Zwift version 1.67 begins its phased rollout today. This much-anticipated update brings a Watopia expansion that adds two new major road sections off the southern coast road, including The Grade which functions as an in-game FTP test!
Get all the details below…
Watopia Expansion: New Roads
Two new sections of road have been added, climbing up from Watopia’s southern coast road toward the Epic KOM’s snowy heights. One section, known as “The Grade”, begins in Ciudad La Cumbre (“Summit City”) and heads straight up the mountain, joining the Epic KOM forward climb road just after the tunnel section.
The other new road section section branches off of The Grade halfway up its climb, traveling to the left and descending down to the southern coast road just before it connects to the Mayan Jungle loop.
Along with those major road additions, Zwift has also added a new set of start pens on the beach at Ciudad La Cumbre, and a turnaround near the Sasquatch Sprint.
Watopia Expansion: New Routes
This expansion includes 8 new free-ridable routes and 3 event-only routes. We’ll add details to our route pages for these routes in the coming days.
Coastal Crown Loop
Length: 15km (9.3 miles)
Elevation: 186m (610‘)
Elevation Evaluation
Length: 24.6km (15.3 miles)
Elevation: 396m (1,299‘)
Glyph Heights
Length: 25.4km (15.8 miles)
Elevation: 537m (1,762‘)
Mayan Mash
Length: 34.6km (21.5 miles)
Elevation: 755m (2,477‘)
Oh Hill No
Length: 7.9km (4.9 miles)
Elevation: 306m (1,004‘)
Peak Performance
Length: 45.9km (28.5 miles)
Elevation: 726m (2,382‘)
Snowman
Length: 44km (27.3 miles)
Elevation: 578m (1,896‘)
Tides and Temples
Length: 36.5km (22.7 miles)
Elevation: 460m (1,509‘)
The three event-only routes included in this expansion are Itza Climb Finish, Itza Party, and Mayan San Remo.
Watopia Expansion: New Badges
All 11 new routes include route achievement badges with XP bonuses attached the first time you complete the route:
Watopia Expansion: New KOM Segments
Four new timed climb segments are included in this expansion. Three are on the new routes, but the fourth is on the Radio Tower KOM atop the Epic KOM… a long-awaited official segment!
- The Grade KOM: 3.52km, 305m, 8.6%
- Mayan Mountainside KOM: 2km, 62m, 3.1%
- Itza KOM: 3.75km, 95m, 2%
- Radio Tower KOM: 1.16km, 150m, 12.8%
Watopia Expansion: New FTP Test
The new “The Grade” KOM segment functions as a brand-new way to do an FTP test on Zwift. It may be, as one Zwift employee told us, “The easiest way to do the hardest thing on Zwift.”
Instead of your FTP test being a structured workout, or letting Zwift detect your FTP based on your 20-minute power, you can hammer your way up The Grade and Zwift will detect FTP based on your time and average power over the segment.
Curious how exactly it works? Read our recent review of “The Grade” FTP test, and check out our segment detail page for The Grade.
Watopia Expansion: New Epic KOM Scenery
Zwift didn’t mention this in their update notes, but today’s update includes a refresh to the Epic KOM biome. This includes new ice elements, rocks, various frozen assets, and refreshed terrain work.
If you’re chasing a PR on the Epic KOM forward or reverse, be warned: Zwift changed the road surface from tarmac to ice/snow on the upper portion of the climb, which increases the Crr thus reducing your speed. We tested to confirm: at 4 W/kg, our test bot climbed the Epic KOM forward 28 seconds slower on the updated roads, while the Epic KOM Reverse was 27 seconds slower.
June 12, 2024 update on the text above: Zwift has informed us that they’ll be removing the new ice/snow surfaces that were added to the upper portions of the Epic KOM in the next update (around June 25).
More Release Notes
Zwift provided notes on additional tweaks and bug fixes in this update:
- We simplified the choice of FTP Tests by only featuring the most popular and relevant FTP Tests and updating their names to be more descriptive.
- Fixed an issue that could prevent exiting the Workout detail screen when using Play controllers or keyboard.
- Fixed an issue that could cause the Join Event button to be partially covered by the HUD in Climb Portal.
- Fixed an issue that could potentially display the incorrect cycling level on the Streaks screen.
- Fixed an issue that could prevent the Rolling Highlands route in Scotland from being completed in an event if scheduled for multiple laps.
- Fixed missing display names in the Garage for the ZRL Winner’s helmet and Lazer Vento helmet.
- Corrected the name of the route completion badge for Watopia’s Waistband.
- Fixed an issue that could cause some trees to render incorrectly on mobile devices.
- Fixed an issue where some campaigns on the home screen could be missing localized text for Korean and Chinese languages.
- Windows:
- Windows/Mac:
Discuss this release on Zwift’s forum >
Questions or Comments?
If you spotted any other changes or bugs in the update, please comment below!