GENERAL: It's all about the challenge
If one thing good has come out of this lockdown it's the amount of cycling I've managed to squeeze in.
By cycling I mean time on the bike; actual miles out on the road haven't been non-existent this April but they've only play a small part of this month's overall totals. Virtual riding on Zwift has definitely been my best friend, even though some days I've not wanted anything to go with it.
I'm a sucker for signing up to the three main Strava cycling challenges that run each and every month; the distance challenge, climbing challenge, and the gran fondo challenge. The first one (distance) is ridiculous and I think I only sign up out of force of habit.... this month is probably the closest I've come to completing it and I'm still 300km short! After all, 1,250kms is A LOT of cycling however you intend to do it - It's a dozen gran fondos for God's sake! With working from home, kids to deal with and with general family life to get on with, it ain't never going to happen so chapeau to this who push through and bag the medal.
The gran fondo challenge is one I aim to do every month. I generally always miss bagging one in February because of work commitments, but for the rest of the year, that's a nice thing to have as a regular goal because it's the kind of distance that gets your body up-to-speed for sportives and other bigger rides. I ride with a great group on Sundays and even if they're not fancying a full 100km, I can do a few laps of the local lanes before meeting them and I generally reach the target. Plus, there are a few of us in our group who do it so there's a slight bit of competition to see who can bag the first, the most or the longest one. Of course, under lockdown rules, I've been doing it solo, which I don't mind but brings with it its own challenges in the form of motivation.
The climbing challenge is one I'm less acquainted with, although just writing this blog and looking back through my virtual trophy cabinet, I'm surprised at how many I've managed to accrue in the last year or so; April 2019 was a surprise but I think that was down to pent-up frustration because of missing out due to work, and May, June and August all coincided with either big sportives (like Dragon Ride), or a mountainous holiday (I went to Provence and the Alps this year) where the bike came along.
This month's trophy however kind of came from nowhere. I've managed a few big rides on Sundays despite lockdown, and in-between I've managed to have enough motivation to use Zwift. It's been a revelation actually; I was not down with the whole virtual riding thing, preferring to just spin on a turbo trainer but only when absolutely necessary, whilst watching the TV or something on Youtube. However, I got things hooked up because I knew lockdown would mean less on-road time, bought myself a 3-month membership and it's been really surprising at how I've grown to like it. The first few rides I went easy, did flat routes and just got familiar with how it works. But carrots were dangled; the idea of accessing Alpe Du Zwift was very appealing and as soon as I opened that up I was away.... and loving it!
The prospect of going up hills is one I like (hence the name of this blog) and although there is debate about whether virtual climbing counts the same as actual climbing, if Strava is accepting the metres climbed then I'm all over it. Add in things like the accumulative Everest challenge (not to be confused with Everesting) to unlock a new bike and in-game upgrades, and the whole Zwift thing has run away with me; a double Alpe Du Zwift session, purposely choosing the hilliest routes on whatever map I landed on, climbing sessions before breakfast! I even got to the point where I was so desperate to hit 18,000 metres for the month I forfeited my working-from-home lunchbreak so I could do 45 minutes up ADZ to get over the line!
I'll probably write something about Zwift soon but my takeaway from my first month or so of using it is this:
By cycling I mean time on the bike; actual miles out on the road haven't been non-existent this April but they've only play a small part of this month's overall totals. Virtual riding on Zwift has definitely been my best friend, even though some days I've not wanted anything to go with it.
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| There are numerous challenges each month on Strava to entice and motivate us cyclists. |
I'm a sucker for signing up to the three main Strava cycling challenges that run each and every month; the distance challenge, climbing challenge, and the gran fondo challenge. The first one (distance) is ridiculous and I think I only sign up out of force of habit.... this month is probably the closest I've come to completing it and I'm still 300km short! After all, 1,250kms is A LOT of cycling however you intend to do it - It's a dozen gran fondos for God's sake! With working from home, kids to deal with and with general family life to get on with, it ain't never going to happen so chapeau to this who push through and bag the medal.
The gran fondo challenge is one I aim to do every month. I generally always miss bagging one in February because of work commitments, but for the rest of the year, that's a nice thing to have as a regular goal because it's the kind of distance that gets your body up-to-speed for sportives and other bigger rides. I ride with a great group on Sundays and even if they're not fancying a full 100km, I can do a few laps of the local lanes before meeting them and I generally reach the target. Plus, there are a few of us in our group who do it so there's a slight bit of competition to see who can bag the first, the most or the longest one. Of course, under lockdown rules, I've been doing it solo, which I don't mind but brings with it its own challenges in the form of motivation.
 |
| Sneaking the bike away on family holidays to France has helped me grab a few Strava trophies in the past. |
The climbing challenge is one I'm less acquainted with, although just writing this blog and looking back through my virtual trophy cabinet, I'm surprised at how many I've managed to accrue in the last year or so; April 2019 was a surprise but I think that was down to pent-up frustration because of missing out due to work, and May, June and August all coincided with either big sportives (like Dragon Ride), or a mountainous holiday (I went to Provence and the Alps this year) where the bike came along.
This month's trophy however kind of came from nowhere. I've managed a few big rides on Sundays despite lockdown, and in-between I've managed to have enough motivation to use Zwift. It's been a revelation actually; I was not down with the whole virtual riding thing, preferring to just spin on a turbo trainer but only when absolutely necessary, whilst watching the TV or something on Youtube. However, I got things hooked up because I knew lockdown would mean less on-road time, bought myself a 3-month membership and it's been really surprising at how I've grown to like it. The first few rides I went easy, did flat routes and just got familiar with how it works. But carrots were dangled; the idea of accessing Alpe Du Zwift was very appealing and as soon as I opened that up I was away.... and loving it!
 |
| Happy with that as a final total... plus, bragging rights for once - I topped a table of the people I follow!! |
I'll probably write something about Zwift soon but my takeaway from my first month or so of using it is this:
- It's like riding a bike but not like riding a bike - the inability to freewheel means you're constantly on it, so the 'training' element of cycling is much more prominent. That's good for fitness.
- I feel less fatigued on big efforts; climbing 3000-4000ft in one go is more rhythmic than trying to do the same gain on a Sunday ride, but that's probably because we don't have big constant gradients where I live so it's stop-start cycling doing it in real life.
- In-game incentives are good 9and everywhere); closing gaps, rounding off elevation to the nearest 100ft, doing a 10-mile lap in under 30 minutes... they all help to stay motivated
- It's set up and ready to go at any time; no faffing with choosing what to wear and you can do a 10-minute spin in normal clothes. It's very handy.
I'm now thinking that with lockdown looking like it's around in one form or another for some time yet, May could be an opportunity to try and better myself. Maybe the mileage won't happen but climbing-wise I'm hopeful that I can at least match April's tally and why not? It would be easy to just hang the bib shorts up, drink beer and be a bit lazy but now I've got a taste for it, I'm actually hooked on Zwift. Now there's something I never thought I'd hear myself say...
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