When I looked at Stage 6 of the Tour de Zwift I was taken aback. Group B’s route was the Watopia Climber’s Gambit which I have avoided because of the 2200 feet of climbing. This is a brute of a stage. I looked at the Group C route, Watopia’s Waistband, which was about the same distance but only 331 feet of climbing. I rode Watopia’s Waistband 2 days ago and didn’t want to ride it again so soon. I clicked the Group B checkbox for the 12:02 PM start time and held my breath. I’ve rode farther than 17.4 miles but I’ve never climbed anywhere near 2200 feet in a ride. To help build my determination I read the description at ZwiftInsider.com but I’m not sure it helped much. Last night I put Silca Super Secret on my Blue Norcross bike chain (what I use for Zwift) and wondered if that would reduce the friction as I crawled up the Epic KOM.

At the start 584 Zwifters were in the Group B start pen. In the chat I said my goal was to just finish the stage. I did that coming in the 303rd position out of 317 Group B Zwifters. Everyone doesn’t have a ZwiftPower.com profile. There were 343 in Group A, 736 in Group C, and 25 in Group D. Apparently the less climbing in Group C attracted the biggest crowd.

ZwiftInsider.com didn’t list when the Epic KOM began but I guessed around 3 to 4 miles from the finish. As I rode I hoped the earlier climbs ate into the 2200 of climbing. It did but at the bottom of the KOM there was about 1200 feet left. It was a slow climb with inclines of 10% and above. There were a few false flats but they weren’t long enough to make a dent in the distance to the finish. Watching the profile in the box in the upper right of the screen I couldn’t see me moving but eventually I crossed the finish at 504 out 587 (some late joining I guess).

I notched two accomplishments: riding Stage 6 and the Climber’s Gambit route badge. Strava said the effort was massive.

The SportTracks ride overview shows when the road went up my speed went way down. Most of the climb my speed was 4 to 6 mph. I sped up a little when I got out of the saddle (thank you Wahoo Kickr Core stability).