Stage 5 of the Tour de Zwift opened today. I signed up for the Group B ride starting at 12:02 PM. The route was the New York Knickerbocker Reverse. I rode part of the New York Knickerbocker route once before back on February 6, 2022, biking 6.2 miles. Today I rode 1 lap, 14.32 miles climbing 1204 feet. The official description said 14.1 miles and 1197 feet of climbing. I rode a couple of 10th’s of a mile after crossing the finish line.

Another loss of connection a minute or two after the start. I used the companion app to connect to my Wahoo Kickr Core trainer and heart rate monitor. The connection looked good. I even restarted my phone before the ride to see if that would help. It didn’t. I went to the pairing page and switched to my desktop computer. It took 30 to 40 seconds to get connected and then back to the event. Of course, everyone was long gone except for a few stragglers like me. The “nearby Zwifters” showed 1354 and I was around 1325. As I picked up speed I passed a few and moved below 1300 and settled into the 1280’s. By the finish I improved to about 1270. Next Zwift ride I will use the desktop computer connection skipping the companion app. I have no idea why the app connects and while I pedal waiting for the ride to start works and then looses the connection.

The route was either up or down with flat sections very short if they existed at all. The description at ZwiftInsider.com showed the average gradient was 5.7% but I rode 15% in several places and I was out of the saddle numerous times as you can see in the video. I’m surprised I averaged 14.5 mph overall with the steep climbs and my very slow ascent. Climbing the KOM seemedto take a very long time even though it was only 7:28. I managed to set my second fastest Strava time on that KOM. Strava medals: PR on Three Sisters – Fulgaz (5:51), 2nd fastest time on NYC KOM Reverse (7:28), and 2nd fastest time on Harlem Hill Climb (3:23).

Results from ZwiftPower.com for Group B put me at 746 out of 762. Group A showed 973, Group C 619, and Group D 44. Zwifters showed 28,588 when I opened the companion app to sign in and 26, 259 when I finished the ride.