..and today I’m pooped!!
It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for some time, and with the Dragon ride coming up in 4 weeks, wanted to push some longer miles on the bike. I HAD planned to ride a 200 mile IRL loop, but the weather was so shocking when I got up at 5am, that I had a quick switcheroo of ideas and though it’s tackle the ‘Pretzel day’!
Rather frustratingly, I see that Zwift has ALSO created the London and Makuri pretzels…FFS… but my focus was just on the OGs; the pretzel, mega pretzel, and Uber pretzel!
SO I hopped on the turbo at about 6am, and bar pee stops, snack breaks, and to fill up the litres and litres of fluid i took on board, I didn’t stop till about 1845!!
Essentially I just kept my legs turning for hours and hours, with the aim to never really push myself into fatigue at any point - it’s a marathon not a sprint!
Kept the HR at about 130, and power between 150-200 watts, every now and then standing up to push about 300w to keep momentum up climbs…
I treated it like a long IRL ride, rather that workout session or race i.e was fine getting off at random points to pee and eat etc.. my OH came over for a bit, and I stretched and chatted for 10 or so min.
I ate LOADS whilst in the saddle, and stopped for a sit down lunch about 1300. I’d finished the Pretzel and Mega Pretzel before lunch, so it felt like a good time to stop.
After lunch, when attacking the Uber, i just looked at the elevation profile and TBH bar the alpe at the end, it actually seemed easier than the Mega pretzel! Only the Epic KOM with radio tower to once, then pretty plain sailing..just miles of undulations!
I did swap the bike to a MTB on the jungle sections - hey..gotta do what you gotta do!
Once I’d got to the top of the Alpe and completed all 3 routes, I carried on and rolled back down - that extra 12km of descent pushed me over the 320km mark..the fateful 200miles I’d been looking for!!
Celebrated with a few ciders and an evening sat on the sofa!
I actually GAINED about 2kg over the course of the day - likely all the fluid I’d taken on..it was weird because in the last 4 hours I kinda stopped sweating, and was getting a bit warm. Not sure why - will look into that.. SO i kept drinking.
Anyway - I’m 2.5kg LIGHTER than i was going to bed last night. I feel sorry for my sweaty sheets!!!
All in - it was a fun challenge, and am pleased to have pushed myself to do it!
Aaaand relax!
DrP
Ruddy bloody impressive!!
a physical and mental challenge for sure. Kudos has been distributed.
Impressive but, what the hell did you do to stop the boredom?
Applauds. I think I've managed 4 or 5 hours at most in one go on Zwift.
Looking forward to hearing that you've started prescribing the same for your patients 😂
Good lord, that's some serious mental fortitude!
I'd never used Zwift till about 8 weeks ago after breaking my wrist. The most I've managed is about 1hr40 and that's with watching a film. It's sooooooo boring and I can't wait to be allowed back out on the bike.
I’m so glad I’ve cancelled Zwift, this thread just reaffirms that decision.
Impressive but, what the hell did you do to stop the boredom?
Who says I got bored! 😂😂
I've an odd ability to just switch my focus to the task in hand... And commit to that!
I actually am able to enjoy these odd endurance events... If the top priority is the completion of the tasks then everything else falls to the wayside!
I’m so glad I’ve cancelled Zwift, this thread just reaffirms that decision.
Cool story 😂😂😜
DrP
Love this!
[Homer]
Mmmmm pretzels!
[/Homer]
Not something I'd choose to do, but that's a fair old time in the saddle.
Wow!
I did a century ride on Tacx yesterday and that was 4.5 hours. No way I could have sat on that saddle any longer!
Hmmm, have also got the dragon ride in 4 weeks and my training looks nothing like that 🤣 😱 .
Definitely need to get some more miles in, time is not on my side though.
That’s an insane amount of time on Zwift - the mental focus to manage to do that isn’t something I’ve got. Did a 35 min Zwift race yesterday and enjoy that sort of thing up to about an hour. Much longer than that and if it’s a race I run out of go / anything other then a race I get bored!
Fair play though - that should do your Dragon sportive fitness no harm at all. I’m mostly mtb foxused but one day I keep thinking I should do that dragon sportive.
Never used Zwift (or anything similar) and likely never will.
Why though, whenever I see a Zwift ride come up on a Strava that I follow (and on the screenshot up there), is half of it in the sea?
you mad b'stard 😀
I've done an old money century on Zwift before and that was a killer. hat
Never used Zwift (or anything similar) and likely never will.
Why though, whenever I see a Zwift ride come up on a Strava that I follow (and on the screenshot up there), is half of it in the sea?
They had to pick a real world location for their initial virtual world so it would show on platforms like Strava and chose a small island - one of the Solomon Islands.
Good stats, DrP.
I have still not completed all of the routes on Zwift, am an not sure whether I've even done a single pretzel 😁
I think the most I have done on Zwift in a sitting is around 3 hours. That's fine if you set yourself up mentally for it and have some options to keep you occupied.
The thing I struggle with on Zwift is arse pain/numbness. Maybe a rocker plate would help, but I find it is much less comfortable than actual riding.
Nice work DrP. I did the PRL full route a few years ago on Zwift. It basically put me off doing any of the longer routes. I can't imagine doing a bunch of them one after the other. That's got to test the arse grease!
Cheers all!
I found this event probably harder than my vEverest i did about 4-5 years ago TBH.. this felt a lot more tiring! At least with the vEverest it was an hour of work, followed by 12 min of descending!! Plus that was only 10.5 hours!
The thing I struggle with on Zwift is arse pain/numbness. Maybe a rocker plate would help, but I find it is much less comfortable than actual riding.
My Neo 2t has a natural few degrees of sway, and i was frequently getting out the saddle and just grinding 50 rpm, just to change position!
DrP
I have to second the 'I'm glad I cancelled my subscription', I'd much rather have ridden 20 miles outdoors yesterday than do that but each to their own. I appreciate the reminder of why I stopped and the appreciation for my work from home job that when the weather is decent I can just nip out for an hour instead of working out where to ride when it's grim!
My Neo 2t has a natural few degrees of sway
I've been pleased with how much better I feel after Zwift on a rocker plate. Especially in the wrists and arse. I'm not doing anything like the times and distance you've done here, but still a big improvement over no side to side movement.
Do you use the Climb too?