Tony the Sweeper saved my 100km ride

I’ve been on Zwift for two years, but the longest ride I’ve done was 50 km. Today, I wanted to go for 100 km, and I knew TBR had a 100 km group ride taking roughly 3 hours. The sweeper for the ride was someone named Tony, who spent hours going all over the place to bring people back into the group.

I was super nervous about the ride and took it very seriously, huddling in the group and saving every match I had. The thing is, I’ve never had to “fuel” before—I just never needed to on a 1.5–2 hour ride. But at around the 2-hour mark, I could feel myself absolutely bonking. I started shoveling down kids’ protein bars and grabbing whatever I could during the coffee break just to stay with the pack, but my energy level was really perilous. I knew that if I lost the group, I was absolutely done. At that point, I had no matches left to burn.

Then, at around 2:15, disaster struck. While riding the desert flats, my JetBlack trainer lost connection, and suddenly, I had no watts. I absolutely panicked. I jumped off the bike, unplugged and replugged the smart trainer, jumped back on, and re-paired it. The whole process took maybe 20 seconds, but when I looked up, the group was off in the distance. I was devastated.

But then, I saw him—Tony, coming back alone for me. I rode in his draft, fought my way back into the pack, and finished the ride.

Thanks Tony, you absolute legend.

edit: Tony is actually Troy, u/fartpowereddad.