Indoor season has begun, so we’re featuring ZRL recon rides this weekend! Also making the list: a new progressive series working toward an Alpe du Zwift summit, a popular women’s race series, and two group rides conquering the new Makuri Pretzel.
🤝 ZRL Sugar Cookie Race Recons
✅ Race Recon ✅ Beginner-Friendly
Zwift Racing League kicked off this week, and next week is race #2, a points race on Watopia’s Sugar Cookie route!
Read our full guide for race #2 >
If you aren’t yet familiar with this route, or you’re looking for race tips, lots of recon rides have been organized by various teams.
Multiple timeslots on Saturday and Sunday
See upcoming events at zwift.com/events/tag/zrlrecon
🤝 Rise & Shine: World Famous Breakfast Club
✅ New Series ✅ Progressive Training ✅ Beginner-Friendly
The concept of this ride series is pretty cool: a series of weekly rides that builds over 16 weeks to eventually finish the challenging Alpe du Zwift climb via the Tour of Fire and Ice route.
Ride pace is kept between 1.5-2.2 W/kg, and there’s a sweeper team in place to help if you fall off the back. This week the series kicks off on France’s R.G.V. route.
Sunday, September 15 @ 8:15pm UTC/4:15am EDT
Sign up at zwift.com/events/view/4501577
🥇 Iceni Women’s Series Challenge 2
✅ Popular Race ✅ Women Only ✅ Unique Event
The popular Iceni Women’s Series is now underway, and this weekend it’s Challenge 2: a single-lap race on Canopies and Coastlines for a total length of 27.8km. There are four intermediate sprints, so this one’s gonna get spicy!
Two timeslots on Saturday
See upcoming Iceni events at zwift.com/events/tag/iceni
🤝Phoenix Rising Soaring Saturday
✅ Route Badge ✅ Beginner-Friendly
We feature this popular ride regularly, but this week we’re calling it out because it’s held on the new Makuri Pretzel route (80km total ride length). This is a great chance to earn a challenging route badge (1550XP!) in beginner-friendly group ride. The leader beacon will keep a pace of 1.5-2w/kg, and may use the fence to keep the group together at their discretion. Join the team’s Discord channel during the ride to help pass the time!
Saturday, September 14 @ 12:25pm UTC/8:25am EDT/5:25am PDT
Sign up at zwift.com/events/view/4503740
🤝 Giant Bagel Rolls Ride
✅ Route Badge ✅ Legacy Leaders
Looking to grab the new Makuri Pretzel route badge (1550XP) at a faster pace? The Bagel Rolls crew holds a steady 2.6-2.8 W/kg for the ride, with plenty of chat and banter.
Saturday, September 14 @ 1pm UTC/9am EDT/6am PDT
Sign up at zwift.com/events/view/4503748
How We Make Our Picks
We choose each weekend’s Notable Events based on a variety of factors including:
- Is the event unique/innovative in some way?
- Are celebrities (pro riders, etc) attending/leading?
- Are signup counts already high, meaning the event is extra-popular?
- Does the ride include desirable unlocks or prizes?
- Does the event appeal to ladies on Zwift? (We like to support this under-represented group!)
- Is it for a good cause?
- Is it just plain crazy (extra long races, world record attempts, etc)?
- Is it a long-running, popular weekly event with a dedicated leader who deserves a shout out?
In the end, we want to call attention to events that are extra-special and therefore extra-appealing to Zwifters. If you think your event qualifies, comment below with a link/details and we may just include it in an upcoming post!
