Many Zwifters consider The Über Pretzel to be Zwift’s toughest route since it finishes with the leg-sapping Alpe du Zwift climb after 115km of riding. This explains why so many Zwifters haven’t yet earned the Über Pretzel route badge!
We’re hoping to help you remedy that situation with our first-ever official Zwift Insider event: Zwift Insider Badge Hunters – The Uber Pretzel Edition.
The event takes place on Saturday, February 20th, at 6am Pacific/9am Eastern/2pm GMT.
About the Route
The Über Pretzel covers almost every bit of road in Watopia, missing only Titans Grove and the short additions added in December 2020. At 128.3 km (79.7 miles) long with 2335 m (7,661‘) of elevation it’s the second-longest (and second-climbiest) route in all of Zwift, behind London’s PRL Full.
But Zwifters who have ridden both often say The Über Pretzel is tougher than the PRL Full. While the PRL Full is just one mind-numbing lap after another, at least it lets you get into a rhythm. The Über Pretzel, on the other hand, has no rhythm.. and just when you’re feeling like it’s time for the ride to end, you arrive at the base of Alpe du Zwift!
Read more about The Über Pretzel >
Ride Specifics
This will be a double draft ride, so sit in with others on the flats in order to conserve your energy.
Steering will also be enabled, to make it a bit more engaging and fun!
We’re also 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 finish The Über Pretzel in under 4 hours. But we expect most riders will take closer to 5, with plenty taking even longer. You do you. Be sure to plan accordingly.
Special Guests
We’ve invited Zwift staffers and some of our friends from the community to join us on this inaugural ride. Affirmatives have already come back, including:
- Nathan Guerra of Zwift Community Live, who will be streaming his ride
- Simon Schofield of Zwiftcast: he’s not convinced he’ll hang around for the whole ride (it’s his birthday after all) but he’s in for some fun
- Steve Beckett, Chief Marketing Officer at Zwift: this event is actually the brainchild of Steve and ZI’s Eric Schlange, who were chatting about how neither had earned their Über Pretzel badge yet…
- More ZHQ staffers
- Eric Schlange, creator of Zwift Insider
- And you!
Discord
Zwift Insider’s Discord server will be used for voice chat during the ride, if you’re looking for company. 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/1733428.
Questions or Comments?
Post below and we’ll do our best to answer them!
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