“Cauberg” Details (Zwift Climb Portal)

Key Details

While relatively short, the Cauberg is notorious for its steep, uneven terrain and the strong headwinds that often accompany the final push to the summit. You won’t need to worry about those on Zwift, though! (In fact, this was the shortest climb portal in Zwift when it was added to the game in April 2025. This shortness makes it very handy if you’re looking to bank lots of XP…)

While often associated with the Amstel Gold Race (the Netherlands’ premier one-day cycling event), this climb has also featured in multiple World Championships: 1938, 1948, 1979, and most recently in 2012.

Note: this climb is so short that, if you ride it in Watopia and try to save your activity at the top of the climb, the activity will be less than 2km and thus won’t count toward your week streak or show up in your saved activities list. It also won’t show the climb as completed in Zwift. Best to turn around at the top and descend to the bottom so everything counts!

Here’s the verified IRL Strava segment:

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30 Comments
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Zee
Zee
1 year ago

It’s so fast…

Mathew Rose
Mathew Rose
1 year ago

So, is the intention these next two weeks to get as many people as possible over the hump to level 100? I don’t mind if that means they’ll roll out another 25 or 50 levels beyond 100.

Markus
Markus
1 year ago
Reply to  Eric Schlange

I’m one of the people that don’t enjoy the portal and won’t be using it to level up. I’m sure there are more. Maybe they’re trying to push portal usage. I’d rather get the miles for my bike upgrade.

Mathew Rose
Mathew Rose
1 year ago
Reply to  Eric Schlange

I tried this climb on the portal this morning and it’s pretty awful. It’s so short that it’s really asking for people to test their two-minute neuromuscular power. I did it at regular gradient at 460 watts 6.7 w/kg and it was fine, but then I did two more laps, one at 50% gradient just riding tempo and then I thought I’d try the 75% as another interval and I got the flagged and coned for riding up that for 1 minute 45 seconds at 450 watts, which is NOT THAT MUCH POWER. Zwift is great, but if you’re on it for any length of time, you’ll invariably run into a number of jerks who think everything, even other people’s workout intervals, is a virtual eggplant measuring contest.

Marcel
Marcel
1 year ago
Reply to  Eric Schlange

Apparently they still care enough to pull it from the calendar 3 days early 😉

Gary
Gary
1 year ago

Does this climb upload? I just did all four climbs and ended after the finish banner, and none of them have uploaded to zwift. The trouble shooting guide says there is a minimum upload distance of 2KM.

Last edited 1 year ago by Gary
Hully Gully
Hully Gully
1 year ago
Reply to  Gary

There seem to be a couple of bugs coming with this portal.
One is that they occasionally do not upload, or at least not completely.
E.g. yesterday I made it twice with a few clinbs each. First was uploaded, second was uploaded with another name(!), “Watopia” only, and not further visible to Garmin. It was 15km.
Moreover, inbetween the wheel stopped working for me.
I did flip in the climb or what causes this normally.
The wheel came back next round.

Moreover, they screwed on the probability of the 250XP rewards.
They appear rarely and even more rarely after some time climbing.
On the other hand, one gets much more feathers, often overlappig in the segments.

Jeff
Jeff
1 year ago
Reply to  Gary

Which 4 climbs do you mean? This is a one off climb found in Watopia only available since Monday 14th and over 1300 riders completed it

Gary
Gary
1 year ago
Reply to  Jeff

I did 50/75/100 and 125% and none of them uploaded. Within the game they are all marked as complete.

Zeeeee
Zeeeee
1 year ago
Reply to  Gary

Gamified results will not show up as segments. Do the 100 and 125 on a separate ride.

Mathew Rose
Mathew Rose
1 year ago
Reply to  Gary

Did someone flag your effort and delete your ride? That happend to me. I was using it as an interval session, and someone with too much time on his hands got hurt feelings and reported my effort.

Gary
Gary
1 year ago
Reply to  Mathew Rose

Nope, each time from the menu, and saved after the finish. I still think that if you finish at the top of the hill it’s under zwift 2KM minimum.

Jeff
Jeff
1 year ago
Reply to  Gary

Because it seems if you do lesser %ages than 100% in the same ride as a 100% effort it seems to flag the whole ride. If you do 1 at 100% it will show segment times.

Paul Himes
Paul Himes
1 year ago
Reply to  Gary

Did you stop at the top or extend your ride to the 2.5 km minimum that Zwift requires for a save?

Gary
Gary
1 year ago
Reply to  Paul Himes

I stopped at the top each time.I didn’t know at the time there was a minimum distance. So the question really is, why is there a ride which is shorter than the minimum distance.

Marcel
Marcel
1 year ago
Reply to  Eric Schlange

The length really shouldn’t be an issue. Lead-in+climb+descent = 3km = upload no problem.

The issue Zwift is probably dealing with is that event at my pedestrian 2 w/kg with the current powerup/xp distribution this yields about 5 times the XP a workout does when climbing at 50%. Excluding the 250xp drop and feather would take this to about 3x, make the (useless) feather 50/50 with the 10xp makes it 1.5x which is more in line with the other climbs.

E.M.Brown (E.M.B.R. @ YouTube)
E.M.Brown (E.M.B.R. @ YouTube)
1 year ago

This one is a banger – double feather and it’s over in 90 seconds. Great for repeat interval training. Short, steep, and punchy. Looking for it to get added to the Zwift Insider – Climb Portal (Short) list on Veloviewer.

Last edited 1 year ago by E.M.Brown (E.M.B.R. @ YouTube)
Noreg
Noreg
1 year ago

11 x Cauberg @ 1 hour = 4 000 XP.

Noreg
Noreg
1 year ago
Reply to  Eric Schlange

That was with the 500 streak bonus 😀 But still a lot of XP!

Hansel
Hansel
1 year ago

This is so short that I can already picture getting a string of feathers I can’t use fast enough before the next arch, wasting arches. Probably have to dump any feathers.

Last edited 1 year ago by Hansel
Steve
Steve
1 year ago

1:34, dual recorded. 600 watts for 90s and I got the Coneberg of Shame 🙁
Any way to get this removed?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86hZa62OlAg

Emmett Clark
Emmett Clark
1 year ago

seems like it’s so short you won’t be able to burn power ups fast enough

Bozza Langslow (VCC)
Bozza Langslow (VCC)
1 year ago
Reply to  Emmett Clark

I’m slow enough that I can burn feathers and powerups 😑😔😉

Marcel
Marcel
1 year ago
Reply to  Emmett Clark

Definitely an issue the last flat bit as even at low pace the “spinner” almost takes longer to “decide” your reward than you ride the bit between gate 1 and the finish. And considering that’s just an artificial effect and your reward has already been decided, they could/should make that spin shorter or eliminate it completely.

Cliff M.
Cliff M.
1 year ago

Isn’t Cauberg scheduled for today? The Zwift event screen shows Hardknott Pass instead.

Count Jedi
Count Jedi
1 year ago
Reply to  Cliff M.

Yes I have been waiting for this portal today and currently it’s a no show. However I’m in the uk, so must account for time zones