Tuesday Night Zwift Ride (1/19)

[Michael T. Bello]

On Tuesday at 8 PM, I’m planning the Roule Ma Poule route in France. (https://www.strava.com/segments/24690956). This will be a 60 minute ride.

If anyone is interested, just follow me on Zwift (Michael Bello - NCC) and I'll add you to the invite. If you follow me, please send me a note.

A few recommendations...

Zwift now allows late joiners to Meetups, but it does not always work. Give yourself a few extra minutes to join the ride anyway (on Zwift 5 minutes before the ride would be ideal).

Please wear the NCC jersey. This makes it easier to recognize who is in the group. On a computer, log into Zwift, once riding, press “P” on you keyboard and enter NCCMAKIT. After that, you can use the jersey on any device running Zwift (laptop, tablet, phone, etc.).

Our previous rides were enhanced with conversations on Discord. After installing Discord, ˙˙use the NCC invite to join the conversation: https://discordapp.com/invite/uXdHm7m. 

If you are new to Discord, I recommend this article on ZwiftInsider: https://zwiftinsider.com/using-discord/. Please pay particular attention to Step 4: "Discord automatically places you in the text chat channel, which isn’t where you want to be. Click the hamburger menu (3 lines at top-left) to view all the channels on the server. Click “General” under voice channels, then click “Connect to Voice” to join the general voice chat." 

I also recommend testing Discord out prior to the ride. Feel free to contact me if you want to test Discord.

[Michael T. Bello]

On our ride through the French countryside this evening, we had nine riders (Charlie, Chris, Doug, Dusty, Henry, Kevin, Melissa, Zinj, and me).

In our 60 minutes of the Roule Ma Poule route, we covered approximately 19.9 miles with 912 feet of climbing.

Tonight was Doug's first official NCC Zwift ride. It was great having one of our newly elected NCC Board members join the fun.

We were all on Discord. Prior to our ride, Kevin rode the Casse-Pattes route, which is the opposite direction of the Roule Ma Poule route. Kevin is hunting route badges. Zinj explained his new purchase, a smart set of rollers. Our running joke is that we take a drink every time Zinj gets off his bike. Now we will need to take two drinks if he falls off the rollers. We discussed last night's strong NCC showing in the race. It is fun dissecting the event. To round out the conversation, we discussed some Zwift features, including trainer difficulty (https://zwiftinsider.com/best-trainer-difficulty-setting/).

Chris, Doug, Dusty, Kevin, Melissa, Zinj earned the Roule Ma Poule route achievement, which doubled their XP points for the first lap. Kevin finished level 26 and earned the S Work Shoes for his avatar. Doug completed level 4 and earned the Zwift Black Shoes. 

Week 1 of the Winter Hill Climb/Time Trial starts on Thursday. We are climbing Box Hill in London. You may ride at any time during the day or join the group at 5:30 PM. Please remember to use a Time Trial bike.

Here is the NCC Zwift schedule:

- Mon afternoon - Road Race (times will vary between 5 PM and 7 PM EST)

- Tue 8:00 PM - Social Ride (invite required)

- Thu 5:30 PM - Time Trial / Hill Climb (solo effort, TT bike required) (invite required)

- Sat 9:00 AM - Social Ride (invite required)

Follow Michael Bello on Zwift for invites to the invite-only rides.

Check the calendar page at www.nohobikeclub.org for full details on all events.

[Doug Breismeister]

Hi Michael and NCC,

Thanks for the warm welcome!(now two weeks ago). I'm very excited see how I can contribute as part of the NCC board!

My ride with y'all was my second Zwift group and maybe my 6th Zwift ride ever. It was a lot of fun. At times frustrating. There seems to be a fair amount to learn and get comfortable with. I had already decided to up my indoor winter game prior to my rib injury, but the injury has made this riding essential for preserving whatever sanity(and fitness) I have. So far the trainer feels pretty good on the ribs, but I'm not ready for the jarring of outdoor riding. I'm trying to stick to a Trainer Road Sweet Spot base builder plan and add some Zwift rides on top of that schedule. Hopefully that will allow me to join the NCC Zwift rides semi regularly. Evenings aren't the best for me lately. 

Thanks again,

Doug

917-674-7050