My Return to Zwift (Official date)

 I'm coming back.

Rouvy is ending October 4th. Perhaps, I will write a bit on that later. I don't have much to recommend or much excitement to tell about. It has very limited Strava segments. My Whoosh and IndiVelo have zero.

I have returned to Zwift, despite the high cost. I'll take a few months off each year and save my money to pay for 9 months. I rode the Madone Wednesday and will either ride a portal or the Alp Friday. I may do a Academy race of two. I'm not sure yet. I should focus on some workouts, with a few time trials or climbs as my goal. I would reconsider the Alp with a new lighter bike. I'm sure it will only get a few seconds faster. lol.

Friday: A massive attack on Chinilion Portal with some of my best power in two years or so. I was cruising at 260 instead of 240 on this shortish 20 minute climb. I had the goal of breaking 19 minutes. I tried not to look, but I was hitting it hard at the start to aim at 18 minutes (in case I started to fade toward the end) But I actually had a powerful finish at 290 for the final six minutes dipping down to under 17:30. I finished at 277 watts (PR is 282 years ago when I almost made it to finals) with a time of 17:21.

What lies ahead? 

Zwift Academy 2024 To be or not to be?

 I really expected the Academy to be a late in the year, do a bit of training and maybe a few races to enjoy the Academy. I have raced and competed all out the last few years and while it was very rewarding (almost making the final selection), it was tough as anything. I trained heavily before the Academy in order to score well. Pretty much, I peaked and had the top spot or two in sprint and long sprints. There are a few that are hard or nearly impossible to beat. Guerra, Verharen, Van Howeling, Fuhrer, KK, Asa B, and Etienne, plus a few pros who drop in for fun. Actually, they are eligible if they cancel their 2025 contract. (although not fair to allow in semi-pro competition.)

So, I had a great minute effort today. I'm going to practice it a few more times before Day 1. It is hard to step down. I may go down fighting. I lost the longer segment, over a minute sprint to Fuhrer last year but won the short sprint over GG and KF. ( I had higher watts but a slower time on Libby Hill. Lot of drafting on Richmond's Libby Hill.) I really shine in a 25 second sprint. So, I have a 480 and a 500 in the bag, which is good enough but I know GG can top that if she trained for it. When you train to do a two hour race, your sprint and one minute power will suffer. Fortunately, I never have to worry about an hour race. Lol, the Alp is as long as I dare to race now and even that is a long stretch.

The Academy workouts are just timed tests and will not improve anyone's fitness. I'm not inclined to do all of them. Also, a time trial of 30 minutes on Ventoux sounds pretty boring. I may do it. But, I could just do it solo since it is a time trial anyway. Why bother?

I'm still on Rouvy, joined a 21 stage Vuelta 2024 challenge. A little boring but a lot of climbing to do including three two hour stages. Can I do it? I barely have enough days to finish. I already have a fast bike. But, it is hard to turn down a real challenge after doing Zwift challenges. I'm just not sure about those three two hour stages. Seriously?

Update: Put in a 489 watt one minute effort, followed by 606 meter climbed on Ventoux in 30 minutes. I'm satisfied with the 600 club. I really had to sprint that last minute to hit that target. Maybe, I will try another stab at it in October. I still want to hit my 500. I know on good legs, I can top it.

Finally, had a good run at the one minute power. I just sailed along and saw 497 as the time counted down. I hit 500 with just a little to go and then the power started to go and I had the fight to keep up the power. I just made the minute mark to complete 504!

In the Vuelta, I'm still going strong. 13 done and 8 to go. Three more weeks to finish. I did two of the long stages now. I had to do one twice because nearing the finish on the final climb, the power when out and in Rouvy, you can rejoin an incomplete ride...but it doesn't count toward Strava or Rouvy. So I reran it and went harder on the first big climb, shaving off five minutes, 20 minutes through the valley and then another big climb.

I can't wait to ride the Alp again. Seems like a long time ago. ( I forgot that I did grab the Rouvy title by breaking the 44 minute barrier.) I would rather do it on Zwift which is shorter and faster)

Tomorrow is the 51 km stage with a short 10-12 minute climb. But after an hour of riding comes a 15 km mountain with 748 meters of climbing. The Qom is the last half of the climb looking to get under 25 minutes. Then, die, I mean dive into an ice bath. Then a few more climbing stages and onto the grand finale. I can't wait to finish the Rouvy Vuelta. Diablo is the right title.

Winner-Stage 12 Manzeneda! I planned to ride a modest pace and draft the first hour before hitting the long climb. But, I started going deep on all the uphill parts. I was up by 1:23 then only about 12 seconds but blasted the last part of the climb to finish 51 seconds ahead. I put in a long hard five minutes to finish. I just couldn't believe how smooth the climb was going, There was a false flat section that I could rest for over a minute, then try to lift the pace to the max (well, after an hour and twenty minutes a deep five was at 265 watts instead of 280 but that's how it goes) Call it 3:30 to finish on top. It has been a great week. Now, I have three stages plus the bumpy final stage. With my overall time, I can afford not too worry about how I will finish. But, I am planning to do it just like today. Hit hard when it goes steep and stay in the draft on the flats. I will update before the finale.

Getting near the end of the Vuelta Challenge and all is going as planned. I am hoping to finish in the top ten. But, I'm sure many people have not finished all stages yet. So far, 90 have finished out of 10,000. How many can get it done, even with extending the deadline two more weeks? Update: 11,000 people have joined with 260 finishers. I have only the last stage to finish. I think two of the last four stages, I am in the top ten overall. How is that possible? (Not a lot of depth in the field really) I know some are putting in a fury of effort. But, a good number of the top finishers are pretty old (and unlikely to ride at 6 w/kg even downhill,) It isn't a real competition, just fun for sure. But, it feels good to come from Zwift as a former champion to Rouvy to challenge even the overall leaders. There's a few gals I would like to ride with, but that isn't an option on Rouvy. It is what it is, pedaling to the sight of a recorded video.

Vuelta Final Stage! I finished in 7th overall! (probably shouldn't count first place- unrealistic wattage) 19:32:29 Hurray!

Zee's Bucket List

 I really don't know too much about mountains. As I sprinter, I don't like them at all, but they are beautiful. And since I'm at Rouvy for a free ten weeks, I thought I should travel the world and pick my bucket list. Except, nobody would care to read about the rides I really love. My sweet spot is anywhere from eight to sixteen minutes. Even Alp d' Huez is too long for me to enjoy. I rode it yesterday and feel like I can take the current record easily, but not the all time Strava. (too many cheats to sort through really.) I don't think I would do these on Zwift climb portal either.

I have done Zwift Alp Huez and one of the favored few to ride the Stelvio. I do want to compare them. Mostly, more fun on Zwift and probably faster too. So, the Alp, Stelvio, and Rouvy offers the Galibier and the Tourmalet. The goal will be all four (five if you count the Telegraph lead-in to the Galibier) in six hours. The Tourmalet is just over an hour, the Alp just under an hour, and the Stelvio and Galibier are each at an estimated two hours each. EDIT: I decided not to do the Galibier. It isn't exciting and the Zwift version is only half the reality. So, I couldn't compare the Rouvy edition. I can find another climb. Maybe, the Madone. Yes, the Madone is a bit too long but Lance and Illi have done the last 9.77 km of the climb under thirty minutes. That will be the goal!

I can not believe I was able to go fairly hard all the way today on the Tourmalet. My mind was blown away to reach the summit in.....59:57 !!! I really was feeling like I was fading at 20 minutes, but I kicked again until the 30 minute mark. After a short respite, I launch full steam ahead to the finish. I am ready for my Alp Huez full effort. Last week, I did it at 90 to 95% and had a time of 48:10 (best alp climb on Rouvy. This is fourth counting full-gaz and bkool. I need to beat 44 minutes. Goal. Probably not on my next ride, but you know I will attack it every two weeks or so until I max out my effort. Going fast for 40 minutes is much better than my best watts for 50 minutes. It just takes training and commitment...and intensity.

A mountain that goes on forever. The Grand Stelvio. It is like doing two Alp Huez back to back. 48 turns, 24 km, and 1848 meters of elevation. Shut the door! I just forced myself to do this ride. What made me go full gas all the way was knowing if I was too slow, I would have to do this ride again. Anything but that! So, I clipped the Rouvy segment, and cut off the small downhill last section, and my time came out to be....exactly...1:30:00!!! 225 watts and just 90 minutes. Wow. What would Illi do? (probably 1:20) Anyway, it will be one of my great climbs ever. I only raced this long once before and that was one of the national races, I think at nearly two hours of pain. If only there was just a hint of flat or downhill. One section was 14-17%! I tried to push my wattage that whole segment. It was absolutely brutal, covered in sweat. I'm just so happy, I didn't break. Time for a drink and celebration. 1:29.36 is the virtual Stelvio segment time.

The Madone. This was an awesome challenge and I had great legs today. At times, I had to try to hold back as I was charging faster than I could maintain to the finish. I was watching my heart. At 160, it starts to get dicey. I either push super hard or I fade. Today, I tried to maintain, just down a notch to help recover, just stop my heart rate from climbing. I finished in 32:11. The record is 32:06. The mistake I made was starting a minute too early. I really thought I was only ten or fifteen seconds ahead, building speed. But, I went pretty hard for 30 seconds to start. Still a fantastic ride, going 258 watts over 30 minutes? I will take that any day. I really felt it at 2 km to go. I started spurts of effort, then pull back. I still had a great top half. My sprint was only 300 for the last minute. It felt like forever. I should have finished with 400, but I just had gone so deep for 30 minutes.

Total so far....59:57 + 1:29.36 + 32:11 = 3:01.44 with just the Alp Huez left.

Before the Alp, I was ready for a very hard but short effort: The GRADE on Zwift was the challenge, as some at Zwift missed me and wanted to see what I could do. I guessed around 12 to 13 minutes, if I could keep my power high, I went in feeling pretty strong today. The end seemed so far off when I was really hurting, trying to hit around 300 for the last 8 minutes. I actually did 299. I almost passed out crossing the finish line in 11:22. Turns out to be the fastest time yet, just edging out Guerra! Now, that is something. I watched her last month on this ride. Two ways that I beat her. First, she went with a medium effort on the first minute. Also, she started from the gate, while I built up speed before the line. I had an 18 second lead in the first minute and the rest of the race, she was 14 seconds faster. She didn't sprint the finish as long as I did. I held mine for 52 seconds, hers was 42 seconds. Side by side would be awesome. (I do recognize that she can beat me when she is at her best. ) Loved this challenge.

So today was Alp Huez...at nearly 250 watts, which was my goal. I just had a kink in the middle where I rode around 230 for a few minutes, then finished with a pretty good 20 minute run at 250 again. It feels like an hour effort with a fast start and a hard finish. I think I could do just a wee bit better. But for now, I feel content with this build-up and finish. Alp Huez at 43:45, which breaks the Strava best times (three gals at 44-45 minutes....darn fast).  Total Time for Bucket list = 3:47.29 

Indievelo and Rouvy - First impressions

 Indievelo:

Good Points:

Free

Talking humans (a very few)

Velodrome races

Bad Points:

98% of users are fake avatars or auto bots. Even races are 95% bots.

No Strava segments or auto uploads. No segments at all? Kidding me?

Rouvy

Good points:

Famous climbs and lots of routes

Ghost riders you can actually draft. Makes up for being an empty desert on every ride.

Real looking jerseys.

Lots of price options (1 day/2 day/3 day passes)

Bad Points:

No hair color??? just black?

No downhills, just climb up Alp Huez and stop.

Virtually no races, lol most 'races' have 2 people.

Avatars just float on top of 'google earth' style videos.

Many videos are simply poor quality. Are they official videos or user donated?

Camera view on turns is terrible. Pans super fast and rider disappears until after turn.

Cancelled my Zwift!

Yes, I did cancel with nearly tears. I am pained to leave, but I need to save $40 so I have enough money to hopefully come back. That $40 will go to paying the huge increase for the next eight months. I have always paid for my Zwift, even when I was writing articles for Zwift. I was happy to do it. I love Zwift.

So, why have they suddenly come to need funds? Pssttt! They spent the investora money on advertising and racing. They paid a lot of money to the UCi to have the E-sports title approved by UCI. Then they paid HUGE amounts to sponsor the women's Paris-Robaix and Women's Tour de France. They pay top riders money to be a spokesman for Zwift, often just to put a "Zwift" on their jersey. 

Zwift should be trying to capture the Peloton dissatisfied crowd. (by that I mean the ones who can't afford $40 a month to watch some recorded 'live' trainers.) Let's get the people who ride bikes at Planet Fitness, but don't realize they will get hit for a 40 or $50 annual fee when they least expect it. 

This year's Academy was a bit of a joke. The men's winner only ever had one or two rides on Zwift. His race files 'could not be found' because they didn't exist (according to ZwiftPower management.) The top women's rider Liz Howeling did not enter. The best participant, Gabbi Guerra was better than all three picks. (Zwift could not find five decent picks, so they changed the program to include only three riders.)

What is best about Zwift?

Alp d Huez and I do still love the Volcano.

Richmond (Yes, really.)

What else would I keep? Definitely not the current draft. It never seems to work for me. I would lose half my bike, wheels, and 190 of my 200 jerseys. I only need my triathlete, my red, my black, and my elite title jersey. I was so happy in 2018 when I got it. Then, in 2020 when I had a chance to reclaim it. (the black version). I think the gal who won in 2019 still has her white jersey. I hardly ever see anybody else with their jerseys. I loved the Tron, until they slowed it down. They should never allowed super fast pack speeds. (senseless). It meant personal kom's disappeared forever. And then , there's the cheaters. I don't think Zwift can afford the time of money to handle the problem. But, it is frustrating to the few people like myself, that have had their best times stolen by someone barely sweating at 401 watts for an hour straight. (not happening)

Well, rant over. Time for IndieVelo and TrinerRoad, and Sufferfest. Maybe Racx will give me another free month. Once I have a few dollars saved up, I will be back.

It was better when there was just Watopia, Richmond and a small London. Now, there's just too much fluff. And there are people who want new roads every month! "All flat", "30 mile climbs" that no one will ride ever. 

Stelvio A Closer Look

Now I have the CR and QOM on both Stelvio, (Watopia and France). Of course, I'm virtually the only one to have ridden it so far. (Zwift benefits)

Wow, is this climb hard. Going fast as I can, 67 minutes and 18 back down. First time I did just under 70 minutes and 19 back down. Going up, I go super hard on the red segments. Going down, hard on the blue (flat to uphill) sections. 

I discovered some sections are definitely leg-sapping efforts to keep your speed, going up to twenty percent. I love this climb as it pushes you to do some natural intervals when the road goes red, and then you get a few sections of respite when it gets level or even a little downhills. These 'teeth' make the climb memorable, rather than boring. Which is why I have been hailing the Ski Lift climb for some time now. I don't know why they haven't ever released it to the community. It is the best ever, and hardest. In a test ride, I finished the climb on a 200% basis. That puts you into some 30-50% peaks! It was absolute chaos. I barely made it.

The Stelvio was going to be the climb of the month for May, but it still hasn't been repaired. The climb finishes at 1616 elevation. The screen says 1668. Strava says 1598. The top will not let you turn right down the mountain. You must make a u-turn and then go left. There's no excuse for not fixing this in time for the Giro's race on the Stelvio in the real life Italia race.

For those, including myself, asking for Mt. Fuji, this climb on Stelvio is worth fleshing out into a real climb. I would sooner add this to Italy than put a real Fuji onto Makuri. Fuji is long like Ventoux, but only about 6%. It just doesn't have any excitement, any reason to ride this instead of the Alp Huez. I would only want the Stelvio and Huez. 

I'm excited to see its release. I would love to actually see a few people stream themselves riding it for the first time. I know I was like, "Oh no, not another peak." About a dozen or more of them. As soon as you recover, another one pops up.

Happy hunting, my friends.

Level 99 to 100

 Here we go with 10000 points to reach the top level. I wanted to hit 99 before the May 1 update in case Zwift enforced the new points requirements. I have come from 84 to 99 in 30 days with about 16 ride days. 

Level 99 is a lousy ugly helmet. Blech, never wear it. I just want to be in the 100 club, I would say I earned it for the time I put in to go from 50-60...a whole year! Now, I could do 50-60 in about two weeks. Especially fast because I had extra credit and I rode the crazy points give-a-way climb on Easy Rider Portal. It is a very short and flat road which gives out about 300 points every five minutes of effort on avarage.

I think when I hit 100, I will schedule a confetti ride, then never wear them again. Fire socks are too cool.

I am almost at 100 days of Zwift or 2400 hours and well on my way to hit one million meters climbed (at 951K today).

I need some goals or workouts for May. I hope to do the new climb in June. However, it isn't worth the effort to get the QOM because someone is sure to take it with either under 200 watts at 25 kg or over 400 watts at a 120 bpm heart-rate. Somebody just sniped one of my course records riding their entire ride over twenty minutes at 400 watts, even downhill was about 386 and that was coasting. Why can't those rides register as 'gamified' like 50% portals? I worked so hard for that record on Makuri with several attempts and specific workouts to beat the old record (which was a fake). I know it is Strava, not Zwift in a sense. But Zwift allows a lot of generic trainers that read 400 watts when lightly spinning. Why not fix or adjust that? The max should be 200 or 250 watts, not 400. 

May 8, I hit 100! Confetti socks are kind of a letdown. Only I see the confetti. It should be the rider receiving the ride-on, shouldn't it? I'm going back to fire socks...the only valuable unlock.

May 12, I hit level 101. How long until my next level? 12000 points (But I should be level 180)