Another roasting hot day, another indoor ride. It feels like I’m doing things backwards. But in truth it’s probably too hot to ride outdoors for me at the moment. It’s the kinda day where I’m sweating sat still, so being at home with plenty of ice water and a big fan on max may be slightly better for me than risking heat stroke outdoors.
Anyway, today was the second of three sessions in the 7 Days of Tarmac SL7 series. I think maybe doing two of these back to back, on two of the hottest days of the year was a bit nuts, but this event is only available for the week and I wanted to take part. Fortunately the third and final stage can be only be done on either Friday or Saturday, so I have some respite until the next one. With the next one being two thirds of the Mont Ventoux climb… Fun fun.
Going into this one I kinda expected to do better than I ultimately did. Two laps of Richmond. How hard can it be?
I started well enough, but perhaps went a little too hard, too early. Not by much, but I was at a pace I likely couldn’t (and ultimately didn’t) manage to keep up for the full event. No real regrets here, but bad ride management on my part.
The real challenge of the Richmond full circuit comes in the second half, with the two short but challenging climbs, and then that horrible grind uphill to the start / finish line.
As was the case yesterday, I managed to get in with a decent sized pack of riders that appeared to be about my pace. This definitely helped cut down on the work, and saw me covering the distance much faster than had I been riding solo. This is something I never truly appreciated until I started doing longer solo outdoor rides. Those kilometres definitely disappear faster on Zwift.
Whilst not setting any records today, I was happy enough with both laps performances on the timed climbs. I struggled with the first laps untimed grind climb, but did alright in the second attempt.
That about wraps it up for today. All in all a solid, if extremely sweaty and wet ride. Even now, as I write this several hours later, the matt under the bike is still visibly wet. I’ve had the fan on max since and all the windows open, too. Deeply unpleasant, I’m sure you’ll agree.
Tomorrow I’m thinking it’s probably yet another Zwift session. The temperatures are due to drop from 31c down to 24c, so that’s something. I’m looking at a recovery ride. It’s been ages since I’ve done one, and I can probably sneak in an hour between 5 and 6 now I have my work routine somewhat more sorted.
Have you been taking part in this series? How have you found it? Leave a comment and let me know.
