Reading the route description I expected 2,261 feet of climbing over the 20.7 miles. As the ride progressed I wondered how it could cram the remaining climbing into 4 or 5 miles. I saw a message from another Zwifter commenting about the climbing but not saying how much they did. Relief came in the last mile with only 1,052 feet instead of the original 2,261 feet. The higher number would have been hard for this flatlander.

Most of the event I was around position 800 out of 880 riders but that improved some by the end. I looked the event results up on ZwiftPower.com. I didn’t try to race, just complete for the badge. Of the riders registered on ZwiftPower.com I came in at 471.

On most of the climbs of 7% or more I stood up pedaling. My Wahoo Kickr Snap was pretty stable when I stood up. One change I made recently was to replace the soft Wahoo floor mat resting on the carpet with 2 rigid floor mats. This seems to make pedaling standing up more stable on the carpet.

During the ride I listened to SirusXM Seventies on 7 with Casey Kasem counting down the top 40 from 12/20/1970. Brought back some memories. I was 23 at the time.

From ZwiftInsider.com the route description reads, “Introduced in Zwift’s November 2021 update, Temples and Towers is the biggest Makuri Islands route, both in elevation and distance. It takes you up all three KOMs: Rooftop, Castle, and Temple.” I should’ve checked the route description there rather than relying on the one in the event. The elevation gain says 919 feet, slightly less than my 1,052 feet.

My results according to Strava.