I had a one-hour trainer ride on Zwift. It was cold and there was no way I was going outside to do this ride. I looked at my options and saw a ride I hadn’t done yet, called The Gorby.
I was excited about it. I read in small print that this was a hard workout and many people call it the “quitter” because they quit before it’s over, but I wasn’t going to do that. I will muddle my way through, I thought.
The first 10 minutes of The Gorby was easy. I wasn’t happy that I was riding in virtual New York. I find the New York rides harder than any other ride.
After the warm-up, I rode five minutes at 120 and then five minutes at 60 watts. (It’s 110% FTP and then 55% FTP.)
At first, I didn’t think The Gorby was that tough. But those five minutes back to 110% kept coming back up!
While I’m riding in futuristic New York City, I’m seeing flying taxis and people waving at me. Do they know I’m struggling? Are they trying to encourage me?
The more people waved to me, the more I found myself waving back. (“They’re not actually waving to you,” I told myself. “this is a virtual world! But, at the moment, you just find yourself giving the wave.)
Zwift suggests that you do this ride 2x a week “to hone your climbing potential after you’ve developed a solid FTP.”
I got through the workout, sweaty, tired and frustrated that I didn’t do better. I didn’t quit but I didn’t feel great about the workout either. But I didn’t quit.
