Zwift has posted a new set of “fast, friendly, and totally unserious” races, dubbed the “Friday Night Fun Races.” These popped up on the calendar unannounced, and are unique in a few different ways, so we wanted to get the word out…
Boost Powerup and Other Surprises
Everyone starts with a boost powerup, with “extras available throughout the race,” according to Zwift. Trigger it for a short, sharp speed boost. Sometimes the powerup gives you one boost, while other times it gives you two.
There are other surprises in store as well, and it sounds like each week will have its own twist. (We’re hearing rumors of dino suits and big wheels being tested, but who knows what Zwift will actually settle on.)
Categorization
You’ll be categorized by your existing Racing Score for fair competition. But in an interesting twist – I think this is a first on Zwift – race results won’t impact your score. Zwift says they’re doing this to keep pressure low and fun high.
Race Times
Races are scheduled at five different timeslots each Friday:
- 9:30am UTC/5:30am ET/2:30am PT
- 4:30pm UTC/12:30pm ET/9:30am PT
- 5:30pm UTC/1:30pm ET/10:30am PT
- 6:30pm UTC/2:30pm ET/11:30am PT
- 10:30pm UTC/6:30pm ET/3:30pm PT
- 1:30am UTC/9:30pm ET/6:30pm PT
Upcoming Races
The first three weeks of races are now on the calendar:
- Friday, July 4: Downtown Dolphin
- 8 laps (15.8km, 136m)
- Friday, July 11: Croissant
- 2 laps (21.8km, 121m)
- Friday, July 18: Glasgow Reverse
- 5 laps (16.3km, 171m)
Sign up at zwift.com/events/tag/fridaynightfunrace
Share Your Feedback
If you take part in one of these events, share your comments below to let others know how it went!
Hot take: Zwift races are already unserious enough. How about making them more serious instead of less?
It’s riding bikes in a room watching an avatar, how serious can it get?
In-game support for points races, elimination races, dual recording, enforcement of proper trainers, detecting people who do steady 6W/kg on a spin bike. Heck people might find coffee break in races is fun, why not do that? Wouldn’t it be fun?
Victor is one of the spin bike users
Zwift races were already a joke, but ever since they rolled out ZRS, it’s become an absolute farce. Now, most racers are deliberately tanking their scores just to compete in a lower category. Riders with Pogacar-level endurance and Hoy-like sprint power are dominating the rankings and nobody cares. The top serious riders have already transitioned to MyWhoosh and others will follow soon because Zwift will never change.
Hot? This take is absolutely volcanic but I respect your opinion.
To my way of thinking, the volcanic takes are the ones that come from disrespect – Zwift is incompetent, doesn’t care, etc. I don’t agree with any of that. I love the product and respect the people who work on it. But I have a list of things that would make racing more fun for me and this stuff isn’t anywhere on it, so that’s a disagreement about the priorities. If you picked one thing to work on next, for me it would probably be in-game support for points races. Revising ZRS is also high on the list, so it works more like the way it’s described in the docs.
[wpd-tenor full=’OmEvYalz8AkAAAAM/sml-t-rex.gif’ preview=’OmEvYalz8AkAAAAe/sml-t-rex.png’ width=’498′ height=’282′]
Excellent! Anything that makes races more dynamic — especially with this kind of lighthearted spirit — is more than welcome. I hope these features help shake up the bunch, encourage attacks, and reward bold moves and crazy tactics!
How about categorising using solely 100% seed score, from Racing Score?
So many racers are racing in a lower pen because of how Racing Score works generally and how the floor (lowest possible Racing Score) is 85% of their 90-day seed score {5mins power and weight}!
To see your personal 100% seed score and estimate others from zwiftpower data use…
https://peca.vigred.com/blaz/zrs2.php
I forgot to calibrate my H3 before use yesterday after the recent second heatwave, but my TT Club efort was recorded as 270W at 96Kg, so using above calculator my 100% seed score is 228… I’ve been under 182 for months and was boosted to 198!
I face the opposite problem – am a sprinter with a current score which exceeds the seed by 100 (to roughly 510). This means I have to compete against the A cat riders with my C cat power.
Not as frustrating as knowing that your competitors shouldn’t even be in the race cat, but still never motivating to be dropped anytime there’s a significant hill or even surge!
What happened to the Zwift Labs thing? They said they were going to test new things like tweaks to Pack Dynamics but never happened.
Same as everything else ZHQ does – half-rear it, push it live in a state that no one really likes, and then end progress on it forever.
Zwift Labs had to die because ZHQ hates feedback and interaction with the community.
Preach!
I really don’t get all these strange gamifications. As I recall it they tried it before and nobody participated. Why not implement the “games” from IRL bicycling? People have been screaming for a velodrome and elimination races etc. for years. Hate to be the critic but I am honestly baffled by this. Am I the only one?
You are not alone brother. I suspect these new features are like pet projects from certain people. Personally this is the opposite of anything I want from Zwift racing. No dino suits for me. Powerups are already strong enough.
Watch or read some of Eric Min’s interviews, where he discusses features like battery boost powerups and other gamification crap —ideas that have faced significant pushback from the Zwift community. Yet they continue to pursue these ideas, which only highlights their lack of understanding and competence.
These aren’t even cool features… a power boost wow how original lol let me hop on any mobile gaming app for some sort of boost.
1 race on fridays for us in aus and nz at 7:30pm/9:30m respectively. So it’s really a “Saturday Morning Fun Race if you don’t have sat morning kid sports duties” group ride.
A month ago a video of Bromptons in Zwift popped up on Youtube. I wonder if they will make an appearance in these new races.
Sounds like the first true steps towards more gamified racing. It’s about time.
I did the Fun race and had a blast with my bobbing head Dino 🦖 did a few races 5 yrs ago but my deteriorating spine has messed up my life. I’m grateful for Zwift since I can’t outdoors anymore. I ride daily but don’t race however this race was fun & probably kept the hammer heads out.
I had a blast on the Friday Fun race. Zwift gets me moving and working hard. I was smiling the whole time. There were only a few in my race but I still
found it fun. Wouldn’t want to do it for hours on end but for a quick workout. Why not? Its a game!
Sigh, platform is only getting more laughable.
What in the world is up with the schedule? I ride Zwift fairly early in the morning as do many of my friends, both real and fake. On the US west coast we have: 2:30am, 9:30am, 10:30am, 11:30am, 3:30pm and 6:30pm. How about starting at 2:30am, races every two or three hours? What’s with the one hour separation from 9:30 to 11:30? Space those out and you’ll get more people from more parts of the world. Unless all we care about is EU Zwifters.