WKG Winter League 19/20 Stage 7 – Rhoden to Sky

Date	25.11.2019
Course	Watopia Road to Sky
Strava Activity	https://www.strava.com/activities/2891183144
Distance in km	31.1
Elevation in m	1053
Bike	Bolt
Points	6
League Points Total	38.5
League Position	39/71
WKG Vlog	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_56FFI67D0o

The Alpe du Zwift, modelled on the Alpe d’Huez, is a beast of a climb. Looking at about 70 mins of non-stop climbing, where gradients of 6% are respite from the cruel inclines of 15%. This Stage is actually the usual Monday night KATT race by Team WKG, where the route is the hilliest one of a set Zwift world. I tend to skip the KATT race as it starts so late that it makes blood glucose management overnight very difficult. But there are points on the line tonight!

I tried to make sure that I was well-fuelled and that my blood glucose was in a good place for the whole day. This included eating, reducing the bolus insulin, about 90 minutes before the race. My plan was working well until a was about to start warming up – my blood sugar was dropping! I ate one of my self-made energy bars in the hope that this would be enough to get the blood sugar trending upwards. 

My blood glucose was still dropping after my warm-up – emergency gel time with a minute to the start! I managed to keep with a decent group up to the base of the Alpe and then it’s a matter of not starting too hard. Best to save energy and keep constant power here. This plan was working well, I was pretty happy with my pacing, but I’m always reminded that I have a 28-tooth cog which is really tough when racing the Alpe. 

I managed to catch and drop two league competitors and I was doing really well in the middle third of the climb. I couldn’t keep this up as I started getting muscular pain in my right lower back. This was not as bad as in Stage 6 and I managed to keep going, although with a slightly lower power output. I had no further blood glucose issues during the race so that was a plus.

Once I finished, I was cheering on Nadja who was powering up the Alpe ahead of many of her league competitors! She was strong all the way to the end and unlocked the Lightweight Meilenstein wheels. I’ve been up the Alpe 11 times and all I got were the helmet and gloves – grrr. Not jealous at all.