When Watopia’s “Mega Pretzel” was released in February 2018 it was the longest Watopia route in game, covering every segment of the course except (strangely) the radio tower climb. In fact, it covered nearly all segments in both directions!
More than three years later the Mega Pretzel is no longer the longest Watopian route, and of course it misses new roads that have been added since its release (namely Fuego Flats, Titans Grove, and Alpe du Zwift). Still, this route packs a punch with 1,642 m (5,387‘) of elevation gain over a length of 107 km (66.5 miles).
And that’s why we’ve selected this route for our next Badge Hunters event. We consider this to be the 4th-toughest route in game after The Über Pretzel, PRL Full, and Four Horsemen. So why not do it in good company, with thousands of other Zwifters?
The event takes place on Saturday, May 15th, at 6am Pacific/9am Eastern/2pm GMT.
Sign Up Now >
About the Route
The Mega Pretzel begins with a trip out to the Jungle Circuit (CW), then we head up the Epic KOM Reverse. Because of the stop off at the Jungle we don’t ride the timed Epic KOM Reverse segment, but we are covering all the same ground!
Descend from atop the Epic KOM and have a go at the shortest timed climb on the route – where it all began – Watopia’s Hilly KOM Forward. Then ride the corkscrew road up the Volcano, descend and have a go at the forward sprint if you’ve got the legs. But you may want to save them for what’s coming up next…
The longest single climb of the route is the Epic KOM forward. But take comfort – you don’t have to climb to the Radio Tower! Then descend the other side, hit the Jungle in the CCW direction, and head home by way of the Hilly KOM Reverse.
This route has the distinction of ending in a really weird place. Instead of the standard downtown start/finish banner you’ll continue out to the Volcano and wrap up the route as you pass under one of the crumbling stone arches.
Read more about the Mega Pretzel route >
Category Details
In an effort to reduce system problems, we’ve broken this ride into two categories: A and B. These are not pace categories. They only exist to spread out the riders a bit at the start.
B riders will start 2 minutes after A so your Zwift device only has to deal with hundreds of riders at the beginning, and not thousands. Once riders get moving and spaced out, everyone’s systems should perform nicely.
If you’re concerned with your device’s ability to handle heavy traffic, join the B category which will have fewer riders.
ALL categories will be visible throughout the ride.
This event is actually part of a pile of events Zwift has scheduled in May to highlight community teams and support riders who are chasing badges. Check out the full list of Badge Hunt rides >
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 Mega Pretzel in around 2:45. But most mortals finish in around 3:15-4 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 it!
Click here to join the server (or enter invite code “zwiftinsider”). Read “Using Discord on Zwift” for details if you’re new to Discord.
Sign Up Now
You can sign up for the event in Zwift’s Companion app, or online at zwift.com/events/view/2053548
Questions or Comments?
Post below and we’ll do our best to answer them!
Hi Eric, any news on the new update today? Not sure if anything changed or not…
version 1.12.1 or something
Hope you can slowly rotate through the top 10-15 long rides. Double draft in a crowd is great.
As a point of clarification: I’ve been credited with a route before after late joining. I was able to do this for stage 5 of this year’s tour of Watopia and was credited with both the stage and the route, despite being 10 mins late. I’m not sure anyone would want to risk it for something like this, but I’ve had it happen more than once.
It’s happened to me too. In stage 4 of tour of watopia, i joined at the top of the mountain and still got credit for big loop, even though i missed 20 km
I’d love to see this the start times mixed up a bit.
Hi Eric – I used the link and signed up for 15 May but it is showing as Royal Pump Room 8 not Mega Pretzel?
Ha! Super weird. It was showing the Mega Pretzel a few days ago! Just messaged Zwift to get it fixed.
Thank you sir
Il have signed in for the Mega Pretzel, as listed above, on saturday. I went to look today and it bas changed for the Royal pump on my Companion. Is there an effort?
It’ll be fixed soon…
Good luck this week, we ticked this off last week with our Sunday Badge Hunter Series (I really should copyright that, lol. ) We will again be Hunting PRL Full the following Sunday, May 23. Happy Hunting!
Psyched to do more badge-hunting with you, Eric… I’m in! MegaPretzel will be my last badge route *and* I’m within a few thousand feet of a Tron bike. See you Saturday and thanks!
Niiiice. Let’s do this!
Hey, is it possible to archive the route badge while using the Zwift test version? I know there are just 25 test kilometers. But once the ride has started, i am allowed to complete my ride eventhough it is further than the 25 kilometers.
Wonderful ride yesterday! Long and entertaining, my first badge hunter event. Thanks a lot for arranging these rides, it’s way easier than riding solo for many hours. I hope there will be a Über Pretzel too in the future.