By Michael Bello
Published 03/11/2023; Updated 03/11/2023

Today’s ride was about earning XP points in an attempt to level up quicker. We rode two stages of the Tour of Watopia.

At 9 AM, Tim, Zinj, and I rode Stage 1B, 18 miles on the Magnificent 8 route. Our goal was to complete the route with a few minutes to spare before the 10 AM start of the 1A stage, which covered the 22 miles on the Triple Flat Loops route. We all made the time cut. I cut it the closest and made it to our second event with 50 seconds to spare.

Dusty rode the 1A stage at both 9 AM and 10 AM. His legs were tired during the second hour, but he achieved his goal of completing level 40. Henry III was also with us on Discord. He was just climbing the Alpe du Zwift as always. At one point he told a story about riding from Austin to Albuquerque — a normal ride for mere mortals — and having a run in with a large bird. I believe it was an emu. The bird was chasing him and Henry was afraid that he would kill the bird by exhausting it. This story falls into the Melissa humble brag category.

Speaking of Melissa, she decided to ride 25 laps of the Volcano Circuit. Tim and I tried to talk her out of this ride. After all, double XP points for the Tour of Watopia is a short lived item, while the 25 lap badge is there all the time. Nevertheless, she rode the 25 laps. As only Melissa can, she was attempting to infiltrate groups and draft off other riders. At one point she was attempting to break a woman who put up a faster lap time. Despite Melissa’s stellar time of 2 hours and 46 minutes, which earned her the top NCC time, Tim and I remain in the top 10. Granted, there have only been 9 attempts by NCC riders.

Zinj did not ride the second event, but stayed on Discord. We got an unintentional tour of his house as he gathered parts to work on his outdoor TT bike.

Dusty completed level 40 and earned his avatar the Zwift Rockstar glasses. Tim finished level 45 and earned the Zwift Prism Kit. Melissa unlocked the On Fire! achievement for completing 25 laps of the volcano.

In total, we rode approximately 40 miles with 1,000 feet of climbing in 2 hours.

Here is the NCC Zwift schedule:

  • Tuesday 6:00 PM – Time Trial / Hill Climb
  • Wednesday 8:00 PM – Social Ride
  • Thursday Evenings – Road Race (times will vary between 5 PM and 7 PM EST)
  • Sat 9:00 AM – Social Ride

Join the NCC Club on Zwift or select the link in the discussion board/calendar for invite-only rides.

Check the NCC calendar for full details on all events. To learn more about the NCC and Zwift rides, please visit our Zwift page.