This weekend’s picks are all group rides, but they vary in length and pace. We’ve got a sweet spot ride from the inventor of sweet spot training, a kit unlock ride in NYC from Dadbod Cycling, two very different 100km rides, and the good ol’ BMTR Flat 100! See below for details…
🤝 FasCat’s Sweet Spot Saturdays, #2 of 7
✅ Sweet Spot ✅ Coach Frank ✅ Popular
Ever heard of “Sweet Spot” training? It’s a staple for many riders, since it lets you accumulate a lot of training stress in relatively little time without suffering at or above threshold.
The guy who created the sweet spot concept – coach Frank Overton of FasCat – is one of the leaders on these rides. There’s even a Discord channel so you can chat directly with him. Pretty cool!
Everyone will be on Big Foot Hills (69.9km, 712m) for this ride, doing “freestyle sweetspot,” and groups will naturally form around each rider’s sweet spot zone.
Saturday, December 20 @ 2:20pm UTC/9:20am ET/6:20am PT
Sign up at zwift.com/events/view/5251524
🤝DBC x NYC Holiday Ride
✅ Cool Kit Unlock ✅ Route Badge ✅ Popular
Makesi from DadBod Cycling is hosting a holiday ride on one of New York’s newer routes this Saturday. It’s your chance to hang with Makesi (super cool dude) and also unlock the exclusive DBC Jersey in Zwift- see it on his Insta post.
This is an open-paced group ride on Double Parked (42.2km, 329m).
Saturday, December 20 @ 6pm UTC/1pm ET/10am PT
Sign up at zwift.com/events/view/5271113
🤝OUTLYR.CC: 100K Paced Ride
✅ Popular ✅ Endurance Training
I’m not sure what the folks at OUTLYR are up to, but this ride has more signups than any other heading into the weekend! For that reason alone, I’m including it in this list. They’ve earned it.
It’s a 100km event on Watopia’s Triple Flat Loops, led at a pace of 2.7 W/kg.
Sunday, December 21 @ 9am UTC/4am ET/1am PT
Sign up at zwift.com/events/view/5284832
🤝WOW – High Speed Ride on TT bikes with draft
✅ Fast Miles ✅ Upgrade Hack ✅ Unique Event
Want to accumulate lots of miles quickly? Join this growing group ride, which puts everyone on the fastest TT bike in game (Cadex Tri) with drafting enabled. It’s 100km, but it’ll be a fast 100km!
Riders are on Tempus Fugit, the flattest route in Zwift. Three different pace groups, released so the faster groups catch the slower groups over time.
Bike upgrading hack: on rides with forced bikes, whatever bike you’re on when you join the event is the bike that accumulates the distance/elevation/time. So, for example, you could accumulate lots of distance toward a road bike upgrade, while riding the Cadex Tri in this event.
Sunday, December 21 @ 1:45pm UTC/8:45am ET/5:45am PT
Sign up at zwift.com/events/view/5281339
🤝 BMTR Flat 100 (Miles)
✅ Popular Ride ✅ Legacy Leader ✅ Endurance Challenge ✅ Kit Unlock
A regularly featured event here on Zwift Insider, the BMTR Flat 100 always gets lots of joiners because it’s well-led and run consistently week after week, year after year.
This week’s ride is on Watopia’s Big Flat 8, with three pace groups to choose from.
Saturday, December 20 @ 1:10pm UTC/8:10am EST/5:10am PST
Sign up at zwift.com/events/view/5278520
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!
