Hoping the weather would allow me to ride outside around 10:30 AM it became obvious the temperature would not reach 60 degrees. Searching the upcoming events in Zwift I checked off the Stage 4 Group Ride. The route was on the Jungle Circuit so mountain bikes were in order. I went to my garage and looked at my options: the Zwift MTB or the Specialized MTB. I wish there were hard tail bikes too.
Start time for group B came at 12:01 PM with three laps. I thought that meant 3 laps of the same length but it turned out to be an 8+ mile lap and then two 5 mile laps. Total Zwifters signed up for all three groups: 2080. Group B contained 916 of them. Total distance for group B was 18.3 miles and my time was 1:35:27. Total elevation gain was 845 feet with the steepest at 10% for a brief moment. Most of the ride I stayed around 700th position with a jump to 680 a couple of times.
Fortunately this was a virtual ride with lots of dust flying during the early part of each lap. At times it was so thick I couldn’t other Zwifters.
Another feature of the circuit is the suspension bridge. It dips down at the start but riding up the other side is steep. Gearing on the mountain bikes makes building up speed difficult. I saw a few riders on road bikes and I might try that the next time on the Jungle Circuit. I recorded 3 new personal records in Strava, one titled ” Descent – Road to Ruins”. It feels harder to ride in Zwift compared to when I first started. I don’t know if Zwift is harder, the Wahoo Kickr Snap is harder, or I am weaker.
Sunday the weather forecast calls for 79 degrees with a chance of showers at 30%. I need 19 miles to reach 200 for the second week in a row.
Link to my SportTracks activity page.
