Zwift Grand Fondo - February 6 2021

I am roughly 3 weeks into my Zwift journey.  It feels longer than that, but I'm reminded when I login that I have time left on my 30 day trial (via the code that came with the Tacx).  

So, 30 days in after roughly a 4 year gap from our last structured bike training, and I participated in the February Zwift Grand Fondo.

I'm a sucker for the kit unlock, I guess. The new jersey looks really good on my virtual self.

Just the essentials.  Historically I've had good luck with Hammer, and the preparation is part of the ritual.

These notes are more for me - I'm a nobody, noobie with low watts/kg.

• I chose the shortest route - Bambino Fondo (51k).  I'll be honest, 50k+ felt pretty long (my longest Zwift ride to date).  Was also odd because the ~32mi distance was a typical Saturday morning ride for me not that long ago.
• My training thus far (other than a ramp test and a single workout session) has been simply "get time in the saddle," have fun, and see what Zwift has to offer.  This means a lot of rides of 20-45 minute duration, and a mix of routes (although favoring flat routes).  
• Prior to this, my longest ride was an Out and Back Again last weekend.
• I used Zwift Insider to research the route; I vaguely knew what I was getting into, though the Jungle Loop was all new to me. 
• Based on prior experience, I sort of threw the Hammer catalog at my nutrition. This was mostly as a precaution (I didn't want to bonk) but also for the familiar ritual of it all.
• From experimentation, I know that I need about 20oz of water/hr
• HEED and I get along very well.
• Anything much over 2 hrs and I add Perpetuuem as insurance
• So specifically, I had 2x22oz bottles of Mandarin Orange HEED and 1x24oz bottle of Perpetuuem Orange Vanilla.  I mixed the Perpetuuem pretty light (just one scoop) as I truly didn't think I needed the calories.  I had 2xRip Van Waffles (which I ate) and a partial bag of GORPM (Good old Raisins, Peanuts, and M&Ms) that I didn't need.

This was my first 'official' event.  I was caught off guard at the start and slid quickly to the tail end of the pack of 750 riders (I was spinning as the counter wound down, but apparently not spinning hard enough!).  

The results.  Nothing to brag about other than "Finish is better than DNF is better than did not try."

Ride notes vaguely in consecutive order:

Beginning:  I set out for consistency and tried to keep my HR under control.  I know that my speed is nothing to brag about, but I did find a nice group to draft with for most of the Flat route.  This really helped seal the "community" aspect of the ride.  The first laps around the main island of Watopia were uneventful and things were going very well with many other riders around me.  

Middle:  The climb up to the Jungle Loop was frustratingly long, and I let myself get into my own head at this point.  I chose to swap to the Mtn bike at the dirt section, but didn't know exactly where the transition point should be; I went a little early and that cost me some time.  The downhill part of the Jungle Loop was insanely fun and a good bump for my morale, but the climb back out was brutal. Here is where I really started feeling my saddle.  I also found during a quick bathroom break that my Garmin HRM will de-sync if I get too far away from the setup, so my HRM was frozen and alternated 137/--/137/-- until I stopped to swap back to my road bike.  This was a distraction and frustration point during the climb, though I'm confident I managed HR by 'feel' pretty adequately.  With my backside complaining, I stopped for a quick break and swapped back to the road bike - again, too early - and cost more time.

End:  The transition over to the Volcano was easy peasy, other than my legs were more than tired and my watts were down.  I was very much in "let's just finish this and go have 2nd breakfast" mode.  At this point there was some banter in world chat that made me smile.  I didn't have any music playing all this time, so I fired up some Black Keys and sang along as I spun my way to the top of the volcano.

In the HR / Legs / Nutrition triad, usually one is a limiting factor. One of these things typically blows up.  This ride it was the Legs.  I managed by HR and no complaints (as expected) from the Hammer.

Afterwork:  I swapped from the old Specialized saddle that I installed on the Surly when I bought it, and stole the Selle SMP Plus from the Bianchi.  Shorter ride today in NYC suggests it'll improve the comfort factor.  I also repointed Fan #2 towards my face vs. my torso.