London’s PRL Full is the longest route in all of Zwift, covering 173km/107.5 miles. It’s a route best undertaken in good company, and this Saturday is a wonderful opportunity to do just that!
On the heels of our super-successful first event (Zwift Insider Badge Hunters – The Uber Pretzel Edition, which saw over 3,600 riders start and 2,600+ finish), we’re rolling out our next community challenge: to take on Zwift’s longest route and earn that coveted route badge.
The event takes place on Saturday, March 13th, at 6am Pacific/9am Eastern/2pm GMT.
Sign Up Now >
About the Route
The PRL Full route was released with the original London map, and the intent was to mimic the length (but not the actual roads) of the IRL Prudential Ride London event.
In contrast to Zwift’s other long routes, The PRL Full is quite simple: it’s just 11 laps of the London Loop, followed by a bit more riding to get you onto The Mall where you finish at the Classique forward sprint.
The big feature of the London Loop is Box Hill – 3km/1.9 miles long with 136m (446′) of elevation gain for an average gradient of 4.4%. It’s not a particularly long or steep climb, but 11x up any climb is a challenge!
Read more about The PRL Full >
Category Details
Our first event on the Uber Pretzel was amazing, but we also heard from some who had system crashes due to the massive number of riders. And that’s no good.
In an effort to reduce system problems, we’ve broken this ride up into three categories: A, B, and C. These are not pace categories. They only exist to spread out the riders a bit at the start.
Categories will start 2 minutes apart (we may even lengthen this to 5 minutes) so your Zwift device only has to deal with hundreds of riders at the beginning, and not a few thousand. 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 category with fewer riders (probably B or C).
ALL categories will be visible throughout the ride. And since we’re covering 11 laps, you can be sure there will always be other riders nearby to join!
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 PRL Full in 4.5 hours. But most mortals require 5.5-7 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, and 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/1870675.
Questions or Comments?
Post below and we’ll do our best to answer them!
Remember: ELEVEN times up Box Hill! ELEVEN! A group of friends and I did The Full for the Festive 500 last December. No Double Draft and no steering, dammit.
But the best thing was the leader said it was 10 times up The Box at the start and when we got to the top the tenth time, we were so relieved! I was a coupla minutes ahead of everyone else so when we came out of the subway and went around the roundabout, I wrote out a message saying, “Hey, we have to go up Box again!” The joke was on me when we made the right turn up the hill. I got the expected responses a jokester like me would get until they too made the turn. One of those enduring Zwift experiences…
They should add an animation to give someone a virtual squirt from your water bottle when they pull stuff like this 🙂
😅Exactly.
Got in just under 6 hours. Now Zwift App is saying that there was an error and the ride hasn’t uploaded. All that tedious, boring riding for nothing!
Thanks for nothing, Zwift.
Zwift crashed during my 8th climb up Box Hill. When it restarted it “resumed” my ride but as I headed through the tunnel for the turnaround to the finish, it sent me back up Box Hill. So not only did I do 12/11 climbs, but I didn’t get a badge either. I’m not happy about this at all. Any recourse??
Same thing happened to me but on the first lap. I also carried on and did a 12th lap before manually navigating to the Mall but turns out I didn’t take the right route to get to the Mall so maybe this is why I didn’t get the badge either. Thinking of writing to zwift but might be easier and quicker to just do it again.
What platform were you using Tom?
>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.
Is that unique to PRL Full? I frequently join route badge events late and have always got the badges. Just this morning, I joined the Provence Everything Bagel ride 20 minutes late, 15km in, and still got the badge at the end of the event (at my ~15km mark — I finished the 34km lap on my own afterwards :)). Activity is here, where you can see the route badge was unlocked in the middle of the ride: https://www.zwift.com/activity/764549076347139344
(google also brings up https://forums.zwift.com/t/bug-cheats-route-badge-on-late-join-ride/505465)
Looking forward to this one, thanks Eric. It’s a timely reminder for me to have an easier going week beforehand and perhaps a day or two off the bike before Saturday to give it a (ever decreasing) nudge up Box.
A bit miffed that you don’t get the Ride London Kit 🙄
hmm, my time on this route could do with improving but I really didn’t enjoy it, too repetitive, they should have made it more like the pru ride London profile, with some flat loops before the hilly loops. I think a bit of variety would help.
Maybe have one option later than 6:00 am for west coast US/CA…
Or an earlier option for those of us in Europe who need to have our riding done before supper time?
I am going to be riding it and going to be surfing the groups doing “in event” interviews with those that want to chat to capture some stories from the people riding. Figured it would be nice to hear from the Zwift Insider readership and make for an interesting article 👍
Looking forward to this. Should i ride CANYON AEROAD 2021 or the Cannondale EVO frame? These are my best two bikes. Any advice appreciated 😊
Aeroad and DT Swiss wheels will be my combo. Lots of flat. At 2wkg on London loop it was 12mins climbing and 20 mins flat.
Thanks Buzz 👍
Definitely the more aero frame. It’s not just that there’s a lot of flat. Box Hill isn’t that steep compared to the Alpe or Ventoux, and you also go down it 11 times. If you have access to the DT Swiss 62s, those are a good choice for a rolling race. Based on the factors I outlined, I think I’ll actually take my Zipp 808s, which are slightly faster on the flats and slightly slower on the climbs.
Thanks, I’ve got both the DT Swiss 62s and the Zipp 808s. Sounds like they are both close. One better on the flats and the other better on the climbs 🤔
All about the aero. Go with your most aero setup, which will be absolutely fine for the 4% Box Hill stuff too.
I would ride with spez venge and zip 858. I figured the climb is so short and mostly spend in the flat.
Did Prl half at the weekend. Oosh almost triple the laps. Pacing, pacing, pacing. If I make this, will only be getting a couple hours sleep. Wish everyone luck! We may have double drafting and groups to ride with, but it is still tens of thousands of pedal revs! Bon courage!
Steering sucks. Will it be possible to disable it individually?
If you don’t want to steer, just don’t pair steering on the pairing screen.
Ok. I thought it was steering with the Companion. That doesn’t work very well.
If there is going to be three groups anyways, it would be really nice to have an earlier start time option of like 7am EST. The 9am start kills the day.
Try 2:00pm (which is what the start time in the UK is going to be)!! This is a one off event (at least I’m pretty sure it will be for me!!!) so I’m happy to work around the start time for the benefit of the opportunity to do this with a big group.
Yeah I think the potential midnight finish if I flag towards the end or need a break is what’ll put me off doing it this time. I did the Uber pretzel + enough to complete the century on NYE and that took ~10 hours total.
Double draft is nice, but there’ll be other chances to do this I suspect, it is my last route badge though.
How about a midnight start time in Queensland Australia, I had to stop and get 1 hour of sleep to finish the ride. I will NOT be joining this ride for that reason. Bye. 😡
You win Colin!
Typical whinge.
3am start in NZ yeah nah
“You be You” is great advice for how to pace this route, especially with such a large anticipated turnout. You could easily get into a group that is burning more matches than you can afford over the entire route. Box Hill has the painted road segment “Box Hill – Road River” (looks somewhat like a white bar graph in the middle of the road for approx. 100 meters. This article has a screen capture of it – Thanks Eric). I used this section as an unofficial race segment, noting the elapsed time when I came upon it for all of the loops. It’s position on Box Hill allows you to adjust your pace if necessary – beyond just perceived effort.
I’m interested in finding out how fellow riders compare PRL Full to Uber Pretzel. PRL Full has the most XP points, but I bet many riders think that the Uber Pretzel is actually more difficult. Perhaps a reshuffle of the XP system is in order, unless total distance is simply the ultimate quantifier.
Do your backside a favour and get off of your bike while it freewheels down the other side of Box Hill. Its about a two minute descent when freewheeling which gives enough time to stretch, have a comfort break or eat some real food. Have done both full and half PRL in recent weeks, at about a 1.9 w/kg average per lap reckon on 36/37 minute lap times and a total ride time of around 7 hours. If like me, you are a distinctly average rider, your backside will thank you later in the ride for taking advantage of that two minute descent off of Box Hill…..
Thanks fo er this advice. It really helped. My behind is still sore but much less than it might have been. Plus the brief break gives you something to aim for each lap, helping break up the monotony of 11 laps
Hey Eric,
there a category A, B, C and D for this ride. All categories has the same w/kg.
Why have you split the event? Just because of the amount of riders?
🙂
Yes, exactly that (see above). A slightly staggered start to manage numbers. If on older or less capable hardware go for the later starts that will likely have lower numbers.
“In an effort to reduce system problems, we’ve broken this ride up into three categories: A, B, and C. These are not pace categories. They only exist to spread out the riders a bit at the start.”
I did this in a meet-up with some friends a couple months ago. I actually enjoyed this one more than the Uber. The PRL Full works in nicely with my OCD and ability to just crank out laps of a circuit. Probably comes from my time running distance on a track 😆
Once you get in with a good group, the loops actually go by really quick.
I’ll probably hop in for a bit if I don’t join the BMTR century on Tick-Tock. I’d like to give a 3:20-ist 100 miler a go…….
Hey Eric, Yesterday I had an absolutely foul idea for a rebel route… The ‘PRL Uber Full” Route!!! So, you use the same flat segments as the PRL full but climb Leith Hill each loop. OUCH!!!
So what would be the best pacing strategy? Hold on at the front and try to get as must as a draft on the flats as possible, or pace right from the first climb for a (hopefully) steady effort? The latter option might end up having slower flat sections for the first few rounds. Any thoughts here?
I’m a reasonably competitive Cat C racer (i.e. fortunate enough that my achievable W/kg are around the ceiling for C!!). I did the L’Equipe Provence PRL Half ride a little while ago which is posted as a C paced ride – it was on average, although certainly towards the upper end of that bracket. I stayed with the Beacon, but quite a few where off the front in their own faster paced bunches.
Trying to hold this pace for that long was too much for me – by Lap 3 and certainly Lap 4 I was starting to crack. I certainly wouldn’t have been able to maintain it for another 7 laps!
I’m probably going to look at around 2.4-2.5 W/kg on the flat and maybe 3.0 on the climb and hopefully a group travelling at that sort of pace will find me. I will certainly try not to chase wheels and start writing cheques I can’t cash!
Somewhere in between I reckon. Do the first lap and especially the first climb or two a little harder than the following 9 or 10 efforts then try to find a group from there that settles into an endurance range for you on the flat. We all know most will go off harder than they can hold and a fair few will drop out, so it’s a fine line, but I reckon climbing the first time or two around threshold should be about right before settling into something more manageable on the following ascents. I will also remind myself not to go too crazy on the flat before the climb on the first lap, perhaps just a decent tempo and don’t worry about those tearing it up at 5wkg.
Of course that’s just a rough plan because it really does depend on how the groups form up – if I have to push on a little or sit up a little to be in a decent sized group I will…hopefully! 😄
Meant to say that strategy worked relatively well for me on the Uber Pretzel ride. I knew I was going a little harder than I should be but found a good group (think you were in the same one?) and figured the time it would save me would be more than I would lose on the Alpe. I had to back off some up the Alpe, to the tune of an extra 5 minutes up the climb than I had hoped, but overall it was definitely a quicker time.
We were in the same group indeed. I think you’re right about “somewhere in between”. In Uber Pretzel my strategy basically was to crest Epic KOM asap and draft until AdZ. But I was suffering during the flats way more than expected, averaging 3,4 w/kg in the blob for hours. I completely broke down on AdZ, although that was also due to poor (timing of) nutrition. What surprised me was that “slower groups” were actually only a few minutes behind, instead of 10-15 minutes what I would have expected. So in hindsight, I might have been better off with a slower start.
In this event this might even be more so, as faster and slower groups will fairly soon mix on the flats. One lap takes around 22-25 mins for the faster groups so it won’t be long until they will be catching up with slower groups that still ride a decent pace.
I am definitely not planning on sticking to 3,4 w/kg on the flats for the whole event 🤐
I was in the 4 hour group a few weeks back and everyone blew up on the Alp. Most everyone was riding under 3.5 w/kg on that climb. It was brutal.
So for this one I will definitely not be following the front group up Box Hill at 5w/kg and then end up regreting it on the final laps.
Perhaps not for you, but for any others in the ‘completion’ category, I did Uber with the aim of 2wkg from the gun, climbs nothing above 2.5, and eat early and often. This meant dropping to the 3000’s in terms of numbers. There weren’t a whole lot of groups, but there were some through the flats. 1.5hours up Alpe at that speed. Snuck in under 7 hours. I was happy with the strategy.
Will do the same for this one, if I make it. I would be aiming for a negative split, to lift pace in the last few laps if I feel able, rather than go quick and try to hold on.
The London loop has several lumps in it that will sap you if you try and power over them everytime in the same gear you entered. The 10% after the line at Box Hill, the climb out of the subway, and then several 6% ramps in the town roads that don’t look like 6% ramps on screen. Buyer beware!
Psyched for another killer ride, Eric… that double-draft was a lifesaver in Über Pretzel. And I’ll pop in to Discord again… good conversation definitely makes the time go by faster. Thanks for hosting!
These events are a great idea to help knock out some of the longer courses. However, every event has been at the same time and I have class Saturday mornings. I haven’t been able to participate in any yet. It seems like there’s a lot of interest, so maybe it would be worthwhile to do 2 sessions – perhaps one Sunday morning.
Perhaps, but there are other Badge Hunter-style events going on Sunday mornings already. I’m trying not to step on toes… so for now, I’ll probably just do one event time. Could change in the future…
Would be fun to have ‘race’ level super tuck as you’ve described it 😉
Shocking time for Europeans again..no thanks
Would love to do this but 1am Aust time doesn’t really work.
Will all three starting groups A-C see each other in this event? Ie. when I drop off group A, will I then be picked up by the thousands of riders starting in group B-C? How do an Apple-TV 4th. gen relate to the statement “older or less capable hardware”?
Yes, they will. I would definitely consider a 4th gen AppleTV to be old and less capable… it’s over 5 years old!
Clarifying question, Eric: If someone starts in the A group and then drops back enough to be passed by some Bs and Cs, will they still be able to double-draft off of those latter groups? Asking for a friend… 🤔
Yep! You can draft off anyone you see, and you’ll be able to see all event riders.
Cheers for the double-draft! 🍻
Is it possible to take short breaks (eg food, nature) and still complete the ride, get the badge? Haven’t been Zwifting long, a few weeks ago completed my first 100km in 3.5 hours doing the London Pretzel. Not expecting more than 5-10 mins each time, but want to be sure that’s ok.. am 51 and knees are creaking !
Absolutely! You can actually take super long breaks on Zwift, and still get the route badge: https://zwiftinsider.com/long-breaks/
With so many riders on course, you can always pull over, take a break, and find a friendly wheel once you start moving again. For the first 5-6 hours, at least!
Thanks for the fast reply Eric 👍
So excited for this! I’ve been doing the Gran Fondo workout series on Zwift just to keep motivated and I’m currently in the final taper week. I didn’t have a specific long ride planned as an end to the 8 weeks, but this fits in perfectly! (And it’s going to be rainy all day Saturday, so I don’t have to feel torn about outside vs. inside!) Thanks for reading my mind, Eric!
Perfect! See you out there!
Would you also complete the PRL half in the veloviewer leaderboard when doing PRL full?
No, because to get the PRL half segment you need to leave the loop and goto the classique finish banner after 4 laps, but prl full needs to do more laps before it goes to that banner to finish.
But when riding the full PRL, would you not get on the segment of the half PRL after 6 laps or so?
Kris G is correct – the last 4 laps of the PRL Full ride, plus the ending, will match the Strava segment for the PRL Half.
You won’t get the route badge, but you’ll match the Strava segment and thus be on the Veloviewer leaderboard.
This doesn’t seem to be true. I spot checked a dozen people who did the PRL Full segment in the past week and none of their activities had the prl half segment on them (yes, I looked in “hidden segments too).
You’re right… I’m not seeing it either. But I don’t understand WHY I’m not seeing it, since it appears like it should match! Hmmm…
Pretty sure it’s a strava bug or intentional limit (segments too long?).
I was really hoping I could get the 2 segments completed with this one ride
Yeah, it’d be nice, wouldn’t it!
Thanks for confirming !
Will we only see other participants in thsi event or all Zwifters? If the latter will we able to figure out who to team up with or just wing it? Thanks
We will only see event participants.
Thank you Eric
I’m looking forward to giving this route a go, as I think this will be the easiest way to get it done. I plan on riding as a long endurance ride, 2-2.5w/kg the whole way, with plenty of stops (I’m thinking every hour for 5-10 mins). I’m even considering turning my trainer difficulty down to zero. Will be on the discord channel for company.
Me too Jon! Probably on the slower end. Im scared, but gonna give it a shot!
Which group are you starting with Buzz? I’m in the B group (2nd to set off). Hope to see you somewhere along the way!
Maybe keep some resistance on for the climb, those few extra watts will help you get up quicker. I’ve done the Alpe on 0% and 50% and prefer having something. 0% added about 20 mins
Yes I think you are right! I think I’ll leave it around 30% 👍🏻
Hope you had a good ride. I have bruised sit bones today!
Any ideas on what would be the perfect virtual bike setup for this ride? Tron? Tarmac pro with Meilensteins?
I’m toying between Tron or Aeroad/Dt Swiss….double draft AND van means the aeroad will still be fast on flat but better on the climbs…..although it’s not that steep anyway. Saying that, the Tron will gain more benefit in the pack, even more than the Aeroad….
Saying that, we’re talking about seconds anyway!!
Sorry guys will ride with you only 3 to 4 laps.
Signed up. Will try to stay on the blue zone, for me 1.6-2.1 w/kg and let’s see. Never went over 120km on Zwift and don’t know how legs and bottom will react… Planning for one stop to dry up and change sweated kit. Curious to see if I have enough legs to finish it.
You can do it!
Why in results is upg? In every gruop was 1-5w/kg.
Me too. I’m A+ on zp and entered the C group. I’ve lodged an appeal so I’ll have to wait and see.
I didn’t set the event up in ZP at all, so who knows what settings it’s using! It’s not a race, though, so you won’t get points for it anyway…
Well – ride competed – with the screen shots to prove it, and the ride uploaded to Zwift is 2-3 km short and I didn’t get the badge. Any suggestions or am I screwed?
You could try these instructions to see if one of the saved fit files has the whole activity https://zwiftinsider.com/retrieve-lost-ride/
You could also try contacting zwift (either via support or via the forums) I think I’ve seen them fix up badge mistakes like this recently.
I’d contact Zwift support. https://support.Zwift.com
Thanks guys – and thanks for setting up the ride! The ending was irritating for me but the preceding 6 hours was great 😉
Was able to delete my Strava ride and upload the .fit file from Zwift on the laptop, so the full ride shows in Strava now, but despite it being recorded properly locally Zwift has no mechanism to update their online version, and supports answer was “pound sand”.
Wait, did the badge pop up on screen and then it doesn’t show up in the game now?
I know the opposite to be true, you get the badge to pop in game, then it fails to load to zwift, but the badge stays in the garage.
Also, what platform do you use?
Correct – I got the “Congrats” banner on screen, and finishing the ride boosted me up a level (45->46) as well (also in screen shot). Then a coasted to a stop. Saved ride, Zwift exited without any visible issue. The ride that appears in my event history is short by 3km, won’t actually load the detail page, and when I log in now I see back to old level (45) and no badge in garage. Local .fit file has whole ride, i.e. have the PRL Full segment in Strava.
dude that totally sucks. As does the canned response from Zwift.
Man, that is really weird! And that sucks big time.
What platform was it running on?
MacBook Pro – fresh build for nothing but Zwift. Plugged in. Wifi access point 10 feet away. I feel like the way the app exits so abruptly on Mac OS has a lot to do with this. The support response said something about “ride data is uploaded every 10 mins” which makes zero sense.
The guys at Zwift are just greedy As far as they are concerned they have our money in their bank account with a few more million going in every month so they just don’t care Hopefully once lockdown eases subscribers will fall off a cliff and they might come to their senses
Thanks Mike. Sorry, long response coming.
I’m asking because I have been running Zwift on a 10 year old HP laptop running Windows 7, with integrated graphics, I run on the lowest quality, and have it hooked into a TV through a PC cable, not HDMI.
This seems far lower spec than pretty much everyone I come across that has had an issue. Even an iPhone 3 or 4 should be gruntier than this laptop.
I seemed to have trouble with having companion app open at the same time as closing my ride (I now close companion app). I haven’t had mid-ride crashes (yet).
If it is any consolation, the Windows app also exits abruptly. When you click close and exit, that popup disappears and you are left with the out of focus image of your avatar for a few seconds.
For me, when it was hanging, it was hanging with the popup still on screen.
I’m kinda getting a bit of a list together of people that are having trouble so we can teach each other (don’t use this or that to run Zwift!) because I am sad of seeing peoples effort getting wasted.
You’d expect a Macbook Pro to handle anything! And your instance is weirder than most with the activity being trimmed. Anecdotally the crashes when uploading I know of on Apple products are the ‘circle of death’ mostly.
If you have concerns of some signal issue, and to check the wifi connection, ant or bluetooth connection, run the Zwift log file through https://zwiftalizer.com/ online. I don’t know where the log file is stored on Mac (sorry) but on windows the sessions are stored under the Documents/Zwift folder.
It is excellent extra info if you have had issues. Found it thanks to an article on here.
When I had this issue I sent the screenshots to Zwift support and they added the badges within a couple of days.
Update on my side: after several round trips via email and including screen shots and .fit files from the laptop they did credit me the badge. They couldn’t fix the points lost for the route completion but I can live with that, as long as I don’t have to repeat the PRL Full for the badge.
How do I contact Zwift if my ride hasn’t uploaded?
Try this one first https://zwiftinsider.com/retrieve-lost-ride/
Thanks! I’ve uploaded the .fit file to Strava successfully, so not all is lost. But I didn’t get the route badge in Zwift. Still, I’ve saved the log and fit files, maybe there’ll be an opportunity some time in the future to rectify this.
As Eric’s reply on a similar comment above, contact Zwift Support too https://support.Zwift.com
As an update on my side: I got the canned response from Zwift Support I expected, which was “tough luck”. It is very demotivating to consider attempting these exceptional indoor rides knowing that there is a chance you won’t get the credit. This seems to be a long lived problem based on search results and their fix is “create a canned response” vs fix the problem. No internet problems on my side, nothing out of the ordinary. Finished the ride and closed it out as normal.
What platform are you on Tom?
Wow. Thanks for organizing that Eric.
With just the major badges left to get, nice to have knocked of the longest one. At least now I can approach the others with reasonable confidence that the legs can cope with things over an hours (which has been most of my Zwifting this winter).
And officially my longest recorded ride in Strava.
Congrats on a massive effort Mark!
+1 – also thank you very much! Never done something similar as indoor training, never done a 175k distance that high-flying. The setting encouraged me to try a PR-Lap in the “11th round” which at least worked at the hill. Strava scores this effort even higher than my past 400km-Brevets; of course Strava can’t rate, what it means to ride through the night with snowflakes and rain in the morning – but this event gives confidence for all following road adventures this season. My irritation by the way was bit different: playing around with my smartphone I didn’t recognize the roundabout and thought I was sent to the hill a twelve time. For a short moment I was stunned, but then I realized that I was riding back to subway..
Well, I feel completely shafted by Zwift, on the first lap Zwift crashed and then when it restarted it resumed the course but I had been thrown off the ride I continued anyway even though most but not all others had disappeared and so had the draft. But after finishing the lap for the 11th time instead of taking me to the finish I was sent up the hill for a 12th time then after manually navigating to the finish next time round I still didn’t get a badge despite have done an extra lap
Sorry to hear that. I think if you ever crash or deviate/turn/U turn, you don’t get a route badge. Next time!
What platform do you use?
@Buzz I was using a pair of iPhones, one to run the app via a dock connector for power and HDMI to TV and the other to run companion and everything else – Spotify discord etc Normally works fine but I think these big rides just involve too much processing for it to handle Also noticed the battery level was getting hammered even though plugged in which might be a clue too
Bummer. Do you run it high med or low quality? Any other screens attached?
Great ride Eric, your little message with 2 laps to go helped! Was a sucker of a ride and felt like giving up with 3 to go. 30 min laps lasted about 4 then fatigue set in by 8. Those last 10km are killer. Great work all. Great work Eric. Never again though!
Eric, that was an epic ride yesterday! Previous longest ride 62 miles (4xbox hill) about a month ago. Hopped off the saddle on the box hills descents, but otherwise it was a 7:44 enduro! Glad I started at an easy pace, the downside is not too many double draft opportunities! Must get quicker. Advice on this chat really helps. Hydration, food and pace the key to completion for first timers. Thanks again
Yes, I noticed that. Really strong double draft but if you’re slower and drop off you totally lose that and left high and dry!
I noticed you could be drafting, a faster bunch could ride through the middle and kick you out of the draft! So annoying… but still lovely to have while you are in the double draft!
To all who lost their rides, super sorry to hear that!
If your companion app freezes when you ride like mine does, i learned to force close companion before uploading my ride/exiting zwift after a ride.
I wonder what platform everyone is using that has issues with crashing during a ride, and during uploading.
I know patchy WiFi when trying to upload can be a problem for me.
Its no consolation though, losing that effort sucks!
Thanks, but this is the second large group ride that had technical issues and this time I lost over 5h of riding data. I think I’ll stick to smaller meet ups for >4h rides. I like the idea of these Zwift insider group rides, but I don’t think the platform can handle them.
Yeah understand, gutted Martin! Just putting it out there as something that may assist some people. Additionally, what platform are you running Zwift on?
I want to thank you so much for putting on these rides. The PRL Full is one I’ve dreaded for years and wondered if I’d ever be able to get it. This event had me putting on my big girl knickers and attempting it. It was a long, long, ride – got cramps for the first time! Yikes! That was unpleasant! But got through it and got the badge! Thank you! It was a massive achievement for me and I’m tickled pink.
I don’t suppose you’ll be doing the four horsemen next will you?
L’equipe are doing this on the 28th of March. My last badge, so I will do that probably. But likely more riders in a Zwift insider ride to help with a draft if they do it!
Eric I’m bit in contention hahahahaha but I went hard for a long rime…I was a little behind yiu siubds like, it would be interesting to see how we did THAT DAY. Or even if not placements even better # or finishers each or 30 minutes. It’s of course meaningless but we are playing a fame and we usually get results in a fondo?
Does anyone know how many we started with and how many finished? I managed it in under 7 hours, but I stopped for dinner!
It was a good event but I’m not sure this was a good event for double draft. The gradients varied too much and once you dropped off, you struggled to get back on. I experienced this as well with the Volcano 25laps event ran by others. This is coming from someone who finished at 5hrs 30.
If this was done as normal drafting you could have caught up with others. I also had issues with sticky draft when passing others.
It was a good event but one I’ll never do again.
Thank you for organizing the event. Without the motivation of all the friendly riders I doubt I would have finished. It’s going to be a ling time before I ever go up box hill again.
I really loved both events. They were true gran fondo’s!
Especially the double draft adds to the challenge (instead of making it more easy!). I noticed both on PRL Full and on Uber Pretzel that I was suffering big on the flats, while generally you would expect that the flats would be easier.
In reality the flats did not get easier, they only got faster. The challenge that this adds is as follows. I was in a good group half-way the PRL-full ride at around (guesstimate) 40th place overall. The speed of our group on the flats was great, but the effort to keep up (on the flats) was unsustainable. I was able to push around 4,3 w/kg on the hill, but not for much longer if I couldn’t recover on the flats.
By pure coincidence I was dropped at the end of the 6th descent and decided to let go the group. In hindsight, that enabled me to recover enough on the flats and maintain an equal pace on the hill. I managed to sweep several ex-members of my group and ended up (according to ZwiftPower) 32nd overall.
If all went according to my initial plan, I would not have dropped the group and probably have ruined my legs at lap 8-9. And it’s tactics like these that make the ride so much more intriguing 🙂
Great Ride! Thanks so much for hosting it. Loved the discord chatter. I usually listen to books/podcasts, but this made if feel a bit more like a ‘real’ group ride.
In case anyone else is wondering why their results are not showing in zwiftpower.com, you need to opt-in: Opt-in via your Zwift.com profile to appear in results – Zwift Power
Looking forward to the next one!
I completed the full PRL, when I ended my ride in never download it. It shows up only the miles in my Companion app not the route, I did not get my badge. I use Apple TV to run swift. What can I do.
Based on what I’ve read from others who have not gotten badges in the past, I would reach out to Zwift support. They should be able to give you the badge.
hi, by riding the prl full, do i get the prl half or should i ride it seperatly ?
Gotta ride it separately.
thank you Eric 👍
Any plans for another PRL full badge hunter event sometime soon?