Hey ho Sir @Glen.Coutts ,
My apologies, Sir Glen. After a glorious suffering yesterday, I only now managed to come here and write.
I ended up too exhausted to write.
So, emotional Stage 7E after the beautifull High Time.
Well, the only thing I can say is that I think the goal was fully achieved. I had the misery I asked for. Be careful what you wish for, someone once said…
Since I had no experience with Zwift, it was already halfway to not going well. And in the app part, it didn’t go easy.
First, the issue of not having access to Alpe du Zwift. On one site, I read that currently only from level 10, on another from level 6.
Then I found some hope:
So I tried.
I endured maybe 1 minute, certainly less then 2, staring at the app. I finished casting the phone to the TV, put on a series, and continued pedaling, wait for the climb to start, occasionally glancing at the phone.
I couldn’t even make out the numbers that appeared—too small for me to read on a phone screen, let alone without experience in the app. At some point, this message appeared:
and I got highly surprised; it didn’t seem at all like I had pedaled enough to reach the mythical summit. Naive, but not entirely. I even tought that zwif could have a bit of sense of humour with the sad smile, because the training was ending.
After all, I was just 1 km away from finishing the free experience…
I spent a few minutes trying to understand what was exatcly happening in the app. If the session was stoped or not. Then I remembered Sir Glen telling
It seemed to me that one of the fields indicated the elevation, and at that moment, it showed about 550 meters. I can guarantee I heard a laugh from GvA echoing.
Without wanting to bore and write more about the app experience, which matters the less in all of this, I decided I couldn’t stay there, despite having taken a strong hammer physically and especially emotionally.
Dealing with technology in the midst of effort doesn’t make it easier.
I didn’t like it, but I recognise that in a first time use, it’s insufficient. Had roads with bifurcations, options to choose, optinal Kom’s, too much novelty for an Epilogue.
I remember enjoying Stage 7B much more on RGT last year. It was certainly smoother, and I clearly understood when we reached the “summit.”
So i decided I had to do the 1047m of elevation, and started pedaling until I reached it.
Filled with the Sufferlandrian spirit, I managed to reach 1047m, but not a glimpse, not even a tiny mirage of:
But the goal was fully achieved. It was another final massive dose of pain, miser, agony. I literally ended up wanting to lie down.
Thank you very much, Sir Glen.
Thank you, The Sufferfest.
I wish i could donate more.
It’s seems almost unfair that we receive so much in all this The Davis Phinney Foundation Tour of Sufferlandria days.