Going up the mountain for the initial 7.5 miles of today’s 20.08 mile Zwifting included no running from me, just slow pedaling as I ground out the climbs. The profile looked like this.

Notice the high point in the route profile? That included climbs of 17% which a flat lander like never climbs. The Blue Norcross AL cyclocross bike gets carried up terrain like that. A couple of times one of the Herd’s Sweeps gave me encouragement messages as we slogged up the climb. I rode The Herd’s Bull Runs before but none contained climbs like this. I set 3 Personal Records but they were not on the climbs.

My Wahoo Kickr Snap smart trainer recognized every climb making me pedal hard and slow up the inclines even as I shifted to the lowest gears the Blue Norcross AL bike had. I wondered if I would be able to stay on the bike all the way to the top. I passed a few bikers stopped on the side of the road. Zwift’s scenery moved us up through the tree line and into snow to the top where a radio tower marked the turnaround for the ride down.

The ride down didn’t always go down with short climbs thrown in to break up the descent and test the tired legs. I thought the last 4 or 5 miles took longer than it should for the 14 to 15 mph I pedaled. Finally after riding for 1:36:52 I reached the end and got off the bike. This was a real WORKOUT! I finished 82nd out of 299 bikers.