Weekly Barrelman Ambassador Zwift Rides

Hello fellow triathletes!

What a strange triathlon season we have found ourselves in with COVID-19 shutting down many of our A races. As a 2nd year returning Barrelman Ambassador, I am holding out hope that Barrelman will be able to proceed this year on September 20, 2020. MultiSport Canada has set a decision date of July 15, 2020 to determine if they can proceed with the race. In the interim, they have suspended registration price increases for the remainder of 2020.

I know this is a stressful time for many of us, especially for those of you in the medical field and first responders. My heartfelt thanks to all of you in these fields, but also to everyone who has been affected by COVID-19. To the restaurant workers who have been unemployed, to the small business owners and to all the parents trying to work from home as well as home school their children.

So how do we all stay positive in a world with so much uncertainty and change? I really feel that exercise is one of the best coping skills in the face of stress and anxiety. Of course, most of our gyms and pools have been closed for a couple months, but thankfully with the weather starting to turn (well not just yet in my home state of Ohio, where it snowed today) we can get outside to bike and run. On days like today, where it is cold and miserable outside, I turn to my indoor bike trainer to get a decent workout in.

I have a smart trainer (Wahoo Core) and utilize Zwift. During this pandemic, I organize a couple of group rides per week with my local triathlon club, Steel Valley Triathlon.

I would like to extend this offer to anyone who is planning on or contemplating doing Barrelman this year. I set these rides up every Tuesday at 6pm EST and Saturday at 8a EST. The Saturday rides only go forward if it is not nice enough to ride outside, but the Tuesday night rides occur regardless of weather.

In order for me to create a meetup on Zwift, I need to be Zwift “friends” with you. To find me on Zwift you need to use Zwift Companion which is a smart phone app. My username is just my name, Kim Ruble. I’m the only Kim Ruble on Zwift, so you shouldn’t have a hard time finding me.  I follow a structured workout for these rides, and use the chat features to let riders know what zone to be riding in. Tuesdays are generally an hour, zone 2 ride and Saturdays are a longer ride with some zone 3 and zone 4 interval work.

I have quite a few friends on Zwift, so I am going to ask you to put some initials after your name so I know who my Barrelman friends are. If you could put either MSC (for MultiSport Canada) or Barrelman after your name it will help me know who to invite to these rides. Once I have a list of Barrelman riders, you can delete this addition to your username. Zwift allows you to change your username as needed. Once you receive the invitation in the Zwift companion app, all you have to do is accept it and once you log onto Zwift to ride you will receive a blue “Join Meetup” button in the bottom left hand corner of the screen. You simply select this button and Zwift will keep us all together regardless of power output. You can do a structured Zwift workout or free ride while in the meetup. If you want to do a workout, you first join the meetup and then hit the menu button and select the workout button and choose your workout. Once in the ride, we can chat via texting within the Zwift companion app.

Please let me know if you have any questions about how to use Zwift or the meetup function. I’ll be setting up our first Barrelman ride on Tuesday, May 19, 2020 at 6pm. I will send out invitations on Monday, May 18, 2020, but again, I can’t send you an invitation unless we are Zwift friends. You must get an invitation in order to join a meetup.

Please direct questions to my email, rubleka@aol.com. I look forward to riding with you in Zwift and chatting about Barrelman!