Libby Hill After Party is an event-only route launched with the February 2020 Richmond refresh. It has the makings of a wonderful race event due to its profile and perhaps the most exciting, give-it-all-you-got slugfest finish of any Zwift route.
Riders begin at the main start/finish banner and head to 5 laps of The Fan Flats, a flat loop that includes the timed Monument Avenue sprint segment. This is where the bigger riders with lots of pure watts will need to work to drop the climbers.
Libby Hill After Party is an event-only route launched with the February 2020 Richmond refresh. It has the makings of a wonderful race event due to its profile and perhaps the most exciting, give-it-all-you-got slugfest finish of any Zwift route.
Riders begin at the main start/finish banner and head to 5 laps of The Fan Flats, a flat loop that includes the timed Monument Avenue sprint segment. This is where the bigger riders with lots of pure watts will need to work to drop the climbers.
Route Basics
Length: 32.9 km (20.4 miles)
Elevation: 118 m (387‘)
Lead-In: 0.3 km (0.2 miles)
Map: Richmond
Restriction: Event Only
Achievement Badge: none
Strava Segments
Strava SegmentsRoute Description
Then it’s down to Broad Street for another sprint followed by the straight, quick descent of E Main Street. Recovery is key on the downhill and rollers that follow, because the finale is a short, sharp climb up the cobbles of Libby Hill!
The rider who can hold onto the front group then push out max watts per kilo for the Libby Climb should take the day, as the route finishes at the KOM banner atop Libby.
Where exactly is the finish supposed to be? I did this race a few weeks ago and to my surprise the finish was halfway up Libby Hill. Was this a glitch?
I just finished the TDZ on this route and it definitely finished at the top of Libby Hill. But now I have a question: What the heck is an “after party” ? Does it just mean a route that finishes with a climb? Because that would have been good to know before I jumped into this ride–The climb was a real surprise a t the end when I unloaded my “spring” with about 500m to go!!
@Doug, yes that’s right. After Party rides are generally flat (tish) and involve a short (ish) climb to finish. Enjoy!
Any bike frame/wheel combo recommendations for this route? Should it be aero and hang on up the hill, or lightweight to break away at the end?
I think you are overthinking it somewhat!
Aero
This is a pretty flat route, with a slight climb at the end. Get the fastest bike/wheels (and not the lightest) that you can. Any “loss” in time on the small climb, would be easily gained (and more) on the flats.
In a scratch race a light setup is OK if you are strong, even a gravel bike could work as the uphill is on cobbles. As you can easily follow the pack in the draft on the flats. In case points can be won in the early sprints aero is clearly the option to go for.
Gravel bike will NOT give you any advantage on the cobbles.
And even if it did, you would have to seriously work to stick with the pack for the 30 or so Kms before you get to the cobbles, and therefore expend energy you’d need to challenge up the climb