Hmm. Not a great result today. However, not through lack of trying.
I hadn’t actually realised that February’s Race Scotland series had ended. But it had. And so we were in for the start of a new Zwift Racing series today, over to the London map for the imaginatively titled: Zwift Race London series.
I’m not sure if all the routes are going to be flat. I doubt it. But for today’s ride we hit the Greater London Flat circuit.
Being flat, this one was fast. Fast enough that from the off I very nearly got dropped right away, partly due to my own bumbling about, and partly just because that front bunch really did go out harder than I anticipated.
For reasons that now escape me, I decided to do this one at 11:10, rather than my usual 12:10 ride time. There must have been logic behind it, but it completely eludes me at the moment what that might have been.
I had a decent amount of time to dress and get the freshly washed and lubed bike back on the turbo, but once I dressed and put on my shoes I was once more hobbling around worrying that I wouldn’t / couldn’t ride. The problem isn’t so much blisters, I’ve realised, as it is cracked skin. Combine that with the rear / top of the heel part rubbing against my skin and it just hurts. Very unpleasant. And entirely my own fault.
I almost didn’t ride. But when I got on and clipped in, it wasn’t anything like as bad as walking, so I figured I could push through it. Then I realised I’d forgotten a towel, and by the time I’d got off, hobbled to the bathroom, come back, realised the towel was already used, went and got another… etc, it was less than 1 minute to go.
Wanting some tunes to keep me going, I alt+tabbed out, risky, and by the time I found something I had 6 seconds to go. I didn’t even have time to press play before we were underway. Hence, being a bit caught short and needing to drop some watts to keep on a wheel. Thankfully that front bunch was ~80 deep.
The pace kept on a bit, though definitely not frantic speeds.
There was a dig in around the Northumberland Avenue Climb. At least, that’s the Strava Segment name. To me it’s just the little hill up to the roundabout. No idea of street names and whatever. London is a long way away from me. And far too stabby.
That little hill split the bunch and I had to really dig there again to get back on. Very fortunately for me the front slowed again. Had they not, I would have been done and dusted right there.
The strange part of this race is that from this point on, the pace wouldn’t pick back up for ages.
I managed to keep at high tempo / low endurance for the next 10 minutes, or pretty much until ~3km to go.
At that point there is the gradual uphill drag back through the underpass and that’s where I go dropped. Somewhere around there. With ~2km to go, I just couldn’t keep up with the pace of the front ~70 or so who left me for dust.
It was a bit disappointing to be so completely out of contention as far out as I was. I’d hoped to at least stay with the front riders until the end on this one. Sure, I wasn’t anticipating a Top 10 or anything, but it would have been nice on a personal level to have had it in the tank to keep with the front bunch.
Anyway, I didn’t. So that was that. I kept up a decent pace to the line, working harder than I had since the start of the race. But I was glad it was over. And no, I didn’t continue after. I was glad to get the bike shoes off and go back to bare feet.
Ahh well, you win some come 40th in some, and you lose some.
