Looking for some inspiration to help you reach your goals? In this week’s top video, hear how one Zwifter plans to reach an ambitious goal of having a 400-watt 20-minute power.
March is Women’s History Month, so you may notice an extra focus on women Zwifters in the coming weeks. We’re kicking it off today with a post summarizing key women’s clubs on Zwift.
Cycling is a social sport, and getting plugged into a rider community can be a real game-changer for your motivation, fitness, and overall quality of life! Most of the teams below host regular social rides, some race together, but most importantly all are open to any woman who just wants a place to call home. (Special thanks to Leah Thorvilson at ZHQ for pulling this info together!)
Ruckus Racing is a Canadian women’s bike racing team that came to be when, back in 2022, a few local racers caused a ruckus when an iconic local event neglected to offer an amateur women’s category. Our founding members rallied the local community and drove a change, and as such, Ruckus Racing was born. Now, we are a race team and development ground run for women, by women. Female-identifying athletes are often dichotomized. We’re either there “just for fun” OR there to compete at our highest level. But what we know is that competing and pushing our limits is fun. Hence, our motto “having fun, taken seriously”. We’re here toeing start lines, welcoming new racers and building stoke to show that women can be playful and still bring our all to a race.
The QueenBees are an inclusive collective of women united by a shared love of cycling. Much like a hive, we believe in working together to bring out the best in every member of our community. Our mission is to support, empower, and encourage women to live their best lives; wherever they may be on their life, cycling, or fitness journey.
Founded by four Australian women who first connected on Zwift, QueenBees has grown into a global community offering 11 weekly women’s only rides led by experienced ride leaders across all time zones. Our sessions range from 30 to 90 minutes and include a mix of social banded rides, unbanded rides, and structured workouts, ensuring there is something for everyone.
At QueenBees, we believe every woman has a story and a unique value to contribute. Together, these stories strengthen our hive and create a global sisterhood: one that every member can be proud to belong to.
NGNM United We Are Club is an international Zwift club for women who value structured training, shared motivation, and riding together. Riders worldwide share the same virtual roads, connected as a close-knit community.
No Gods No Masters® – a women’s cycling apparel brand – has been active on Zwift since 2019, using the platform to bring women together through regular rides and workouts. The club reflects the brand’s ethos: inclusive, supportive, and focused on helping women grow as cyclists with confidence and consistency.
All NGNM Zwift events live in the club, including the weekly NGNM Women Crush Wednesdays group ride and the NGNM United We Are Women’s Workout Series, designed to build endurance, strength, and overall fitness – whether training for a United We Are real event in Italy or personal goals.
Rocacorba Collective is an inclusive indoor cycling community founded in 2021 by professional cyclist Ashleigh Moolman Pasio. Created to empower women through connection, competition, and shared purpose, the Collective welcomes riders of all levels, while remaining open to men who actively support and champion women’s cycling.
At our core, we are about more than watts and results. We believe confidence is built together. From first-time racers to elite athletes, members are supported through structured Zwift racing, expert coaching from Helen Bridgman, and a deeply collaborative team environment where everyone is encouraged to progress, whatever their goals. Our culture is rooted in mentorship, teamwork, and showing up for one another on and off the bike.
Women should join Rocacorba Collective because this is a space designed for them to grow, feel seen, and truly belong. It’s a sisterhood that values ambition and kindness equally, where learning is celebrated and every contribution counts. Beyond training and racing, we ride with purpose. A portion of every membership supports young girls from the Khaltsha Academy in Khayelitsha, helping fund education and access to indoor cycling in South Africa.
Founded in 2019, The Warrior Games began with a simple idea: to create women’s events that are fun, inclusive, and run with fairness and care. We wanted to offer a space where women could come together, enjoy themselves, and celebrate what we can achieve united.
Since then, TWG has grown into a welcoming community, organising beloved events such as the Iceni Women’s Series, the Tour de Boudicca, a three-day stage race, and the Tour de Andrasta. We take pride in collaborating with other communities and organisers to create enjoyable, well-run events, and we’re always happy to support other women-focused activities wherever we can.
Most recently, TWG has partnered with Femme Cycle Collab, as both organisations share the same values. Keeping everything within a single club ensures this new partnership runs smoothly and aligns with our vision of community, fun, and empowerment.
At its heart, TWG is about bringing women together, whether through sport, adventure, or shared experiences and encouraging a spirit of friendship, fun, and mutual support. We warmly invite anyone who shares our values to join us, take part, and enjoy the camaraderie that comes from celebrating strength, determination, and the joy of women united.
Catrina’s Ladies Social ride started as the CIS Ladies Recovery group ride as I was a part of the CIS training program in 2016. Myself as the leader along with Karen Russell, Louise Joubert, Courtnee Swaim, Dean Bryson, Teatte Louderback-Smith and Pam Abbot were the core of this amazing ladies ride, and our mutual support got us through the challenges and changes that came with each of these rides. We wanted to support the ladies’ community as I had just started training in 2014 on Zwift, learning from trial and error. In 2019 I left CIS to pursue other goals, so now the ride is Catrina’s Ladies Social ride.
I also have an Endurance 100k Ladies ride, which has been going since 2019. And I have started my own coaching business, CW Fitness, focusing more towards ladies’ individual needs. Because I truly believe that us ladies have to support one another and lift each other up always!
We are a global community of women who race with purpose, passion, and pride. Whether you’re a first time endurance athlete or a seasoned competitor, we believe in showing up for ourselves and each other in sport and in life.
Founded by professional triathlete Angela Neath, I Race Like a Girl and Girls Get Gritty is more than just a team – it’s a movement. We support, challenge, and celebrate one another every step of the way.
OWL.BiKe isn’t just a cycling community—it’s a flock of unstoppable women in Lycra rewriting the rules on what power looks like past 50. We’re Older Women in Lycra (OWLs), and we’ve decided blending in is overrated.
For us, showing up beats showing off every time. Some of us chase watts in Tuesday ZRL races, others roll into our Grey Zone Empowerment rides—think trivia, laughter, and light pedaling while learning what real empowerment feels like. Whether you’re spinning easy or pushing hard, every ride is a win because you showed up and had fun doing it.
OWL.BiKe is where friendship meets grit. We lift each other up with genuine gratitude and a good dose of humor, reminding one another that we still get to do this—and that’s worth celebrating. There’s no talk of slowing down here, only building strength, confidence, and joy.
In our flock, age isn’t a limit—it’s an edge. We ride together, laugh together, and rise together. Because when OWLs take flight, the world can’t help but notice.
The FCC wants to get women to race bikes, on Zwift mostly. We want to encourage more women to race against women, and encourage and uplift them to keep them racing. This isn’t about elite racing, this is about keeping women motivated through:
Providing convenient forums and race formats that specifically showcase different women’s strengths,
Creating team-oriented race formats where each rider matters,
Talking across women’s teams to gather support for the women-only format.
AHDR stands for Aussie Hump Day Ride, with “Hump Day” being an Aussie the term for the middle of the week. AHDR Ladies formed in 2017 off the back of the main Hump Day Ride, when it became clear that the ladies wanted a space, ride, and race to call their own. From that, the Cake Ride was born – and Tuesday officially became ladies day at AHDR.
AHDR Ladies is an inclusive, safe, supported, and fun team. What started as a ride has grown into something much bigger, leading to real life friendships, connections and catch-ups.
Established in October 2024, Club PUMP is a Zwift community built for women who live for the incline. We don’t just ride; we ascend. From the legendary hairpins of the Alpe to the relentless rollers of Watopia, our sessions are designed to be grit-testing, rewarding, and unapologetically steep.
Feel the PUMP. Whether you’re pushing your watts on a power climb or digging deep during our banded sessions, you’re never climbing alone. We are a community of women who show up for one another, cheering through every summit and celebrating every personal best.
Founded in Munich, Germany, Female Cycling Force (FCF) now operates in both Munich and Stuttgart, with our headquarters and clubhouse located in Munich. Our community was created to empower more women to ride bikes and feel at home in cycling. Our mission is to build a vibrant and supportive space where women can connect, share experiences, and grow – on and off the bike.
What started as a local initiative has become a strong network of riders of all levels. During the outdoor season we host weekly group rides in both Munich and Stuttgart with different pace groups, making it easy for every woman to join, progress, and have fun. Beyond riding, we create opportunities to learn and connect through mechanical workshops, talks, and events at our clubhouse in Munich, as well as community trips to destinations like Mallorca and South Tyrol.
In winter, our weekly Zwift rides keep the community spirit alive and bring women together from everywhere.
FCF stands for inclusivity, empowerment, and real friendships through cycling. Whether you are new to the sport or an experienced rider – you belong in our peloton.
Fietsvrouwen is a Dutch Cycling Company founded by Kirsten Boerrigter. It’s all about inspiring, motivating and connecting woman on bikes. We do this with online and offline events, cycling tours, our cycling club, lifestyle coaching, our webshop, and much more. We are there for women on bikes, it doesn’t matter how fit or skilled you are. Everyone is welcome!
Asiina Cycling Team is a Salt Lake City, Utah based women’s cycling non-profit. The mission of Asiina Cycling Team is to empower and elevate women cyclists through fostering a community of growth and excellence, providing dedicated support, and promoting inclusivity. Founded by a group of friends with the goal of providing opportunities for training, competition, and mentorship, we aim to inspire and develop athletes to their fullest potential. Our commitment extends beyond the podium. By promoting inclusivity, equity, and sustainability within the sport we are creating a legacy of strength and achievement for future generations of women in cycling. We ride together IRL in all disciplines (road, MTB, gravel, CX) and on Zwift and welcome any women looking for a supportive community to join.
A High-Wattage Zwift Love Story – Nathan and Gabi Guerra
If you race or train on Zwift, you’ve probably seen Nathan and Gabriela “Gabi” Guerra doing their thing – Nathan anchoring many of the Zwift races and Gabi killing it racing in all of the top events.
But do you know the story of how this loving “power” couple (pun intended) met on Zwift, fell in love, and got married? It’s quite a story of virtual attraction becoming IRL love, and all the challenges associated with a modern-day romance.
Long Distance Longing
In October of 2021, Gabi, who was living in Germany and had just started virtual riding and racing on Zwift, was racing in one of the elite races and saw Nathan anchoring one of the broadcasts. Nathan, who lives in Wisconsin, is an OG of Zwift racing, both as a rider and as a commentator. He’s one of the most knowledgeable esports racers in the world and freely educates others (like me) via his race streams.
Gabi liked what she was seeing and tagged him on one of his videos – making the first connection. She wrote “Nice Job” on his stream, thinking nothing of it.
To her surprise, he responded.
And they started chatting.
Zwift Badge Hunting: “What is going on here?”
For the next 4 months, they would go on badge-hunting rides with each other on Zwift, getting to know each other better. Nathan had been divorced for 5 years, and says, “I was starting to ask myself ‘What is going on here?’”
One night, as they were hunting for a badge in the Makuri Islands, he could feel the attachment happening. They had common goals, and he was wondering if this could be more than a friendship.
“She straight up rejected me!” he recalls, laughing a bit.
Gabi wasn’t looking for a relationship. She was 28, had some bad experiences in the past, and was looking for more of a buddy. She wasn’t sure she was ready to go further. “I started crying. It was very emotional to me. So it took me a while.”
Gabi always dreamed of getting married. As a kid, she even created a checklist of what she wanted in a husband. Was Nathan the one? She worried that she might never get the marriage badge (the two jokingly suggested Zwift add a marriage badge).
“Okay, we have to meet. But where? Zwift Insider’s house, of course!”
Finally, after nailing most of the badges in Zwift, in January 2022, Nathan and Gabi decided they had to meet. In. Real. Life. But where? Gabi lived in Germany, and Nathan lived in Wisconsin.
So the most obvious choice was… Northern California!?
Well, yes! You see, Nathan had asked a bunch of his friends for help in deciding where to meet, and Eric Schlange, Mr. Zwift Insider, invited them to his home. Gabi would fly into San Francisco, and Nathan would drive across the country with his mom. “I would walk 500 miles for you,” Nathan says, quoting The Proclaimers.
So, in April of 2022, they both set out for California. As a sign that they were meant to be, just as Nathan and his mom were driving up to the pickup location at the airport, Gabi walked out of the door. Synchronicity!
First Date IRL
They both hung out at Eric’s house with Eric and his wife. They rode together and had a great time. But Gabi was having a hard time convincing herself it was okay to date Nathan. To believe, after believing it was not possible anymore. She was trying hard to give herself permission.
On one of the rides, deep into the redwoods, they got lost. To Gabi, this was a good test to see if she could feel safe with him. Nathan passed that test of manhood by getting them safely back to Eric’s house.
By the end of the week, they decided that they were, in fact, now dating – and they held hands for the very first time. They decided to take the next, gulp, step: meet the parents (and the kids!).
Since Gabi was from two cultures, Brazil and Germany, Nathan was about to perform a worldwide tour de force. And since Nathan had five children from his first marriage, Gabi would have to meet them, plus his mom.
The question was: could Nathan and Gabi pass the family test, and could Gabi be comfortable with American culture as they decided they would live together in the United States?
Nathan Goes To Germany
So, Nathan goes to Germany in June 2022 to meet Gabi’s mom and stepfather. While there, Gabi decides to challenge Nathan a bit to test him – again. One of the challenges is hiking up a mountain to see if they can make it and if he will keep her safe. He passes that test. But does he pass the parents test (who have been skeptical of this whole thing from the beginning)? Yes, he does! Victory for Nathan.
Now it’s Gabi’s turn.
Gabi Goes To Wisconsin
For Gabi, this was also a chance to see if she could fit into the American lifestyle. She wasn’t sure. Could she live with Nathan and 5 kids from a previous marriage? It was hard for her to imagine that life. She digs deep into her emotions. It would be a big leap for her. She wants more than a 2- or 3-year-long-distance relationship. She loves the kids (even though they could be messy at times). But the whole thing is starting to stress her out, and this was a very important decision.
She needs space to think, so she decides to remove herself from the situation and get a different perspective.
Gabi Goes To Brazil, Alone
To get away from the pressure, Gabi goes home to Brazil to stay with her grandparents, sister, and extended family to get their thoughts on all that was going on with her and Nathan.
“They really rejected him right away. They didn’t even want to meet with him. They thought it was a terrible idea,” says Gabi.
Gabi is in a bind. While her stepdad in Germany gave her the green light, her family in Brazil was sending a hard red.
She calls Nathan, crying.
Nathan Goes To Brazil (With A Ring)
Upon hearing what happened and sensing her sadness amid the confusion, Nathan decides to buy a ticket right away to meet them. And, unbeknownst to Gabi, he buys a ring.
He arrives to a dinner with her extended family who mostly don’t speak English. They discuss everything – divorce, marriage, life, faith. It is tense for a bit. But then, suddenly out of the blue, her grandma stops, looks at Nathan, and says: “I understand. I get it. I trust you.” And at that moment, everything changed. A huge weight was taken off Gabi’s shoulders as her family accepted Nathan into their world.
Later on, Gabi takes Nathan on a ride she loves. To a place where she used to pray. Nathan is full of jitters. He’s about to propose to her. She doesn’t know this. He wonders if she will say yes. He’s hesitant but decides now is the time to make the move.
And she says, “Yes.”
And then she breaks her hip.
Broken Hip
Nathan returns to Wisconsin with a smile since Gabi said ‘yes’ to getting married. Gabi stays in Brazil, and while out on a training ride, crashes and breaks her hip. After stabilizing the break, she packs up and heads to Wisconsin to begin her new life together with Nathan, on crutches.
Getting Married, the Honeymoon, And Beyond!
On December 27, 2022, the two tie the knot at a private ceremony and head out for a honeymoon at a beautiful cabin in the middle of the woods. Nathan remembers that they had a delicious wine at Eric’s house, so he orders it to be there when Gabi arrives. Since Gabi can’t ride outside as she is still recovering, they do some zwifting in the cabin.
Nathan realizes that Gabi is an amazing athlete: “I’ve never seen an athlete like you.” With Nathan as her coach, Gabi starts to excel in virtual cycling. Gabi is now racing full-time and coaching five women. Nathan continues his development of virtual cycling with the creation of Leadout Esports.
Gabi is starting to get used to living with kids and being a parent – she tries to stay calm when the house is a mess and will occasionally toss a dirty cereal bowl down the hall. But she loves the kids, and they love her.
The Value of Distance, First
They both agree that the way they got to know each other from a distance made their IRL relationship better because they started with communication. They had a chance to discuss things like bringing together mixed families and attachment styles before they met, so that they could be more sure that they were a good match.
Ride on, Gabi and Nathan! You’ve definitely earned your marriage badge!
The ECRO World Tour is back for 2026 with a 77-race season kicking off Saturday, March 7 with Chasing Bianche. If you missed the original announcement last March, ECRO is a comprehensive racing platform built on top of Zwift that brings the structure, strategy, and integrity of professional cycling to virtual racing.
If you’ve followed the journey from the original Chasing Yellow in 2022 through Chasing Tour 2023 and Chasing Yellow 2024, you know the trajectory. Each year brought more structure, more competition, and more riders. But what ECRO has built over the past year goes well beyond a bigger race calendar. The entire platform has been rebuilt from the ground up, and the list of new features heading into the 2026 season is significant!
Let’s take a look at what’s new…
The Pro Sports Experience
What makes ECRO unique starts with making virtual cycling feel like a real sport with real stakes.
Team Divisions and Competition
ECRO’s team system goes beyond simple clubs. Teams can consist of up to 12 riders across the five categories, and the top 6 finishers per category contribute to team standings. This creates genuine strategic decisions about roster construction: do you stack one category or spread talent across the board?
The platform tracks team standings throughout the season, with points accumulating across all 77 races on the calendar, organized into four seasonal phases separated by transfer windows.
The Transfer Market
This is where ECRO starts to feel less like a race series and more like a sports league. The platform features a live transfer market where team managers can scout available riders, review their race history and power profiles, and extend contract offers.
Each rider has a virtual market value based on their performance and category. When teams sign riders, contract terms include a prize split percentage that determines how virtual earnings are divided between rider and team. Competitive riders command higher percentages, while developing riders might accept lower splits for the exposure and team support.
Free agents are visible on the market with detailed scouting information. When a rider signs, gets released, or sees a market value change, it shows up in a real-time activity feed that the whole community can follow.
And covering it all is Nigel Cadence, ECRO’s AI-generated transfer market correspondent. Every day, Nigel delivers a sportscaster-style audio recap of the latest signings, releases, and market moves, complete with a British accent and the energy of Sky Sports News on deadline day. Think of it as your daily transfer briefing: who signed where, what they’re worth, and what it means for the teams involved. The audio clips are posted to Discord and available on the platform’s transfer market page. Listen to the Tuesday, March 3 update:
ECRO$ and Team Economics
Teams manage virtual wallets funded by their share of rider earnings. The first 12 contract signings are free, but after that, teams need sufficient ECRO$ to cover new signings. When riders leave, teams recoup their market value. It’s a closed economic system that rewards smart roster management and long-term thinking.
Team Tactics
New for the 2026 season, team managers can publish race tactics for their riders before events. Managers can set team-wide strategies as well as individual instructions for specific riders, adding another layer of coordination to race day.
Making Racing Fair
Fair racing has always been the elephant in the virtual cycling room. Without physical proximity, how do you know someone’s power numbers are legitimate? ECRO has attacked this problem from multiple angles, building what may be the most comprehensive verification system in e-cycling.
Equipment Registration and Verification
Every ECRO rider must now register their equipment on the platform, including the make, model, and serial number of their smart trainer or power meter. The process works like two-factor authentication: riders photograph their equipment with a unique verification code displayed on screen, and the platform’s AI (powered by Google Gemini) cross-references the serial number in the image against what the rider submitted. If both match with high confidence, the equipment is auto-approved. If something doesn’t add up, it goes to manual review.
Serial numbers are unique to each rider. If someone tries to register a serial number that’s already tied to another account, the system flags it. It’s a simple concept borrowed from real-world equipment tracking, but it’s the first time anything like this has been implemented at scale in virtual cycling.
Dual Recording Validation
For top-category riders, ECRO requires dual recording, a practice pulled straight from UCI regulations. Riders record the same effort on two independent devices (typically a smart trainer and a separate power meter), and the platform compares the data. Discrepancies between the two recordings raise flags for further review.
The Performance Analysis Engine
This is where things get technical. ECRO has built a multi-detector integrity analysis system that runs automatically on every race result. The engine currently includes six detection modules:
Sticky Watts Detection identifies flat-top power patterns, where a rider’s power output remains suspiciously constant for extended periods. This follows the methodology established by the Fair E-Racing Association (FERA) and is one of the strongest indicators of manipulated data.
Power Anomaly Detection performs statistical analysis on power output, flagging impossibly sudden jumps (like zero to 400 watts instantly) or unnaturally stable power output that doesn’t match normal human physiology.
Heart Rate Correlation checks whether a rider’s heart rate patterns align with their power output. High-power efforts with flat heart rates, or missing heart rate data at critical moments, both raise flags.
Cadence Correlation looks for similar mismatches between pedaling cadence and power, including the suspicious scenario of producing significant power with zero cadence.
Microbursting Detection identifies burst-and-coast pedaling patterns that can exploit Zwift’s physics engine, where riders alternate between extreme sprints and coasting in rapid cycles.
Physiological Limits (ZADA) compares power output against known human physiological limits across different durations, flagging results that exceed what’s physically possible.
Each detector assigns flags at three severity levels (info, warning, or critical), and results flagged as suspicious are held from standings until reviewed. Riders can also flag results through a community-driven VAR (Verification Adjusted Results) system, similar to video review in professional sports.
Season Phase Locking
To address sandbagging (riders intentionally underperforming to race in a lower category), ECRO locks riders into their category after their first race in each season phase. Categories are based on ZwiftRacing.app‘s vELO rating system, with five tiers ranging from E (entry-level) through A (elite). Once you race in a phase, your category is locked until the next transfer window opens.
Platform and Tools
The Organizer Platform
One of ECRO’s less visible but most significant developments is its multi-tenant organizer platform. Race organizers beyond ECRO can use the platform to run their own competitions, inheriting ECRO’s categorization engine, results processing, and integrity detection without building any of it themselves. Organizers manage their own branding, calendars, scoring rules, and standings, while riders maintain a single account that works across all competitions.
Race Intelligence
Before each event, riders can access AI-powered race intelligence that includes predicted finishes based on vELO ratings, course suitability scores (analyzing whether you’re a better fit for a flat sprint stage or a mountain climb), and head-to-head records against other signed-up riders. The platform classifies courses as sprint, climbing, rolling, or mixed, then matches them against individual power profiles to identify who has the advantage.
Route Database
ECRO has catalogued 305+ Zwift routes with detailed visual profiles. Each race on the calendar includes elevation data, distance, and course characteristics, so riders know exactly what they’re getting into before they sign up.
Mobile App
The full ECRO platform is available as a mobile app, giving riders access to their dashboard, race calendar, results, transfer market, and equipment verification from their phone. Team managers can scout riders, send contract offers, and publish race tactics on the go.
Discord Integration
The ECRO Discord bot connects directly to the platform, offering slash commands for checking profiles, viewing results, pulling standings, and finding upcoming races. A built-in support system lets riders create tickets directly from Discord, with an AI-powered agent that can answer common questions and escalate to human admins when needed.
The 2026 Season
The ECRO World Tour 2026 features a 77-race calendar organized into four phases, with transfer windows between each phase where categories unlock and teams can restructure their rosters. The season opens March 7 with Chasing Bianche and includes single-day races, multi-stage tours, and seasonal series that span the full year.
Category thresholds have been updated for 2026: A (2000+ vELO), B (1700-1999), C (1400-1699), D (1100-1399), and E (0-1099). Each race offers five time slots to accommodate riders across different time zones.
Registration and Pricing
Rider License: $12.99 for the 2026 season
Team License: $19.99 for the 2026 season
Anyone can participate in ECRO events on Zwift, but only licensed riders have their results counted toward official standings. Licenses must be registered before event participation for results to count.
TNP Spring Classics Series Announced: First Race this Saturday
Team Not Pogi is bringing the chaos, tactics, and punchy brutality of the Spring Classics to Watopia and beyond with a three-race themed series designed to replicate the character of the biggest one-day races in cycling.
What Makes It Special
Themed around the Spring Classics rather than generic race formats
Bike upgrades and steering enabled for tactical variety
Powerups revealed dynamically at banners
Routes chosen to reflect the character of each real-world race
Two timeslots for each race
Race Details
Saturday, March 7: Ride the White Roads: Strade Bianche Challenge
Inspired by Tuscany’s gravel sectors, this race is about rhythm and resilience. Rolling terrain, punchy climbs, and repeated efforts make positioning everything. Three laps of Two Village Loop will be relentless without being predictable. Expect splits to form early and selection to happen naturally as the elastic stretches and snaps.
A longer, endurance-style classic with a sting in the tail. Dust in the Wind rewards patience as much as power. Riders who burn too many matches early may find themselves isolated when it matters most. This is one for the tacticians and late attackers.
Sunday, April 5: Cobbled Classic: Flanders Edition
Shorter on paper. Brutal in reality. Richmond’s UCI Worlds course delivers sharp climbs and constant pressure, perfectly suited to a Flanders-style showdown. Expect explosive racing, repeated accelerations, and no place to hide in the finale.
Rebel Route: Magical Mystery Spinner Tour (Watopia)
Zwift launched a set of Mystery Spinners in Watopia as a fun lead-in to the Big Spin 2026 series, so I thought it would be a fun challenge to create the shortest possible route that hits all 8 spinners.
The route, it turns out, is rather similar to the Four Horsemen in terms of the big climbs it hits, and the overall length and elevation gain. Strong riders will be able to finish the route in under 2.5 hours, while most riders can expect it to take 3+ hours to complete.
About Rebel Routes
“Rebel Routes” are Zwift rides not available on Zwift’s routes list, thus requiring manual navigation.
The reward for your rebel ride? Exploring a new route, knowing you’ve gone where few Zwifters have gone before. And a Strava segment rank in the tens or hundreds instead of the thousands! Rebel Routes are also included as a separate category on our Veloviewer Route Hunter leaderboard.
Route Description
Our basic ride plan is to knock out all the Mystery Spinners in and around downtown Watopia before heading up the Epic KOM, then finishing on Alpe du Zwift. Begin by choosing the Hilly Route, which will start you in downtown Watopia, and heading in the right direction up the Hilly KOM.
After finishing the KOM (spinner #1), take the KOM bypass to head back into downtown Watopia, then out to the Volcano for a lap of the circuit in a CW direction (spinner #2). Then it’s up the Volcano KOM for spinner #3, and out to Jarvis for the KOM and spinner #4.
That’s half the spinners done. Those are the easy ones. Now we need to do some climbing!
Head into Ocean Boulevard and take a right at Sequoia Circle to head up the Epic KOM forward. You’ll get spinner #5 at this KOM arch, then turn right to head up the Radio Tower KOM “bonus climb” for spinner #6.
Descend from the Radio Tower (it’s fast) and head down the Epic KOM the way you came up, except hang a right onto The Grade descent. Drop all the way down into Ciudad La Cumbre, then turn right toward the Jungle. Two spinners left!
A bit of flat road gets you to spinner #7, Stoneway Sprint Reverse. Now you have just one spinner left… but it’s going to take some work to get there! Get onto the Jungle Circuit, then turn left to head up Alpe do Zwift. Spinner #8 is at the top. Hup hup!
Turn By Turn Directions
Begin by choosing the Hilly Route, which will start you in the right place and heading in the right direction up the Hilly KOM.
How the Race Was Won: Club Ladder on London Uprising
Have you tried Club Ladder racing? Last week, I jumped into my first Ladder race in almost two years. The concept is simple: two teams battle head-to-head, 5v5. Riders earn points based on finishing position, and the team with the most points wins. moving up the ranking “ladder.”
It’s such a strategic and engaging format; a tactical Zwift race experience that’s wholly different from what ZRL, ZRacing, or any Zwift scratch race. Read this post to learn more about Club Ladder racing, or visit the Club Ladder website (in particular the Rule Book) to learn all the nitty-gritty details.
This would be my first race with a new Ladder squad, Coalition’s Taraxyl. We were racing the new London Uprising route, with a custom finish near the bottom of the Fox Hill descent over climbing Box Hill. Interesting. Let’s go!
Race Prep
Heading into the race, we were doing what Ladder racers do: chatting on Discord to formulate a plan! Looking at power numbers, we thought we would have the advantage on the climbs, while our opponents (Coalition Nezerium, aka “Nez”) would have the pure watts to do well on flats and descents. So our plan was to make them work hard on Fox Hill, without breaking the race apart. We could then stay together for the descent and flats that followed, then go hard on Box Hill to (hopefully) drop some opponents.
The Club Ladder site produces lots of cool charts to help you plan your race. Here’s the data for this match:
On the morning of the race, one of our riders had to call in sick. Without a sub on hand, our captain reached out to the Nez squad to ask if we could make it a 4v4 race, and they agreed to do so (#sporting).
With that, our squad of four was finalized:
Louise Deak
Ed H
Claire Martin
Eric Schlange
We would be racing these Nez riders:
Mike
Martin
Matt
Tom
The Start: Fox Hill
Sitting in the London start pens, my team chatted on Discord as we spun our legs to stay warm. One of the Nez riders was wearing the wrong jersey (our jersey), and we messaged a request for him to change to his team’s kit… but that never happened. (This may seem like a small thing, but in a Ladder Race especially, wearing the right kit is important. Those visuals help you make split-second decisions and, in fact, this would cause issues later in the race.)
With DS Beccah in our ears, we headed out of the pens and turned left to cross Tower Bridge, go through The Underground tunnel, then start climbing Fox Hill.
The pace was easy until we hit Fox Hill, then it picked up predictably. Our group strung out into a single-file line, but I was able to stay in the wheels where I wanted to be, in that “comfortably suffering” place bike racers know so well.
Five minutes into the climb, we were nearing the top. Nez’s Mike was clearly struggling near the back, and Martin seemed to be hanging back to assist him. With those two dangling off the back, things felt like they were going our way.
Then suddenly, everything exploded!
I went from being well-positioned to being gapped in the span of a few seconds as Nez’s Matt (wearing our team kit) sprinted me off his wheel. By the time I realized what was happening, a sizeable gap had opened, and Claire was on my wheel, and DS Beccah was telling us not to drop Claire!
So I made the split-second decision to ease a bit to make sure Claire stayed on my wheel, because we didn’t want her in a 1v2 matchup against two bigger guys heading into the descent and flats. I figured we’d catch the group of 4 up the road on the Box Hill descent.
But I was wrong.
At the start of the descent, we were just 4 seconds behind the front group. But the two Nez riders in that group (Matt and Tom) wisely began pushing to keep their speeds high descending Box Hill, and even though we put in some digs, we weren’t able to close down the gap. In fact, it grew to 10 seconds by the bottom! Fox Hill had taken too much out of my legs, and I just didn’t have the gas in the tank to pull us back.
The Middle: Flat and Chill
With our teammates not pushing the pace in the 2v2 front group, and the Nez riders in our group not working to bridge up, Claire and I tried to keep our speed steady and high enough to chase back to the front on the flat Classique section that followed. But the Nez riders in front weren’t having it, putting in strong pulls that kept pushing that gap out. Smart.
Eventually, Claire and I pulled the plug on the chase. The race would be two groups of 2v2.
Claire and I tried a little attack on the Classique hairpin (where riders are slowed), but Mike and Martin clearly had the pure watts to hold our wheels on flat roads, and we didn’t want to burn out our legs heading into Box Hill.
With a small number of riders in our group, and no chance to bridge up to the group ahead, strategic decisions crystallized. We were confident Claire had the w/kg to drop the two Nez riders with us. And I figured I could at least drop Mike, based on how he struggled up Fox Hill. My only question was, had Martin hung back with Mike just to help, or because Martin was struggling, too?
We would know soon enough. My plan was to let Claire attack first and get a gap while I sat back and made the Nez riders chase. Then, closer to the top, if I felt up to it, I would attack and try to drop both Nez riders as well.
The Final Climb: Box Hill
Each team’s final strategies would be put to work on Box Hill. Up the road, Ed and Louise were playing chess with Nez riders Matt and Tom, each team trying to figure out how tired the other riders were, who should follow who on attacks, etc.
My group started the Box Hill KOM together, then as we turned right and began the steepest part of the climb, Claire ramped up to 4.5-5 W/kg. Martin was trying to chase, but he was slowly losing her wheel. I was sitting on his wheel, benefiting slightly from his draft while he was forced to work a little extra if he wanted to close the gap to Claire.
After a minute or so, Martin gave up the chase. We hit the hard left turn and the road flattened a bit, so I activated my draft powerup, grabbing just a bit of recovery and steeling myself mentally for my planned attack.
We turned the next hairpin, and as the road ramped back up to 5%, I attacked hard from Martin’s slipstream, with Claire 35 seconds up the road. I quickly opened up a gap of 10, 15, 20 meters. It was working! I gritted my teeth, trying to keep my power steady and high to the top.
Beccah was in my ear, cheering on the effort and letting me know I had to beat both Martin and Mike for us to win. Ed chimed in, “You’ve broken them Eric, keep going.” I could see the gap growing behind me, and I kept pushing, wanting at least 10 seconds once I hit the flats so they wouldn’t have time to work together and pull me back.
The Finish
Through the Box Hill banner, I was now 30+ seconds ahead of Mike and Martin, who seemed to have given up the chase. Up the road, teammate Louise was facing off with Tom to see who would take 1st on the fast downhill finish, while Nez’s Matt was solo in the 3rd slot, and Ed and Claire were working together in the 4th and 5th slots.
In Discord, I heard the action as Louise executed a perfectly-timed sprint to take the win. Chapeau!
I hammered up the little kicker after Box Hill, keeping the power up until I could stop pedaling and supertuck. All that was left was to coast across the line near the bottom of Fox Hill…
(As it turns out, my “overmuscled cyclist” physique and masterful (lazy) supertucking served me well, and I flew past Ed and Claire just before the finish, landing 4th overall.)
It may seem counterintuitive, but these Ladder races with 2 teams and only 8-10 riders often feel like they have a lot more action than a typical Zwift race with 50+ riders. I think it’s because you’re noticing more of what’s going on, and every rider’s actions have real implications for the race. It’s a super engaging format, both mentally and physically.
While I kicked myself a bit for being inattentive and getting gapped near the top of Fox Hill, it turned out to be a mistake that worked in our favor. (Or at least, didn’t hurt us.) Apart from that little snafu, this race had everything that makes bike racing fun for me:
hard efforts that put me on the rivet
teamwork
a successful attack
a team win
I think this is my first time riding in a mixed-gender Ladder squad, too, and that was a cool experience as well. Claire and Louise are both significantly lighter riders than the six guys in the race, and that really changes how you approach things strategically.
The Club Ladder website delivers cool post-race charts as well:
And here are the final placings and points:
Lastly, of course, we have the traditional team shot!
Big Spin Mystery Spinners in Watopia: Locations and Prizes
As mentioned in our Big Spin 2026 post, Zwift has rolled out a sort of treasure hunt to add a bit of fun to this year’s Big Spin! They’ve placed “Mystery Spinners” at the end of key Watopia segments, and those spinners unlock 26 different prizes from past Big Spin events.
These spinners went live on Friday, February 27, and will be in Watopia until the end of Big Spin 2026.
Where are these spinners located, what are the prizes, and how do they work? Read on for details, including a Rebel Route that takes you to every Mystery Spinner in Watopia!
Mystery Spinner Locations
Eight Mystery Spinners have been placed at the end of particular segments in Watopia, with roadside “?” markers nearby. Here they are on a map:
And are the precise segments linked to each spinner:
Mystery Spinners unlock Big Spin “vault” prizes from The Big Spin 2024 and 2025. The more difficult the segment, the cooler the prizes. Zwift has organized the Mystery Spinners into four tiers based on segment difficulty, and each tier has its own set of prizes.
If you land on a prize you already own, you’ll get a healthy Drops bonus instead. The bigger the prize, the bigger the bonus! Examples: the bikes and wheels for tier 1 give you a 25k Drops bonus, while the glasses and hats in tier 4 give you a 10k bonus. Here’s our test bot activating the Volcano Circuit Mystery Spinner and landing on a prize we’ve already got:
Stoneway Sprint is clearly the shortest segment with a spinner. I was able to do a full “rep” in 1 minute, 40 seconds, without a lot of effort. 10k Drops every 100 seconds=360k per hour (and 72 U-turns)!
Triggering a Mystery Spin
To trigger a Mystery Spinner, you have to complete one of the designated segments listed above. This can be done in any sort of ride: free rides, workouts, and events.
If you’re trying to unlock a particular prize, your best bet is to ride repeats of a segment that features said prize. This is easy to do for lower-tier items (repeats of Tier 4’s Volcano Circuit or Stoneway Sprint Reverse don’t take much effort), but much more difficult for higher tiers. Epic KOM or Alpe du Zwift repeats, anyone?
Mystery Spinner Rebel Route
Want to hit every Mystery Spinner in one ride? We’ve put together a Rebel Route which does just that. It’s 76.1km long, with just over 2000 meters of elevation gain. (It ends atop Alpe du Zwift, though, so you get another ~12.5km of “free” downhill once you’ve finished the ride.)
Today Zwift announced the third edition of their popular Big Spin, a prize-filled group ride series kicking off March 16!
This year’s theme is “Adventure is Calling”, with each week’s ride and prize spinner themed after a different Watopian biome. Read on for details…
Mystery Spinners
Zwift has rolled out a fun new Easter egg this year: Mystery Spinners placed at the end of some Watopia segments! These spinners just went live today and will be in Watopia until the end of Big Spin 2026.
Where are the Mystery Spinners?
We’ll be publishing a post on Monday with more info on Mystery Spinners, including (if possible) a Rebel Route that hits every spinner in one go. Until then, here’s a map of their locations:
What do they unlock?
Mystery Spinners unlock Big Spin “vault” prizes – items from past Zwift Big Spins in 2024 and 2025. That’s a big list of prizes which includes the BMX Bandit from 2025, the Atomic Cruiser from 2024, various pieces of footwear and headwear, and eight different kits.
Schedule + Routes
Big Spin events are scheduled hourly at the half-hour mark.
Need more spins so you can unlock that sweet MX Rider, or perhaps you’re looking to ride a different Big Spin route than Zwift has scheduled for the week? You can complete Big Spin stages on-demand, meaning you ride the route on your own schedule, not in the official Zwift events.
(You can also organize Meetups, Club Rides, or do the route during a workout. Just make sure you finish the route in order to get credit and a spin.)
Completing a stage on demand will still get you a prize spin, and you can complete the same stage as many times as you’d like, whenever you’d like.
Prize Spinner
The Big Spin prize spinner we’ve come to love will make an appearance at the end of each Big Spin route (here’s a shot from last year’s Big Spin):
Each time you complete a Zwift Big Spin route (in an event or on demand), the spinner will pop up to give you a prize. If it lands on a prize you’ve already won, you’ll get a healthy Drops bonus (landing on the MX Rider twice gives you a 40,000 Drops bonus, for example)!
The prize spinner has 6 slots, each with a different probability. One slot, the lowest probability, is reserved for the coveted MX Rider. Three more slots are for the Big Spin Tri-Spoke, Big Spin Limeade Helmet, and Jungle Phones.
The other two slots’ prizes change on each stage (see images below), giving us a total of 12 possible prizes throughout the series. These prizes won’t be available in the Drop Shop any time soon (probably never), so this may be your only known chance to unlock them.
Stage-Specific Unlocks
Fuego Flats (Stage 1)
Mayan Jungle (Stage 2)
Southern Coast (Stage 3)
Titans Grove (Stage 4)
Full Spinner Prize List:
Stage 1
Rhinestone Rider Kit
Rhinestone Rider Hat
Stage 2
Mayan Camo Kit
Paisley Bandana
Stage 3
Lumberjack Chic Kit
Lumberjack Chic Beanie
Stage 4
Dino-mite Kit
Dino-mite Hard Hat
Always On
MX Rider
Big Spin Tri-Spoke
Big Spin Limeade Helmet
Jungle Phones
Are these races?
Officially, no. Zwift Big Spin events are group rides without a stated pace. That means some riders will treat them as races, and the front of these rides will certainly be “spicy.”
Others will just spin their legs for a prize-laden recovery effort. You do you… just have fun!
This week, two popular community series are wrapping up, so we’re featuring those events along with a new series kickoff, a popular beginner-friendly group ride, and a memorial fondo to raise awareness for an important health issue. See details below!
The popular TT series from Cycling Time Trials (CTT) – the national governing body for time trials in England, Scotland, and Wales – is wrapping up on Saturday with a final race on Wataopia’s Tick Tock (19.1km, 53m).
WKG organizes this fully original Zwift format built around 8 stages per season. A new season (#6) is beginning this weekend, so it’s a great time to highlight this unique series!
Progression Riders rewards tactical riding, teamwork, and consistency across multiple terrain profiles. This weekend’s stage is on two laps of Tempus Fugit (36.7km, 57m). Be sure to read the event description and rulebook for details, is this isn’t a typical Zwift race!
The ride is led at 2-2.5 W/kg, and officially ends after 25 laps (105.3km, 530m). If you haven’t earned them yet, join the ride to grab the 5, 10, and 25-lap achievement badges and bonus XP!
Popular Canadian cyclist Kris Yip passed away suddenly in January 2024, and this event is being held to “carry forward the values he lived by: kindness, sportsmanship, and inclusion.”
This ride is also about raising awareness of coronary artery disease, which took Kris’ life. According to the event write-up, “it is the leading cause of sudden cardiac death in male athletes over the age of 35. Kris had no signs, no symptoms, no second chance. Awareness, conversation, and self-advocacy matter.”
The Vätternrundan group ride continues to be the most popular single event each weekend, even as the rides get longer! This week is the final ride of the series, and it’s 240 minutes long.
This final ride is on France Classic Fondo, and there are two pace group options (1.8-2.2 and 1.5-1.8 W/kg).
We choose each weekend’s Notable Events based on a variety of factors including:
Is the event unique/innovative in some way?
Are celebrities (pro riders, etc) attending/leading?
Are signup counts already high, meaning the event is extra-popular?
Does the ride include desirable unlocks or prizes?
Does the event appeal to ladies on Zwift? (We like to support this under-represented group!)
Is it for a good cause?
Is it just plain crazy (extra long races, world record attempts, etc)?
Is it a long-running, popular weekly event with a dedicated leader who deserves a shout out?
In the end, we want to call attention to events that are extra-special and therefore extra-appealing to Zwifters. If you think your event qualifies, comment below with a link/details and we may just include it in an upcoming post!
