Today, Zwift released the much-anticipated New York map expansion. With ~30km of new roads, this is Zwift’s largest expansion ever of an existing map, more than doubling New York’s existing ~20km.
Zwift has kept the “future NYC” theme, reimagining how New York City may exist 100 years in the future. But they’ve also included many references to present-day NYC, so native New Yorkers should feel right at home. Read on for a tour of the Big Apple’s new tarmac and surrounding sights…
A Tour of the New Roads
Zwift’s expansion adds ~30km of new roads south of the existing Central Park area. Most of the new surface roads are located in the same places as their real-life counterparts, including 6th Avenue exiting Central Park, Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, Flatbush Avenue, Grand Army Plaza, and Prospect Park.
The subways and Times Square, on the other hand, take plenty of liberties in their layouts. While they are roughly located in the same place as their present-day counterparts, their layouts don’t match what exists today.
Below you’ll find a “clean” version of Zwift’s updated New York map, and a marked-up version showing each of the new sections:
Subway 1
The first of three subway sections as you travel north to south, this subway feels most like a traditional New York station. Its distinctive visual feature is a plethora of advertising billboards, which include cheeky throwbacks to other Zwift maps and features. You’ll see a sign advertising “Fuego Fizz” soda as well as “Fuego Flat”, a Robopacer (dating?) ad, and more.
You’ll also see the first bits of graffiti, including a “jmX” tag you’ll find elsewhere in this expansion. (It’s a nod to Jon Mayfield, original creator of what would become Zwift, who named his software “jmX Trainer Coach”.)
This subway, like the other two, includes Power Segments in both directions. Traveling south, you’ll hit a 5-second Power Segment, while north contains a 20-second segment. These sections of road are one-way, meaning you cannot u-turn.
To exit this and the other two subways, you’ll ride up a steep ramp. Good news, though: there’s a bit of an “escalator” built into the ramp to help you to the top! Here’s what it looks like:
Times Square
The Times Square section is a 3.5km glass road circuit with a leaderboard that awards an orange jersey to the current fastest man and woman on course, in both directions. There are also new start pens located on this circuit.
Times Square Circuit Strava Segment >
Times Square Circuit Reverse Strava Segment >
While the idea of more glass roads in New York may strike fear in the heart of non-climbers like myself, in talking to Tony Yruegas, Zwift’s Game Art Director, he explained that they pulled a bit of a visual trick in this section by sinking the ground-level roads so the glass roads could appear elevated without much climbing being needed to reach them. “Overmuscled” cyclists everywhere salute you, Tony and team!
While this section doesn’t have many distinctive visual features beyond the glass roads, Tony tells me it will be the site of future celebrations (parades, confetti, etc.), including a possible NY-style Ball Drop on New Year’s.
Subway 2 (City Hall Station)
Continuing south, we descend into the second subway section, which is a throwback to New York’s City Hall station. This station opened in 1904, but has been closed since 1945, although you can still tour it today. It features distinctive brick archways, which Zwift has replicated in game:
This section includes 10-second Power Segments in both directions:
Manhattan Bridge
Traveling north to south, the first bridge you’ll encounter is the Manhattan Bridge. For non-NYC natives, the Manhattan Bridge is easily distinguished from the Brooklyn Bridge by its ironwork towers and grey steel girders. (The Brooklyn Bridge, in contrast, has stone/concrete towers and horizontal iron beams which block the skyline views.) The Manhattan Bridge also includes a huge stone archway at the entrance to the Manhattan side:
Looking for your best skyline view from a bridge? It’s found on Manhattan Bridge, heading toward Manhattan.
Manhattan Bridge has 250-meter sprint segments in both directions. Both sprints are slightly uphill, since the bridge arches a bit:
- Manhattan Sprint (250 meters, 1.3%)
- Manhattan Sprint Reverse (250 meters, 0.3%)
A large stone arch marks the bridge’s exit on the Manhattan side, while a corkscrew road is the exit on the Brooklyn side.
Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge includes a KOM section (Brooklyn Bridge KOM, 2km, 1.7%) which runs in only one direction, from the Manhattan side to the center of the bridge. It’s an interesting KOM, too, because it actually begins with a descent! (So don’t let that 1.7% number fool you, as this is really more like 1.5km at 3.6%.)
Subway 3 (Brooklyn)
Almost to Prospect Park! After crossing the East River via the Brooklyn or Manhattan bridges, you’ll descend into the third and final subway section. This is the only one located on the Brooklyn side.
This subway is the “greenest” of the three, with more open skylights and windows to let the sun shine on the trees and plants in the station. This is also the most graffiti-heavy of the three stations, especially as you exit out the Prospect Park side.
The Brooklyn subway includes two Power Segments. Traveling southeast toward Prospect Park you’ll hit a 20-second Power Segment, while northwest includes a 5-second segment.
Prospect Park
Exiting the subway, you’ll travel south down Flatbush Avenue (which is actually a climb), arriving at a ring road that takes you around Grand Army Plaza to the entrance of Prospect Park.
This park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux 8 years after they collaborated to design Central Park. Zwift’s layout matches the IRL park roads, including a 5.5km loop and a central road (aptly named Center Drive) that offers a shortcut to the other side.
Prospect Park includes 2 sprint banners and one KOM:
- Center Sprint (200 meters, -2.2%)
- Center Sprint Reverse (200 meters, 2.4%)
- The Peristyle Sprint (400 meters, 0.6%)
- The Peristyle Sprint Reverse (400 meters, 0.1%)
- The Hill KOM (500 meters, 3.7%)
- The Hill KOM Reverse (length and gradient unknown – while it shows on the leaderboard, there is no visible start line on course)
As you make your way around the circuit counterclockwise, you’ll notice various sites: the lap banner, which comes just after the new Prospect Park start pens. The Bandshell, which has received significant upgrades in Zwift’s reimagining. The Peristyle, which hosts the banner for a sprint that runs in both directions. And the Prospect Park Zoo, here much more visible than the real-life zoo, which is hidden behind a high gate!
There are lots of nods to real-life Prospect Park layouts and features, too. The Peristyle Sprint is where the original sprint finish of Prospect Park’s IRL bike races was located. You’ll see lots of people chasing their dogs in the northwest portion, because dogs can be walked off-leash before 7am IRL. And you’ll pass Prospect Park Lake and the ballfields, whose real versions I saw when riding through the park with Jon Mayfield a few weeks ago.
Detailed List of New Routes
Here’s a complete list of the new routes Zwift released today, including short descriptions from me:
- Avon Flyer (5.1km, 30m)*: named for Greg Avon, level 100 Zwifter and Prospect Park race organizer, this simple loop takes in the southern half of Prospect Park.
- Double Parked (42.2km, 330m): begin with an almost complete lap of Prospect Park, then head all the way up to do a lap of Central Park before coming back down to finish that Prospect Park lap.
- Double Span Spin (12.6km, 120m): a CCW circuit of the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges.
- Fuhgeddaboudit (79km, 838m): the new longest route in NYC, this doozy covers all the roads on the map, including some in both directions!
- Green to Screen (28.4km, 207m): perhaps the best route for seeing most of NYC’s new roads within an hourlong ride, as it covers nearly every bit of new tarmac from Times Square south.
- Issendorf Express (7.3km, 53m): named for Charlie Issendorf (NYC racer, Prospect Park race organizer, and former head of events at Zwift), this route is a figure 8 of Prospect Park and Center Drive.
- Prospect Park Loop (5.5km, 37m)*: a good place to chase the orange jersey, this is a simple CCW loop of the Prospect Park circuit.
- Spinfinity (19.3km, 155m): start and finish in Times Square, with a jaunt down to ride across the two bridges.
- Spinfinity Ultra (35km, 291m): almost like two laps of Spinfinity, except you cross the bridges in a different direction on the second lap.
- Stay Puft Pursuit (31.2km, 416m) event-only until November 3: starting in Times Square and traveling south to turn around at the bridges, this is the only route in the expansion that takes on the NY KOM in Central Park, both ways.
- The Double Borough (17.9km, 147m) event-only until November 3: starts in Central Park and travels directly south, turning around by way of the Manhattan Bridge after crossing the Brooklyn Bridge.
- The Greenway (36.8km, 292m): ride the northern half of Prospect Park, then up to the two bridges. Then do it again, hitting the bridges in the other direction this time.
- Toefield Tornado (10.3km, 53m)*: named for legendary Prospect Park race organizer Al Toefield, this route matches Issendorf Express, apart from three cheeky loops of Grand Army Plaza thrown in near the end.
- Watts the Limit (31km, 219m): an out-and-back course that begins in Central Park and travels south to loop around Grand Army Plaza and return by the same roads.
* While all 14 routes listed have achievement badges and accompanying bonus XP for riders, only those marked with * have an achievement badge for runners.
How To Experience the New Routes Today
Want to ride the NY expansion today? Here’s how…
Group Rides and Races
The first events held on these new routes today will be Zwift Unlocked stage 4, which features The Greenway as its long ride, Spinfinity as the short ride and race, and Prospect Park Loop as the run.
But starting today, Club events and Meetups can be scheduled on any of the routes listed above, using the Companion app. So you’ll start seeing events popping up on the expansion roads this week, including Zwift Insider’s 100km Pizza Burner and Tiny Races!
Free Rides and Workouts
New York is one of the guest calendars through the end of Zwift Unlocked (November 17), so from your home screen you can just click “Routes”, select New York, then choose the route you want to ride. Easy!
New Feature: Power Segments
“Power Segments” are a new feature rolling out in this expansion, only available on these fresh New York roads. (Zwift has told me that, if feedback is positive, Power Segments will make their way to other roads throughout the game.)
The big idea behind power segments is to compete (against yourself and/or others) based on power instead of time. Whereas all the game’s sprint, KOM, and lap leaderboards are based on who finished a certain segment the fastest, Power Segments are sorted by who had the highest average power across the segment.
Each segment is a particular length of time: 5, 10, or 20 seconds. For best results, have you power high when you cross the start line, then hold the highest power you can all the way to the finish.
Leaderboards are sorted by pure wattage (not w/kg), and the game shows your personal leaderboard before showing how you rank against others, since this is (mostly) a feature where you’re competing against yourself.
There is also a leader’s jersey, just like with timed segments! Here’s what it looks like:
Upcoming Routes Releases
Zwift says, “Over the coming months, an additional five routes will be unlocked, allowing Zwifters to explore more.” I don’t have any further details on these new routes at this time.
I’ll wrap up with a gallery of images Zwift sent over, since these are the only shots available that show multiple riders, giving us a better feel for what things will look like when it all goes live:
The one image still missing? The Statue of Liberty. Or should I say… the Scottie of Liberty. Yup. They did it!
Questions or Comments?
Share below!
What is the shortest “fake workout” / fewest segments to tab through?
Create a new workout with a 1 minute free ride block.
I use one of the single block recovery rides and just skip the only section in it.
Are the bridges and Prospect Park the I my GPS accurate roads in this update?
Yes.
I’m going to ride Prospect Park later and then compare it to real life in RWGPS.
Please report back!
Yes, I got an accurate Strava map for The Greenway route today.
Seems that “Stay Puft Pursuit”, “The Double Borough” and “Watts the Limit” are Event Only routes.
Just got word from ZHQ that Watts the Limit will be open once they fix it. The other two won’t open until Nov 3.
Will we get to listen to the Beastie Boys while riding the No Sleep Till Brooklyn route ?
Watts the Limit has already been fixed.
Too free ride the new routes you can use the companion app.
Go too Routes —> New York —> find the route you wanna ride —> then click on the + buttom. Now the route is in your Mylist and on the home screen in zwift.
Correct!
Noticed run badges for “Avon Flyer Run”, “Prospect park loop run” and “toefield Tornado Run”. No times square loop tho?
Not yet at least.
Looks like Zwift also released a Big Apple Challenge today, complete 4 routes by 31 December. Any idea of the XP bonuses awarded?
Post publishing in… 3 minutes!
Was excited for this but after riding it it’s too many of the stupid see through glass roads more tarmac please.
I think you should look closer. Very little of the expansion is glass, actually (only the Times Square Circuit portion). And you don’t even have to climb to get there!
dude you are *SUCH* a diplomat…honey and not vinegar FTW!!
Would love NY to incorporate traffic, cars, etc and get me a SS to be a Bike Messenger and not get killed lol …..seriously that would be fun.
Neokyo has us swerving through traffic and pedestrians.
Just zoom in
Seems to be fixed now, thanks!
“Escalator” feature seems a bit odd – wonder how it impacts the route’s vertical and distance traveled. They could back it out to ‘effective’ distances, but then why cheat the geometry in the first place?
I think it’s a stupid feature. You have got no clue what the actual effect will be, so no idea what gear to use. My trainer also reacted very strange almost as ERG activated 😱 This will totally ruin these routes for me 😢 Too bad because I liked what they did with the scenery.
Having ridden the dippy escalator things 4 times, I am not a fan. However, I realized they are 5 seconds so who cares. Sorry they ruin your life.
Escalator repeats for quick tron unlock and Aethos upgrades. What’s not to like? 🙄
Just wait until they run it in reverse.
Yes, would be good to know what they actually do..
In the race it was like hitting a brick wall, certainly didn’t feel like there was any assistance! (I have trainer difficulty at 100% fwiw)
“Brick wall” is a very fair assessment imho.
In Six Sigma parlance- detractor NOT a delighter.
I don’t get it in physics or what it adds to my ride. I guess I gotta do some u-turns and figure it out on my own.
These escalators have ruined these rides, my Saris2 didn’t like them at all…….it was all ok until halfway up when it was like hitting a brickwall as ERG appeared to come on. Yes I know it’s only a few seconds but was just naff.
I don’t understand how to ride these things. In last night’s Zwift Unlocked, I saw people starting behind me and putting out significantly less W/kg (2.5-3 vs my 4.5-5.5) and yet they shot past me and gained over a second on me by the time we had hit the top.
Okay, so I’ll have to admit that there’s more here than I was expecting. This is actually enough to keep a rider busy for a couple of weeks trying out the new routes.
love new roads, always welcome … but any word on Zwift activating the extra little bit on the New York KoM ?? I mean the roads are there and even in the mini map. Seems just need to remove the virtual road barriers 🤷♂️
So the power segments appear to be pure wattage, not w/kg. Which is kinda nonsense as it allowed me to pretty easily score 11th place despite being horribly out of shape due to a week of not riding. Just because with 100kg I can pretty easily produce the raw wattage that a 70kg rider needs to put in a lot more effort for.
So power is measured at the power segment? That for sure is ridiculous!
You must be fun at parties.
Rode through them twice today. I’m 83kg and old as F. I will never bother with them again.
I have plenty of ways of knowing my 10sec power is for s**t as it is. Give me 5 minutes and I’ll make you puke. Zwift can keep their 10sec piffle.
20 sec as the longuest power segment looks short to me. I think a 1 minutes, 5 minutes and 20 minutes would also be great!
I am looking forward to it. I always thought New York had a lot of potential for intersting ride expansions. Hopefully you won’t stop here.
I’ll try this way since a reply doesn’t seem to work for me.
On the left is Zwift, on the right is real life. One thing to note is that the elevation scales start in different places so just discount that.
I only see the image if I hover over the white space.
I saw the images when I clicked the white space
It looks like a really accurate match. Zwift has significantly smoother gradients, which makes the elevation gain / loss numbers deviate, but the total changes in altitude are exactly the same.
It’s a fun expansion that will likely make for good racing: lots of short to medium length rises that will require constant attention! Odd that they didn’t include a “real” version of Times Square and the theatre district though, seems a miss to not feature such an iconic location.
I’m in complete agreement with you. The new NY routes are even worse than the old ones – and I would never choose to free-ride these. Their artistic quality is interesting, but the see through roads, subway tunnels, and the hundred clones of the dancing robot doesn’t do it for me.
I was hoping for a simpler expansion that was mostly rural roads along the Hudson, gently rolling, with some side route climbs, lots of trees, you know, realistic stuff. An expansion of Richmond or London would have been much more welcome IMO.
The futuristic stuff is really disappointing. Why can’t it be like the London routes and just let us ride through the city on surface streets.
100% agree. Its horrible. I’ll get the badges and never ride it again.
And this is why it’s good that Zwift has so many diverse worlds. For me, the new NY roads are probably my second favorite behind only Scotland (can’t beat those rolling hills).
I’m the other way. At least here I have something to see. London proper is good, but the hills on the south are sooooo boooooooring.
Box Hill is ok. At least they got the pavement marking in there, and the route is similar to RL. But Richmond Park is a disappointment. It is such an important place in London cycling, but its implementation in Zwift doesn’t invoke what makes it special.
I like the added variety for the elevated stuff. Now you choose between steep climbs and gentle climbs depending upon your training needs of the day,
At least it’s a bit more like London than it used to be with just the Central Park surface stuff.
Seems like a big mistake to do so much subway, isn’t subway boring? Wouldn’t it be better to do NY streets instead?
And times square, you’d think that would be a place that everyone would want to actually be and experience, but instead we are plucked out of it and only get to see it from some distance above.
The art is much easier to do for a subway than a city street. That’s my guess why we ended up with so much underground.
I wonder how much stuff on New York streets would be subject to copyright if some kind. Much easier to just make stuff up and use old landmarks.
In speaking with Zwift’s art director, this was definitely an issue they had to deal with.
Copyright?? You can just sub in random ads/signs instead of whatever is copyright. That should not realistically be an actual problem for zwift here. Something they have to think about sure, but not actually causing any problems for them.
a person can copyright a structure. I’m a musician and deal with the insanity of copyright all the time.
Was that actually an issue here though? And is it really a big problem to sub in a different/generic structure?
I think they basically did. If it resembles Times Square there is potentially plenty of licensing involved with architecture firms. Either way, I think they did an overall good job.
Okay, so like I said, it was not a problem then. And so this doesn’t explain why they didn’t have these new routes go on the actual roads, which was what this whole thread is about.
SMH. Out of all of the resources used to do this and all of the amazing bits of the world to ride, we get glass roads and 3 subway lines with graffiti. I guess at least they didn’t sue garmin for KOM segments.
Anyone else getting “the image could not be loaded” when trying to click on the images to make them bigger? I tried on 3 different browsers.
Same here. There seems so be something wrong with the image opening script.
Also, @Eric Schlange, are you still in charge of Zwifthub? Will all these new routes from Unlocked and the NY expansion be added?
I honestly don’t really get the power-segments, what’s the purpose of those? I can do an all-out 10-second effort at any point of a ride, I don’t need a segment to do that. So the only new thing for me is a leader-board of who puts out the most Watts.
I might be missing something, but I really don’t see the idea?
It’s fine to do an all-out 10-second effort at any point of a ride. Some also like having the encouragement of a segment and leaderboard (similar to the existing sprint segments). Whatever helps you.
When adding these routes to Veloviewer are you able to add the LaGuardia After Party route as it’s missing. It looks like there is a Strava section for it currently called “Zwift Segment” with the ID39086492.
He has addressed this issue before, I believe he said that that segment was created by someone else (somehow) and it’s (public) existence blocks him from creating a properly named segment.
I’m not bothered what its called, I’d just like it added to the Zeloviewer leaderboards
Wrong name -> people will be very confused, and continue to have to answer questions about it. And if some random person out there controls the segment the who knows when it goes away or changes etc. That would be pretty annoying if you lost the segment. Maybe they put in an ad for their insta in the segment name?
Strava should hide that segment so the only person they’ve ever allowed to create zwift segments can create one.
No helicopter flights possible in NY
I came on to post the same thing: No helicopter view possible in NY
There are many beautiful places around the world that wuold be so beautiful to recreate on zwift and …. new york ? hahahah please.
I’d rather climb Tourmalet or the Teide instead do the Brooklyn Bridge sorrounded by…. asphalt.
As a trail runner, I understand the love of natural scenery, but I run with a lot of road runners who really enjoy city races. Of course, every time I run in Makuri I look out towards Mount Fuji and wonder why Zwift only has that in the climb portal
Some people like to cycle through interesting places that aren’t nature based too. And the main reasons why cycling in a dense city sucks do not exist in zwift (having to constantly stop/go slow, and danger from cars), so zwift offers a way to ride in a dense city that you couldn’t do in real life.
Yeah I mean, I agree on fact that everyone has different preferred roads and paths. But sometimes I just think these people never do in their life a proper ride on Dolomites because it’s impossible to prefer a city instead these mountains 😂
I know a ton of riders in real life who would prefer the city over the Dolomites, there is even a cycling word for a lot of them: Sprinters 😀
Thank you Zwift for the new roads, and thank to you Eric Schlange for the updates.
I’m surprised by the amount of negative feedback in this comment section.
I rode The Greenway, and was really impressed with the diverse scenery in Brooklyn and around the bridges. The skylines are really well done, and the city feels alive. Many people in my group were commenting about how much they liked the route.
I did a second short ride around Prospect Park and got to see it in twilight, which looked really nice.
Death, taxes and Zwifters bitching about new additions…
Thank you Eric for the post, but I hope Zwift is going to add more roads in Watopia, because for me it‘s by far the best world and New York is not a very popular world for Zwifters.
Perhaps that’s why they expanded it so that it is a little more popular/better for folks?
Looks beautiful with a lot of attention to detail. Nevertheless i would 100% trade a bit of detail for faster new road development. 30km and this is the biggest expansion ever….
Rode The Greenway route today, overall satisfied with the NYC expansion. Lots of time in tunnels though. One minor bummer is no helicopter view available when crossing Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge.
Any insights into how the escalators work? Especially wondering how it’ll impact racing. It seems to provide you with some sort of “boost” or free watts of sorts. It also seems like riders can go different speeds, so it’s not just a fixed speed section like That London Corner. However it didn’t seem like sprinting up it made much difference in speed, so it’s not super obvious what the actual effect is.
Second this @Eric Schlange
I’m enjoying the new roads overall, but the elevators are a bit of a bugbear for me
An elevator should require little effort to use, like in real life, but here the gradient simulation still kicks in, dragging the cadence to a near halt. Once you’re carried up, you’ve lost momentum and have to work to get going again. In reality, you’d carry some of that momentum with you, so it’d be nice if the simulation reflected that, making it easier to continue without constantly adjusting gears
They’re a pretty dominant feature on the new roads and the abrupt changes do impact the flow of the rides unlike anything else on Zwift
Are they even working as they should?
When will the new routes form past few months from NYC expansion and baseline be added to zwift hub?
Love the escalator to help get up a 19% segment!
Its a really boring expansion. The park itself is uninspiring at every level. The highlights would be the bridges, but you dont see anything anyway. Elevators on ramps… i feel like not pedaling. Dancing robots ~ waste of polygons for zero reason. my rating, 3/10
Agreed, looks like a toddler designed it. Dancing robots, glass everywhere, can’t see anything, flying cars, escalators, uninspiring.
I got you, Eric. Scotty pic:
Not that I am advocating it, but is it possible to vEverest using the escalators coming out of the subway with some 400 u-turns?
Seems not possible to do U turns in the subways, so I don’t think so.
That makes sense – thanks!
It would take 1106 U turns, 553 round trips. Total time about 3 hours 5 minutes. No pedalling required once you get there. I did a short test 😃.
When will the new routes be added to ZwiftHub?
Did it today!
Thanks for the prompt update, but what about the other routes with badges missing from ZwiftHub?
Scotland: Dun Dash, Scotland After Party
London: London Calling
France: Macaron
Makuri Island: Electric Break, Red Zone Repeats, Tropic Rush
Watopia: Climb Control, Flat Out Fast, Power Punches, Watts of the Wild
Thank you
Love the new routes – they are beautiful. But the futuristic world of New York doesn’t make you feel like you are immersed in it like the futuristic world of Neokyo. Where Neokyo is fun and inviting, NY expansion feels austere and frightening. Neokyo has dogs dancing the twist and cats playing patty cake. NY expansion has dopey hyperkinetic robots or whatever they are. Things are much more subtle and detailed in Neokyo.
Some of the new New York maps are very short with many arches. Could they potentially be a new best way for XP farming?
Prospect Park has 3 arches.
You also get XP at the Power Segment finishes ( at least I did on the TT bike ).
I wonder if you could do U-Turns in the subway and do some XP farming with the Power Segment arches.
I like it. Good racing terrain. New section feels like it flows together a bit better than the original Central Park area (which is highly subjective, I realise!).
When going down the ramps that have “escalators” on the other side, there is no draft, at least according to the Sauce gauge and the 4 or so descents I did that were in an optimal drafting position. The gauge went from about 80 before to zero, and then up in the 200s once we hit the flat.
Spinfinity – the only reference I have to the expansion thus far – is wholly uninspiring. Hoping there is more to it once I explore the rest.
I see badges for Times Square Circuit and No Sleep Till Brooklyn but no details on these routes here or on the Companion App. Any details on those two?
Kind of silly they have us going “through” Times Square, but on an elevated road where you won’t see anything. Why they don’t have us down on street level for that is beyond me. It would have been on par with Neokyo, seeing the sights and sounds of the square. It would have been nice to ride through there at night.
New roads are great to have. Did spinfinity – actually quite liked the subway, was surprised by how (relatively) big the bridge climb was – much longer than the little bridges across the Thames in London! Hoped to see more of a view off the bridges (maybe need to look again). Like others a bit disappointed with the Times Square bit. I’ve never been to NY, but it felt like just a random bit of the Neokyo rooftop climb – all the interesting bits were below you and obscured by a blue translucent glass road. I almost wanted that to be completely clear, so I could see down through it. I get what they were going for – a little crit circuit, but I wonder if a better way of doing that might have been using ground level side roads, maybe nipping through a theatre or two (a bit like the arcade in Neokyo). It might light up for some of the “special events” Eric mentioned, but for now I couldn’t place it as a “special” landmark. Will explore the rest over the next few days!
general question for anyone…I’ve been riding IRL (outside) all summer and just signed onto zwift! last week. after completing all the new single digit (miles) routes on NY and two of the new makuri island routes, I’ve already moved up one full level. WTHeck is going on with that? doesn’t that sound too fast to level up?
second question; the large squirrel that was on my back is gone. WTHeck is up with that, how did I get it and when will it come back. thanks.
Welcome to Zwift, Chris. The addiction is real!
Levels get harder to achieve as you go up. Trust me, 🙂
As for the squirrel: that’s streak flair. Read about it here: https://zwiftinsider.com/week-streaks/
thanks Eric
I like updates with new roads the best. This one makes NY much more interesting. Well done, ZHQ!
Ugh, just rode it today. I’m an NYC native, grew up riding the city, still do. I loved CP because it accurately recreated the geography, has enough real world landmarks, and generally tastefully embellished with the future silliness. When I ride it, I think of IRL. When I ride the park, I think of Zwift. But this expansion? Complete garbage. It’s literally just a rando urban techno cyber punk low effort generation. No connection to IRL geography AT ALL. Why did they even bother? Just put the resources into more fantastical worlds. NYC is iconic and unique, they had a real opportunity to make something special here. And they totally crapped the bed. Need to get word to Zephyr to detach himself from any of this.
How can you say no connection AT ALL, when Manhattan Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge, and Prospect Park are literally GPS-accurate roads?
OK, you leave CP on what seems to be Broadway only to come to a building blocking the road, then it just turns into complete nonsense all the way down to the bridge. The two bridges seem fine, but visually they are terrible, low-polly but weird garbage graffiti on the BK. Can’t comment on Prospect as I’m from Manhattan and I’m not a bum. 🤣 They had an opportunity to make something special, and instead made a generic (likely AI) generated technoscape of nonsense and tunnels. 🤷♂️ Or maybe in the future Elon gets the contract to dig a ton more tunnels? 🤣
I still ride a road bike on zwift and To ride the new escalator feature I drop to the small front cog at the bottom pedal as fast as I can up it flying out the top like a missile or should I say “like a Mark Cavendish” if only lol still maintaining 40 km / h