Pace Partner Weekly Update: Almost Graduation Day

July 31, 2022

LAST UPDATED July 29, 2022

Pace Partners launched in August 2020 as a FutureWorks project, and now two years later they are about to graduate!

For those not familiar, Zwift often launches new features under their “FutureWorks” banner when the feature isn’t completely polished, but needs to be released publicly for testing, feedback, and further refinement. Read more about FutureWorks on Zwift’s blog >

Here’s an update on what we can expect this week from Pace Partners, as well as what graduation from FutureWorks will look like.

First: This Week’s Pace Partners

Pace Partners aren’t quite out of FutureWorks yet, so here’s the schedule of routes for this next week…

Watopia:

Anquetil (4.2) – Volcano Flat
Brevet (3.3) – Volcano Circuit
Cadence (2.5) – Triple Flat Loops
Draft (2.15) – Big Foot Hills
Disc (1.8 ) – Three Little Sisters
Diesel (1.5) – Tick Tock
Duster (1.15) – Watopia’s Waistband

Makuri Islands:

Blazer (3.8 ) – Castle to Castle
Chaser (3.0) – Neokyo All-Nighter
Drops (2.0) – Neon Flats
Echelon (1.0) – Sprinter’s Playground

Running Pace Partners are on 11.1 Ocean Blvd route this week.

Cycling Bots: Pacing and Route Rotations

When Pace Partners come out of FutureWorks in September, both Watopia and Makuri will have eight cycling Pace Partners active at all times. All Pace Partners will weigh 75kg for simplicity, and will be 175cm tall. Their names will also be changed.

Each map’s 8 bots will use the following w/kg paces: 1.2, 1.5, 1.8, 2.2, 2.6, 3.2, 3.7, and 4.2.

Eight routes have been selected for each map, and the route assigned to each particular Pace Partner will rotate through this list of eight each week. James says “Where possible, I’ve tried to make it so that if it is a hilly route in Watopia, Makuri will offer you a flat route at the same pace. This isn’t always possible, but I’ve done the best I can.”