ALL NINE ORANGE JERSEY COURSES

It all starts with, 'I had this idea.' which grows into, 'Why not?' and continues to evolve into a full blown race scenario. The idea? Nine time trials in a row, one for every world on Zwift. The real reason for the course is not to win the jersey but to get an official time stamp. Only one course on Richmond, on Crit City, in Paris, in New York, on Bologna, on Yorkshire, on London, and Innsbruck will do that. For Watopia, the orange jersey is for the Hilly Route. (Volcano circuit and Jungle circuit will also get a time stamp. But we all know, the orange jersey is where its at.)

The rules? Time trial bikes only. Forward or reverse...doesn't matter. In any order, on one day. Ride as fast as you can, it's a time trial remember. You will have to jump into an event for Bologna and Crit City. Plan them carefully. The rest, you can hack or plan a meet-up if you must.

Racing all Nine Worlds of Zwift on their respective 'Orange Jersey' Course is a challenge I was wary of. I'm not built for endurance somehow. Sprinting Crit City , easy. Innsbruck long climb, well that's what probably broke me.

I started on Bologna, fine. Then Paris squeezed in with a minute to spare to drop into Crit City. I raced Watopia's Hilly Route. Four laps, four jerseys. Innsbruck was a bear. I took a break after, changing into dry clothes. (I sweat, not pretty)Richmond was next, riding easy until the last three hills. London was 7 on the list with only New York and Yorkshire to finish. But after Fox Hill, my legs both cramped. Bad, hard cramps. It took me a few minutes just to get off my bike. 

It just wasn't worth the risk of trying to complete the London course or the other two courses. If I had skipped Innsbruck, I could have finished the other eight. But I wanted to knock out the longest before I was too tired.

I hope someone will try this and set the bar for others. It comes to about 100 km all totaled. I probably went too hard on the first four courses. But, I didn't want to simply cruise around for six hours either. It got me to do more than the two hour limit I seem to have. Hopefully, I'll recover and race hard Monday. 

PS I'm a bit more bummed than I expected to be. I was going so fast too. It's a shame I didn't finish but I just didn't have the time after I recovered.

EDIT: Please see a more recent post where I did complete all nine courses!