Repack Ridge, Zwift’s first mountain bike trail, launched in October 2019 as a way to test steering using the Companion app. It was a fun little 3km stretch of singletrack full of the twists, drops, and scenic views mountain biking is known for:
But development on the mountain bike side of things essentially stalled after the Repack release. Sure, we’ve seen more mountain bikes added to the game (6 total now, including the initial “Zwift Mountain” bike). And the Makuri Islands Temple KOM has a singletrack width similar to Repack.
Yet it feels like Zwift has nearly abandoned the MTB side of things. And that’s a shame. Because just like the fun it brings to the outdoor riding scene, MTB has a lot of fun it could bring to Zwift. Here are some MTB-specific upgrades I’d love to see Zwift roll out in future releases.
#1: More Trails
While Repack Ridge and the Temple KOM offer a nice singletrack feel, there’s not one dedicated singletrack route in all of Zwift.
Making it happen wouldn’t even require Zwift’s art team to create new trails – they just need to create routes using existing trails. Two simple ideas would be a dedicated Repack Ridge route which loops riders, or bringing our Dirty Temple KOM Loop Rebel Route into the game.
But really, I’d love to see Zwift release some fresh singletrack specifically designed to deliver a MTB-like experience. Repack Ridge does a pretty good job of this, but more could be done. This brings me to my next point…
[adinserter block=”1″]
#2: More MTB Trail Features
I’d love to see new MTB trails with the features Repack Ridge has, plus more:
- Narrower trails. This may require routes to be one-way only, but I’d be OK with that.
- That “tree tunnel” effect, when the surrounding vegetation is just inches away from your bars.
- Riding through a stream and splashing up water.
- Tight turns and punchy short climbs for a rollercoaster feel.
- “Flow” sections that are slightly downhill, rolling, twisting… fun!
#3: New Surface Type(s), Modified Speeds
One major component of Zwift’s physics is its Crr settings for various road surfaces. There’s just one dirt surface defined (aptly named “dirt”), which means we don’t have, say, rough and rocky dirt that rolls better on a MTB than smooth “gravel road” dirt that rolls faster on a gravel bike.
This should change. Make the singletracks include sections (or the entire trail) of rougher road that roll faster on the knobby, fat-tired MTB rigs. You could still ride them with a gravel bike, but you have to go slower and it feels silly, just like it would IRL. And a road bike should roll slower still, at speeds that say “I’ve made a terrible mistake in bike choice today.”
Beyond a new singletrack surface type, additional surfaces like mud or deep sand could make things even more interesting for mountain bikers.
#4: Steering Not Required
Steering shouldn’t be required on any new MTB trails, and in fact I think it should be removed as a requirement for Repack Ridge.
Most Zwifters don’t own steering devices. I personally own three (Elite Sterzo, Elite Rizr, and the Wahoo KICKR Bike), but I don’t use any of them regularly because I don’t really enjoy the steering experience. It’s not something I want to think about on Zwift, because it doesn’t feel natural (steering on a bicycle is often more about leaning and even countersteering than it is turning the handlebars).
Perhaps steering could be an optional mode, complete with speed penalties for poor steering like Repack Ridge has now. But don’t make us steer to enjoy MTB goodness.
#5: MTB-Specific Kit
Let me kit out my virtual self with baggy shorts, full-finger gloves, looser jerseys, and a full-face helmet. Or at least a MTB helmet with more head protection and a visor.
MTB riders have a particular look, and forcing them to appear like roadies in game almost feels like a slap in the face. Maybe we could turn leg hair on or off as well?
#6: MTB Racing Features
Back in 2019 we organized a few Repack Redux races on the newly-released Repack Ridge. They were sort of casual, fun affairs in the spirit of the original Repack races.
What if Zwift created some race-specific features for MTB events? One that comes to mind would be making passing much more difficult: perhaps an inability to pass other riders on narrow sections of trail, or requiring a BIG boost of power to make a pass. This would replicate some of the feel of IRL mountain bike racing, which is wholly different from road racing when it comes to overtaking.
#7: Base Resistance Slider
The highest gear on a typical mountain bike (34×10) delivers ~20% fewer gear inches than the highest gear on a typical road bike (52×11), and that can cause problems when going hard on Zwift… especially downhill!
If you’re riding your MTB gearing on a direct-drive trainer and need to sprint in a race, you may very well run out of gears.
One way to fix this would be Zwift adding a simple “base resistance slider” to their main menu. Default it to 0, but let riders slider it left or right to decrease or increase how much resistance is added to their trainer across all terrain. Slide it all the way to the right and it would feel like you’re on a 5% grade when you’re on flat ground (and a 5% climb would feel like 10%, and a 10% downhill would feel like a flat road… because Zwift halves the downhill resistance. Confused yet? Just trust the math.)
Like Trainer Difficulty, this wouldn’t change your speed in game – it would just change which gears you’re using, and let lower-geared riders avoid spinning out.
(This feature could actually add some interesting training angles to Zwift as well. For example, roadies could bump up their base resistance across all rides so they’re forced to ride lower gears with less flywheel inertia, as a way to train for long climbs.)
#8: Speed-Based Lines/Behavior
Currently on Zwift, your avatar takes the same line around corners and other road features regardless of speed. Of course, this isn’t how cycling works in the real world (which is why we’d love to see smart autobraking), and it’s certainly not how riding works on narrow dirt trails.
What if your avatar took different lines or somehow behaved differently based on the speed you’re traveling into a feature? For example, perhaps you overcook a corner and go off the trail a bit into slower-rolling weeds and rocks.
This might be too much to ask until Zwift builds braking controllers into the game, but perhaps for now this feature could just penalize you for going too slow. Examples:
- Jumps! Hit the feature with enough speed and you catch air. Too slow and you get auto-braked as you roll over the backside like a n00b.
- Steep climbs: if your speed drops too much, your avatar gets off and pushes the bike up the hill (we’ve all done it IRL). Imagine a race with a mixture of riders still pedaling and avatars frantically scrambling up the punchy climb! (This could also work in water or sand crossings.)
Your Thoughts
Would you utilize the MTB-specific features above if they were released on Zwift? Do you have any great ideas for additional features for the fat-tire crowd? Comment below!
Thanks, Nathan
Special thanks to Nathan Guerra of Zwift Community Live, who took the time to bounce ideas for this post back and forth. While I’m just a casual mountain biker, Nathan is a pro-level rider who was ranked #1 in the USA multiple times. I ran my ideas past him to make sure they made sense, and he added a few ideas of his own!
Love, love the MTB course!
My likes would be:
-Racing
-Loops
https://youtu.be/UVYDgPngbsg
Agree about steering. I have the Kickr Bike and at first it was a fun novelty when they activated it, but I haven’t used it at all since the novelty wore off.
I’d love to see Zwift enable some sort of autobraking on curves (especially on descents). Make that autobraking more for road bikes on packed dirt (to follow your idea of different types of dirt with different Crr) and even more on loose dirt (to simulate picking your way down the hill without wiping out/wrecking your rims). Give gravel bikes less (but still some autobraking on the dirt descents and more on the loose dirt), and give mtb the least (by a lot) autobraking on both types of dirt descents.
And yes please 100% make Repack Ridge a loop that organizers can pick number of times through the loop and whether or not they want to allow steering.
They also need to permanently get rid of (for free-rides and races) that bit at the beginning where it forces you into the Zwift mtb.
If the nearest pens are still the Desert Pens, it would make racers have to decide whether the lead in is enough to make it worth it to do a gravel bike for the whole race (probably depends on number of laps of the Repack Ridge loop) or road then swap to mtb or just stay strictly mtb, but it would be very fun.
As it is, the last time I tried to ride Repack Ridge (with Sterzo Smart steering – usually I don’t enable it, but this time I did, just for the ride), it didn’t recognize my steering and just had me slipping from side to side across the course drunkenly as if I wasn’t making any steering input, and was so terrible, I haven’t tried it again since.
1) I agree about the steering.
2) For MTB I like the idea of braking but not sure how to implement it on a trainer as it would a sensor and input communication channel…
3) I have often thought that at the top of some of the climbs I would love a downhill trail with jumps, berms, ice caves/bridges, water crossings, etc. vice the boring coasting down the road return. That way you add a level of fun reward for the climb that can only be reached by completing the climb while still getting the mileage and sweat drops. Imagine the downhill run as single track from the top of the Alp!
More MTB!
For a lot less than the complexity of developing a trainer, Zwift could design and sell a handlebar-mounted game controller that could handle the steering, jumping, etc. It could add so much to the experience.
They actually had some custom controls in the mockups of their new trainer… they didn’t release details, but my guess would be that much simpler hardware is still something they’re working on.
I ride MTB outside and I can’t imagine anything inside replicating the bits I really enjoy outdoors. Steering being a good example, wheee the physical sensation of nailing a corner is awesome but, as mentioned, doesn’t provide any excitement indoors even with a Sterzo.
My Zwift/MTB relationship is that Training in Zwift makes me better able to get to the top of the climbs quicker and in a better state to ride the descents irl.
Fair enough! And that’s definitely a view Zwift could take… “you can’t replicate the best parts of MTB indoors, so we won’t even try. We’ll just work on the stuff Zwift can do well.”
I agree, I’m a MTBer and I enjoy the training experience of Zwift but I think MTBing on Zwift is more of a novelty addition rather than a core feature.
Sure I would like to see the MTB features you mentioned and I agree with the no steering comment.
But I would much prefer for Zwift to start working through the list of most requested features and get some of those happening for us.
I’m fairly new to Zwift and still amazed at how long it is taking them to implement features that I have been able to use on my Garmin IRL for a decade. (Race against ghost PB, life time PBs etc) We need zwift route stats also, not just sprints, I want to beat my PB on the whole route against a ghost rider of my lifetime PB or my three-month PB at my choice.
So many improvements are desirable before they start spending time and effort on MTB trails IMO.
Swifts tag was “Making training fun.” Just give me a reason to have an MTB frame and some good single track to help distract me from long intervals or painful training sessions. I too want to get to the top of the climbs faster and have more torque at low cadences.
Jumping
Chairlift!!! Then some sweet downhill runs! 😉
I eagerly sought the Repack Ridge to try out the mountain biking route once I had steering. Of course I was still using my road bike as that is what was on my trainer. I quickly discovered that all Zwift designers live somewhere that mountain bike trails are designed to achieve the maximum vertical change in the minimal horizontal displacement possible. I am not sure if this is intentional to minimize usage or what but certainly not enjoyable on a road bikes gearing and nothing like the rolling trails with occasional climbs near where I live. Then for extra points there is the need to reset Zwift after riding off into the sky at the end of Repack. Since this has not been fixed I honestly believe they have sought to minimize people using Repack so they can then point to the numbers and say it isn’t used enough.
Hi Eric,
Have you tried riding on Grand Theft Buke with a Sterzo? Taking some of the off-road trails on that show how much fun virtual MTB riding can be, so I definitely recommend it to get a good idea of the possibilities. Taking the downhill route from the top of the highest mountain takes some skilful steering and braking!
And for Zwift, we should be able to change base resistance as a minimum; spinning out on an MTB isn’t a great experience so this should be done to give customers more fun.
Obviously I meant GT bike, not buke!
Turn leg hair on or off!! HAHAHA. Love it
I’d love to see Megavalanche TT route from top of Alpe. Of course, with steering.
You nailed it. A mountain bike race with tight single track that makes it difficult to pass and double track sections where you need get on it if you want to make a move would be fun and authentic. No need for steering to make it feel like a mountain bike race. Sign me up.
We should move forward with steering not backwards. Zwift should be making the riding more realistic. I guess with the majority of zwifters watching movies/TV while riding Zwift is in no hurry to move further into the future.
steering is a waste of time; i have a sterzo, and used it maybe 2 days. MTB doesnt need steering. it needs some of the other features mentioned above for a more interesting and/or fun experience.
I would definitely ride the Mtb trails. And I like the idea of Mtb kit. You can hear I’m not a roadie
A wishlist is dreamland. Zwift is losing subscribers and cannot afford staff. They wasted money on marketing and things that they scrapped because they dreamed too big.
I feel part of the issue is that most of the remaining staff have been employees for far less time than most Zwift customers have been subscribers. And Zwift doesn’t seem to have created a corporate culture that puts any value in loyal customers or their feedback- unless it aligns with the Zwift status quo.
I was a subscriber for more than 5 years and gave Zwift the benefit of the doubt until I finally came to my senses and realized the company was never going to address the bugs and features that mattered to me. So I decided like many long term customers to abandon Zwift for another platform.
The best way to tell when a company is headed towards a decline is when the customers it derides as ‘squeaky wheels’ stop talking and move on. I would encourage others not to waste their time continuing to give feedback and suggestions to Zwift and hoping the next release will finally be the ‘one’. It won’t and Zwift doesn’t care about its long term customers.
I’m not a mountain biker myself, but I’d love to see more on Zwift and give that a go. High berms, rock gardens, and what are they called? Skinnies? Those narrow wooden trails? None of that stuff where I’m from.
Minimum speed requirement for jumps and climbs would be great as it is a real separator / squirrel trap IRL for MTB rides. I also agree that the steering should be optional. I do think that since using steering requires more rider input there should be some advantages though like IRL when the trail splits for short little bits, the people not using steering should be funnel into the ever so slightly longer side while the people steering can choose.
I’m a mountain biker and use zwift to try and keep some fitness for when I go riding “for real”.
#7: Base Resistance Slider would be a brilliant addition. I have to use workouts every time I ride at the moment as the gearing of my MTB just doesn’t really work for tracks with significant flat or downhill sections.
This feature would also be great for anyone wanting use a single speed as they could tailor the resistance to be useful for in game riding.
Workouts for Enduro racing with sprints
MTB courses of course 👍🏻
Steering would also be a nice feature, but Zwift does not support Gymrail Momentum X1 steering feature at the moment, but maybe it will in near future as Virtupro does.
Novelty feature that (for me) should come much later than other work Zwift has on their roadmap.
They couldn’t make it remotely interested.
Stick to the pavement Zwift. How would the represent roots, rock and accurate bike skills. Stick to the watts and and graphs.
MTBer myself and would appreciate removing the steering requirement. But just having all MTB trails with a tighter singletrack feel would be great. Would love to see some XC inspiration from Epic Series of global MTB racing. https://www.epic-series.com/
Just finishing the route they have there at the end of Repack Ridge would be a great start.
As a xc mountain bike racer this would be awesome
I’m 100% in favor but since Zwift is focusing on core features now, and most of these suggestions (aside from #1) would require a lot of work, I doubt we’ll see much in the near future.
I would renew my subscription if more MTB trails was added.
As someone who uses Zwift primarily as a way to gain fitness for IRL MTB racing, I couldn’t agree more. I’ve ridden (attempted) Repack Ridge one time and the experience was awful. I quit after about 30 seconds. No, my setup wasn’t ideal for it, but that’s exactly why it shouldn’t require steering, as you said. I would lose my mind if Zwift ever implemented all the great ideas you have here. Real singletrack? MTB kit!? MTB races!!?? We can only dream…
I try to avoid the gravel in Zwift because I don’t like breathing in all that virtual dust. I’ve found myself slowing down in big group rides to find a pocket of fresh air.
Totally agree. I ride MTB in real life and am only starting with Zwift. Bring more MTB!!! Pleeease. As much as I like roadies, I would love to hang out a bit with my own.
Steering, jumps, breaking, crashes… all desired and wanted. I recon these need time and effort to implement. But some steep climbs, possibly with rock steps should not be that hard.
New to zwift with my Mountain Bike. Thought there would be choices for MTB courses but was wrong😕
Come on zwift its 2023..add em..don’t care about steering just want to get off the street..Thanks
Yes .please..more MTB races
Exactly what we need …
I totally agree!!!;
Yes! Zwift please add the items in this wishlist. It will attract MANY new subs to Zwift! I like to Zwift but I’m a mountain biker in the real world.