“Richmond Rollercoaster” Route Details (Richmond)
The “Richmond Rollercoaster” route was launched as part of the Richmond refresh in February 2020. It’s a “lollipop route”, meaning you ride a lead-in to the route’s main circuit, then ride a certain number of laps of the circuit. This route’s lead-in is a wild one, though – hence the “rollercoaster” name!
After the lumpy rollercoaster lead-in you’re on a flat circuit that begins and ends at the Monument Avenue sprint banner. This circuit is the reverse version of The Fan Flats circuit.
Route Basics
Length: 5 km (3.1 miles)
Elevation: 19m (62′)
+12km (7.5 miles) lead-in with 150m (492′) elevation
Map: Richmond
ZIMetrics
Rating: 9.7/100 🛈
Time Estimates 🛈
lead-in + first lap
4 W/kg: 27 minutes
3 W/kg: 31 minutes
2 W/kg: 39 minutes
Start & Finish
Format: Loop
Ride Achievement Badge: 100 XP
Run Achievement Badge: none
Route Description
The “rollercoaster” portion of this route is essentially the hilly parts of the Cobbled Climbs Reverse route. So you begin on a slight descent near Richmond’s start/finish banner, but the road quickly gets steeper down Governor Street. Enjoy the free speed now, because as soon as you get to the bottom the 23rd Street KOM section begins. This timed climb ends at the 23rd Street KOM banner.
A quick descent down 23rd St takes you onto the start of the second (and final) timed KOM of this route, simply called the “KOM Reverse” in game. This climb starts off very steep, hitting 22% (the steepest pitch in Zwift?) around the first right-hand bend before leveling into a false flat to the KOM banner atop Libby Hill.
Next you’ll fly down the twisty cobbles of Libby Hill to the waterfront for the flattest portion of the course, which is approximately 2.5km long with a few rollers. This brings you to the final climb of the route, up East Main Street. It’s the longest climb on the loop (1.2km at 3.8%), but is not a timed KOM segment.
After the rollercoaster, you’ll make your way onto the flat circuit portion of this route for as many laps as your event organizers have planned. Before you hit the circuit, though, you’ll have one go at the reverse Broad Street sprint – the shortest timed sprint in Zwift!
Broad Street reverse sprint – the shortest sprint in Zwift!
This route will lead to exciting races, as the pitchy lead-in lends itself to breakaways by strong climbers while the flat circuit finish should let a high-wattage pack reel in small breakaways. Smart racers will need to look at multiple variables to figure out their best strategy, such as:
- How strong are you on climbs vs flats?
- How many flat circuit laps are in the race?
- How many riders are in the breakaway group(s) vs chase groups?
Should really include the elevation gain for the lead-in in the info section. Very misleading to look at the route and see 19m when in reality it’s like 152m of elevation gain.
How is the lead in longer than the actual route (2x Difference)?
These route detail pages could use an elevation map with km along the bottom and segments marked, ideally PUs marked too.
“ 22% (the steepest pitch in Zwift?”
It’s only fair. 23rd St in real life is a literal wall. And it’s cobbled.
This has got to be the hardest 100 point badge route on Zwift
You may be right. That lead-in is crazy, and you get nothing for it!
If this is no longer event-only, then you can do it as a meetup and skip the lead-in.
The meetup trick apparently no longer works 😢
Does the 1/5 difficulty rating in Zwift for this route take into account the lead-in? Or does the difficulty rating only pertain to the part of the route after the lead-in? A 1/5 with this lead-in seems off.
I see you’ve added the route to VeloViewer. You have though added one which starts from the penn.
You’ve also includdd in VeloViewer the full leading which is not part of the official route.
I’ve got a request in to change the segment on Veloviewer to just the flat lap (after the lead-in).