Today I had the pleasure (and occasional lung burn) of leading our mighty GGCC crew through the virtual streets of Watopia on the Zwift riding platform. We tackled the legendary “Sugar Cookie” route — my all-time favorite, probably because it sounds like a snack instead of a workout. Huge thanks to Jam for rocking the red beacon duties today and Alan helping in the peloton – nailed it, mates!
As always, we mixed in some spicy sprints and wrapped things up with an optional mini-race at the end, for anyone who thought they still had a few watts left in the tank.

For the lead-in through the jungle, we cruised along at about 190W avg – a nice warm-up before things got serious. Once the start on the flats kicked off, we ramped it up and held between 195 and 205W avg, because apparently our legs enjoy a bit of suffering. Higher power was, of course, mandatory on the uphills (gravity insists). The biggest challenge was the last long climb, where I did my best domestique impression and tried to keep the group together by holding around 3,0–3,2W/kg. Luckily, the bypass back to the jungle was long enough to collect all the scattered riders again, which set us up for a proper, fair race start.

The coast road is an absolute blast. And no, it’s not just because of all the all-out sprints—it’s also thanks to the sneaky flats and leg-rattling bumps. The colorful scenery doesn’t hurt either; it makes suffering look almost picturesque. Our sprinters had plenty to do and they absolutely delivered. On this short stretch of coast road, squeezing in four brutal sprints is a serious negotiation with your quads. Now, let’s see what the results have to say:

Congrats to J. Redmond for getting all the green jerseys – strongly done 🏆

After the sprints were done, we turned our attention to the climb ahead – because why rest when you can suffer uphill instead? The first short test came directly after the desert, just to make sure our legs were properly confused. But the real challenge was the first part of the Epic KOM up to the bypass. Fortunately, we managed to stick together and enjoy a surprisingly relaxed ride along the bypass while getting ready for the minirace.
I set the fence to 2 seconds, and we rolled nicely along the bypass road like a well-behaved little train. At the arch leading back to the jungle, I shouted the GO GO GO for our racers – and they blasted off like they’d just spotted the finish line buffet.

Right after the start, some riders immediately took off at full speed, as if they’d been secretly saving extra watts. Together with a few others, I managed to go quite fast all the way to te finish line. And naturally, the last 400 m to the finish line turned into an all-out, slightly desperate sprint, with every rider squeezing out whatever was left in the tank. Let’s check out the race results:

Congrats Martin B. 🥇, M. B. 🥈 and I. Lang 🥉 on the podium – strong racing guys.

Thanks to all for coming and having fun with us today.

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