With day 1 of Zwift Community Live 2025 done and dusted (read about it here), I was looking forward to day 2 and the prospects of a longer, harder group ride. The weather looked to be beautiful in Mallorca, the ZCL vibes were good, and I was excited to roll on new roads. Here’s how the day unfolded for me…
Ride Plan
Today’s ride was called the Uber Pretzel as it was the longest of the three ride options. We would ride from our resort in Platja de Muro to the top of Sant Salvador, then loop back for a total distance of 115km and a bit over 1000 meters of elevation:
I was looking for a ride group that would push a bit harder than the previous day’s, with fewer and shorter stops along the way. And I was looking for some epic roads. This route looked like it would tick all the boxes.
Getting Started
The dining room was buzzing when I arrived around 7:15am. Clearly, lots of riders were planning on doing the Uber Pretzel as well (which wasn’t a surprise given how the week’s routes were planned), and everyone was eating early since we would be starting at 8:30.
After another tasty granola bowl, some fruit, and a smoothie, I headed back to my room to kit up and meet Monica at the starting area. (She’s a stupendous sidekick, by the way: fetching bikes and forgotten gloves and filling bottles to help make my experience even better.)
Riders are grouped into packs of 12 which leave a few minutes apart. (The goal is that the faster packs leave sooner, so packs stay separated and large groups of cyclists don’t clog up the roads.) I looked around for a group to join, and saw that the first group would definitely be too spicy for my taste. It contained the likes of Nathan Guerra, Jeff from NorCal Cycling, Zwift Academy 2024 winners Noah Ramsay and Emily Dixon, and Freddy Ovett… among others.
But just behind them a group was forming up that included Zwift CEO Eric Min, VP of Marketing Steve Beckett, and the great Kristin Armstrong. This looked like the group for me, so I hopped in, along with Zwift Academy 2023 winner Louis Kitzki and a few others.
Soon enough, we were off. Two abreast, we quickly got up to a nice cruising pace on the flattish lead-in to the centerpiece climb of the day. Chugging along at ~35 kph, we quickly spun our way toward Sant Salvador, upping the power on the inclines to keep our speed rolling without going so hard that our legs would burn out early. A sensible tempo pace.
Riding two abreast gives you the chance to get to know your ridemates. Along with those already mentioned we had an Olympic runner, a coach/triathlete from the UK, a man who was an early investor in Zwift, a woman who helps lead Rocacorba Cycling, the guy who heads up the CORE sensor team, Tim Perkin from Mountain Massif, and others!
It didn’t take long for us to arrive at the big climb of the day. As the road ramped up, around half the group fell off while the other half pushed on ahead at a higher pace. I was one who fell off – no surprise there – and I was perfectly fine with it. With another 60km left to ride, I wasn’t interested in blowing up on the slopes of Sant Salvador. I wanted to enjoy the ride and take in this beautiful climb, hairpin by hairpin. And that’s what I did!
It really is a nice climb, with lots of shade, smooth pavement, and gorgeous views over the edge as you negotiate the turns. I love climbs like this that alternate between a sort of walled-in tunnel of trees and wide open vistas that let you see all the way to the ground and be surprised again and again at how high you’ve climbed.
Soon enough, I was at the top, having averaged 308W for 21:53. (This rocketed me to 29,209th out of 69,900 on the Strava segment. The best time on the day? ZCL attendee Beast On A Bike | Louis Hatchwell at 14:30. His average power? 432W.)
We took some photos at the top, admired the near-360-degree views, refilled bidons from the support van, and headed downhill knowing our coffee stop was 30km ahead. (Eric Min was hungry, so we weren’t waiting around!)
The way home was a nice mix of flats and slight downhills, many of which were narrow country roads with very little traffic. Once again we churned through the kilometers, stopping only for a bit of coffee and cake in Sineau before winding our way home.
After just over 4 hours of riding we were back at the hotel, enjoying a beer and a snack in comfortable couches overlooking the Mediterranean beach. 118km, 1000m of elevation, and an average speed of 28.8 kph. Another good day out on the bike in beautiful Mallorca!
Finishing the Day: Recovery, Dinner, and a Fireside Chat
Today ended much like yesterday: kickstarting recovery with good nutrition and Normatec boots, eating a tasty dinner with some new Zwift friends from Austria and Germany, then sitting on the night’s fireside chats. (Monica and I also took some time to cool our feet in the ocean and enjoy the beautiful beach just outside our door.)
The first chat was hosted by Matt Stephens and featured Zwift’s Director of Women’s Strategy Kate Veronneau along with the 4 winners of Zwift Academy from 2023 and 2024. The discussion centered around the Academy winners’ experiences, and what Zwift Academy is doing to change how riders get into the sport.
The night ended with Matt calling a surprise guest to the stage: Mark Cavendish! He and Matt chatted about Cav’s life now that he’s retired, along with obscure topics like how eating cheese late at night can affect one’s dreams. I’m sure many Zwifters were just as starstruck as I was to see Cav in person. What a legend!
Coming Up Tomorrow
Tomorrow’s ride will be the biggest of ZCL: the Uber Pretzel featuring Sa Calobra! It’s essentially the same distance as today’s ride, but twice the elevation. Here’s the route:
Watch this space to learn how it goes…
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