Centuries: 8, Tan: 0
The Akron Bicycle Club’s Absolutely Beautiful Country ride is the first major ride of 2020 that was neither cancelled, postponed, or virtualized. They asked people to register (for free) and supplied cue sheets, but provided no formal ride time, no route markings, no support vehicles, and no water stops. Basically, it was a completely unsupported ride along a published route, kind of like a brevet.
Although I’ve enjoyed riding it for the past three years, there was no way I was going to drive two hours to Akron and two hours back just to do an unsupported century, when 40 miles is the longest unsupported outdoor ride I’ve done at home (mostly due to concerns about stopping at convenience stores to refuel). In the middle of a global pandemic, it’s just not worth the added risk.
So despite there being a nominal ride, I was still going to mimic the route indoors on Zwift. As has become routine, I consulted my Zenturizer to find a course that matched last year’s ABC ride in distance and climbing.
Thankfully Pittsburgh’s longest heat wave in 25 years-eight days above 90°-broke on Saturday, when I warmed up with the 29-mile second stage of Zwift’s Etape du Tour, which was also my first look at the brand new France environment they just released.
Then Sunday morning I set out on 4.3 laps of Zwift’s Watopia Out & Back course. Each lap begins with a nice flat section in the desert, then up the reasonably challenging Volcano Climb, and back to the start via the Hill KoM Reverse.
Right from the start, I set myself an easy pace, about 150W normalized power. I spent the first three hours chatting on Discord with some fellow Herd members who were already halfway through their own century attempt.
Once they finished and signed off, the second half of my ride became more challenging. Ascending the Volcano four times was more climbing than I remember doing in the Akron ride, and my self-indulgent pace meant the ride dragged on long than necessary (though still much faster than the IRL ride due to traffic and rest stops).
Toward the end, I started incurring the usual fatigue, aches, and pains. Knowing I needed a little more climbing to reach my target, I made a short excursion into the rollers in Titans Grove, then finished off my eighth Zentury of 2020, with a spot-on 106 miles, and 33 feet more than the necessary 4,593 feet of climbing.
One of the strangest things is coming home from a century with no sensations of sun exposure. Stranger still is having eight centuries under my belt, but pretty much no tan whatsoever. As the subject line says: centuries 8, tan: 0! I need to continue-and perhaps increase-the few short outdoor rides I started doing in June, when 25% of my miles were done outside.
Beyond the pseudo ABC ride, there have been a few noteworthy developments in the past couple weeks.
I’ve already mentioned Zwift’s Etape event and new France map, which includes the iconic Mont Ventoux climb as well as nine new route badges to secure.
And our eight-day heat wave that really sapped my strength, and which will resume again on Wednesday.
Also my two year old Wahoo HRM strap broke, so I replaced it with a second-generation TICKR. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been working very well, and I’m considering swapping it out yet again.
Shimano released a 25th anniversary edition of their cycling sandals, my preferred footwear. I’ve put 60,000 miles on them, including 150-mile days, and couldn’t be happier with them, even despite the stupid tan lines they give you! I’ll try to add another pair to my collection.
And no report would be complete without mentioning my Pan-Mass Challenge fundraising. I’m currently at $1,725 for the year, which qualifies me for the official ride jersey, so you’ll see me sporting that very soon. I’m just $53 short of reaching $113,000 lifetime fundraising for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Jimmy Fund, a cause I believe in wholeheartedly. If you’d like to help out, please make a donation on my PMC profile page.