I made a choice today on where to ride. The options were to wait longer to let the streets dry some and the temperature get above 60 or ride Stage 7 of the Tour de Zwift. I chose Stage 7 starting at 11:01 AM. The TdZ is for a limited time and missing some biking days coming up I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to put stage 7 in the books. Hopefully when stage 8 comes in several days I’ll be able to ride for the TdZ kit.

Music during the ride was from Lauren Daigle Radio on Pandora.

Stage 7 was on the Makuri Islands Castle to Castle route. The description showed 14.4 miles and 462 feet of climbing. I rode 14.49 miles and 463 feet of climbing. As you can see in the map below there was a big climb and a few bumps in the road. A short section went on dirt or gravel. ZwiftInsider.com says, “Released in Zwift’s January 2022 update, Castle to Castle draws its name from the two castles you’ll pass along the way – first the castle area in Yumezi, then the imperial palace in the Neokyo’s Castle Park.” The stage title in Zwift, “TdZ Stage 7: Escalator”. I watch the climbing progress as much as the distance count down. It helps knowing when the climbing is almost over.

I rode Group B. At the end there around 1614 nearby Zwifters. I rode in the 1380 to 1390 range most of the ride. Early I was lower but I seem to settle in about 200 or so from the back. Looking at the ZwiftPower.com results I was 794 out of 864 Group B riders. 1138 riders filled Group A, 291 in Group C, and 77 Group D (women only). For a change I wasn’t on the last page of the group rankings. I don’t think ZwiftPower.com includes all riders participating, only those with a profile.

Some of the roads today were part of the route I rode yesterday. I recognized portions and the scenery.

Since this was the first time on this route I earned 2 top results in Strava: PR on Tower Sprint (34s) and PR on Alley Sprint Reverse (36s). I show the RWGPS map because the climb is more dramatic and the little climbs show better than the Strava map.