Notable Zwift Events for the Weekend of January 21-22

This week’s notable events include a nice mix of custom finish races, endurance rides, and structured workouts.

🥇Crit City Smash p/b Speed Hound

With the removal of the popular Crit City events, more and more event organizers have been changing their events to variations of Crit City races. The Crit City Smash p/b Speed Hound is very similar to a traditional Crit City race, but with a few twists. Every other week, the finish takes place on the Downtown Dolphin Prime segment. Riders will also receive an Aero Boost at every lap banner, as opposed to the traditional mix of power-ups. The goal of this is to encourage riders to use the Aero Boost more strategically. 

The race takes place over ~9.5 laps of Crit City’s Downtown Dolphin course, as it finishes at the top of the Prime segment. The race will likely take 25-30 minutes depending on the category.

Special settings: category enforcement, power meter required

Sunday, Jan 22 @ 5pm UTC/12pm EST/9am PST
Sign up at zwift.com/events/view/3438722

🤝 Vatternrundan Group Ride Series

The Vatternrundan Zwift series is back! This time, the team at Swedish Zwift Riders will be leading the rides over the course of the next few months. The Vatternrundan is an event that happens annually outdoors in June. It claims to be the world’s largest recreational bike challenge, with a distance of over 300km! The goal of this series is to help riders prepare for this event with a series of longer group rides. Currently, the ride has over 150 riders signed up!

Since this ride is trying to help riders improve their endurance, the ride will be 90 minutes long on the Douce France course. Riders will likely complete over 2 laps of this course.

Special settings: jersey unlock, fenced

Sunday, Jan 22 @ 8am UTC
Sign up at zwift.com/events/view/3301083

🥇 STAGE 4: FLAT IS FAST—London Classique

Finding it hard to get into a competitive race on Sunday afternoons? It’s always a good feeling to be the first to complete something. Every Sunday afternoon, the first event of the monthly ZRacing series happens. For those in Northern America, this is the perfect opportunity to get a nice and competitive race in before the end of the week. The upcoming race features three power-ups—the feather, burrito, and ghost. Use them wisely!

This week, riders will be racing over 2 laps of the London Classique course. The race will likely be pretty short, lasting 20-25 minutes depending on the category riders choose to race in. Typically, the fastest time is set on either Monday’s or Wednesday’s races.

Special settings: category enforcement

Sunday, Jan 22 @ 7:10pm PST/4:10pm PST
Sign up at zwift.com/events/view/3354817

📊Castelli Unlimited

Looking to improve your endurance? Whether it is just for fun, or preparation for an event, the Castelli Unlimited workout series is a great opportunity for riders to work on their endurance. Throughout the next few weeks, there will be rides on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, with Saturday’s workout being the longest at ~90 minutes. Most of the workouts included in the series are selected from the Gravel Grinder training plan on Zwift.

The ride not only takes place on the Achterbahn course in Innsbruck (a tough route badge) but the ride also includes the unlocking of the Castelli Virtual Aero Dark kit in Zwift. 

Special settings: jersey unlock

Saturday, Jan 21 @ 9:25am UTC
Sign up at zwift.com/events/view/3434823

🤝DIRT Badge Hunts

This weekend, Team DIRT (Dads Inside Riding Trainers) is hosting a badge hunt event, part of the series put on by DIRT every indoor cycling season. The DIRT ride leaders are good about keeping riders occupied with jokes and fun conversations! For those looking to complete some of the longer routes, this is the best time to do so. Indoor cycling season only lasts for so long, meaning people are only willing to ride 4+ hours on the trainer for a limited amount of time. Once the season ends, route-badge group rides will be much rarer.

This ride will be tackling the Uber Pretzel course in Watopia, a route that will be very tough for most Zwifters. The ride features three different categories: B (2.5-3.1 w/kg), C (2.2-2.8 w/kg), and D (1.5-2 w/kg). On the climbs, the leader will be riding at the higher end of the advertised pace, and on the flats, the leader will be riding toward the lower end.

Saturday, Jan 21 @ 10am UTC/5am EST
Sign up at zwift.com/events/view/3434840

Your Thoughts

Got other events that stand out this weekend? Share below in the comments!