UPDATE: Zwift’s route of the week program has continued, so we created a Route of the Week schedule…
Early this month, Zwift rolled out a new “Route of the Week” feature, plus a slate of XP Express events. Both have proven very popular, so they’re continuing into June. Read on for details…
XP Express Events
Clearly, Zwifters like earning extra XP, with friends, because these events have proven very popular. In fact (checks game), 709 riders are signed up for the event launching 5 minutes from now!
These events are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They are 50 minutes long, and you will earn double XP for the duration of the events (so 40XP per kilometer/64XP per mile, vs 20XP per kilometer/32XP per mile).
The rides are open-paced, meaning you can expect the front of the ride to be spicy (race-pace) while there are plenty of groups behind at easier paces.
Upcoming XP Express route schedule:
- June 3: Champs-Élysées
- June 5: 2019 Worlds Harrogate Circuit
- June 10: Gotham Grind
- June 12: Castle to Castle
- June 17: Outer Scotland
- June 19: Park Perimeter Loop
- June 24: Wandering Flats
- June 26: Richmond UCI Worlds
See upcoming XP Express events at zwift.com/events/tag/xpexpress >
Route of the Week
The Route of the Week is located in the Challenges row of your homescreen:
The idea is simple: ride the Route of the Week and earn 500XP:
Note: “accidentally” riding the Route of the Week won’t earn you the XP bonus. You have to click the challenge card, which brings you to the blue screen shown above, in order to “register” for the Route of the Week challenge for that week. Then you can ride the featured route in any way you choose, in order to get the XP bonus.
Upcoming Route of the Week schedule:
- May 26-June 1: Triple Twist
- June 2-8: Waisted 8
- June 9-15: Coastal Crown Loop
- June 16-22: Sand and Sequoias
- June 23-29: Figure 8
More XP Info
If you’re new to Zwift and don’t understand how the XP (experience points) system works, read All About Zwift XP, Levels, and Unlocks for Cyclists.
You may also be interested in XP Farming on Zwift: the Definitive Guide to Earning More XP and Leveling Up Faster.
Your Thoughts
Now that they’ve been going for a month or so… what do you think of the XP Express events and Route of the Week initiative? Have you tried them? What are your thoughts? Share below…
The XP Express rides aren’t held often enough.
Something I found today – if your first ride of the new week is an outdoor ride (so keeping up your streak) when you Zwift for the first time that week you DONT see the streak screen
You also do not get the 500 bonus
Yes you do get them go back in route of the week and there in there click to updte
…and you don’t get the 500xp streak bonus (unless you email Zwift support to have them manually credit the bonus).
Had the same this week, and I’ve just emailed them. Thanks for the tip!
Bummer for anyone whose week starts with an IRL ride. Like me, on my Monday morning commute
Bummer, I took start my week outdoors by commuting. Guess I should ride 2 KM inside before I leave until this is fixed.
Yes in the same boat here, glad I read these comments! Just emailed Zwift support, hope I don’t lose one of my streak life savers over this bug …
Just to let everyone know – I asked around, and this is a bug Zwift knows about, and they’re working to fix it. No ETA on a fix though.
(Basic bug description: if your first ride of the week is outside, you don’t get the streak continuation bonus for the week, even if you ride on Zwift at some point that week.)
@Eric Schlange I’m not worried about my XP. However, do I get to keep my pocket squirrel with outdoor rides? I like my little riding buddy.
Yes, your streaks are still being extended by those outdoor rides!
Is this a bug though? When this feature was released it was clearly stated that riding outside would increase your streak but you would not get the 500 bonus points.
That doesn’t sound like a bug. It sounds intentional by design.
There was a topic on Zwift Forums asking what the intended behaviour should be (Zwift support colleagues were giving different answers to different people). Unfortunately no Zwift staff bothered to reply.
Yes, you won’t get the 500xp streak bonus if you ONLY ride outside for the week.
The bug is that, even if you ride on Zwift later in the week, you don’t get the 500xp bonus. If your first ride of the week is outdoors, it breaks the streaks bonus stuff.
With the understanding that you have “insider information”, I’m curious as to how you got it? I’ve scoured the internet, in particular for the route of the week in the ZCA and, other than knowing it’s a card on the Zwift splash screen; all I found was this: “In the Zwift Companion App: Navigate to the “Home” section, look for the challenge card or “Routes” tab.” Yea, not finding it unless I’m missing something specific to routes (in the ZCA)? Thanks for all the great work @Eric Schlange, we appreciate it!
Dude…. This sites name is zwift INSIDER 😁🙈
😆 Hence the quotes!
I’m a big fan of Occam’s razor, so I asked Zwift for the schedule. And they sent it over! 😋
Thanks @Eric Schlange – guess I’m not enough of an “insider” 😉
It certainly would be helpful if they could mark it in some way in Companion, so that if you are planning your rides for the next few days you can see what the current route of the week is, without having to actually log into the game.
XP Express Events are always starting at the same hours, it would be nice to see them shift one hour on Thursdays for example.
Has there been any talk about Zwift adding more levels soon?
Sounds like it’s in the works. I bet we see something in the next 6 months.
Noooooooooooooo please nooooooo I’ll never get there can’t they just stop messing with levels and do something more useful instead
Please send them your suggestions on leveling up that you wrote several months ago. I have something like 100,000 XP points above WHERE A NEW RIDER WOULD ACHIEVE LEVEL 100 YET CURRENTLY I’M ONLY AT LEVEL 91. I DON’T WANt to JUST KEEP CHASING HIGHER AND HIGHER XP POINTS YET BE LAGGING BEHIND MY ACTUAL LEVELS.
I’m sure the change is imminent. I’m at 99 right now. I was at 59 before the last change, and 49 before that.
Only complaint on the xp xpress events , no tt bikes , trying to upgrade the bike
Yeah, that’s a common rule for group rides, to help riders stay together. At least you can ride your TT frame for the route of the week!
I noticed this today as I’m trying to upgrade a TT bike. No problems as I switched to my climbing bike to get more meters, but the Champs Elsye is flat.
The dumbest thing on Zwift is having to select the Route of the Week tile in order to “enter” the challenge. There are so many different ways to ride the route and generally I choose a convivial group ride, that it’s really annoying to find that you don’t get the bonus. Let’s just all get route of the week if we choose to ride it
Something I noticed today is you get ONE Coffee Stop on the XP Express. “Sandbagged” an early stop so I could fill bidons only to find the second stop at around 35 minutes went to Coffee Stop Unavailable. I had completed the ride lap as well. Is it a intended you get one stop?
Been enjoying the Route of the Week so far, and I noticed the pop-up banner says 1/1 when you do it. That makes me think that they should expand to 3ish routes that are progressively harder and doing all 3 in a week leads to a big XP bonus.
If you click on the route of the week to register, and then open a workout from the two challenges that are currently active, choose the route that is active as route of the week – you get both the extra xp’s for the route of the week as the extra xp’s for the challenge (once completed). During the ride you see confirmation for completing both “tasks”.
Hey, Eric!
Will Zwift keep this Route Of The Week as a permanent weekly “challenge”, with a pre-established schedule?
They haven’t said, but I’m thinking (hoping) they will.
Route of Week is continuing in July but doesn’t look like XP express will. Nothing in calendar for July
Will the XP Express and Route of the Week rides continue in July? I actually enjoy these types of events! Thank you Eric and Zwift for having these for us Zwifters!
Doesn’t look like it will. Nothing in calendar for July
Looks like XP Express Events have now concluded. Nothing in calendar for July 25
Did the XP express rides end?
Yeah, they aren’t continuing into July. Not sure when Zwift will bring them back.
Where do I find the schedule for July’s route of the week..?
Do you know if the events were only for a limited time? I see no events in july scheduled for double xp.
Yeah, they come and go. Nothing for July, but I’m sure they’ll be back…
Okay awesome eric! I just came back in june so i was living the double XP dream. I will have to find something else in zwift to do in the meantime.