More chilly weather, by my definition, so after church today it was another Zwift ride. Before getting on my Blue Norcross AL bike attached to the Wahoo Kickr Core trainer i watched replays of the Cholet – Pays de la Loire and Trofeo Alfredo Binda races. The first was men and the second were women. While watching I tried to decide which Zwift route to ride. I couldn’t make up my mind and the upcoming events didn’t help.

Scrolling through the Watopia routes I landed on the Serpentine 8. Checking SportTracks I found the last time I rode it was January 21, 2022. That was too far back for to remember anything about the but it was part of the tour de Zwift. The route is 16.4 miles long and climbs 778 feet. When I wrote the YouTube live stream description I said I may make some turns taking me off the route. I did that so the only part of this ride that relates to Serpentine 8 is the starting spot.

Around 1 mile into the ride I made a turn to leave the Serpentine 8 course turning left on Jungle Reverse. From there I think I rode roads several times and couldn’t escape the loop until later in the ride. The turns I made:

• 2.5 miles Mayan Loop Reverse straight
• 3.6 miles Mayan Loop Reverse to the right
• 4.7 miles Reverse Jungle straight
• 6.3 miles right on some road
• 7.4 miles Mayan Loop left turn
• 7.8 miles Jungle Loop straight
• 9.6 miles Mayan Loop straight
• 11.1 miles Epic KOM right turn
• 12.9 miles left to the Italian Villas
• 14.1 miles another left to Italian Villas
• 15.3 miles 360 Bridge straight
• 15.6 miles left to Italian Villas/Sprint
• 15.7 miles right turn to Sprint
• and the ride ended at 16.51 miles

Below are maps of the January 21, 2022 route and today’s route. My thought was to ride the same distance but not climb as much. I rode the same distance and climbed 876 feet, about 100 feet more than the actual Serpentine 8 route. The left map is the actual Serpentine 8 route and the right is what I rode today. I should’ve stayed on the Serpentine 8.

This week I rode each day but only outside on Wednesday and Thursday. The other days were Zwifting. A total of 162.81 miles on three different bikes: Zwift rides on the Blue Norcross AL, Wednesday on the Lynskey Helix, and Thursday aboard the Cervelo Caledonia. I’m at 425.3 road miles towards my 650 mile goal for March. This coming week will be important if I am to reach my goal. The weather forecast looks favorable Wednesday going forward. I might go to a ride in Simonton on Saturday.