While Tour of Watopia is well underway and ever-popular, this is zFondo weekend as well, and there are lots of popular community events happening too! See below for my picks this weekend, including a rare running event.
🤝 zFondo Series: Makuri Pretzel
✅ Bonus XP ✅ Popular ✅ Endurance Challenge ✅ Jersey Unlock
This is the second of this season’s zFondo weekends, and it’s on a route we’ve never fondoed before: Makuri Pretzel (77.6km, 616m). Join whatever pace group you’d like, and hang with that group’s RoboPacer (or try to beat it)! Fondos aren’t official races – some treat them as personal challenges, some as a race. You do you.
Read all about the Zwift Fondo Series >
Multiple timeslots this weekend
Sign up at zwift.com/events/tag/zfondos
🤝THE FAST LANE
✅ A Category ✅ Drafting TT ✅ New Event ✅ Double XP
This new ride from the ZDR squad, in collaboration with WBR500, is sort of a stripped down and fast version of the popular Sunday WOW ride we often feature (see below). That means fast TT bikes and disc wheels, with drafting enabled.
There’s only one category for this ride, though, and the stated pace is 3.5-4.2 W/kg. Spicy! This is 3-hour ride on Watopia’s Tick Tock (double XP!).
Saturday, October 24 at 8am UTC/4am ET/Friday 1am PT
Sign up at zwift.com/events/view/5747470
🤝WOW – High Speed Ride on TT bikes with draft
✅ Kit Unlock ✅ Upgrade Hack ✅ Popular ✅ Double XP
Want to rack up miles fast? Join this popular group ride, which puts everyone on a fast TT bike (Canyon Speedmax CFR) with double draft enabled.
Everyone is on Watopia’s Beach Island Loop this week (double XP!), and there are five pace groups to choose from. This is the special monthly kit unlock event, which is extra long (100 miles).
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 gravel bike upgrade while riding the Canyon Speedmax CFR in this event.
Sunday, October 25 @ 12:30pm UTC/8:30am ET/5:30am PT
Sign up at zwift.com/events/view/5748895
🤝 MSR Der Club | RUBBER TO THE ALPE
✅ Banded ✅ Alpe du Zwift ✅ Kit Unlock
If you’ve always wanted to climb the epic Alpe du Zwift, but find the prospect a bit intimidating, why not try it in a banded ride? The beauty of banded rides is, as long as you keep pedaling, you’ll stay with the group and move along up the road.
This ride is on Watopia’s Tour of Fire and Ice (28km, 1187m)
Saturday, October 24 @ 8am UTC/4am ET/1am PT
Sign up at zwift.com/events/view/5753677
🤝🥇 Tour of Watopia
✅ Popular ✅ Unlocks ✅ Double XP
Zwift’s first big tour of the 2026/27 season kicked off last week, which means we’re on stage 3 this week. You can free-ride the routes whenever you’d like, or race them… but the biggest turnouts are for the group rides. Highly recommended.
Learn all about Tour of Watopia 2026 >
The category you sign up for (A, B, or C) determines the route and length of your ride. This week that means 27.9km, 23.6km, and 15.3km respectively.
Hourly events all weekend
Sign up at zwift.com/events/tag/tourofwatopia2026
🤝Halloween Chase Costumed Fun Run
✅ Run ✅ Fun ✅ Double XP ✅ Costumes
I usually feature 5 events, but wanted to throw a 6th in this week – and it’s a running event!
This is a fun one from the folks at ZwiftHQ. The category you choose determines which costume you wear. Everyone starts together, running two laps of the Volcano Circuit for a total of 11km.
Multiple timeslots this weekend
Sign up at zwift.com/events/tag/halloweenchase
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!
