Couch to Route Hero, Week 7 Done

Editor’s note: Monica is undertaking the “Couch to Route Hero” challenge of riding all 67 “free-ridable” Zwift routes (and getting all the badges) in 11 weeks. Each week she shares her story of the previous week’s struggles and accomplishments. Follow along on her journey, take the challenge yourself, and be sure to give her a Ride On if you see her on course!

I was reminded this week of what my Chiropractor told me years ago: “If you want to stay out of my office I’d suggest not adding more than about 10% to your riding each week.“

I have an appointment booked with him this Wednesday.

The Rides Lined Up

5 new badges were added, for a grand total of 47 done. Only 20 left! 

I rode 144.53 miles and climbed 14,826 feet in 13 hours on the bike this week. I’m not a math wizard but I’m pretty sure 8.5 hours on my bike last week and 13 hours on my bike this week is more than the 10% prescribed by my Chiropractor. Oops.

Routes Completed:

• Watopia’s The Pretzel
• Knickerbocker
• Watopia’s Bigger Loop
• Knickerbocker Reverse
• Watopia’s Quatch Quest

The Pretzel

The Pretzel was my first 5+ bidon ride ever. I wanted to really be thorough about my write-up as I’ve been asked again and again how the ride went by people who haven’t ridden it yet. Check out my “The Pretzel” ride story >

The short and sweet version is: I shouldn’t have scheduled it in so closely between two things I already had going that day. I cried at one point. I almost lost a few toes (that may be an exaggeration). And I finished!

The Middle Rides

I think it’s important to note that two of the rides I did midweek had the word “Knickerbocker” in them. If you don’t know what that is, be sure to look it up. But most importantly, say “Knickerbocker” out loud, three times in a row. More fun to say in American English, if you ask me. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/pronunciation/english/knickerbockers

Quatch Quest

Quatch Quest was my second 5+ bidon route of the challenge. Done just 7 days after The Pretzel. My full write-up is here > 

The short and sweet version is: I learned a lot from The Pretzel and while this ride was LOOOONG it was still better than The Pretzel! 

Zwift Glitch?

I noticed something quirky on these longer rides that I hadn’t seen before, probably because these rides had longer breaks than I usually take. The Zwift Companion app displays the amount of time you were logged in for the ride. You have to have a screenshot of the end of your ride or check Strava to see what your actual ride time is.

According to the Companion app my Quatch Quest ride was 4 hours and 45 minutes long. But only 4 hours and 12 minutes of it was riding. Is it just me, or shouldn’t it just display ride time?

The next week in the challenge

I am really frustrated to say that I’m taking a rest week this next week. I wanted to press on, but my body is telling me I need to slow down. I’m beginning to get sick. A sore throat and general fatigue. Everyone tells me it’s a good thing to rest, but it feels like I’m quitting. 

I WILL be back next week to talk about what it was like to rest up, including what I learned, what exercise I still did (if any), and how much I hated watching what I ate since I didn’t have tons of extra calories that I was burning each day. 

How about you?

Please tell me you’ve cried on a ride, what you did during a rest week, and how you’re doing with this challenge!

Riding Watopia’s “Quatch Quest”

Editor’s note: Monica is undertaking the “Couch to Route Hero” challenge of riding all 67 “free-ridable” Zwift routes (and getting all the badges) in 11 weeks. Each week she shares her story of the previous week’s struggles and accomplishments, and some of the rides are epic enough that they deserve their own post.

Watopia’s “Quatch Quest” is one of those epic rides – only the second “5 Bidon route” Monica has ever tackled, and this one ends on the Alpe!  (Our Couch to Route Hero route rankings groups routes by the estimated number of bidons needed to complete.)

Follow along on her journey, take the challenge yourself, and be sure to give her a Ride On if you see her on course!

I went into Quatch Quest a little bit smarter than The Pretzel. Mainly, I didn’t have a time I had to be done by AND I had chamois cream! My only real goal for this ride was to not cry in the middle. “Aim for the stars, Monica!”

Quatch Quest has you head through Titans Grove first thing. The plan was to push myself somewhat, but save some for later. I tried to keep my heart rate in Zone 3 or a bit below. 

I took a quick break after Titans Grove as I forgot to change my weight (I lost another 2 pounds!) and also wanted to give my feet a break. Next was another ascent up the Epic KOM. As I was going up a gal named Cathy and I found we were both doing Quatch Quest at the same time. She was up ahead and we chatted off and on the whole rest of the ride. We were both happy to know there was no “bonus climb” up the radio tower on this route!

After another break while my gal supertucked down the backside of the Epic KOM the route turned toward the jungle. Because I had to ride through most of it I switched to my Specialized Mountain Bike in game and sailed past people putting out more watts than I! 

Next quick break was to stop before the Alpe to switch to my Tarmac Pro. The second-best part about the Alpe was I didn’t have to get to the top at any particular time – I could just mind my business and do what I needed to do. (But before you start thinking that I seem to be having a lovely time please note there were many mental choices required to push myself up to each new landmark.)

The very best part of this ride was having my new friend Cathy encourage me up the Alpe. She made it up long before me but never made me feel like that mattered. She’d ask where I was and how I was feeling. At one point I told her my feet were hurting pretty bad and my knees weren’t thrilled to be there either. She encouraged me to do two things which helped so much: take a break so my feet could rest as climbing is hard on our feet. And make sure my cadence is at my usual pace. 

Because my cadence had dropped significantly she said I should ignore all the recent trainer difficulty discussions and lower mine so that I had more gears to use. She was right and it was good to have a second voice say what I was thinking I should do! I finished the climb at about 20% trainer difficulty and about 30 minutes slower than the last time I went up. But guess what – I finished it!

Because I climbed the entire Alpe I felt I earned the extra miles coasting back down. So I limped my way around the loop at the top (after getting another pair of gloves on the spinner) and descended. And wouldn’t you know it, during that whole ride of 4 hours and 12 minutes I didn’t cry once! (okay, I almost did, but feeling like crying and actually crying are two different things!)

What About You?

Have you ridden Quatch Quest yet? Share your experience below!

Riding Watopia’s “The Pretzel”

Editor’s note: Monica is undertaking the “Couch to Route Hero” challenge of riding all 67 “free-ridable” Zwift routes (and getting all the badges) in 11 weeks. Each week she shares her story of the previous week’s struggles and accomplishments, and some of the rides are epic enough that they deserve their own post.

Watopia’s “The Pretzel” is one of those epic rides – the first “5 Bidon route” Monica has ever tackled.  (Our Couch to Route Hero route rankings groups routes by the estimated number of bidons needed to complete.)

Follow along on her journey, take the challenge yourself, and be sure to give her a Ride On if you see her on course!

I scheduled this ride for a Sunday. We went to church, went out to lunch, then I zipped home early to start this, my first 5+ bidon route (based on the Couch to Route Hero ranking system). With 20+ people coming over in ~4 hours I needed to hop on the bike quickly so I could be done and showered before they arrived. I guessed that it would take me around 3 hours to ride the 45 miles with 4400’ of climb. Silly, silly Monica!

The Pretzel first takes you up the Epic KOM. No problem (except I am getting a little bored of it as of late). Next is the bonus climb we all love to hate. Managed that as well. Then there’s the meandering around the lower parts of Watopia. Rolling hills, looping back and forth. At the halfway mark I was right on track at 1.5 hours. Excellent! I was right about it only taking 3 hours!

At hour 2 my feet were burning and my toes were going numb. Because I had the extra time before company arrived I took a longer break than I normally would – 10 minutes of walking around without shoes, filling my bidons, talking myself out of a nap, taking a nature break, then wrestling my bibs back on. 

I hopped back on my bike and started up the Epic KOM’s back side. I usually prefer this climb over the other side, but this was the first time I attempted it after already riding quite a while. 

As I made my way up I realized this wasn’t going to end well. I started having trouble breathing (good old exercise-induced asthma was kicking in). Plus, I hadn’t been able to pull my bib shorts back on properly so the chamois was rubbing. And then suddenly a few of my toes felt like someone was stabbing a knife right into the bone! 

Eric came upstairs to check on me and I was a mess! “I can’t! My toes. This is stupid. I hate everything.” He talked me into stopping mid-climb to adjust my shoe. I loosened the toe area, released the catch and felt so much better. Onward and upward!

As I continued up the climb I realized our company was coming over in 30 minutes and I was going sloooooow. That brought on all the tears. Crying and climbing and asthma aren’t a great combination. I wasn’t even close to done with my ride. I was disappointed in myself. The house wasn’t ready, the food wasn’t ready. 

Eric assured me he would take care of the people, the house and the food and left me to carry on. After calming myself back down so I could breathe again I made it to the top of the climb. I was deeply relieved I didn’t have to go back up the bonus climb! I pressed on to the descent where I left my gal in her super tuck as I unclipped to relieve my little toes. Both feet were now in excruciating pain. Like someone was slowly trying to break my toes off. I took both shoes off and shook my feet out. 

Eventually my gal had made it to the flat part in the castle and came to a stop. If I could just get her to the next descent she could continue to coast down! My fatigued brain decided it would be a great idea to hop back on my bike in my socks and pedal my way across the flat. Pedaling and dismounting a bike in socks off of clipless pedals doesn’t feel great!

My avatar finally descended the entire mountain as people started showing up at my house. I hopped back on my bike, WITH shoes on that were completely loose now and finished the last 5 miles of The Pretzel. 

The entire thing took me just under 4 hours of ride time, with 13 minutes worth of breaks. After a quick shower and change I joined our friends and hoped no one would ask me about the ride. They didn’t. Later in the evening my face was tingly and my brain couldn’t keep full thoughts long enough to get them out of my mouth. I tried downing lots more water and food but I just couldn’t get enough. I slept well that night!

My initial reaction to the ride was “how will I ever do 5 more really big rides?” But now that it’s been a week I think it’s like having a baby: Delivery is terrible but eventually you forget and don’t mind doing it again.

What About You?

Have you ridden The Pretzel yet? Share your experience below!

Sleep Special with Dr. Ian Dunican Part 1 (Zwift PowerUp Cycling Podcast #45)

Here’s a free major performance enhancer you should know about: sleep! Kev chats all things the land of nod with sleep expert Dr. Ian Dunican. Plus, a look at delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) with Kev diving into the world of scientific journals so you don’t have to.

About the Podcast

The Zwift PowerUp Cycling Podcast features training tips from host Matt Rowe (Rowe & King), with regular co-hosts Greg Henderson (Coach Hendy) and Kev Poulton (Powerhouse Cycling).