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)