With days 1 and 2 of Zwift Community Live 2025 ridden and uploaded, I was feeling the fatigue in the legs. But the weather was beautiful in Mallorca, the vibe at ZCL was perfect, and nothing was going to stop me from taking on the toughest ride of the week up Sa Calobra! Here’s how the final day of ZCL unfolded for me…
Ride Plan
Today I was again taking on the “Uber Pretzel” version of the three ride options. If ZCL had a “Queen Stage”, this was it: as much distance as the day before, but twice as much elevation! We would ride from sea level up to the top of the famous Sa Calobra climb, then descend it all the way down to sea level before turning around to climb our way out:
I really wasn’t sure how well my tired legs would handle all the elevation, so I resolved to take it easy and enjoy the ride so I could finish ZCL on a high note.
Ride Summary
Getting Started
Once again, the dining room was buzzing for breakfast as all the Uber riders chatted about their day. Sa Calobra is a bucket list climb for many, so there were lots of excited – if not a little nervous – riders in the room. I was one of them.
After a quick breakfast full of clean carbs (whole grains, fruit, and yogurt) I kitted up and headed out to the starting area.
Since I wanted to make sure I saved my legs for the climbs without holding up my group too much, I resolved to join a more medium-paced group instead of one of the first, faster groups. I was also looking to ride with some Zwifters I hadn’t ridden with yet, so I joined the group led by Zwift’s Director of Women’s Strategy, Kate Veronneau. (I knew from prior experience that Kate is both a very strong rider and an experienced ride leader. She wouldn’t steer us wrong!)
Let the Fun Begin: Coll de sa Batalla
The first 10km of the ride were quite flat, and the group got into a rhythm. Then the ground sloped up so we were climbing – but this was just the easy stuff. 25km in, the switchbacks began as we made our way up the Coll de sa Batalla (7.9km at 6%):
This is where most of the group pulled away from me, and I just rode my own ride, enjoying the switchback climb and valley views as I lugged my “overmuscled” physique toward Sa Calobra.
I caught up to the group where they’d stopped at the Repsol gas station, and I thought we were close to the start of the Sa Calobra descent.
We were not.
Thinking we didn’t have much climbing left, and with legs that felt decently fresh, I followed the front two guys (one wearing an Everesting jersey, which should have tipped me off) who quickly got away from the rest of the group as we put in a solid climbing effort to finish off Coll de sa Batalla.
A Surprising Climb
A fun rollercoaster descent followed, lulling me into a sense of security. Then the road pitched upward – surprisingly so – and I realized I had made a bit of a mistake. We still had another 3.1km at 6% to climb to the top of Coll dels Reis before we could descend the other side (which is Sa Calobra). I was soon caught and (once again) passed by most of the group. Ha!
We regrouped at the top of Coll dels Reis on the Sa Calobra side, and Kate explained that we could hang out there, at the top of Sa Calobra. Or we could descend it, then turn around and climb back up. Everyone in our group was there to ride Sa Calobra, so down we went.
Descending Sa Calobra
It’s hard to adequately describe my experience descending Sa Calobra for the first time. It’s such an otherworldly and unique road. The smooth, serpentine turns seem to undulate endlessly, contrasting with the rocky mountainside as you look down and try to wrap your head around how it’s all laid out.
The road was smooth and dry, the temperature was cool but not cold, and there were no cars getting in the way. I took advantage of it and enjoyed the descent, staying off the brakes when it felt safe (because fast is fun), but not taking any unnecessary risks, either.
It was perhaps halfway down that I began passing Zwifters who were in the first, fast group and on their way up the climb. Nick Nellis from TFC, Nick Kalkounis from ZwiftHQ, Jeff Linder from NorCal Cycling, Nathan Guerra, Jason Stern from DIRT… I yelled “Allez allez!” at everyone I recognized, flashing a smile as they suffered their way up the climb. I knew I’d be there soon enough.
Soon enough I was down at the bottom with a whole lot of cyclists, and it was time to turn around and pay the piper.
Climbing Sa Calobra
I told the two riders with me that I was going to treat this like a Zwift TTT race: holding what seemed like too easy of a pace at the start so I still had something to give at the end. So I chugged along around 220W, somewhere between 2.5 and 3 W/kg, and just enjoyed this infamous climb.
(At least, I think that’s where my power was. I’m not convinced my Garmin pedals were reading accurately, since my L/R balance was way off, indicating at least one misreading pedal.)
In the early part of the climb, I met one of the Zwifters with me: Vlad. He’s from the Ukraine, and lives in Kyiv. He’s only ridden indoors, on Zwift, since the war began. ZCL was his first opportunity to ride outside in over three years. Wow.
Zwifters from later groups began zipping past us, descending as we climbed, and we started yelling “Ride On!” to everyone we recognized. You could hear the Ride Ons all over the mountain as Zwifters shared the love. Super fun!
The end of the climb actually came a bit earlier that I’d expected, but that’s not to say it felt short. The Zwift support van was parked perhaps 100 meters before the finish line of the Strava segment, so as I neared the van I heard yells of “push all the way to the sign!” Everyone had to go hard to the line.
I clocked a blazing 50:28 on the official segment, earning me 81,823rd place out of 165,549 riders. Top 50%!
All Downhill from Here
We regrouped at the support van, then made our way together to the coffee shop for a welcome shot of caffeine and cake. Our 2000 meters of climbing were essentially done, we just had a mostly-downhill 40km left to knock out.
Cyclists know that’s a great way to end a ride. Top-knotch route design right there.
It was probably bad form for me to enjoy a cheeky supertuck off the front of the group on a long, straight section of downhill. But it felt like such a fun and Zwifty thing to do. (Take that, UCI!)
And it’s also possible that a few others and myself enjoyed ourselves a bit too much, relishing the speed of the rolling descent. Kate eventually rolled up to the front to get things slowed down and grouped together, and we began making our way toward home as a unit once again… slowly.
Mercifully, when a faster group of Zwifters rolled by, Kate said we could join them if we wanted to roll faster, so a few of us did just that. That’s how I ended up riding next to Ayesha McGowan (@ayesuppose) and Carolyn Carter (@la_triathlete) in a zippy group of influencers (Zwinfluencers?) who towed me the rest of the way into Mallorca.
A fun end to a big ride.
Finishing the Day: Fireside Chat with Two Sirs
The day was far from over, though. After a shower and some hangout time with Monica to hear how her ride went, we headed for dinner (fajitas!) followed by the final fireside chat hosted by Matt Stephens.
This third chat was by far my favorite of the three nights. Matt’s two guests were Sirs Chris Hoy and Mark Cavendish, and those three men held everyone’s attention for over an hour. The conversation was expertly guided by Matt and included serious notes (Sir Chris talking about his stage 4 cancer diagnosis) but also lots of stories and laughs.
Eric Min came up next, thanking everyone for coming, inviting the Zwift staffers and ride leaders up for a round of applause, and promising a ZCL for 2026. (Everyone cheered, because everyone wants to do it again!)
We ended the night with a ZCL highlights video that really captured the week’s positive energy and epic rides. It felt like the perfect ending to an incredible few days! (The full video can’t be shown on YouTube due to music rights issues, but Zwift created a short version of it:)
That’s a Wrap
I may write one more post with additional thoughts on all things ZCL, because there was so much I haven’t shared in these daily summaries. But since it’s past midnight here in St. Andrews, Scotland, where Monica and I have extended our European stay, for now I’ll leave you with a #humblebrag shot of the sweet aero socks Zwift gave everyone at ZCL:
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