Our newest Rebel Route comes from Zwifter Craig Devonshire, who suggested a route planned along the same theme as the infamous Badwater Ultramarathon. This race travels 135 miles from the lowest point in North America (Death Valley) to the highest point in the continental US (Mount Whitney).
For our Zwifty version, we travel from the lowest point on Watopia (Ocean Boulevard, -5m elevation), to the highest point (Alpe du Zwift, 1047m elevation) then back again. Who will be the first to complete the route in under 90 minutes?
About Rebel Routes
“Rebel Routes” are Zwift rides which are not available on Zwift’s routes list, thus requiring manual navigation.
The reward for your rebel ride? Exploring a new route, knowing you’ve gone where few Zwifters have gone before. And a Strava segment rank in the tens or hundreds instead of the thousands! They are included as a separate category on our Veloviewer Route Hunter leaderboard.
Route Description
Before we begin, please note that since we summit the Alpe on this route, you must be a level 6 Zwifter or higher to ride it.
Begin in downtown Watopia by selecting the “Flat Route”. Turn left onto Ocean Boulevard, which will take us underwater to the lowest elevation on Watopia. Enjoy the flat roads while you can – they won’t last long.
Downtown Watopia start/finish banner 
The lowest elevation in Watopia – below sea level! 
Turn left at the windmills
After you climb out of the tunnel, turn left at the windmills to head over the dock and up the snaking climb toward the Epic KOM and Jungle. The climbing is beginning, but this is just the start! Turn right at the next fork toward the Jungle, then another right once you’re on the Jungle dirt to being the circuit in a counter-clockwise direction.
Another right finds us at the foot of Alpe du Zwift – time to climb! Hammer you way up those 21 turns, take a breather as you ride the ring road at the summit, then descend and retrace your path home!
Time to climb… 
Enjoy your descent!
The route ends at the main downtown Watopia start/finish banner.
Profile
Getting Started + Lead-In
Start by choosing Watopia’s Flat Route. This will take you in the right direction for the first portion of the ride.
Turn by Turn
Here are the turns you’ll need to make to successfully complete Down Up Down. Start by choosing the Flat Route route, or any route that begins in downtown Watopia heading east. The official Strava segment begins at the downtown start/finish banner.
- Left to Ocean Blvd
- Straight to Ocean Blvd
- Straight to Italian Villas
- Left to Jungle/Epic KOM
- Right to Jungle/Alpe
- Right to Jungle/Alpe
- Straight (Right) to Mayan Loop
- Right to Alpe du Zwift
- Left to Mayan Loop Rev
- Straight (Left) to Mayan Loop Rev
- Left to Epic KOM
- Left to Italian Village
- Right to Sequoia Circle
- Straight to Downtown
- Straight to Downtown
- Right to Downtown
Route details:
Distance: 49.35km (30.7 miles)
Elevation Gain: 1257m (4,124′)
Strava Segment
Rebel Route Suggestions
Got an idea for a great rebel route? Share it below and maybe we’ll publish a post about it!
Like the look of this one, going to use if for the next Alpe attempt!
Another Rebel Route Idea:
Always frustrating there is not a ‘short’ mountain loop (like Hilly Loop), without the killer Bonus Climb 😉
Similar to Mountain Route, a short lead in from downtown, the ‘loop’ starts at Sequoia Circle, where you can choose to summit the Epic climb either forwards or backwards, looping back to Sequoia Circle for another lap if you so please!
Thanks for putting this up on the VeloViewer boards before here. Getting it done before the blog post made me feel like a *true* Zwift Insider!
Absolutely. Chapeau!
Astoria Reverse. https://www.strava.com/segments/26379125?filter=my_results
Looking at the elevation profile this looks more like “UP DOWN” than “DOWN UP DOWN” to me 🙂
Indeed, it should be called “up down”, or “bottom top bottom”
I did this one today – there are a couple of extra turns not listed above. I didn’t note down exactly what it was on the way out, but I’ve assumed what it was on the basis of the options on the way back. Regardless, both were default/automatic turns, I didn’t need to override with a manual turn.
6.1 – Straight to Mayan Loop
8.1 – Straight to Mayan Loop Reverse
The other option was Mayan Bridge.
Thanks, fixed today!
I guess I shouldn’t have taken “we travel from the lowest point on Watopia (Ocean Boulevard, -5m elevation), to the highest point (Alpe du Zwift, 1047m elevation) then back again” so literally, the laptop battery was dying and as I had left the undersea tunnel I assumed I had passed the lowest point and therefore completed the route and finished my ride. Not so alas.
Updated the turns list today!