Two head-shaking rides, one off then two days after the Zwift Championships, a goal-reaching personal record. How? Stay tuned.
So, when I planned to retire after the Academy, I had the idea of trying an all out watt bomb on the Alp. Stupid for a sprinter with not so great endurance. Usually, I can go in a big gear if it is a steady effort, definitely not in a race. The day came and I hit a beautiful ride (after much training) landing December 17 at the top of the Alp at 38:47, a monstrous effort. A lot of times, I don't ride with a heart monitor. Often, I hate the feel of it, hate the distraction of it, and sometimes worry when it is too low or seems too high. I know I am going hard as I can and using 100% real watts. My benchmarks were Illi Gardner at 38:21 and Sarah Gigantie at 38:34. So then, 38:47 is a perfect third place.
I considered the goal for 2024 of riding the Alp to hit one million meters having nearly 900,000. But as I started doing a lot of climbing, Zwift announced an elite race for the Alp. Oh, the juices started to flow. It would be live, so if I rode the course at the same time, I could use them as my competition, but I would not have any draft. I targeted Illi's time, hoping to shave off 30 seconds to beat her. (in my mind at least). Either way, I planned several weeks of training.
I realized that I can do some serious watts as intervals, even over-unders where the low is at ftp or if I just have 30 seconds of mild pedaling. In training on two good days, I had a 38:56 and finally a 38:26 leaping ahead into second overall. Surely, I thought, I'm ready for the Epic Zwift Games event, a historic first. Of course, there was a World's Championship in 2019. It was planned last minute (although I was part of planning it much earlier) and poorly addressed to Zwifter's. I skipped the long road rides (70+km women's and 97 km men's) and won the women's time trial. The up and down hilly course suited me perfectly. I rode way beyond what I thought I could do.
So, here I am five years older trying to go against the top riders on Zwift. I know I have the watts. Race day and I have done all the race run-up and set-up. We hit the start of the Alp and I am just totally flat. Well tested? Yes. Well rested? Yes. Well caffeinated? Oh my, yes. My watts are 230 when I want 250 or even a little higher to start and nothing is going up. There's a small pack ahead of me and Illi is rocketing up the mountain. She is quickly out of sight, an entire turn ahead. Just gone. I didn't know her watts or estimated time, only where she was up the road. I get to the top just a second ahead of Lou Bates at 40:59 with Bates at 41:01. It is Gardner (37:16), Belforth (38:51), Guerra (40:08), Kryder (40:59), Bates (41:01). For me, I feel a failure. I still don't know what went wrong. Three minutes off my pace? Illi Gardner with an amazing time. She holds the real life outdoor best time on the Alp.
Tuesday, I'm determined to train some more until I can do another attempt on the Alp. As I start at nearly ftp, I crank it up, making myself suffer. Instead of a 30-60 second planned rest every ten minutes, I keep up the pace. Now I'm thinking to put in a hard thirty minutes and just pedal moderately up the rest. But, I press hard, riding as close to 250 as I can. I average around 248 and blitz the finishing minute at 370. I nearly didn't make the last 200 meters as I was at my limit in strength and speed. I saw the seconds go down from :03 to :00 to :59, then :01, but I hit the line at 38:00! 253 watts. That is just about what Illi was doing. She went super hard for seven and a half minutes, then maintained a hard effort the rest of the way. I can not do that without dying. We estimate that I lost about 40 seconds in that time. When looking at the top half of the Alp, I thought we were about even, but I was wrong. Actually, I was down 19 seconds at the last corner (59 seconds overall). I still had a good finishing kick and caught back 15 seconds, finishing 44 seconds behind. Of course, Illi didn't need to sprint at the end as she was 90 seconds ahead of her closest rival. She has well-earned the title Queen of the Alp.
I'm ecstatic about hitting 38 flat. I could never get to 37:16. In fact, I could only hope to take off five or ten seconds at best, if ever. I am finally satisfied. I can easily settle for second best behind an absolute legend.
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