Innsbruck’s Achterbahn route isn’t the toughest ride in game, but it’s far from easy, requiring not one but two climbs up Innsbruck’s KOM. This explains why so many Zwifters haven’t yet earned the Achterbahn route badge!
We’re hoping to help you remedy that situation with another Zwift Insider-hosted Z Badge Hunt event Saturday, February 26th, at 7am PST/10am EST/3pm GMT.
And as a bonus, completing the event will unlock the new Zwift Insider in-game kit… for the first time ever!
Zwift Insider Kit
The Zwift Insider kit was added to the game in February’s release, but as of right now only ZI’s Eric and Monica have the kit. This is the very first event to provide a ZI kit unlock (Zwift has not yet provided us with a promo code to unlock the kit). Here are some shots of the kit:
About the Route
“Achterbahn” is German for rollercoaster, but this challenging route is a lot more work than any rollercoaster you’ve ever taken. Covering all Innsbruck roads in both directions, this figure 8 route is almost 20km longer than Watopia’s Figure 8, with 4x the elevation gain!
This is the longest route in Innsbruck. It begins at the start/finish line, but takes you over the steep reverse KOM first, then over the forward KOM before ending at the start/finish. Along the way you’ll hit the sprint next to the Inn river in both directions.
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 Achterbahn in under 1.5 hours. But most mortals require closer to 2 hours.
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 https://www.zwift.com/events/view/2730777.
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 10am PST/1pm EST/6pm GMT
- Saturday 4pm PST/7pm EST
- Saturday 7pm PST
But only the one 7am PST timeslot includes the Zwift Insider kit unlock!
Questions or Comments?
Post below and we’ll answer them!
Congrats on the kit!
Same weekend as the Rapha Climb mission runs friday and saturday and sunday. And then throw this in ALSO on the saturday ogether with La Reine with Rapha. Could have been less mean the week before or after 🙂
Bummer – this is right in the Rapha Rising weekend! Why do it with a marquee event already scheduled ALL weekend? It’s a cool kit for ZI but Rapha is hard enough without adding in an Achterbahn too. If you’re not doing Rapha I guess this gives you something to do. If you’re doing Rapha though you miss out.
I’m sure we’ll do more unlock events. It’s hard to find an open weekend on Zwift.
You say only the 7am/pst slot unlocks the kit. But the listed times only show 4am, 10am, 4pm & 7pm pst times. So which pst time slot unlocks the kit? Concur with others that timing is tough with Rapha event this weekend. Thx
Those listed times are the additional Achterbahn rides that don’t unlock the kit. The rest of the article is about the one event that does.
Link here: http://zwift.com/events/view/2730777
Nice Kit! Congrats👍
But I’m also riding Rapha Rising, so I’ll pass.
I hope I’ll get another chance to grab the kit though.
I’m sure we’ll do more unlock events. It’s hard to find an open weekend on Zwift.
I hope for the same “next chance event” to get “the special one”.
Well, poop. I got my Achterbahn badge last weekend and I’m doing the Rapha thing on Saturday. Hope there’ll be more chances to unlock the ZI kit in the future!
Lookin good!
Any other ways to get the jersey unlock if you can’t ride that event? Or are there going to be subsequent chances to unlock it?
Hi Eric. I was wondering whether you plan to address the recently made public Zwift exploit that allows users to change weight within an event and remain undetected. Apparently, Zwift was aware of this for at least two years and did nothing. More recently someone lost patience and published a blog about it, i.e. blew the whistle, and got banned for speaking up. And yes, I will post this under every article until it gets an article of its own 🙂
Awesome. Keep up the good work Pete. Zwift, if you’re reading this, we love you. Stop sucking at so many things, please.
Pete, I’ve been working behind the scenes with Luciano on the exploit itself for a couple weeks now… and I’ve been talking to ZHQ about their response to his post also.
I’m not going to promise a post on the topic any time soon, but it will be talked about here one way or another. If nothing else, Luciano will have one heck of a story to put into writing…
No way, it’s the same Luciano! I wondered. That’s just too good. Extra dumb on Zwift’s part.
7am PST is 1/2am for the majority of Australians…
Might have to wait for another opportunity. The kit looks nice!
Will you still unlock the kit if you complete the ride but already have the Achterbahn badge? Kit looks amazing!
Already have the Achterbahn badge, did it in a workout session. I was planning to do Surrey hills on Saturday… but, ugh, this is really tempting. I would love to have that kit! Will there be an unlock code at some point? Would not really help me much anyway, since I can not enter it on Android…
Hi Eric, fyi, the “Sign Up Now” link displays event ID 2730777 whereas the link is “https://www.zwift.com/events/tag/zbadgehunt/view/2507187?utm_source=ericschlange&utm_campaign=zwift_cycling_affiliate_ericschlange_apr19&utm_medium=affiliate” which is from an event on 18. December.
Never mind I found what I’m looking for in these comments.
“But only the one 7am PST timeslot includes the Zwift Insider kit unlock!”
I don’t see a 7am pst time. Only a 4 pst or 10 pst. Did you mean est?
G’day Eric, kit looks great, congrats. Just realised the ride is on at 1am , so have to miss this one. Hopefully get a shot at it next time. Keep up the great work with the insider.. always a great read..
Are you planning on going ahead with leading this ride in the light of #freeluciano?
If so, how about a discord channel so that we can interact with Luciano on the ride?
Pity/ frustrated to miss it cuz 2 am here in China. Happy to see if you will give us another ride to make up.
Pity to miss it cuz 2 am here in China. Happy to see if you will give us another ride to make up.
Hi Eric, good to chat with you during the ride (except the hills) and thanks again for organising the event 🙂 Doughnuts all round!
THAT HURT ! Thanks for organizing the ride. When can I sign up for the next one?
Will there be a promo code unlock for this jersey? I almost finished the ride, but got stopped with 3 miles remaining.
Hey Wiggy….Thanks for a great ride…I was slow…but I really enjoyed it.
LOL!