The ride report: 17-01-2021
As with all group rides since September 2020 once again we used zwift to virtually assemble, this time in their version of France for the Petite Boucle. 66 Km and 484 metres so not too strenuous.
A fine turnout with 8 on Zwift with 6 of us on the discord app meant it was as social a ride as we could do. Zwifts clever ‘group ride’ algorithms meant all we had to do is keep pedaling to stay together, regardless of the terrain. Two or three mentions of a Greggs stop meant Nic could keep his Jaffa cake intake at the appropriate level and all was well with the world, despite an actual stop not being necessary, it’s not that long a ride.
Said Zwift algorithm had a bit of a moment with @20km to go and 6 of us went up a 5-6% incline for a few hundred metres at a rate that would have left Ineos Grenadiers floundering in our wake, however it corrected itself and we went down the other side slower than we went up. Still for a heavyweight like me going upfill at 46kph felt good, even if it wasn’t real.
The discord then came into its own as we were able to work out where the other 2 riders were and with soft pedaling and the group algorithm reasserting proper control we were fully reassembled before the finishing line.
We should keep discord going for the real rides, if any separation occurs it could be useful, and allow separate groups to keep in touch. Thanks to Nathan we know it works out in the real world.
Thanks to Nic for organizing it again. Hopefully back next week for another one.
John C.
