Big Spin and the Epiloch

 I ran the absolute first stage...lime helmet, blah. It took 33 minutes, so no double spin. The leaders finished in 28-29 minutes. I would have to race all out to get a double. It would be easier to late-join and ride 10 minutes every hour. But, I did a long workout and stopped there. Socks are at 798, which is about four weeks away now. I hate white socks but I would try them on one or two special pr attempts, like the Poggio to get back the Q that was stolen recently. 

I found out late so I waited until the last day of Games to race the Grade. 10 feathers? How could I resist? I did almost the same watts as my previous best time and was exactly one minute faster! 10:22.2 I think it isn't quite fair but that's Zwift folks. (Remember the Zipp free speed race on Tempus? and then also time trial with draft broke all sorts of records.) I got close to Kates time of 10:07. I might try again in two weeks with the goal of hitting the ten minute mark. We need to calculate the power needed first, then plan the effort. I'm thinking of going in the huge gear for my next attempt.

So my loving coach said I would need 14 more watts to up my power to hit the ten minute mark. Then, he said if I could get the aero socks, I might only need 10 watts, which may be doable. However, that would mean earning 37 points in the next 12 days. That means adding almost a week of hard efforts to get the socks in two weeks instead of three. Or possibly doing two massive sprints at the end of every training day. #newgoal

I rode the Tourmalet today. I still am not good with my endurance, so I didn't finish under the hour mark (I actually rode under 56 minutes of moving time.) I lost my progress on the end of the decent, losing six points on the socks (I'm at 819 instead of 825) so it won't happen until mid April. Even 25 would be tough to do in only a week. I may still attack the Grade on April 5th as my last chance to hit the ten minute mark that McCathy set. 

I ran the Tour Zwift Grade Hill Climb twice to go for a faster time getting 10 feathers on each run. I had a 10:22 (a minute or so faster) with a good start but a little faded in the finish. I went a second time with a flying start and I used the feathers at better times with very good wattage, and finished at 10:12.91. It felt good because I knew it would only be ten minutes of suffering. However, I am more proud of my regular effort at 11 minutes without the gimmick of all power-ups. It was a bad idea to set it up, but I wanted to try before it disappeared as it may never surface again.

Three Short Climbs and The Big Spin - Zee style!

 Big Spin is coming and already a points gathering opportunity for previous riders. I will try some of those as it suits me, but more for points than items. I kept going both times until I had the bikes and wheels I wanted.

What is Zee Style? It is for those who race the stage, finish, and late join for extra spins. A few of us started this method as it was a fun challenge. Then, I mentioned it to Nathan Guerra. He joined in and had a blast with us. He mentioned it during a race broadcast and suddenly there were hundreds of people doing it. Wow. I thought it was awesome.

I tried all three new portal climbs at full speed. But now I am going at them all in style to test myself. I am not concerned about getting beaten or not. I have lost that illusion. Someone with a spin bike or a squiggly power meter can always ride on Strava and demolish one's best efforts. But I am proud of what I can do with these short, short efforts. [and just to prove my point, someone just ran the Poggio, my unbeatable effort, faster with hazy wattage and a very suspect account. They started Zwift two months ago as a woman but they have a halo bike from formerly riding as a man, a man with higher wattage than pro women. Ugh!]

PATERBERG: The Great and shortest climb on Zwift: 491 watts for a time of 0:57.13

KOPPENBERG: Sprinting up the climb with 2 feathers....1:36.5 422 watts 

MUR de HUY: 4:00.31 Four minutes and 338 watts!

However, the Paterberg is broken and BnB is showing as the Paterberg falsely.

One last power climb before a well deserved break, North Sgurr on a road bike. I broke the three minutes mark which is very hard to do on a solo ride without drafting through the first half. I really surprised myself. Hoping to get in the big gear for the Scotland time trial in two weeks time. We'll see soon enough. Bye for now. Love and peace.

Training: I rode all eight of the Spring Climb Challenge. I had four decent efforts on the four short climbs and then did the Cipressa at full effort, setting a personal best of 12:57. That put me in fourth overall. My Koppenberg was at 300 watts and I did the Huy at 125% at the end, Sprinting the downhill and setting a CR much faster than the others.