Whilst not quite the workout I had in mind, it is another hour on the bike and crucially, not too an intensive hour on the knees. One thing I really hadn’t factored in to 24 continuous days of cycling is just how physical stress it’s putting on my knee joints. I’m at the point where I really need to be careful not to overdo it. It sounds like a bit of a cop out, but my right knee in particular feels as though its done a serious ride. Kinda like after a multiple hour outdoor ride.
For today’s ride I opted for a trip down to the Jungle Circuit, hitting up the new Serpentine 8 route. This is, as best I can tell, the “other” new section of road added to Watopia in the latest patch. It seemed about 2km or so, creating a bridge over the water in the middle of the Jungle Circuit. It allows traversing between the “up” and “down” sections of the circuit.
The Serpentine 8 route is a rough figure of 8 route, covering both sides in either direction. I’m short, you get to see all the Jungle Circuit, but I’m a new way. It adds a bit of life to an area of Watopia that is highly likely amongst the least loved roads available. Certainly its not a favourite area of mine.
In one of this years patches, the Zwift devs made the off-road jungle tracks feel like one was riding through soup. Compared to a lovely paced surface, meandering through the mayans and monkeys was mighty slow going. So, I decided to swap out my trusty tron bike for a Specialized mountain bike I purchased with 600,000 (give or take) of the 7 million plus drops sat gathering dust in my virtual wallet.
Did it make the ride any more or less enjoyable? Hard to say. I opted for a workout to kill the time, so I didn’t really feel the difference. Still, combined with my virtual festive jumper, it made for some nice screenshots.
The new portion of this route comes quite quickly. And visiting the new road in both directions during the same circuit is quite a. Nice touch. The visuals are quite nice. There are some nice shots of the step pyramids, and I may be wrong, but the companion app overview map of the jungle circuit seems more detailed than I remember. Also, the bird sounds seem new? Certainly I don’t remember quite so much tropical sqwaking.
I think the best way I can sum up this new addition is to say that if you like the jungle circuit, this is more of the same. It’s rarely flat, all mud / dirt, and whilst none of the hills are steep by themselves, because you’re always on some kind of incline, the whole thing feels slow going. Strangely I do think I’d enjoy this sort of thing in real life, but somehow that experience is lost in translation.
There are a couple of nice features about this ride that make the new route a little more exciting than it might otherwise be. As I did this as a workout, I may have missed some “free ride” stuff that I might have otherwise seen. Two bits that were “different” enough to mention where the tunnel section – kinda inspired by a part of Richmond, I felt, albeit with less concrete – and the top of the “climb” whereby the camera view point changes automatically. I think France has this at the top of the aqueduct, and also for sure the top of Box Hill.
Between the Serpentine 8 and Ocean Lava Cliffside Loop I can totally see some new races and group rides taking these routes frequently.
I also fully anticipate seeing these routes in the forthcoming Tour de Zwift 2021.
For what it’s worth I would probably opt to do this route over the regular forward and reverse laps of the Jungle Circuit, should I feel the need to ride the JC again any time soon. I also note I didn’t get the route reward for finishing this lap today. Maybe I’ll get that next time I log in. Would missing out on that award be enough to make me re-ride this without the workout?
Definitely maybe.
