On April 24, 2015, Zwift launched Watopia. Here was their message to the small community of beta testers:
Together we’ve ridden 1 million miles (@1.6M km), 333K laps and climbed a total of 44M feet (@13.4M meters) on Zwift Island. That’s like climbing Mt Everest 1.5K times! We think that’s a big deal, so today we’ve launched our new course on the next isle to celebrate. Welcome to Watopia, your new home on Zwift!
As you can see, we’ve successfully moved and we’re ready for everyone to conquer our 10k course filled with fabulous vistas, bridges, and all new terrain. We’re still under construction so please be patient as we work to bring you the best ride possible (helmets encouraged!)…
See the full game release notes from Jon Mayfield posted April 24, 2015 >
A few fun facts:
- It took the beta testers 5 months to ride 1 million miles, while in December 2017 the community rode over 700,000 miles in just 24 hours in a major fundraiser event. But in 2021, Zwifters rode 1.04 billion miles on the platform – that’s an average of 2.85 million miles per day!
- The “Zwift Island” referenced is Jarvis Island, the first Zwift course. The honey-hunting bear in Titans Grove in named Jarvis in honor of this original Zwift map.
- When first launched Watopia had only one 9.1km route, known today as the “Hilly Route“. The next Watopia expansion was Ocean Boulevard on December 30, 2015. Today Watopia is home to 88 routes (including some running-only and event-only routes).
- The Richmond, Virginia UCI Worlds course was released on September 1, 2015, in between the first two Watopia updates.
- Today Zwift hosts 212 routes spread across 12 maps (in order of release): Watopia, Richmond, London, Innsbruck, New York, Bologna, Yorkshire, Crit City, France, Paris, Makuri Islands, and Scotland.
Is the picture from the Watopia launch? What happened to the jerseys with the big Z in orange, red, lilac or blue? Were these the standard kits at the time? Design seems a bit questionable. 😎
It was the height of virtual fashion at the time. The beta tester jersey is like it but grey. Much more acceptable.
The airplane image is what Zwift used when they notified everyone that we were being transported from Jarvis to Watopia.
Those were to days. Good memories before any power meter trainers. 😁
Not that it really matters but the first Wahoo Kickr was released in 2012.
First “mainstream” power meter probably was the 1999 PowerTap version?
I had a slightly miscalibrated Computrainer back then. As the ride went on my power would creep upwards.
To get the Tron bike when it was introduced, I remember I had to do hill repeats over and over on the Zwift KOM because that’s all there was. Good times 😂
Remember when Frank Garcia VEverested the Hilly KOM? That’s just nuts.
Those are some cool jerseys, bold, bright … bring ’em back Zwift
Remember the blue pretend riders?
I remember them! They were like the early robot pacers, but were ghost riders because the routes were so quiet and it gave you virtual company!
I do wish they would have expanded on their mountain biking course. I don’t know why they offer mountain bikes and yet don’t have any courses for them.
I use Zwift for training over the winter months, but I am not a road rider. So it can get pretty boring to me at times. It would be sweet to have steeper and more rolling terrain that when I put my mountain bike in the stand I would get the feel of riding singletrack. It certainly would open up Zwift to more users and make it more entertaining.
I remember back 9 years ago being part of the beta group. To your point there was the single course and often there were only 50 folks on the course. Oh the other benefit, it was free to use it. Zwift has modernized indoor cycling.
Zwift user number 76, still wear the beta tester jersey now
Time flies like an arrow
fruit flies like a bananna
Joined as part of the COVID cohort in December 2020.
Been here for 37% of Zwift’s existence.
After experiencing it, I wished I had joined much earlier.