@@ArcticZwifter 😄 Thanks mate 👊

@@JDirom !redeem Thank_JD 👊

@@HuddoThePaceline Thanks Andrew. A rare win, so happy with that!

@@RyanCondon there group above A on ZP might as well be called "inaccessible to Lee". 😄 I'll never get to that level of fitness. But cheers, mate. 👊

@@appleseeds11 thanks Jonathan 👊 Definitely benefited from a light field. Some of the fields you and I have gone up against wouldn't have let me get away with this. But, still, this was good fun to try.

@@lee-cycling You race the people in the pen. It’s not your fault others were scared to go up against you. 😉

@@darrenvandit thanks Darren 👊

@@MrPedel Thanks Thomas 👊 If going out the back counts, then, yes, 100%!

Thanks, Georg 👊

Thanks, Peter!

Thanks Mark, but that's not quite true. We both witnessed Simon pulling off a brilliant breakaway near the tail end of our ride when we stopped for that first selfie lol

@@lee-cycling 😂

Cheers, Rob!

@@RyanCondon Cheers Ryan, mate. Quite something coming from Mr Inspiration himself! I love this course, too. I've got a couple of wins here, but I think I've always enjoyed it even when I haven't.

@@ZwiftyZwifter yeah, in retrospect, that would have been a better approach to the finish. Like you say, he was too strong, though. And it was a nervy approach to the finish. I've won here by going from the back of a pack a few times now, but never done it in just a pair. Will keep that in mind for next time.

@@appleseeds11 yeah, he played that well. Good tactics and stronger than me. The best rider won. Can't complain about that. Thanks Jonathan 👊

@@MarkyMarkZwifts Cheers Mark. Yeah, he used that well. And I think he was a lot stronger than me. Few more like him in the race and I wouldn't have stood a chance.

Thanks Simon. Yeah, I think the only thing that could have helped me keep/beat him was either a virtual police stinger or a virtual bucket of nails. Neither of which those lazy so-and-so devs at Zwift are working on.

😆Yeah, I went 'maybe he's done....oh, he's gone orange again...oh, no, he's eased off aga....dear god!'

Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks. And good luck with it!

Thanks Emrys. I just watched your Alpe video. Amazing effort!

Thanks Ryan 😅 I have! I did one event so far, stage 2. I am in the second category (score is 680 I think). It was just crazy fast. I got a top ten finish, but I was 20 seconds behind the winner. Just checked, and looks like you haven't raced for a short while (understandable!). Be interesting to hear what you make of it.

@@lee-cycling i might put the clippy shoes on tomorrow for a spin up the grade, check out how many Volts ive lost in 3 weeks off the bike.

@@RyanCondon lol@volts

😄Thanks Georg. The band is Ghost, which you might already know, but just in case you don't and are interested.

Thanks Mark. 👊Felt like a bit of a less than cool win, but I will take what I can get.

@@MrPedel Thanks Thomas 👊

@@appleseeds11 Cheers Jonathan 👊

@@JDirom Thanks JD 👍

@@crow4868 Thanks Roger. Yeah, it's quite odd. I think I'm like you; grateful for a crumb when it goes in my favour, but still seems odd.

Nice! I don't know if you saw the other comments here, but the surface near the top has changed, so you should be able to knock a chunk of time off that. I think maybe even close to one minute.

@@lee-cycling I’ll chunk off the time when I can get the weight down and FTP up again. I only did it to determine a starting FTP after some lazy months. The % done gives you a false sense of security on the first ramp….

Thanks 👍 Warm up for this is definitely advised lol. I did at least have a good hour long warm up before this. You should check out @ridewithgerben channel and watch his guide to riding this. Great info. Wish I'd seen that before doing this, but I will come back at it soon. And good luck for your attempt! 💪

Thanks lol, but I think you underestimate how nerdy some of us can be about hill climbing. Some rookie errors in this.

@@lee-cycling ok ok :-) well then go and show how its done correctly. On your trainer :-)

Yup. In my defence, I knew going in without knowing the details wasn't the best idea.

@@lee-cycling I did a steady state power recon of the climb when when snow/ice effect on power was in place. The last 1/10 appeared to be the most difficult. That effect was removed and now that section reacts as normal tarmac.

@@jamesmckenzie3532 that's good to know, thanks! I read some details on the Zwift forum that said they'd removed the resistance changes back on Epic, but wasn't sure what that meant for The Grade.

@@lee-cycling They removed the change for all areas where there is snow/ice per their own posting for 1.68. They are looking at how best to implement the effect of riding on snow covered roads without causing issues with The Grade power testing l.

Thanks Adam. 14 minutes is a great time. What do you think of the climb? I really like it. I like how, even when there aren't too many changes in it, there's still room for some strategy to it. And the sections really help to break it up and pace yourself.

Thanks! 👍 Yeah, I read something about that, too. But I'm not 100% if I understood it right. I think Epic has had the rolling resistance changed back to Tarmac, but will still look like ice. But The Grade, I'm not sure if the resistance has been changed to match Epic. It might be ice still, like the Radio Tower. If it has been changed to tarmac, then I guess I need to go at this again 😬

Thanks Marco. But I did make silly mistakes. Pushing harder on less steep and easier road surface was uneconomical. I'll know for next time, now.

Lol thanks Ryan. All my own work. Lee Cassidy, age 47 and 1/4!

Thanks mate. Yeah, this is that new fangled climb thing that can test your FTP. You're right, very weird to put a flat bit in it. I'm not sure what's special about this over something like Keith Hill. If you do it in 20mins, it just uses the regular 95% for your FTP. If you go faster, it uses a little less (for me it was 88%). But, ignoring that part of it, it's a cool climb. I think you'll dig it when you give it a bash.

@@lee-cycling It does look like fun, and any FTP test less than 20mins sounds good to me!

You're not so bad looking, yourself, JD.

@@lee-cycling lol…auto correct no glasses for “and some” entertainment 😂

Lol if I can stop 1 person from doing this, it will have been worth it.

@@lee-cycling your work here is done

Trouble is you made me do it, so you need to discourage two people to get back in the negative

@@MrPedel you did it? I can't see it on The Stravas. We need to know what insane time you got up it in!

@@lee-cycling not yet. Hoping to do it this morning 🤞

Cheers Alan. Yeah, but I was pretty close to crawling by the end here. It's deceptive, this climb. Started out thinking "this isn't so bad", but by section 7 I was questioning everything.

Cheers Thomas. I don't think I got overtaken, but my racing history shows that happens with alarming frequency 😕 I love Grizzly Bear! Interesting band, for sure. It's definitely one of their more accessible, pop-oriented songs, but I don't know how anyone can't get along with this!

I wish I had watched your videos before this. You're 100% right: do not underestimate this climb.

Thanks Andrew. Did you do this yet? It's a real tough one. Highly recommend watching Gerben's video on it before, if you haven't.

@@lee-cycling yeah I’ve done it a few times now. I did the route oh hill no first which drops you right at the start. Don’t recommend climbing with no warm up either. There’s another one which you go along the coast first I found better gave the legs a chance to get into gear.

Thanks Adam. I'm probably due another bash at this soon, so thanks for the prompt!

Ha! Thanks JD. You were almost entirely spot on!

Thanks Mark, but definitely just caught some fields that didn't have the tougher A riders. I did this earlier in the week and got absolutely obliterated. I think that's going to be the norm. 😬

🤪 Any time, man!

I think if Jonathan gave me a head start, I might beat him. About 3 or 4 years should do nicely!

Thanks EZ. Yeah, if it hadn't been Jonathan, that might not have been the best move. I'd have gone earlier if it wasn't him.