Catch up.
That was the order of the day. I missed Stage 2 as a group ride due to being late for the event as it took waaaay longer than expected applying the 1.31 Zwift patch.
At the time I then did Suki’s Playground by complete coincidence as a Pace Partner Robo Pacer ride. Only I didn’t complete the full two laps so never truly completed the stage.
However, as I was also concurrently doing the Race Makuri series, I think that Chain Chomper must have been the “shorter route” for Stage 2, so I still got credit and successfully completed the stage.
Even so I was determined to do the Stage 2 proper, and so today’s 12 noon make up ride was well timed for me to see this one right.
As I’ve already had two full on rides this week (Stage 6 + Race 4) the plan was to sit in around 2.7w/kg and take it at tempo.
However once under way I found myself doing the climbs around 3.5w/kg.
The climbs today, of which there were essentially 4, are all the same hill but with a twist that on the second attempt you break off half way up and head back to the start / finish line.
I’ve felt like parts of the new Makuri Island expansion have similarities to the Jungle Circuit.
This one feels like, in parts, it could be the France map. Particularly the break off from the climb to the finish line with the descent and over the bridge finish.
Maybe that’s just me.
What I most enjoyed in this ride was attacking the climbs.
In recent rides I’ve been pushing to stay with the fast groups. In this one I intentionally stayed back, so when I was sat in the bunch I was at tempo. And when it came to a climb I had the legs to step up.
How beneficial that approach to a training ride would actually be is questionable, but it felt good not to be hitting hills absolutely dead from the bottom.
Beyond that I found this one tiring.
By the 30km mark I was mentally done.
What I really need is an ERG mode Zone 2 effort to stop me from going too hard. I’ve still got Races 5 & 6 to come, and I know they are back to back. They are also short, so I’m thinking it’s two pretty much sprint races, which I have never done but am interested about and looking forward to trying.
Anyway, yeah, definitely a Zone 2 effort tomorrow.
Feels pretty wild to get to Saturday and to not have hit 100km, especially in Zwift kilometres. But this week has been a weird one. I had long distance travel on Monday which wiped me out. So I’m a day down.
No big deal really.
Glad to have finished the Tour properly. I guess I never did Stage 4 as a group ride either, but I did it as a workout and that’s allowed in this tour. So I probably won’t repeat that just for the sake of it.
