Our newest Rebel Route is a climber’s dream: a loop that begins atop the Epic KOM, descending down to the bypass road, cutting across, then climbing up. It’s a great route if you’re looking to do some ~20-minute sweetspot intervals.
About Rebel Routes
“Rebel Routes” are Zwift rides 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
This route begins with a tough lead-in from downtown Watopia to the top of the Epic KOM forward. Once you hit the KOM banner (~14.3km into your ride, after 433m of climbing!) the actual Epic Loop Rebel Route begins.
You’ll start by descending most of the Epic KOM Reverse before turning right onto the Epic KOM Bypass ride. This beautiful newish stretch of Watopian tarmac runs along the cliffside, offering splendid views to your left.
Turn another right at the end of the Bypass and you’re on the Epic KOM climb. Hammer your way to the banner, and your loop is finished.
Then you can decide if you want to do it all over again!
Profile
This route is essentially a long descent followed by a flat, finishing with a long climb. Repeat as many times as you’d like!
Getting Started + Lead-In
The easiest way to get onto this loop is to choose “Mountain Route” from your Watopia route options. This will properly route you up the Epic KOM in the correct direction. Once you’ve passed through the Epic KOM banner, the Epic Loop route (and the need for manual navigation) begins!
Turn by Turn
Here are the turns you’ll need to make to successfully complete the Epic Loop, beginning by selecting Watopia’s “Mountain Route” and riding up to the Epic KOM banner:
- Right (Straight) to KOM Descent
- Right to Epic KOM Bypass
- Right to Epic KOM
Route details:
Distance: 14.4km (9.2 miles)
Elevation Gain: 378m (1,240′)
Lead-In: 14.3km (9 miles), 433m (1,421′)
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!
I’ve thought about doing a similar one using the sequoia turn and marina to create an “Epic figure 8”.
Rough suggestion:
I’ve done this some months back. Does it only show up on strava if you did it after the segment was created?
No, Strava segments are retro-active, although it can take some time to update the leaderboard when they’re initially created.
Actually dejo, Strava segments for Zwift are NOT retro-active. For whatever reason, Strava doesn’t go back and find old activities that match new Zwift segments.
So you have to force Strava to do that – re-upload your activity, or trim it by 1s.
Ah, interesting. Thanks for the clarification, Eric. Could you also “Reset Activity Achievements” for the ride?
I wish, but nope, that doesn’t work!
@Eric Schlange in Strava there’s an option to Refresh your Activity Achievements. Would this not also get you the segment?
(ignore that, just saw below someone asked the same question)
But then again, trimming it by 1s isn’t a bit deal, as long as it doesn’t leave you short of completing the route 😂
If you choose the jungle route and immediately pull a U-turn then you can take the bypass road over to the bottom of the Epic KOM as a much easier lead-in.
I was thinking this exact thing, only selecting Road to Sky and U-turning, but Jungle Route also works, obviously.
thanks for the tip – after the u-turn, i took it up the KOM reverse, seemed a little bit shorter with less elev gain…
How about Three Lazy Sisters? Came up with this while riding Three Sisters for the DURA-ACE challenge and wishing I didn’t need to climb so much. Hilly KOM, but take the cutoff halfway up. Epic KOM but take the bypass. Skip Volcano KOM entirely and just do a lap of VolcanoCircuit
😀
That’s a great idea!
Funniest route idea for sure!
I’ve done a variant on this – a figure 8 on the Epic KoM using the KoM Bypass. The exact route is a bit messy and complicated to write out, but the general idea is that you do the full Epic KoM/Reverse Epic KoM segment on the way up, then take the turn onto the Bypass road on the descent, and go through the underwater tunnel to the start of the other KoM segment for the next climb. This is similar to the route that Henry described in his comment, but includes the full timed KoM segment on each side of the climb.
Gambler’s Climbit….basically Climber’s Gambit but then come down off the Epic KOM and take the bypass road and then make a second ascent of 2/3 of the Epic KOM…reach the top and then descend all the way back to Downtown…looking at just over 60km and 1100m of elevation…the two ascents are good as intervals with the first descent and bypass perfect recovery…second descent is the perfect cool down
Reble Routes shouldn’t have cool down sections.
Ha, I happen to have done a route that was entirely this a year ago – I joined a friend who was doing circuits, and coincidentally came in right before the top of the KoM, and did a lap with him. I’ve just deleted and re-uploaded the Strava ride, to get the segment to show up!
Great minds think alike.
For something mid length and more flat(ish), begin with Tick Tock – across Fuego flats, towards Epic KOM, take the Bypass, down through the Marina to the Italian villas, around the Volcano, through Downtown back to Fuego flats.
Finally, my prayers have been answered.
I’d suggest getting to this one by starting from Road to Sky and immediately doing a U-turn, rather than using Mtn Rte. From this start point, the reverse of this loop is also awesome (ie. Epic KOM Rev, descend on EPIC KOM, take the cliffside cutoff back to the base of the Epic KOM Rev.)
Hi Eric…. I tried this route today….went up the reverse KOM to start and then u-turned after going thru the banner and completed the route as described from the top….but for whatever reason, the achievement didn’t unlock once back at the banner. I tried descending after as well but it still didn’t unlock. Checking my ride on strava, it showed that I completed the Rebel Route – Epic Loop. Any suggestions before I try this one again? Thanks in advance