More 63 degrees and wet weather at my house called for a Zwift bike ride. The PACK Weekly wind Down (D) fit my time and ability. The start time of 1:05 PM gave me more than enough time to get prepared. The ride planned showed 18.7 miles but I ended up biking 19.0 miles in 1:06:52 with 335 feet of climbing. 385 other Zwifters registered for the ride.

I used the ANT+ dongle to connect the sensors and smart trainer. It worked well with not disconnects that I saw. There was a lag between the Zwift companion app dashboard data and with the in game data reporting mileage about 2/10’s of mile less.

As the clock counted down I ramped up my watts to 150 or so to not be left in the dust. The bike ride was to average 1.3 – 1.5 W/Kg but I think no one got the memo. I pulled away with the group and found a place to take advantage of the draft. Biking at 22 mph the group separated from majority. No fence on the ride meant everyone could go at the speed and W/Kg they felt comfortable with. I stayed with that group for several miles but when we went under the water I fell behind and couldn’t regroup. I maintained my speed and waited for a following bunch to catch me and joined them. This lasted until about 7 miles to go and they sped up more than I could match. From there to the finish I biked alone with a few riders passing me.

Watopia’s Waistband is relatively flat as the profile shows in the ZwiftPower image and Strava.

Not everyone in the ride has a ZwiftPower.com profile but 131 did. I ranked 32nd (yellow highlight and red line).

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Strava awarded medals for some of the segments in the bike ride: 4 gold and 3 bronze.

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