If I had to guess, I’d say this is likely my last ride of the Tour de Zwift 2021. And I would also like to say that, by and large, I have very much enjoyed it. Today’s ride was the ‘B’ ride, aka the Standard ride. Shorter than the longer ride, and longer than the shorter ride 😉
However, that doesn’t tell the full tale. Because yes, this is marginally shorter than the longer ride, but with ~360m of climb, in my opinion it was harder. However, I was 18 seconds slower on this one than the longer ride, so maybe the terminology is accurate. I’ll let you be the judge.
At just 262 riders today, this was by far and away the least well attended of all the TdZ 2021 rides I’ve done. And in several places, it showed.
One thing I haven’t experienced – until today – during this years TdZ was being isolated. Out of the pack for minutes at a time. Sadly, not through choice. I much rather prefer a pack, even if I am having to lead it. At least there’s the option of dropping into the bunch for a spot of recovery.
Not so when alone. It’s either pedal or fall even further behind.
Obviously with the smaller numbers, this was more likely to happen.
Why there were smaller numbers today?
Well, maybe it was the 4pm GMT start time? I don’t know, that’s not been a factor so far.
Maybe it’s because it’s towards the end of the tour. Gone are the 2,000+ rider events of stage 1. Inevitably people drop off – no doubt you could graph the curve with a steep drop off after stage 2. Just a guess, but I bet it’s not far off. Even so, you’d expect a small uptick at the end?
Or perhaps it’s simply because the other two options are flatter. London is longer, Champs-Élysées is both shorter and flatter. Maybe New York just seemed like the least attractive of the three available routes. It did to me.
So why do it then?
Good question.
Why, simply, because it was the harder of the two. From my point of view, once you take away the visuals, I am trying to get the most bang for my buck in the ~1 hour I have for riding. And going with the lighter ride isn’t going to get me that.
Call it sadism.
Anyway, I quite like the New York map. Yes, even the futuristic space route up top. I know many aren’t as keen on that. But I say it’s a computer game, so going a bit crazy is good. Perhaps they should have taken a similar approach with Mont Ventoux. But I digress.
All of this said, there wasn’t a huge amount of action today. I tried to play it steady. I set my best average watts of the TdZ (afaik), and considering how stiff my legs felt pre-ride, I’m happy enough with my performance.
In fact I’m happy with the TdZ in general. It’s got me back to a decent level of fitness, it’s given me structure and goals, and whilst some of the routes have been challenging and there’s the inevitable can’t-be-arsed lull in the middle, I’m glad to have seen it through.
I’m definitely going to enjoy my rest day tomorrow. And all being well I might / will hopefully get outdoors again over the weekend. Neither day is looking particularly appealing, sadly, but we can hope.
Have you enjoyed this years Tour de Zwift? Leave a comment and share your story. I’m always interested to hear how others got on.
Until next time!
