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Caveworks Announces RIVET Indoor Bike Frame

Eric Schlange
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27
Caveworks Announces RIVET Indoor Bike Frame

Caveworks Announces RIVET Indoor Bike Frame

Colorado-based Caveworks recently announced the RIVET. Designed “specifically for indoor use with thru-axle direct-drive smart trainers, and compatible with fork-mounted accessories like the Wahoo KICKR Climb,” the RIVET is a product that arguably sits between the Zwift Ride and Elite Square in both functionality and pricing.

Pricing and Availability

The RIVET is expected to begin shipping in October 2024 and is available for pre-order in three different configurations:

  • Frame Only ($749 USD, introductory special: $699)
  • Single-Speed ($999 USD, introductory special: $949)
  • Geared (12-Speed Shimano GRX) ($1399 USD, introductory special $1,329)

The single-speed and GRX versions ship with three different crank lengths: 170mm, 172.5mm, and 175mm.

Features and Specs

  • 4130 steel frame, powder coated for durability
  • 12x142mm rear axle spacing, UDH compatible
  • 12x110mm front axle spacing (offering enhanced front-end rigidity and compatible with the Wahoo Kickr Climb gradient simulator)
  • Standard 30.9mm seat post and stem tube diameter
  • Standard 68mm threaded bottom bracket
  • Removable front feet with spacers to accommodate third-party trainers of varying rear axle heights
  • Mounting for 2 water bottle cages
  • Stem: proprietary Caveworks adjustable stem, 6061 aluminum, anodized black
  • Stem adjustment: 120mm of continuous fore-aft adjustment, all achieved with a quick turn of the adjustment knob.
  • 143mm saddle with chromoly rails

The single-speed and geared versions include these additional features/specs:

  • 48-tooth front chainring
  • Oversize 14t ceramic bearing pulley (single-speed)
  • Shimano GRX 12-speed (geared)

RIVET vs. Zwift Ride

The RIVET obviously invites comparisons to the Zwift Ride. What are some key differences?

  • Price: The RIVET is priced a bit higher than the Zwift Ride, if you remove the trainer from the Zwift Ride pricing. Theoretically, once Zwift begins selling the Zwift Ride frame as a standalone item in the fall, it will be priced below the single-speed version of the RIVET.
  • Fit: Zwift Ride fits riders 5’-6’6”, while the RIVET fits rides from 4’10” to 6’6″.
  • Compatibility: Zwift Ride only fully works with Zwift, due to virtual shifting requirements. RIVET offers a 12-speed version that would work with all platforms.
  • Frame-Only vs Full System: the RIVET is sold as a standalone frame, while the Zwift Ride is currently sold with a trainer.
  • Climb Simulator Compatibility: RIVET is compatible with the Climb or Elite Rizer, while Zwift Ride is not.
  • Crank Length Options: Zwift Ride ships only with 170mm cranks, while the RIVET comes in 170mm, 172.5mm, and 175mm versions.

About Caveworks

Jason Haney is the CEO and founder at RIVET. Based in Lakewood, Colorado, he’s an avid cyclist, and a level 62 Zwifter who has been on the platform since 2018. His right-hand man is Anthony Lenz, President and co-designer at Caveworks. Anthony lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, and is also an avid cyclist (plus a level 19 Zwifter). The two men have been close friends since they meet as employees of the Full Cycle bike shop in 2009.

Jason tells the story of the RIVET’s conception to its eventual launch:

The initial idea for the RIVET was born after reflecting on my first year(ish) on Zwift; so, roughly in 2019. I had been riding a beautiful custom gravel bike (made by Scissortail Cycles out of Norman, OK — great framebuilder 🙂) on my Wahoo Kickr and, despite the obvious net benefits of indoor riding, was nonetheless experiencing some frustrations:

For one, I was pouring sweat on my beautiful machine. Absolutely destroying it. It was painful watching the corrosive salts accrue on my Chris King headset and bottom bracket, around the cockpit hardwear, on the cranks, etc.

For another, I was feeling the way indoor riding was loading the bike as I rode. The way the rear triangle was fixed in place, forcing the frame to bear up to the pushing on the pedals, the pulling on the handlebars, the rocking in sprints. The frame was visibly moving so unnaturally, absorbing the forces and loads while suspended between the fixed points of the trainer and the front wheel. It’s not that I worried my steel frame would fail from these loads (though I suspected certain carbon frames might be in more danger), but rather just that it was so clear in my mind that this is not what my bike was designed to do. That alone, that simple fact, bothered me. Indoor riding is fun and useful, right? It’s a discipline now, and worthy of the respect that other disciplines in cycling receive. So why have a key component of one’s indoor setup that is (1) not designed for it and (2) substantially over-invested in?

And lastly, all the other frustrations around taking the bike on and off the trainer, the minor derailleur adjustments between the trainer and the wheel, and the inability to keep the bike tuned for outdoor opportunities, etc., all were sources of frustration as well.

This percolated for a while, mostly as a “why isn’t someone working on this?” thought, and I did a fair bit of searching for what surely must be out there — the economical path to an indoor-specific machine. Then, in 2021, convinced that no one was making progress on this, I drew the concept for what became the RIVET and started looking into how to bring it to life.

The core goals were to design something that: (1) had the parts required for indoor training and only those parts; (2) threaded the needle between capturing a minimum standard of high performance without tipping into the territory of overinvesting in lightweight, or in the highest-end metals or materials, or the various other aspects that can take an outdoor bike from the $2k-$3k range into the $10k+ range; (3) proved that (1) and (2) were achievable at a reasonable expense; and (4) that was durable, both with respect to the unique forces and loads of indoor riding and the corrosive impact of sweat.

In February 2022, I formed caveworks, Inc. I hired engineering and product design support. We dove in. Other goals were added to the list, like ensuring that the frame is adaptable across bicycle types for a large range of rider sizes. The geometry, the lynchpin of which is the headtube and its position with respect to the bottom bracket, has its own interesting development story and is the result of extensive research and analysis of outdoor bike geometries from road to endurance road to gravel to mountain bikes. It covers all of them. So, although that’s probably the strangest aesthetic aspect of the RIVET’s design, especially if one’s eye is looking for parallels to an outdoor bike, it nonetheless brings a level of function that offers its own kind of beauty (if you’ll pardon my obvious bias 🙂).

Four prototypes followed, all moving at a slower pace than I might have liked had I been in a position to do the romantic thing, quit my job, and go all in. But my job is why caveworks exists. The company is self-funded. So I continued refining the design around life’s other demands. I have 5,572 miles logged on caveworks prototypes. Anthony has hundreds of miles logged on prototypes 3 and 4 as well, as do other key providers of input across our network.

There came a moment where I thought I might be able to finish it ahead of winter ’23/’24 but, due to being pulled in so many directions, could not get it across the finish line in time. This meant making the very frustrating decision to give up on that goal and instead reload for the next year. It also made it crystal clear that I could not be the sole driver behind caveworks’ progress if this was actually going to become something.

Anthony was hired in mid-October, 2023, and Jason says, he “was the missing piece. He’s the beating heart of caveworks today.”

Take a Look

Here’s a walkthrough of the RIVET from DesFit:

Concluding Thoughts

I love watching riders solve problems they’re finding in the indoor space. Jason’s story is one of passion, innovation, and perserverance

It’s also fun to see new products launch in this space. In fact, the RIVET is the third dedicated indoor frame we’ve seen launched in the past few months. Does this indicate a trend away from heavy, expensive smart bikes toward a more modular, affordable smart frame+trainer approach? I think so.

Questions or Comments?

Share below!

Tiny Race Series – July 20 Routes, and Last Week’s Results

Eric Schlange
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0
Tiny Race Series – July 20 Routes, and Last Week’s Results

Tiny Race Series – July 20 Routes, and Last Week’s Results

See zwiftinsider.com/tiny for current Tiny Race details.

Zwift Virtual Shifting: Which trainers support it now, and which trainers will support it soon?

Eric Schlange
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144
Zwift Virtual Shifting: Which trainers support it now, and which trainers will support it soon?

Zwift Virtual Shifting: Which trainers support it now, and which trainers will support it soon?

Zwift’s virtual shifting is arguably the most popular innovation they’ve brought to the indoor hardware space. Ever since the Zwift Hub went on sale in October 2022, riders have been looking forward to virtual shifting capabilities being rolled out for other trainers.

Supporting Zwift’s virtual shifting is no small project. It requires adding support for Zwift Protocol, a Bluetooth protocol Zwift created to deliver a consistent virtual shifting experience for any combination of supported hardware.

I see questions every week from riders wondering when virtual shifting will be available on their trainer, so I’ve created this page to share what info I know about the current status of Zwift virtual shifting support for all the major trainer brands.

This page will be updated as new information is made available.

Wahoo

These Wahoo trainers support virtual shifting:

Fusion Media, Wahoo’s media agency, tells me, “Wahoo has analyzed the hardware and software capabilities of both KICKR v4 and KICKR v5.  Unfortunately, these older models are unable to support the required protocols for Zwift Virtual Shifting and will not be receiving a future update for this functionality.”

Garmin/Tacx

Thanks to a firmware update in June of 2025, these Garmin/Tacx trainers support virtual shifting:

Elite

The following Elite trainers currently support Zwift virtual shifting:

Elite announced their first Zwift Ready trainer, the Direto-XR with Zwift Cog and Click, in mid-September 2024. They rolled out the firmware update to current Direto XR users in early December 2024. And in May 2025, they announced a firmware update bringing virtual shifting to their entire range of interactive direct-drive trainers.

JetBlack

The following JetBlack trainers support virtual shifting currently:

JetBlack says, “WARNING: The firmware upgrade is NOT COMPATIBLE with VOLT 1.0 or JetBlack Whisper Drive. If installed on non-compatible units, it could overload the unit and cause sensor or other damage.”

Saris

On a Reddit thread in September 2024, Saris_Karen, apparently a Saris employee, said, “Saris is actively working on updating smart trainer firmware for virtual shifting and Zwift hardware compatibility. It’s going to be a couple of months before it is released.”

But in early October 2025, after over a year of no news from Saris, a commenter below said Saris had just confirmed to them that “they will not be releasing any new firmware and will not support virtual shifting.”

Zwift

The Zwift Hub trainer was the first to support Zwift’s virtual shifting. Two different versions were sold:

  • Zwift Hub Classic (shipped with a standard cassette and no virtual shifting device)
  • Zwift Hub One (shipped with the single-sprocket Zwift Cog and Zwift Click for virtual shifting)

Both versions used the same trainer body and internals. The only difference was the included cassette and virtual shifting device.

If you have a Zwift Hub Classic, you can convert it to a Zwift Hub One using the Zwift Cog + Click Upgrade Kit. You can also simply purchase the Zwift Click or Zwift Play controllers and immediately have access to virtual shifting on a standard cassette.

VAN RYSEL

A budget direct drive from Decathlon is now on the market, and it’s the lowest-priced trainer to support virtual shifting.

This is particularly interesting because it’s the lowest-spec trainer to get the Zwift Ready label to date.

Others?

There are other trainers on the market, of course. I will add them to the list above as I hear news.

Questions or Comments?

Heard any news I haven’t mentioned above? Spill the beans. Got other questions or comments? Share below!

All About Zwift World Series 2024/25

Eric Schlange
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21
All About Zwift World Series 2024/25

All About Zwift World Series 2024/25

The Zwift World Series is Zwift’s new flagship race series that encompasses both elite and community-level events for peak Zwift season.

The series consists of both community and elite-level events. While the elite events can only be raced by pre-verified elite riders (more info on that process and schedule here), the community races will be held in the days leading up to the elite events, providing a practice venue for elite races and challenging race opportunities for community riders.

Here are the big reasons why the Zwift World Series community races are interesting:

  • They function as a monument race one weekend per month from September to January, offering a chance to challenge and test yourself against the Zwift racing community
  • Plenty of opportunities to participate, with races scheduled from Thursday to Sunday across multiple time slots
  • Global Leaderboards for each month’s races, plus a General Classification that combines all the monthly races to see how you rank against your peers throughout the series
  • Zwift World Series Community kit unlock when you complete any of the five races
  • Elite riders can use these races as recon events prior to the big elite races, and community riders get to race the same course as the elites to see how they compare.
  • Three brand-new courses and two never before featured in Zwift racing.

Kit Unlock

Complete any Zwift World Series race and unlock the Zwift World Series Community kit:

Race 1: Richmond Loop Around

Community races August 29-September 1, 2024
Elite qualifier: September 5 (Men 17:10 UTC, Women 18:30 UTC)
Elite race: September 19 (Men 17:15 UTC, Women 18:40 UTC)

  • Powerups: Aero awarded at the Lap Arch on each passing (2x)
  • Primes:
    • 23rd St KOM Reverse on the 3rd time passing
    • Broad St Sprint

Race 2: Peak Performance

Community races September 26-29, 2024
Elite qualifier: October 3 (Men 17:10 UTC, Women 18:40 UTC)
Elite race: October 17 (Men 17:15 UTC, Women 18:50 UTC)

  • Powerups: Draft awarded at the Titans Grove KOM Reverse (1x)
  • Primes:
    • Woodland Sprint
    • The Grade

Race 3: Yorkshire Double Loops

Community races October 24-27, 2024
Elite qualifier: October 31 (Men 18:10 UTC, Women 19:10 UTC)
Elite race: November 14 (Men 18:15 UTC, Women 19:20 UTC)

  • Powerups: Feather awarded at the Lap Arch on each passing (2x)
  • Primes:
    • Yorkshire Sprint Reverse
    • Yorkshire KOM

Race 4: Shisa Shakedown

Community races November 14-17, 2024
Elite qualifier: November 21 (Men 18:10 UTC, Women 19:45 UTC)
Elite race: December 5 (Men 18:15 UTC, Women 19:55 UTC)

  • Powerups: Aero awarded at the Rooftop KOM (2x)
  • Primes:
    • Alley Sprint
    • Temple KOM

Race 5: Power to the Tower

Community races January 9-12, 2025
Elite qualifier: January 16 (Men 18:10 UTC, Women 19:55 UTC)
Elite race: January 30 (Men 18:15 UTC, Women 20:10 UTC)

  • Powerups: Draft awarded at the Epic KOM (1x)
  • Primes: none

Questions or Comments?

Post below!

ZwiftHacks Adds Experimental Zwift Racing Score Filtering

Eric Schlange
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19
ZwiftHacks Adds Experimental Zwift Racing Score Filtering

ZwiftHacks Adds Experimental Zwift Racing Score Filtering

Teamwork makes the dream work.

Last week I messaged Jesper Rosenlund Nielsen, the genius behind behind ZwiftHacks, a website I access multiple times daily thanks to its powerful event search tools. Here’s how that conversation went:

As always, I’m wowed by Jesper’s ability to build great features quickly. I offered a few more suggestions, which he implemented, and today, less than a week after my initial idea, I’m happy to share the news of ZwiftHacks’ latest event filtering feature: a Zwift Racing Score percentile search!

How It Works

The big idea here is to make it easy to filter upcoming Zwift races that use the new Zwift Racing Score (ZRS) metric. But we’re not just looking for a list of ZRS-powered events… ZwiftHacks already has that.

From the ZwiftHacks event search homepage, click “Experiments” then slide the top bar to your current racing score (find that in the Companion app or in game). This will show all upcoming races that include a category containing your racing score.

147 events showed up for me, but I wanted a more restricted list. As I explained to Jesper, what I want (sometimes) is to find scored races where I have a good chance of getting on the podium. What if I could just show races where my score puts me in the upper 20% of my category? This tool lets me do that:

I’ve entered my current racing score (591), then set the percentile slider to 80-100%. The resulting list of 15 races all include a category where I’m ranked in the upper 20% of the group.

I could also set my filters like this:

This shows all upcoming scored races (132) where I’ll be in the bottom 30% of my category. If I want to be pushed to my limit and probably dropped before the finish line, this is the search for me!

Early Days

Of course, it’s still early days for Zwift Racing Score, so Jesper’s experimental ZwiftHacks tool will probably need to evolve along with it.

Right now, as far as I can see, events using ZRS use one of three banding schemes:

  • 5-category mixed scheme:
    • 725-1000
    • 575-725
    • 400-575
    • 225-400
    • 0-225
  • 10-category mixed scheme, with separate events for “high” and “low” groups:
    • 775-1000
    • 700-775
    • 650-700
    • 600-650
    • 550-600
    • 450-550
    • 375-450
    • 300-375
    • 200-300
    • 0-200
  • Women’s 5-category scheme:
    • 540-1000
    • 415-540
    • 330-415
    • 220-330
    • 0-220

It’s easy enough right now to figure out where your score places you in each of these schemes, and to find which events you prefer to join. Because of this, you may not see a need for a tool like Jesper’s.

But in the future, event organizers will be able to set their own custom score-based bands, which means you won’t always be at the top or bottom or middle of your category. (This is a good thing.) Having a filter like ZwiftHacks’ will let you quickly choose a race based on the sort of experience you’re looking to have.

Nice work, Jesper. Ride on!

Questions or Comments

Got questions about how the ZwiftHacks tool works? Suggestions for making it better? Share below!

Leveling Ain’t Easy: Zwift Increases XP Level Requirements

Eric Schlange
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91
Leveling Ain’t Easy: Zwift Increases XP Level Requirements

Leveling Ain’t Easy: Zwift Increases XP Level Requirements

If you’re the sort of Zwifter who pays attention to your level progress and XP totals, you may have noticed a change Zwift quietly rolled out last week, increasing the XP required to level up if you are at level 28+.

Read below to learn how we got here, what’s changed, what hasn’t… and more.

A Short History of Zwift Levels

Zwift levels have been part of the game from early days, but initially they only went up to level 25. Many Zwifters reached that max level, and eventually Zwift added levels 26-50 in December 2018. This was the first time we saw accelerated leveling, where riders who had banked XP while sitting at level 25 could achieve higher levels more quickly (8x faster!) if they opted to. Riders enjoyed leveling up more quickly, but there was one problem: accelerated leveling was confusing.

In September 2022, Zwift added levels 51-60. Again, accelerated leveling was used if you had been at level 50 for a while. But this time it was only 2x faster, and you couldn’t opt out of accelerated leveling.

In December 2023, Zwift added levels 61-100. They also revamped how accelerated leveling worked, making it significantly more complex. On top of that, the overall level curve was also reduced and smoothed, so it was much easier to achieve each level and the amount of XP needed to go from level to level increased steadily.

While lower-level riders were happy about easier level progression, Zwifters without math degrees were largely flummoxed about how accelerated leveling now worked. Additionally, it quickly became apparent that it was much too easy to level up, when at least one Zwifter rode their way from level 61-100 in 25 days.

In April 2024, Zwift announced that they were planning to change XP requirements for levels 28 and above to make leveling up more difficult. (The XP required to reach level 100 would increase from 591,000 XP to 1,000,000 XP, so this was no small change.) Additionally, they decreased the weekly streak bonus so you only received it once per week.

Zwift got a lot of pushback on this proposed change (peruse the 500+ comment thread at your leisure), and the planned May rollout never happened.

Then last week, with no fanfare whatsoever, Zwift flipped the switch and enabled an updated XP/levels table. I started seeing comments almost immediately from Zwifters confused about why the XP needed to go to the next level had changed.

And that brings us to today. The new XP/levels table isn’t what was proposed in April. While it does increase level requirements from what rolled out in December 2023, it does not increase them as high as Zwift had proposed in April. More on that below…

Further Reading: All About Zwift XP, Levels, and Unlocks for Cyclists >

Out With the Old, In With the New

The new level requirements are spelled out on our main XP/unlocks page, but here’s a nice chart that makes them easy to understand. (Mouse over a line for details.)

As you can see, Zwift’s new level requirements are a significant increase from what was rolled out with levels 61-100 in December 2023. But they’re still much easier than what they would have been if Zwift had kept going with the original curve from 2022!

Note: while it’s not shown above, the XP required to repeatedly fill level 100 has increased from 12,000 to 20,000 with this update.

Why the Silence?

Reading Zwift’s forum, it seems Zwifters are more irked by Zwift’s lack of communication on this change than by the change itself. Why did Zwift choose to rejigger the levels without an announcement?

Unfortunately I can’t say, because I’m under an NDA with Zwift. (Why? Because that gives me access to advance notice on upcoming features and a place at the table in certain high-level discussions on overall product direction, among other things. I consider the “cost” of the NDA to be well worth the return.)

But what I will say is that Zwift’s XP table change would have gone unnoticed by many more Zwifters if it wasn’t for two (what I can only assume to be) bugs in the release:

  1. The graphical indicators for accelerated leveling were inexplicably removed for your current level, prompting Zwifters to think their acceleration was gone. (The acceleration is still there. Oddly enough, it seems those indicators return once you level up.)
  2. The XP needed for your next level-up seems to have increased with the rollout, so Zwifters who were tracking how many XP they had left to the next level saw that figure jump. This isn’t how Zwift had proposed the change would work in their April 2024 post: “There will be no change to the amount of XP required to reach your immediate next level – you’ll earn your next level based on the requirements of the previous system and the revised system will take effect after that.”

Unified Frustration

Zwifters disagree on many topics, but ask any rider who pays attention to levels and unlocks, and they’ll tell you two things:

  1. Leveling out, then playing catchup when new levels are added, is silly. Zwift should have built some sort of steadily-growing or even infinite leveling system into the game from the start.
  2. Accelerated leveling is ridiculously complicated.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Zwift needs a simple level system that never ends, giving every Zwifter something to shoot for. It’s mystifying how Zwift has done so much complex work to make indoor cycling accessible and engaging but still hasn’t rolled out a simple level system that consistently motivates all Zwifters.

Accelerated Leveling

Every time the topic of XP and levels pops up, questions about accelerated leveling are sure to follow. This is even more true this week, with the accelerated leveling indicators disappearing and XP requirements changing for most of the levels in the game!

So I’m just going to point you to this post, which has an “accelerated leveling” section that explains exactly how it works. At this point, I’ve learned to point people there, because if you can’t figure out the math from that post’s explanation, my explaining it to you personally probably won’t work either. (You can also read Zwift’s description of accelerated leveling, if you’d like.)

The nice thing is, like the internals of whatever device you’re reading this on, accelerated leveling works just fine, even if you don’t understand it. Each time you earn XP, the system does the math to get you to higher levels a bit more quickly. You just need to Ride On.

Questions or Comments?

Share your thoughts below.

Top 5 Zwift Videos: The Grade, Race Tactics, and New Hardware

Oli Chi
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0
Top 5 Zwift Videos: The Grade, Race Tactics, and New Hardware

Recent weeks have been especially exciting for much of the cycling world thanks to the Tour de France and Eurobike 2024. The cycling community saw numerous records broken in the first few stages of the Tour and some exciting new technology at Eurobike. 

This week we’ve selected several videos about new indoor cycling hardware, close races, training programs, and an interview with the CEO (Eric Min) of Zwift.

JetBlack Victory Smart Trainer First Look: $399 with WiFi, Zwift Cog V2, and tons more!

JetBlack has done it again. The all-new JetBlack Victory features similar specifications to some of the top smart trainers but comes in at a much more affordable $399. Ray, DCRainmaker, covers his initial impressions of this budget-friendly smart trainer.

My updated training and Zwift’s new climb…The Grade!

Katie Kookaburra shares updates on her training regimen and tackles the recently released “The Grade” climb in Zwift.

Zwift B-Grade Sprint Finish Almost Catches Breakaway

Tilly Field, professional cyclist for Movistar, provides commentary and analysis on her recent category B race where she made some tough decisions. Should she have joined the breakaway?

Caveworks Rivet // The Zwift Ride Alternative?

Shortly after the release of the Zwift Ride, a Colorado-based company called Caveworks released their Rivet indoor cycling frame. The Rivet aims to be a budget-friendly, high-quality frame to compliment ZCog-compatible trainers.

Zwift CEO Interview: What worked, what didn’t, and what’s coming?

Get the inside scoop on everything Zwift from Ray’s (DCRainmaker) interview with Eric Min, co-founder and CEO of Zwift.

Got a Great Zwift Video?

Share the link below and we may feature it in an upcoming post!

All About Zwift Academy 2024

Eric Schlange
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105
All About Zwift Academy 2024

All About Zwift Academy 2024

Registration opens today for Zwift Academy 2024. Now in its 9th year, Zwift Academy continues evolving even as it remains the most popular worldwide talent ID competition for cyclists.

This year, Zwift is more focused than ever on the talent ID aspect of Zwift Academy. They’ve expanded the entry window so riders can compete at peak fitness, and removed the shorter workouts from the program.

Read below for complete details on Zwift Academy 2024, including everything you need to know if you’re chasing the pro contract!

Intro to Zwift Academy

For those unfamiliar, Zwift Academy is an annual event that serves two purposes.

First, it’s a worldwide talent ID competition that has placed multiple riders onto World Tour teams. Zwift Academy activities qualify top riders for additional rounds of testing, with one woman and one man being selected for pro contracts for the upcoming cycling season.

Second, it’s a global training program for cyclists. All Zwifters are invited to take on the Zwift Academy workouts and races. You’ll build fitness and push yourself to the limit racing against others, even if you’re not a pro contender!

New for 2024

All of this year’s changes are centered around Zwift Academy 2024 being much more focused on the talent ID side.

No Short Workouts

Zwift Academy 2024 has the same graduation requirements as 2023 (6 workouts and 2 races), but there are no short workouts. This means every graduate will have completed the initial qualification requirements for the pro contract contest!

Zwift says, “This year’s Zwift Academy is focusing on uncovering the best talent and the in-game content reflects that. The tests and challenges truly measure athletic capacity and will find the undiscovered talent that the Academy is famous for. And for those who aren’t quite ready to turn Pro, the tests and challenges offer an unparalleled opportunity to experience World Tour level testing, giving everyone an insight into their fitness levels and abilities.”

On-Demand Workouts Only

Past Academies have allowed participants to finish workouts as group events or on their own schedule (on demand). This year, workouts will be on-demand only.

UPDATE: Zwift added group workouts to the schedule. See upcoming group workouts at zwift.com/events/tag/zwiftacademy2024.

Date Changes

Last year’s Academy began on November 6 and ended on December 17. This year, it begins much earlier (August 5) and runs through November 3. Zwift hopes this much larger window (three months) gives riders the flexibility needed to participate in the talent ID competition at peak fitness.

Canyon Aeroad Bike Giveaway

This year, one random Zwift Academy graduate will win a Canyon Aeroad bike, painted in Zwift Academy 2024 colors! (We’ll post an image here once we have it.)

Workout Details

Zwift Academy’s six workouts will be available on-demand in your workout folder.

  • Pro Potential Prologue (58 minutes)
    • Purpose: Combined effort with free ride to test if participants are candidates to be “pro level” 
    • Data points: 30 seconds, 1 minute, 15 minute free ride segments
  • Power Push (70 minutes)
    • Purpose: Challenge Zwifters’ sprinting power and measure their glycolytic capacity by replicating a real-world bunch sprint.
    • Data points: x3 30 seconds free ride segments
  • Fatigue Factor (59 minutes)
    • Purpose: Challenge Zwifters’ max aerobic power in both fresh state and fatigued state.
    • Data points: 3-minute and 5-minute free ride blocks
  • FTP Overload (58 minutes)
    • Purpose: Challenge Zwifters’ physical tolerance with efforts over and under their FTP. No free ride segment.
    • Data points: Heart Rate variability
  • Breakaway Blitz (64 minutes)
    • Purpose: An attack replication to challenge Zwifters’ glycolytic capacity and identify riders with high sprint power who can punch and recover quickly. 
    • Data points: x3 20 seconds and x3 40 seconds free ride segments
  • Grand Finale (66 minutes)
    • Purpose: Challenge Zwifters’ sustained aerobic power with induced fatigue and identify those who can still finish with a strong finish line sprint.
    • Data points: 10 minutes and 2 minutes free ride segments

In a late addition to the Academy, group workouts are also available. See upcoming group workouts at zwift.com/events/tag/zwiftacademy2024.

Race Details

Race 1: Hill Climb Challenge

  • Route: Ven-Top
  • Dates: Aug 30-Sep 8 (make-up events Oct 28-Nov 3)
  • Length: 30 minutes, no drafting
  • Purpose: Simulate a climbing TT race to identify riders who can finish a high-intensity 30-minute climbing effort.
  • See upcoming Race 1 events >

Race 2: Summit Sprint Showdown

  • Route: Duchy Estate (28.7km, 395m elevation)
  • Dates: Oct 4-13 (make-up events Oct 28-Nov 3)
  • Length: 9 Laps
  • Purpose: Identify riders who can survive some hills with short recovery and still have high sprint power at the finish.
  • See upcoming Race 2 events >

Graduation Requirements

To complete Zwift Academy 2024, participants must complete a total of 8 rides:

  • All 6 Zwift Academy workouts
  • Both Zwift Academy Races

Riders pursuing the pro contract will need to put in some extra work. See below for details.

Key Dates/Schedule

  • July 15: Zwift Academy registration opens online and in game
  • August 5: Zwift Academy begins
  • November 3: Zwift Academy ends
  • December 2024-January 2025: Finals produced
  • February-March 2025: Finals broadcast

Unlocks

This year’s Academy has just two levels of unlocks:

  • Finish 2 activities: unlock Zwift Academy 2024 kit
  • Finish all 8 activities:
    • Unlock Zwift Academy 2024 paint job for Canyon Aeroad frame (you’ll need to buy the frame, though!)
    • Get entered into a giveaway for a Zwift Academy painted Canyon Aeroad bike

Pro Contract Competition

In this year’s Zwift Academy, women will compete for a one-year pro contract with the CANYON//SRAM development team, and men will chase a spot on the Alpecin-Deceuninck development team.

If you want a shot at the pro contract you have to jump (ride?) through some additional hoops. Here are the key rules for all riders who want to be considered for the pro contract:

Important Rules

Pro contract contenders must meet the following requirements:

  • Be aged 18 years or older as of January 1, 2025.
  • Graduate Zwift Academy 2024
  • Ensure your height and weight are accurately entered into Zwift before you begin the program.
  • Use a heart rate monitor for all Zwift Academy events.
  • Use a smart trainer or smart bike with +/- 2.5% accuracy.

See the full list of requirements here.

Ready to Get Started?

Sign up in-game, or do it online at zwift.com/academy.

See all upcoming Zwift Academy events at zwift.com/events/tag/zwiftacademy2024

Questions or Comments?

Post below! We’ll do our best to answer any questions, and may reach out to Zwift HQ if you have queries we can’t answer.

Woman Racer Spotlight: Emelie Sjögren

Karla Williams
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4
Woman Racer Spotlight: Emelie Sjögren

Woman Racer Spotlight: Emelie Sjögren

Name: Emelie Sjögren 

Hometown: Vallda, Sweden

How did you get into cycling? My husband is a cyclist, when we started dating he took me on a ride and then I got hooked (on both).

How many years have you been racing on Zwift? Been zwifting since 2017 and started racing regularly in 2020.

Are you part of a Virtual team? Yes, eSRT.

What do you love most about racing?  I love racing with other women on Zwift. I think it is because of all the Women-specific races lately that I have started racing more than before.

What is your favourite style of race (e.g. points, scratch, iTT, TTT, Chase, duathlon)?  Points races or longer races.

What is your favourite Zwift women’s race series? Tour de Boudicca and Iceni Series.

What is your most memorable racing experience, inside or outside or BOTH? Hmmm, maybe my first road race outside. iTT in Swedish Nationals. Such an experience.

What is your favourite food to eat post race? Dinner!

What advice would you give to a woman entering her first Zwift race? Everyone racing has also been a beginner on Zwift. Try to join a team, for me it made a huge difference. I learned so much and just being a part of the community is so much fun.

Any upcoming race you are looking forward to? Not a specific race at the moment but I try to race a few times every week instead of doing workouts. TTT with team members on Thursdays is always fun.

Zwiftcast Episode 202: Zwifting just got cheaper… hardware prices plunge amid fierce trainer price battle

Simon Schofield
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2
Zwiftcast Episode 202: Zwifting just got cheaper… hardware prices plunge amid fierce trainer price battle

Zwiftcast Episode 202: Zwifting just got cheaper… hardware prices plunge amid fierce trainer price battle

The Zwiftcast hosts discuss the really significant implications of what looks very much like a price war on trainers as Australian manufacturer Jet Black unveils a gob-smackingly good value – and fully featured – trainer at Eurobike.

Simon chats to Shane and Eric about the consequences, with the Zwiftcasters pausing to take a humorous side-swipe or two at the extraordinary offering from Elite, bucking both pricing trends and design conventions.

Simon also catches up with Dave and Nathan for an extended and joyful conversation about Mark Cavendish’s incredible win at Le Tour. Mark, a great friend of Zwift, finally took his record-breaking win on Stage Four.

Elsewhere Simon parses an interview Eric Min granted DC Rainmaker, the first time the Zwift CEO has spoken at length since resuming his top leadership role at the company. Simon provides commentary and analysis on a very interesting chat, with more analysis and reaction from Dave and Nathan.

The chief designer of the Zwift Ride, Graham Stoney, reveals some of its development secrets in an extended interview with Simon, while Shane and Eric speculate on what might be coming next from the Zwift hardware team.

And finally, an in-depth chat with Mr. Helpful, Zwift staffer James Bailey, who volunteers his encyclopaedic knowledge of the more arcane bits of the Zwift platform to help questioners in the Zwift Riders FB group.

Zwiftcast is available on Podbean, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Amazon Music, and Spotify.

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