) 8; Points: 9
18. Lyons, Jim; Event(s) 1; Points: 4
19. Cole, Lloyd; Event(s) 1; Points: 2

Next week, we will do a hill climb of the Epic KOM in Watopia.

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: