ericy

Alpe du Zwift is live! An update came down earlier this evening - I did the world switching hack to get to Watopia, and it is there.

Now for the bad news - you need to be level 12 to do it, and I am only 11. So I guess I have to ride more junk miles before I can do the thing.

Turzy

Is it the one named The Four Horsemen ?

copperfind

Four Horsemen includes Alp D Zwift but is that on top of the old Three Sisters so roughly around 6000 ft of climbing... Fire and Ice starts around volcano and ends with Alp D Zwift and Road to Sky starts at normal Watopia spawn and goes to Alp D Zwift... You could also do the Jungle Circuit which I believe starts just after you enter the Level 10 area in route to Jungle Circuit if you want to get there sooner, but you would have to remember to take the turn towards the Alp D Zwift.

Beachgrad05

Oh goody I'm level 13 and can ride it. I can't wait.

ericy

Keep in mind that you don't need to do the whole thing. The hairpins are numbered, and you can set out for a specific point and then turn around. Once I get in, that would probably be my plan.

Remember that U-turns require that you be going above 3mph/5kph - on a 10% grade it can be a bit of work to get going that fast, especially if your legs are turning to rubber.

ill.clyde

Next two weeks are supposed to still be in the 30s and 40s around here ... which displeases me.

Someday when I have a couple of hours I'll do the Alpe ... because at my pace, that's what it'll take.

ericy

This winter doesnt' seem to want to let go. We will have a high of 60, but that's at 5PM and I need to be getting ready for dinner then. At 8AM when I would rather be riding, it will still be in the 30s. So Zwift something or another tomorrow is probably in the cards.

Sometimes I watch youtube videos of others doing climbing - mainly to see what they are doing differently. I see heart rates that are up there, just like mine, but at the end of the day it seems like they have FTP in the 200's where I am still in the mid 100s. That coupled together with the extra kg are what make my climbing so incredibly slow.

copperfind

Did Road to the Sky tonight... Cheated and dropped my weight a bit and only had the trainer at about 60% it was tough but not horrible... Except the calf cramps at the last section just a few hundred meters from the finish which really sucked... Did radio tower the same way first time, lower weight and trainer turned down bit of a psychological game I guess gives me the confidence to go all out next time... Nothing worse than failing on first attempt.

copperfind

Spin to win or in this case Spin to stay alive while climbing... Find your sweet spot and stay with it my Alp Du Zwift tonight I was grooved at 90-93 RPM stayed with that the entire way and except for adjusting my fan and grabbing my phone I did not have to stop or rest just spun. Legs do not get as warn out, work on sustained spinning as you progress try and maintain your sweet spot RPM and go one gear harder and work on maintaining that at pace the more you do it the better you get the easier it is. Most of all have fun.

ericy

I did radio tower today - my real aim was to get the 63mph/100kph achievement (worth 1000xp). I had to turn down the trainer difficulty as I was in my lowest gear and still wanted to shift down again. But when the grade is 14%, I didn't have any other good options (other than get a climbing cassette). Didn't change my weight however . You can see the Alpe du Zwift from the radio tower, but the peak seems to be perpetually covered by clouds.

I was surprised how hard I had to work to get the 100kph thing - I figured my weight would work to my advantage, and I guess it did to a degree. Even with the aero boost, I had to really pedal hard. I am tied for 6th overall (with about 250 other people) in the radio tower descent . According to Strava I hit 69.1mph .

All in all I did about 650m of climbing, and I am now about halfway through level 11.

copperfind

Well I may do ADZ again today if you want to go take a look... Can join on me... If I do it, it would be around 7pm eastern time. I am riding 11-28T 9 speed... I have a 11-32T I have to tryout and see if I can get it to work.

ericy

Thanks for the offer, but we have dinner guests tonight, and a flight to catch tomorrow.

Besides, my legs are *quite* tired right now.

ill.clyde

Did the first stage of the Tour of Watopia today ... which was my first trip up the mountain (not AdZ, but the original). The Radio Tower was not part of it. Was riding with a group and chatting on Discord which made it much more enjoyable and manageable. I was toast by the end, but feel good that I accomplished it. Next stage is Road to Ruins, which I've done before and it's not terrible.

One of the stages includes the AdZ (I think more than one actually), so I'll do it eventually. Weather is back into the 30s and 40s for the next couple of weeks, so apparently I'm not done Zwifting yet

TrojanHorse

Welp, knocked off stage 1 today because I covet the kit (wtf? Did I just type that?)

Stage 2 should be a piece of cake but I noticed they have a couple doozies in the lineup, including the pretzel. 72 km will be painful, sez I.

I have to admit, it's fun riding with fake people in fake lands with no cars.

ill.clyde

Stage 2 done ... I don't covet the kit, but doing all the stages will push me way out of my comfort zone. Helps to be riding with a group. Even though it was just five of us this morning, it helps to suffer together (even though RtR isn't that bad).

TrojanHorse

5? Good grief, we had 417 lsat night for stage 1. My legs are still feeling pretty tired so I'm not sure how stage two is going to go. I think I'll tackle the one in 20 min but yes, RTR is pretty manageable. Some of the future routes look daunting. 70+k on a trainer? Ouch.

TrojanHorse

I was not mistaken, legs were tired. Two down, 5 to go!

I'd pay cash money for that jersey if they sold them for real. I think it's cool.

ill.clyde

Apologies ... 5 in our little groupetto that waited til the flyers took off en masse and than grouped up to ride together. I think there were close to 600 in total on that ride.

TrojanHorse

Ah, now that makes sense. It is kind of funny how you end up lumped with the same riders for long stretches. We had over 1,000 for stage 2 on Tuesday.

Oddly enough, as a slow climbing clyde, it's not the uphills that cause me to lose sight of everybody, it's the DOWN hills. I suspect downhills are easier on dumb trainers. I find it hard to motivate myself to keep the power levels up on a down hill (on a wahoo kickr)

ericy

I have a kickr as well, but I find uphill far harder - it just seems like a grind that goes on and on. The other day I did the radio tower and put out a 15 second burst at around 600 watts, and went into a tuck once I hit 63mph - I was rewarded with something like a tie for 6th overall in Strava on the 65mph segment. For whatever reason, I can find power in my legs for that kind of thing after a long climb.

TrojanHorse

I shouldn't say easier but relative to the rest of the group, I find it "easier" to get spat out the back on a down hill, which obviously makes no sense.

ill.clyde

I had a ride sweep once bark at me to stop pedaling downhill because I was out of the aero tuck ... I didn't reply, but my thoughts were, "STFU you skinny jag, there's nothing aero about me."

TrojanHorse

Too bad there's no "bird" hotkey in zwift.

ericy

There is a subtlety to this however that lots of people might not be aware of. When you are descending and your speed is high enough, if you stop pedaling, your avatar goes into an aerodynamic tuck to further reduce wind drag, and your speed can actually increase. Plus it gives your legs a brief rest.

https://zwiftinsider.com/supertuck/

ill.clyde

True ... that said, I don't like to just stop pedaling altogether when descending. I try to keep them moving, even if soft pedaling, so they don't get stiff basically.