Racing today wasn’t the smartest idea. However I wanted to see out the full set of stages in the Zwift Crit Club series, and that meant finishing this one off as soon as it was available, then resting for the next 7 days, give or take.
When I looked at the route yesterday, seeing that it was Glasgow Crit Course, I didn’t feel like that was one that would suit me. Last time didn’t go so well. But, undeterred, I was still up for giving it a go.
Had I actually looked, last time we only did 5 laps. This time it would be six. What’s an extra lap in hell?
The challenge with Glasgow Crit Course is the Clyde Kicker. It’s a short but sharp rise, and if you fall off the back here it’s a struggle to get back on as there’s an immediate fast descent into another slightly less intensive set of rollers.
If you can get back on, it’s a case of hanging in there until you make the final little climb up before turning back to the start / finish line, where in 3km or so it all begins again.
I gave myself every chance today. Well, every chance within reason. Two prior days riding in the legs is never a great start for me when it comes to Zwift races. But being a Bank Holiday, it meant I could actually pace my warm up properly, giving myself a chance to adjust.
Surprisingly, or maybe not, today’s field was short stacked. At just 37 riders I knew from the off this one was going to be a challenge. The bigger the field, the more wheels there are to find, and with a small bunch that would make this circuit even harder than I found it previously.
As per most / all Zwift races, we started hot. I was prepared though, coming out near the front for a change. I swiftly settled in, pacing myself well enough – being lap 1 fresh and knowing what was to come helped.
Even so, I had to work my ass off up the first pass of the Clyde Kicker. As I crested, the front runners were already turning the corner. Not a good sign.
But lap 1 ended alright. I’d worked hard, but if that was the intensity on every lap I might just be able to hold on until the end. Make no mistake though, I was already thinking about how far back I would be fighting for.
Lap 2’s Kicker was even more savage. I was off the back completely, perhaps mistiming my entrance. Even so, I had less work to do on lap 2 to find a wheel after the Kicker than lap 1. A slightly promising sign.
Things went South on lap 3.
I’m not even sure how or why, truth be told.
I’d made my way around to the Kicker at a lower intensity than either lap’s 1 or 2, so should have been well placed.
I put in a stint but noticeably dropped back, so I stepped it up well into the red… and yet I still couldn’t get back on.
Midway through the lap I was dropped and that was that. There was absolutely no chance I was catching. Interestingly, from the screenshots, I now see I wasn’t the only one dropped at that point. I really can’t explain it. The bunch just went hard and I didn’t have the legs to keep on, even with a full gas effort.
And even if I had, I don’t think I’d have made it another lap. I was cooked.
After this it was either give up, or die trying.
So I decided to keep on pushing. It wasn’t easy, nor fun, but I devised my own challenge of keeping ahead of the three or four riders in the bunch behind me.
Seeing I was losing about 4 seconds a lap to them was enough to keep me working. I didn’t want to give up that 27th spot 😀
All was going fine, and the time was consistently ticking down, but suddenly on that last lap they picked up the pace and I had to really push. In the end the gap was down to around 14 seconds as they must have really ramped up the pace.
Fortunately I was home safe.
As the graphs show, I worked hard on each lap. Harder and more consistent than on my grouped laps. So I can’t say I didn’t give it a solid effort.
And as much as I think 27th is a disappointing finish, I feel like I truly earned that today.
I’m never going to win, and these sorts of results are disheartening to my competitive spirit, but my God, they really need to even out the categories on Zwift as right now they are stupid.
