Today, Zwift released the much-anticipated New York map expansion. With ~30km of new roads, this is Zwift’s largest expansion ever of an existing map, more than doubling New York’s existing ~20km.
Zwift has kept the “future NYC” theme, reimagining how New York City may exist 100 years in the future. But they’ve also included many references to present-day NYC, so native New Yorkers should feel right at home. Read on for a tour of the Big Apple’s new tarmac and surrounding sights…
A Tour of the New Roads
Zwift’s expansion adds ~30km of new roads south of the existing Central Park area. Most of the new surface roads are located in the same places as their real-life counterparts, including 6th Avenue exiting Central Park, Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, Flatbush Avenue, Grand Army Plaza, and Prospect Park.
The subways and Times Square, on the other hand, take plenty of liberties in their layouts. While they are roughly located in the same place as their present-day counterparts, their layouts don’t match what exists today.
Below you’ll find a “clean” version of Zwift’s updated New York map, and a marked-up version showing each of the new sections:
Subway 1
The first of three subway sections as you travel north to south, this subway feels most like a traditional New York station. Its distinctive visual feature is a plethora of advertising billboards, which include cheeky throwbacks to other Zwift maps and features. You’ll see a sign advertising “Fuego Fizz” soda as well as “Fuego Flat”, a Robopacer (dating?) ad, and more.
You’ll also see the first bits of graffiti, including a “jmX” tag you’ll find elsewhere in this expansion. (It’s a nod to Jon Mayfield, original creator of what would become Zwift, who named his software “jmX Trainer Coach”.)
This subway, like the other two, includes Power Segments in both directions. Traveling south, you’ll hit a 5-second Power Segment, while north contains a 20-second segment. These sections of road are one-way, meaning you cannot u-turn.
To exit this and the other two subways, you’ll ride up a steep ramp. Good news, though: there’s a bit of an “escalator” built into the ramp to help you to the top! Here’s what it looks like:
Times Square
The Times Square section is a 3.5km glass road circuit with a leaderboard that awards an orange jersey to the current fastest man and woman on course, in both directions. There are also new start pens located on this circuit.
Times Square Circuit Strava Segment >
Times Square Circuit Reverse Strava Segment >
While the idea of more glass roads in New York may strike fear in the heart of non-climbers like myself, in talking to Tony Yruegas, Zwift’s Game Art Director, he explained that they pulled a bit of a visual trick in this section by sinking the ground-level roads so the glass roads could appear elevated without much climbing being needed to reach them. “Overmuscled” cyclists everywhere salute you, Tony and team!
While this section doesn’t have many distinctive visual features beyond the glass roads, Tony tells me it will be the site of future celebrations (parades, confetti, etc.), including a possible NY-style Ball Drop on New Year’s.
Subway 2 (City Hall Station)
Continuing south, we descend into the second subway section, which is a throwback to New York’s City Hall station. This station opened in 1904, but has been closed since 1945, although you can still tour it today. It features distinctive brick archways, which Zwift has replicated in game:
This section includes 10-second Power Segments in both directions:
Manhattan Bridge
Traveling north to south, the first bridge you’ll encounter is the Manhattan Bridge. For non-NYC natives, the Manhattan Bridge is easily distinguished from the Brooklyn Bridge by its ironwork towers and grey steel girders. (The Brooklyn Bridge, in contrast, has stone/concrete towers and horizontal iron beams which block the skyline views.) The Manhattan Bridge also includes a huge stone archway at the entrance to the Manhattan side:
Looking for your best skyline view from a bridge? It’s found on Manhattan Bridge, heading toward Manhattan.
Manhattan Bridge has 250-meter sprint segments in both directions. Both sprints are slightly uphill, since the bridge arches a bit:
- Manhattan Sprint (250 meters, 1.3%)
- Manhattan Sprint Reverse (250 meters, 0.3%)
A large stone arch marks the bridge’s exit on the Manhattan side, while a corkscrew road is the exit on the Brooklyn side.
Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge includes a KOM section (Brooklyn Bridge KOM, 2km, 1.7%) which runs in only one direction, from the Manhattan side to the center of the bridge. It’s an interesting KOM, too, because it actually begins with a descent! (So don’t let that 1.7% number fool you, as this is really more like 1.5km at 3.6%.)
Subway 3 (Brooklyn)
Almost to Prospect Park! After crossing the East River via the Brooklyn or Manhattan bridges, you’ll descend into the third and final subway section. This is the only one located on the Brooklyn side.
This subway is the “greenest” of the three, with more open skylights and windows to let the sun shine on the trees and plants in the station. This is also the most graffiti-heavy of the three stations, especially as you exit out the Prospect Park side.
The Brooklyn subway includes two Power Segments. Traveling southeast toward Prospect Park you’ll hit a 20-second Power Segment, while northwest includes a 5-second segment.
Prospect Park
Exiting the subway, you’ll travel south down Flatbush Avenue (which is actually a climb), arriving at a ring road that takes you around Grand Army Plaza to the entrance of Prospect Park.
This park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux 8 years after they collaborated to design Central Park. Zwift’s layout matches the IRL park roads, including a 5.5km loop and a central road (aptly named Center Drive) that offers a shortcut to the other side.
Prospect Park includes 2 sprint banners and one KOM:
- Center Sprint (200 meters, -2.2%)
- Center Sprint Reverse (200 meters, 2.4%)
- The Peristyle Sprint (400 meters, 0.6%)
- The Peristyle Sprint Reverse (400 meters, 0.1%)
- The Hill KOM (500 meters, 3.7%)
- The Hill KOM Reverse (length and gradient unknown – while it shows on the leaderboard, there is no visible start line on course)
As you make your way around the circuit counterclockwise, you’ll notice various sites: the lap banner, which comes just after the new Prospect Park start pens. The Bandshell, which has received significant upgrades in Zwift’s reimagining. The Peristyle, which hosts the banner for a sprint that runs in both directions. And the Prospect Park Zoo, here much more visible than the real-life zoo, which is hidden behind a high gate!
There are lots of nods to real-life Prospect Park layouts and features, too. The Peristyle Sprint is where the original sprint finish of Prospect Park’s IRL bike races was located. You’ll see lots of people chasing their dogs in the northwest portion, because dogs can be walked off-leash before 7am IRL. And you’ll pass Prospect Park Lake and the ballfields, whose real versions I saw when riding through the park with Jon Mayfield a few weeks ago.
Detailed List of New Routes
Here’s a complete list of the new routes Zwift released today, including short descriptions from me:
- Avon Flyer (5.1km, 30m)*: named for Greg Avon, level 100 Zwifter and Prospect Park race organizer, this simple loop takes in the southern half of Prospect Park.
- Double Parked (42.2km, 330m): begin with an almost complete lap of Prospect Park, then head all the way up to do a lap of Central Park before coming back down to finish that Prospect Park lap.
- Double Span Spin (12.6km, 120m): a CCW circuit of the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges.
- Fuhgeddaboudit (79km, 838m): the new longest route in NYC, this doozy covers all the roads on the map, including some in both directions!
- Green to Screen (28.4km, 207m): perhaps the best route for seeing most of NYC’s new roads within an hourlong ride, as it covers nearly every bit of new tarmac from Times Square south.
- Issendorf Express (7.3km, 53m): named for Charlie Issendorf (NYC racer, Prospect Park race organizer, and former head of events at Zwift), this route is a figure 8 of Prospect Park and Center Drive.
- Prospect Park Loop (5.5km, 37m)*: a good place to chase the orange jersey, this is a simple CCW loop of the Prospect Park circuit.
- Spinfinity (19.3km, 155m): start and finish in Times Square, with a jaunt down to ride across the two bridges.
- Spinfinity Ultra (35km, 291m): almost like two laps of Spinfinity, except you cross the bridges in a different direction on the second lap.
- Stay Puft Pursuit (31.2km, 416m) event-only until November 3: starting in Times Square and traveling south to turn around at the bridges, this is the only route in the expansion that takes on the NY KOM in Central Park, both ways.
- The Double Borough (17.9km, 147m) event-only until November 3: starts in Central Park and travels directly south, turning around by way of the Manhattan Bridge after crossing the Brooklyn Bridge.
- The Greenway (36.8km, 292m): ride the northern half of Prospect Park, then up to the two bridges. Then do it again, hitting the bridges in the other direction this time.
- Toefield Tornado (10.3km, 53m)*: named for legendary Prospect Park race organizer Al Toefield, this route matches Issendorf Express, apart from three cheeky loops of Grand Army Plaza thrown in near the end.
- Watts the Limit (31km, 219m): an out-and-back course that begins in Central Park and travels south to loop around Grand Army Plaza and return by the same roads.
* While all 12 routes listed have achievement badges and accompanying bonus XP for riders, only those marked with * have an achievement badge for runners.
How To Experience the New Routes Today
Want to ride the NY expansion today? Here’s how…
Group Rides and Races
The first events held on these new routes today will be Zwift Unlocked stage 4, which features The Greenway as its long ride, Spinfinity as the short ride and race, and Prospect Park Loop as the run.
But starting today, Club events and Meetups can be scheduled on any of the routes listed above, using the Companion app. So you’ll start seeing events popping up on the expansion roads this week, including Zwift Insider’s 100km Pizza Burner and Tiny Races!
Free Rides and Workouts
New York is one of the guest calendars through the end of Zwift Unlocked (November 17), so from your home screen you can just click “Routes”, select New York, then choose the route you want to ride. Easy!
Upcoming Routes Releases
Zwift says, “Over the coming months, an additional five routes will be unlocked, allowing Zwifters to explore more.” I don’t have any further details on these new routes at this time.
I’ll wrap up with a gallery of images Zwift sent over, since these are the only shots available that show multiple riders, giving us a better feel for what things will look like when it all goes live:
The one image still missing? The Statue of Liberty. Or should I say… the Scottie of Liberty. Yup. They did it!
Questions or Comments?
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