With Storm Dennis turning up as I woke, my planned 100km ride for Feb (Resolution Ride 2) had to be postponed. Thanks Dennis. Nice one.
The turbo was the only option now so I opted for a long’un and found the ZHR 100km Audax on Zwift and turned up for that. The course was Sand and Sequoias, a decent 20km loop of super fast flat desert roads and the roller coaster Titans Grove. Nice. I was looking forward to it.
We rolled out from the pen and the speed was quite high and remained so and then some more. The front were, for some reason, absolutely drilling it. Destroying the group in the first few km in the process. As we hit Titans Grove for the first time it blew apart and I made my feelings known that the front were just being dicks. The pace was unrealistic and unsustainable so I eased and formed a smaller group which got it spot on. For the next lap we settled on 3-4’s on the flat and 5’s max on the hills which worked really well. Everyone there got it and was happy.
Reading the messages up front, it took the morons 27km to realise a constant 5.3 w/kg was unrealistic so flagged them. The damage was done by then
At the end of lap 2 we were caught by bigger a group and the pace went up again for a bit but settled until we got to the Grove again. Initially all was well but over the top of the KOM and a combination of idiots pushing downhill, my trainer and the game’s unrealism a few of us got dropped. 5-6’s downhill couldn’t even get me near the back of the group. One of the games drawbacks I hate. I’d completed 3 laps and a nice round 60km and 80 mins in the saddle so I sacked it off for a hot bath.
As for my 100km ride for Feb, well my only chance now is to shoehorn it in on Feb 29. Shit or bust!
Is there ever a Zwift group ride that actually sticks to the advertised pace… not in my experience there isn’t
think the fence works with a leader but these types of rides nah, you’re right