Up to now my Zwifting consisted of participating in group events. After watching a YouTube video from GPLama about Zwift adding another guest world I decided to try riding a route rather than a group event.
The three worlds available to choose from: Watopia, NYC, Richmond. Within each world several routes showed with a very brief description of miles, elevation gain, and an animated route map. Looking through them I wanted to find a route less than 20 miles with elevation gain under 1000 feet because I am a flatlander. Richmond’s routes either fell short in distance or the climb was too much. Same for NYC. The most routes are in Watopia and some of them are whoppers in both distance and/or climbing. One of those: Four Horsemen traveling 55.8 miles climbing 6916 feet. I settled on the Watopia Road to Ruins route with 893 feet of climbing and 18.7 miles.
Not knowing how many Zwifters would be in Watopia I wondered if how crowded or vacant the ride would be. It wasn’t vacant. As I got ready to start in the lower right corner +14800 more Zwifters showed. During the ride I was never far from other people Zwifting, almost all cyclists with a few runners. One time I saw a runner dart across the road as cyclist headed towards him. They narrowly missed each other.
Some things I liked about Zwifting this way:
- starting when I want to,
- choosing the route,
- the ability to stop when I wanted without feeling like I gave up,
- not getting dropped and being alone,
- not everyone wore the same jersey unlike group rides.
Some confusing things:
- miles to finish count down missing,
- the profile misled me, showing climbs that I didn’t ride because the route turned,
- messages from other people that I think were in group rides in Watopia,
- the Hilly Loop KOM countdown occupied the left side of the screen when the route doesn’t go that way to the completion,
- the PR counter for the Jungle Loop appeared and then disappeared after 16+ minutes leaving me wonder what happened.
Overall I think choosing a route offered a different experience and I would do it again. However, my Zwift subscription will expire April 12the when I switch road biking exclusively, leaving a few days to try another one. I did make a big dent in reaching my 30 mile goal for April Zwifting with the 18.65 mile ride.
The reason I road Zwift today was the cool (53 degrees) and rainy weather outside. Sunday the sun returns and 78 degrees may be the high.
Links to my Strava activity page and SportTracks activity page.
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