Many Zwifters consider The Über Pretzel to be Zwift’s toughest route since it finishes with the leg-sapping Alpe du Zwift climb after 115km of riding. This explains why so many Zwifters haven’t yet earned the Über Pretzel route badge!
We’re hoping to help you remedy that situation with our second Zwift Insider-hosted Z Badge Hunt event: Z Badge Hunt – Uber Pretzel – hosted by Zwift Insider.
The event takes place Saturday, December 18th, at 7am PST/10am EST/3pm GMT.
About the Route
The Über Pretzel covers almost every bit of road in Watopia, missing only Titans Grove and the short additions added in December 2020. At 128.3 km (79.7 miles) long with 2335 meters (7,661‘) of climbing it’s the second-longest (and second-climbiest) route in all of Zwift, behind London’s PRL Full.
But Zwifters who have ridden both often say The Über Pretzel is tougher than the PRL Full. While the PRL Full is just one mind-numbing lap after another, at least it lets you get into a rhythm. The Über Pretzel, on the other hand, has no rhythm.. and just when you’re feeling like it’s time for the ride to end, you arrive at the base of Alpe du Zwift!
Read more about The Über Pretzel >
Category Details
There are just two categories for this event: an open category, and one for ladies only.
More Ride Specifics
- Show up on time, because there is no late join for this ride. Why? Because if you late joined more than a minute or so into the event, you wouldn’t unlock the route badge! And we don’t want that on our conscience.
- This will be a double draft ride, so sit in with others on the flats in order to conserve your energy.
- Steering is enabled, to make it more engaging and fun!
- We’re serving up a custom mix of only useful powerups, evenly split between the Feather, Van, and Helmet. Use them for a bit of relief.
- This is not a race – it’s a group ride. You can treat it as a race if you’d like, of course, but the ride will break up naturally into pace groups. Find riders working at your target pace and work together.
- Based on the VeloViewer Leaderboard we can see that top riders crush The Über Pretzel in under 4 hours. But most mortals require 5-6 hours, with plenty taking even longer. You do you. Be sure to plan accordingly.
Discord
Zwift Insider’s Discord server will be used for voice chat during the ride. This really helps pass the time, so we highly encourage joining in, even if it’s just to listen!
Click here to join the server, and read “Using Discord on Zwift” for details if you’re new to Discord.
Invite link: discord.gg/zwiftinsider
Pro tip: enable push to talk or decent noise cancellation, so everyone only hears you when you want to be heard.
Sign Up Now
You can sign up for the event in Zwift’s Companion app, or online at zwift.com/events/tag/zbadgehunt/view/2505097.
Additional Ride Times
If this ride’s start time doesn’t fit your schedule, there are additional (not Zwift Insider-hosted) Z Badge Hunt PRL Full events happening this weekend at these times:
- Saturday 6am GMT
- Saturday 4am PST/7am EST/12pm GMT
- Saturday 11am PST/2pm EST/7pm GMT
- Saturday 4pm PST/7pm EST
- Saturday 7pm PST
Storytime On The Über Pretzel
This is the second Zwift Insider-hosted event that has been held on The Über Pretzel. The first was massive! Read my debrief of that event from back in February 2021 >
Questions or Comments?
Post below and we’ll answer them!
Which is the best bike for this course? Tron or Aethos with lightweight wheels?
Tron will save you the most watts, since there’s a lot of flat ground.
If you can change in less than 24s and not going to be drafting on the climb then maybe worth a bike change at the bottom of the alpe?
Womans category riding on their own?
That will be too lonely for me – prefer riding in the huge bunch …
I hope the app is doing its job today as it should.
Just finnished the Uber Pretzel. Was Nice riding with you. Thx. And dit it just under 5 h.
Hi Eric, My Apple TV Locked up at the top of ADZ about halfway around the loop but before I saved the ride. Finished in about 5::42/192ish. any chance the ride will be recovered?
Never mind, Figured out how to save via companion app with the the help of google and the Zwift support pages. Thanks again for hosting and feel free to delete these posts!
That was a good ride, thanks for hosting it. I decided to tack on a few extra km to get to a century, rough extra 40 minutes there.
Ditto — but nice to check that off the list
Thanks Eric and crew! Really great ride today.
Eric – thank you for this opportunity. What a great, friendly atmosphere.
I managed to earn the badge. You were really a perfect, uplifting host.
Thumbs up and big RIDE ON from Germany, ERIC!