Zwift Race Report: The Ride with Reggie
Did you know that there are 101 Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCU), but only 2 that have collegiate cycling teams, and those were not created until as recently as fall 2020? This stat was unknown to me until I joined the Ride with Reggie on Zwift this past Saturday morning. Our favorite celebrity and cycling enthusiast Reggie Miller is looking to help change this by raising money to increase diversity and inclusion in collegiate cycling. He started out with a bang hosting a ride on Zwift sponsored by our friends at Castelli and Moots and attended by several well known athletes in the cycling community.
And so, instead of joining what was probably one of the last true fall weekend rides in NYC, the ones with crisp AM temps and the last autumn leaves on the trees, I instead hopped on the indoor bike and donned my virtual Ride with Reggie jersey (the real version of which you can purchase and looks pretty great). I’m not truly ready to hop back into the Zwift organized ride + race regimen yet so I waited until there was only 9 minutes to spare before rushing myself off the couch. I have to admit this might be my new go-to strategy, less time to overthink whether trying to draft off of avatars is a terrible idea.
The ride was certainly one of the bigger Zwift events I have ever done and started off briskly, despite Reggie announcing his intent to keep things chill with 2.5wpk max effort, I am pretty sure I was doing 2.5wpk just to try and stay in the pack. I admit even though I wasn’t interacting with anyone live in person, it was kind of neat to be able to look up and say hey I’m riding next to Reggie Miller (childhood sports nerd dreams engaged) or chuckle as we virtually waved when Justin Williams and Kiel Reijnan zoomed through the pack. Reggie was interacting with the crowd throughout, so even as I got dropped on the Richmond Worlds course climb and watched Reggie’s big yellow beacon float away in the distance, it made the next 2 loops tick by. And that was the point, to get the community together to raise money for a great cause and open our eyes a little bit further to the lack of diversity in our sport and what we can collectively do to make that better.
To be part of the solution, there is still time to donate and support the Ride with Reggie, so please consider making a donation or purchasing a jersey or neck gaiter, all proceeds from which will go towards creating cycling programs at HBCUs around the country.
To make a tax deductible donation CLICK HERE.
Lisa has been riding and racing nearly all bike disciplines for over 10 years and was co-founder and manager of the former CityMD Women's Racing Team before its merger with To Be Determined, former board member of the CRCA, and always planning her next travel adventure or squeezing her fat bulldog just a little too tight.
