With the worst winter storm since 1989 outdoor biking is not an option for me, a converted northerner. Yesterday I skipped Zwifting and watched four bike race replays on GCN+. This morning I woke to snow covering my yard, front and back so no outside biking today either. The temperature is 22 degrees as I write this, 15 when I got up. Looking at Zwift for an event to warm me up I chose the SZR Evening Joyride Group D for 2 laps on the Watopia Tick Tock route. I rode for 1:05:07 covering 22.88 miles (the advertised distance was 22.4 miles) and 367 feet of climbing. Once I warmed up no more chills until I finished.

According to ZwiftInsider.com, ““Tick Tock” is a clockwise loop covering Fuego Flats and portions of the Ocean Boulevard tube. Released as part of Zwift’s Fuego Flats desert expansion, this route is flatter than Watopia Flat or Volcano Flat, with the only pitchy bits being in and out of Fuego Flats, and in and out of the ocean tunnel.” The climbing was spread out enough to not be an issue for this flatlander.

For lap 1 I stayed with the large group up front ahead of the fence. Somehow on lap 2 almost everyone behind me, including the leader and sweeper, leapfrogged ahead and I rode with two other Zwifters to the finish. I averaged 21 mph for the ride, I wish I did that on the road. I tried to stay with other riders to benefit from the draft. On the last climb out of the underwater tunnel I used a feather powerup to ease up the power and get ahead of two other riders. One of them caught and passed me before we crossed the finish line. From Golden Cheetah a summary of the bike ride data. I was surprised by the power zone breakdown with only 13% of the ride time in zones 1 and 2.

I used a USB extension cable to move the ANT+ dongle closer to the bike and had no drop outs today on any sensor.

A recap of last weeks bike rides. Monday and Tuesday I rode outside. Wednesday through Saturday was Zwifting. I am 54 miles ahead of where I was last year as of today, even after skipping yesterday. So far in February I am at 325.32 miles, 175 miles short of my goal.