Comments on: “The Über Pretzel” Route Details (Watopia)

By: Craig

Craig — Thu, 27 Apr 2023 16:26:55 +0000

Interested in doing this route in REVERSE – Thinking of starting with the “Road to Sky” and then after summiting AdZ and descending, winding the rest of the route in reverse order to end Downtown.
Question: Are there “turn by turn” directions for the regular route that I can simply invert for tis purpose? I’ve tried to use the route animation above to reverse engineer it but it gets too jumbled for me to keep up with in the middle section between the KOM and AdZ. Is there a way to pause the animation?

Thanks for any input and consideration.

By: Harry Roberts

Harry Roberts — Tue, 25 Apr 2023 11:23:40 +0000

I posted about it 2 years ago and I thought you indicated that it was fixed but my Uber Pretzel from the start pen doesn’t show up on your current strava segment and it appears to be because your segment starts before the intersection of the “Normal” spawn point and where the start pen route join together. As I said above I thought in the comments below you indicated that it had been fixed but it’s not. Any chance you can move the start of your segment forward just a little to include rides from the pen? I e-mailed you too. I included a picture of how the two differ at the beginning. It’s just a few meters looking at the map.

By: Trevor Holdsworth

Trevor Holdsworth — Wed, 15 Feb 2023 17:02:45 +0000

Just sharing my experience: I failed on my first attempt by stupidly going too hard up Epic Kom, switching to the handcycle to race people down the descent etc etc, At 60+km I was toast by the time I got to Epic Kom.Not even halfway.
Attempt 2 worked – light bike and wheels for climbing (Scott Addict) a steady pace up Epic Kom (2 – 2.2W/Kg), switch to Canyon Aeroad + disc wheels for descents and flat, Canyon Grail for Jungle Loop, and so on. Change clothes at about halfway, Youtube for entertainment, and Robert’s your proverbial Uncle.

By: Philippe

Philippe — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 19:19:25 +0000

Just completed this route solo this morning in 5h01 (5h14 with the descent). I’m a big rider (6’4″, 97 kg) with a 3,3 W / Kg FTP. Did it all with the Tron Bike. Didn’t want to break the rythm and switch bikes in the Jungle since it only comes after 45-75 minutes, depending on the rider. I took two breaks. The first one on top of the Volcano KOM and the second one before the Epic KOM, with only 19 kms to go. I changed clothes (what a relief!), ate and filled up my bottles at each break. After the Volcano KOM, it’s pretty flat until you reach the Epic KOM so I think it was good to take a break right before it. Also, I added “(Uber Pretzel)” to my name and there were definitely people drafting me on the flats, which was VERY appreciated.

I’m trying to get all the badges (after working to get the Tron Bike last year when I started) and it was my 25th time up the Alpe so I used it as extra motivation to finish. I’ll never have to go up it again since I have ridden the Four Horsemen as well.

Is it harder than the PRL Full? Mentally yes. I did the PRL last year with a group, took just under 6 hours. The fun thing with the PRL is that you ride 11 times the same route so it’s easier to adjust mentally. Getting on the Alpe, I started having small cramps (had to stop twice to stretch for a couple of seconds). I probably didn’t drink enough. My knowledge of ADZ really helped mentally so I suggest that you do it many times before you attempt the Uber Pretzel. I can’t explain with words how proud you will feel when you’re done! Nutrition, hydration and pacing are key here! Ride on!

By: Jim Stein

Jim Stein — Sun, 10 Apr 2022 14:37:11 +0000

Yesterday I rode the Uber Pretzel, wrongly thinking it was going to be easier than the PRL Full that I had completed 3 weeks ago. It’s 45 km shorter and though it ends with ADZ, its 160 m less total elevation and I love to climb anyway. Piece of cake, right? WRONG! As a disclaimer, I’m almost 58 years old and got my 4th mRNA booster 4 days prior, but felt fine. I am at level 33 and I rode it alone. I approached it as a climb (Chapter 2 TOA w/ Lightweight Meilenstein wheels), then a long flat (Canyon Speedmax CF SLX w/Zipp 808 wheels) then hard climb – ADZ. My goal was to break 6 hours. It started out fine, but as soon as I hit the Jungle Loop I felt like I was in mud, so I swapped to a Trek Supercaliber, then back to the TT set up. Many Zwifters advised to “conserve energy” for ADZ, but I think that got in my head, because I felt dreadfully slow all day. Around 65-70mkm, I thought I’d bail. My rear end and legs were screaming, but some ibuprofen, acetaminophen, Gatorade endurance, and espressos pushed me through. As ADZ approached, the pains came back and ultimately, each segment got slower and slower. My record time up ADZ was exactly a year ago at 1:06. But yesterday, after 115 km, all could muster was an embarrassing 1:35. Ultimately, I got the badge, the XP, and the spinner gave me another 1000 XP, but it hurt. Bad. I will never do it again and the 6:46 total only was 20 minutes less than I spent on the PRL Full.

Summary: The Uber Pretzel is much more grueling than the PRL full. Ending on ADZ is extremely panful and though I love to climb, it got into my head.

My recs (FWIW): (1) go in a group – it was really hard to be alone, mentally and physically (no draft); (2) swap bibs and socks part way though (helped me, a lot), (3) don’t just hydrate with water: use a sodium- and potassium-containing fluid and caffeine if you can tolerate it (trust me, I’m a cardiologist); (4) I don’t have the Tron yet, so I swapped bikes and thought it helped; (5) DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THIS RIDE! I was very disappointed in my performance but think the key factor was underestimated the challenge. Fortunately, I only have 4 more to go, and they are easier. Ride on, friends!

By: Tom Coffey

Tom Coffey — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 02:24:06 +0000

Where are the 1000s of riders who signed up for the Z INSIDER events from Dec 2000 to April 2001?

By: Mika Alen

Mika Alen — Sun, 24 Oct 2021 04:31:53 +0000

In reply to Lartbar.

I don’t have the Tron so I went with Cannondale Evo/Enve uphill (Epic&AdZ) and Canyon TT/Zipp 808 downhill and flat. Switched to mtb for the jungle part.
As the scroll function was disabled I did a meet up to chose the route.
Badge confirmed at 129km/2386m.
Won the polka dot socks at the finnish line lottery or maybe the kevel up to 28.

By: Lartbar

Lartbar — Tue, 10 Aug 2021 09:37:44 +0000

So what’s your setup recommendation? I thought about SL7 + new alpine wheels until the top of radio tower and then switch to the tron bike until I get to alpe. With a route this massive a bike-switch seems to make sense. Our how did you tackle it? Tron all the way as loosing a couple of minutes on the climbes does not matter when you’re riding this beast of a route anyway?

By: Whitney Stidham

Whitney Stidham — Fri, 11 Jun 2021 06:07:50 +0000

Completed this route on 6/5/21; took me 5:11:01 to finish. Ok, so I know this intimidates a lot of people because you finish on L’Alp. The number one trick is pacing; know your limits and don’t push too hard. You do get Epic KOM and Radio Tower out of the way quickly. Switching to the mountain bike in the jungle with help with your time. You make two passes through Tempus Fugit; chat up some riders and get a draft through there if you can. A small group knew I was doing the route and gave me a draft on my second pass through; it helps. Eat a gel or a small snack before you start your climb up L’Alp; you don’t want to bonk out on the final climb. I took three short breaks for a total of 10 minutes off the bike; long enough to use the bathroom or refill bottles. Snacks were light; gels, pop tarts or Stroop waffles. I liked this one better than the Four Horsemen because you get more active recovery in this route. Post ride, you might want to ice your knees a bit to help with recovery. I hope this helps anyone. If I can do it, I know you can!

By: Eric Schlange

Eric Schlange — Mon, 22 Mar 2021 16:13:47 +0000

In reply to Graham. Yes, segment changed. Just change your activity type to a different one, then save it... it'll match up to new segments.