This afternoon I managed to get in both an outdoor and indoor ride, coming to a combined total of about 1h 35m, covering ~50km.
Unfortunately I only had about 5 hours sleep last night, so I’m knackered right now. This one’s going to be short as a result.
I started off outdoors.
The reasoning for this was two fold:
- I didn’t want to spend ages on Zwift given that the weather outside was “good enough” to get outdoors;
- I wanted a short, harder session before taking the Pride Ride as a bit of a recovery effort.
I took a route that was overly urban, as I wanted to stick fairly close to home in order to be back with ~20 minutes to spare prior to the Zwift event starting.
I managed to hit one little climb – I think it’s billed as the “Speed Bump Dipper North” on the Strava segment. That was a little 5%-er.
Also I managed to put in an effort on my most frequently hit Strava segment – the Lytham Road Smash. Didn’t beat my PR today. Sad times.
Then it was back home for tea and medals a quick swap over of the back wheel, and on to Zwift.
Last year I missed out on the Pride Ride. Sad times, as I’m sure the kit was a bit nicer last year. But maybe that’s just me with a fuzzy memory.
I missed out last year as my wife was Zwifting and the event better suited her. All my other time frames must have overlapped with something else – Saturdays were busier out of Lock Down – so that must explain it.
This one was super well attended. I don’t think I’ve ever been on a ride with this many female cyclists either. A nice change.
The ride leader – Georgia Simmerling – was very friendly, and she and other ride leaders were constantly chatting, offering support, and answering all questions. A refreshing change to some of these guest rider group rides I’ve tried.
The Pride Ride was billed as being at a pace of 1.5-2.0w/kg, but turned out to be more like 2-2.5w/kg. No big deal either way.
I found plenty of people to bunch with, and the pace around the ride leader suited me perfectly.
The course was also nice and flat, so very welcoming to beginners.
The one downside to this ride was that I couldn’t get in on the playlist.
It was a nice touch to have a Spotify playlist to accompany the ride – but without a Spotify account I couldn’t get in on it.
In the end I had to find stuff via YouTube. I suck at choosing music though as I never know what I want until I hear it.
Along the way I managed to meet my two weekly Zwift riding goals. Not bad considering I’ve only done 3 rides on Zwift this week.
Also good to hit these two milestones as tomorrow is – hopefully – another outdoor excursion. Weather permitting.
If you’d like to get involved, I believe these Pride Rides are running all through June, every Saturday, at 8am and 4pm GMT.
I’d suggest the 4pm ride will be better attended, and probably more chatty as these are the ones that have a guest rider, afaik.
Always nice to get a new kit unlock.
I wish I’d used the Tron Bike for this one as it better fit the ride ethos or what have you.
I’ve switched up to an S-Works bike for some reason that currently eludes me.
Stats-wise this one won’t be breaking any records. Just a nice easy spin. Tomorrow will – hopefully – be a little more intense.
One interesting thing from the outdoor ride is the Garmin bumped me up from 223w to 224w FTP. That’s the first increase I’ve had on the Garmin in ages.
That brings me very close indoors and outdoors to the same FTP – just one watt difference. Nice that the numbers are starting to converge.
OK, as above I’m utterly exhausted at this point.
Hoping for a good nights sleep. Then out on the roads early doors. I believe the forecast is rain though, so I won’t be out if that’s the case.
Overall really enjoyed the Pride Ride. Good to raise awareness. Sad that we have to do this sort of thing though really – you’d think humans would have got their shit together by 2020. But take a look on the news and we seem a looong way off that point.
