OK, inspired by a strava comment from
@berty bassett I've been doing a bit of research - what are your thoughts on what bike to use on TDZ stage 6 up the Alpe?
If you have the "Tron" bike already, will you use that, or change to Trek Emonda and Zipp 202s?
According to this article -
https://zwiftinsider.com/fastest-bike-alpe-du-zwift/ - the fastest combination up the Alpe is the Emonda with the Lightweight wheels - which you can only get if you're lucky enough to unlock them when you get to the top of the Alpe (instead of the gloves which I always get!). This combination is 18 seconds quicker up ADZ compared to the Tron bike (75kg rider at 225 watts). He hasn't tested with the Emonda and 202s but based on other tests he reckons they'd be about 11 seconds slower than the lightweights - so still 7 seconds quicker than the tron bike.
HOWEVER, there's about 10 miles of flat-ish/rolling riding before you hit the base of the Alpe when you want to be in the fastest group you can, and other tests show the tron bike is the quickest on flat or rolling terrain. So do you go with Emonda + 202's (or Lightweights if you have them) but risk losing more time in the lead-in miles to the base of ADZ than you'd gain back on the climb.....
For me this is all hypothetical as I don't think I'll have the tron bike by Saturday unless I do something like 3 ADZ climbs tonight which definitely isn't going to happen! If I did have it, I think I'd go with the Tron bike, but as I don't I think I'd lose more time on the climb than I'd gain on the flat on any other bike so I'll probably go with Emonda + 202s.