Zwift - The Grade Climb - How NOT to climb it 

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

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 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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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!

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 :-)

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 😬

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 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!

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.

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.

My max heart rate is around 192. So, it got pretty high here, but not quite up to max.

@@lee-cycling What is your age ? thats important regarding heart rate . Since you went over 180 to 187 from 11:45 till 18:50 7 mins 5 seconds over 180 . If you are lets say 50 yrs old , 180 minus 50 = 130 < that is 80% , subtract another 10 , thats 120 < that is 70% Dr Phil Maffetone created this 180 formula back in 1982 , I started using it in 1987 . 4 former male Ironman Triathlon World Champions all have had open heart surgery . 2 of which had it done last month . 70 and 67 yrs old . Plus have close friend is a cardio rehab specialist 30+ yrs . I share not to scare , but because I care . I did the climb in 19:22 HR 121 I'm 67

@@lee-cycling And what is your age ? I ask because since 1987 I use Dr Phil Maffetone's 180 formula to calculate up to 80% to 70% which is used by taking 180 minus your age . And the 1st number is 80% , subtract another 10 is 70% . So how do you arrive at 192 ?

@@loulew07 By seeing what my maximum is. I have hit 192bpm many times.

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 🤞