Zwift has rolled out a fresh Mission for October, and it’s all about getting us to explore Watopia, Zwift’s main map. With new roads coming to Watopia in late October, it’s not surprising to see Zwift organizing lots of Watopia-focused content for the month. Let’s look at the details!
Note: signups opened this week, but the Mission doesn’t begin until October 2.
Getting Started
To begin the Mission, select the mission card on your homescreen and click to register:
Once you’ve registered, clicking the mission card will show your Mission progress.
Completing the Mission
To complete the mission and earn the achievement badge, complete three Watopia routes by November 5.
Tour of Watopia Piggyback
Want to get maximum bank for your watts? Knock out this mission, finish some Tour of Watopia stages, and earn double XP while you’re at it! Just free ride the Tour of Watopia stages, or do them as events.
The fourth race of Zwift Racing League 2023/24 Round 1 happens Tuesday, October 3, and it’s our second scratch race of this round. It’s also the climbiest race of this round, on the super-punchy Tour of Tewit Well course.
Let’s dig into crucial segments along with bike choice, powerups, and strategic options!
Looking at the Route: Tour of Tewit Well
This route covers the Yorkshire course’s larger southern circuit in a counter-clockwise direction. All riders will be completing 2 laps of the circuit for a total race length of 21.8km/13.5 miles with 409m (1,341′) of climbing.
As you can see from the profile below, the course is far from flat! It features 3 significant climbs and has more climbing than any other race of ZRL round 1.
If the profile doesn’t scare off the sprinters, maybe a 3D version will do:
Let’s talk through the key sections of this course:
Yorkshire KOM Reverse @0.7km (1.2km, 4%): the first climb of race. Riders will hit this with fresh legs so you can be assured of a key selection being made here on lap 1.
Climb up from Oak Beck @3.1km (1.18km, 3.9%): the climb nobody talks about, but it’s the longest on the route! Riders usually don’t choose this as an attack point, since a steeper climb is just up the road.
Pot Bank Climb @5.6km (0.76km, 7.7%): the steepest pitch on the route, this is where riders traditionally launch long breakaways on the final lap. Don’t let the average gradient fool you! This climb kicks up to 15% before grinding your legs away on a draggy false flat.
Kicker before the final descent @8.1km (0.5km, 6.6%): another good place to launch an attack, this kicker is short and fairly steep, so don’t let it surprise you. Keep your speed up and mind your pack position.
Apart from these climbs, you’re mostly descending or on a rare bit of flat tarmac.
Riders will be awarded powerups through each banner, meaning we’ll get 3 powerups during the race:
Anvil (50%): makes you heavier for up to 15 seconds, so you can descend faster. The amount of weight added is based on a percentage of your body weight, and that percentage increases as riders get lighter. It won’t hurt you, as it only adds weight when the road is at a -1.5% decline or greater. Use this on downhills. Pair it with a supertuck to go extra fast with zero effort!
Lightweight (feather) (50%): reduces your weight by 10% for 30 seconds. Use on climbs, when weight matters the most. The steeper the road, the more this helps.
Bike Frame + Wheel Choice
With the key moves happening on climbs, going with a heavier aero setup is not advised. At the same time, none of the climbs are long enough for a pure climbing setup to give you an advantage. So we recommend going with your best all-arounder.
We ran some test laps at 375W (5W/kg) to see how different setups stacked up against each other on climbs. Here are the times from Strava (which aren’t terribly useful, since Strava rounds to the nearest second):
How will the race unfold, and what strategies will riders employ in this punchy scratch race? Here’s what we predict:
Attrition: if you thought race 1 on Rolling Highlands was attritional, just wait until you take on Tour of Tewit Well! We predict a front pack whittled down to 25% or less of the starting field by the end of the race. Will you be the hammer, or will you be the nail?
Pot Bank Attacks: super-steep Pot Bank is a traditional place to launch big attacks on the final lap. With attrition being a maor factor and Pack Dynamics 4.1 slowing down packs, chances are good we’ll see a late attack that sticks it to the line. A feather may help launch such an attack, while an Anvil may help you stay away on the descent that follows.
Your Thoughts
Any insights or further thoughts on this race? Share below!
The latest Zwift update has been announced and will be released in phases over the next few days.
This release is mostly quality-of-life improvements (new Onboarding process, improved workout library organization) and bug fixes (including an important one for Pack Dynamics 4.1). Let’s dive in!
New Onboarding Process for Cyclists
Zwifters know that wrapping your head around utilizing all the platform offers can be challenging. Today’s update revamps Zwift’s “onboarding” process for cyclists by adding a “Get Started” card to the top-left of the homescreen.
Clicking the card takes you to a list of 5 items to check off as you begin using Zwift:
Clicking any of the 5 items brings up a simple page teaching you more basics:
The “Welcome Ride” is a short (4.5km) ride in Watopia taking you through the various on-screen elements as you pedal your way out of downtown and around the Volcano:
The new onboarding process nicely walks the fine line between keeping it simple while giving riders a full picture of what Zwift has to offer. Crucially, it encourages new riders to join group events, emphasizing Zwift’s social strength. This should greatly help the latest crop of new riders as we head into peak indoor season.
Cycling XP: An Imperial Upgrade
Veteran Zwifters have long known you accumulate XP just a bit faster when using metric units vs imperial, since Zwift awards 20 XP per km and 30 XP per mile. Cycling historians will one day agree that this fact alone led to thousands of American cyclists finally learning metric distance units.
Today it all changes, as Zwift is now awarding 32 XP per mile ridden. (This means riders still earn slightly more in metric – but now it’s just 0.6% more instead of 7.3% more!)
Oddly enough, Zwift says this change does not affect run XP, which still gives a 7.3% advantage when using metric.
Pack Dynamics Bug Fix
We’ve published several posts since Pack Dynamics 4.1 was released, and most have mentioned how PD4.1 can cause riders to “waste watts” by pushing harder than necessary to hold position in a pack.
Nine days ago, Zwift said they’d found a bug with PD4.1. Specifically, “Currently, the progression inside the groups in PD 4.1 is harder than it should be.” Today’s update includes this note: “Fixed an issue that could make it difficult to stay in packs or overtake riders in groups.”
We’ve chatted with Zwift, and this fix is indeed related to the watt wasting issue. You may not notice the fix as soon as you update to 1.49, because Zwift will only enable the fix once the phased rollout of 1.49 is at 100% (probably Monday, Oct 2). Zwift is doing it this way since riders on older builds may experience different pack behavior than those on 1.49, so they want to give everyone time to update before enabling the fix.
Workout Reorg
The main workouts screen has received a welcome reorganization which will go live for everyone on October 2. It’s now a much shorter, goal-oriented list of collections:
The reorg includes the removal of some workouts from the library, as some were structured very similarly to others. We’ll publish a dedicated post about all of this on October 2 once the changes are live.
Launcher Update
Zwift released the ability to defer an update on Mac and PC back in August, but you had to have version 1.1.10 of the Zwift launcher to defer an update.
Upgrading to that launcher version was optional for the past few weeks, but today’s release includes a forced update to version 1.1.10 of the launcher, bringing deferred update capabilities to all Mac and PC users.
Release Notes
Here are additional tweaks and bug fixes Zwift provided for this update, with notes from us in italics:
Zwift Play: Ride Leaders can now control fence options using Zwift Play controllers.
Zwift Play: Fixed an issue where the braking haptic (vibration) feedback would not work properly if Zwift Play controllers were power cycled or disconnected and reconnected while in game.
Repack Rush: Improved visual navigation of the Repack Report global and local leaderboards. Probably a necessary update with the forthcoming Repack Rush Multiplayer mode.
Improved the difficulty estimation of workouts containing free ride blocks.
Elite Rizer: Improved steering responsiveness in Repack Rush.
Elite Rizer: Fixed an issue that prevented intersection route selection via steering.
Fixed an issue which caused bikes to have dust trails and gravel sounds on some Climb Portal routes.
Running: Fix a bug where speed signals were not working for some treadmills (Bowflex BXT226, BXT216, Landice L7)
Fix Progress bar slightly cut off for Asian languages.
Fixed an issue that could cause lag or crashes while navigating through workout collections.
Fixed a visual issue with custom workout cards.
Fixed an issue which caused the “Fit & Fun” workout to go missing.
Climb Portal: Fixed an issue that would allow you to slightly steer off of the road boundaries on some routes.
Fixed an issue in the France world where an unnamed segment timer would appear with no ETA when approaching the Petit KOM arch from the start of Tire-Bouchon.
General game stability improvements.
Android:
Zwift Play: Fixed a potential crash that could occur after turning off a controller.
Zwift Hub: Fixed a potential crash that could occur after powering off the trainer.
Questions or Comments?
If you spotted any other changes or bugs in the update, please comment below!
“Race Watopia” ZRacing October 2023 Series Details
Zwift’s “ZRacing” is the platform’s most popular ongoing race series, and in October it’s all about Watopia! Following the theme of the Tour of Watopia and the upcoming Watopia expansion, October’s ZRacing events will all be held in Watopia. This includes the final stage, which will be held on a new route to be announced.
Race Watopia – October’s Route Schedule
Here are the routes we’ll be racing in October. Note that stage 5 features one of the new routes created by the upcoming Watopia expansion!
This month, ZRacing is part of Tour of Watopia Fall 2023! Completing any ZRacing stage will also complete that stage of ToW, and you’ll earn double XP while doing it.
Nathan Guerra at Zwift Community Live is providing commentary and a live stream of each Monday’s 5pm UTC/1pm Eastern/10am Pacific race. Here’s the first race, and you can also click here for the playlist of upcoming broadcasts.
Series Structure
The ZRacing series consists of monthly sets of weekly races. Each race is scheduled for seven days (beginning 1:10am UTC on Monday and running through to the next Sunday). Timeslots are consistent week to week and month to month.
Races are scheduled ~15 times each day, so there are plenty of available times to find a race.
Each monthly series includes a time-based GC (general classification) tracking riders’ best finishing times for each week’s race. The overall winners in each category for the month are the riders with the lowest overall time for that month’s set of races.
With over 100 weekly timeslots available, riders can race each week’s event multiple times and try to better their finishing time. Tip: the fastest times usually come from the largest race fields!
You must use a heart rate monitor and be on a smart trainer, smart bike, or power meter to show up in ZwiftPower results for this series.
Each month’s ZRacing series has a unique achievement badge, which you can unlock by finishing every stage for the month.
There are no makeup events, so if you miss a stage, you miss out!
One and Done
Zwift has planned these events to deliver a solid 1-hour workout, so each race should only take around 1 hour to complete, including your warmup and cooldown.
How the Race Was Lost: ZNF in ZRL Race 2 (Makuri 40)
The second race of Zwift Racing League 2023/24 Round 1 happened Tuesday, September 19. It was the first points race of the season, and also the longest, taking place on Makuri 40 with 5 sprint intermediates.
My DIRT Kraken team was well-positioned for a good result on this route, and I took care in the days leading up to the race to make sure my legs were ready for a max effort. Because every point counts!
The Warmup
The race began at 9:30am, so I ate breakfast well beforehand. As we got closer to launch I chewed some caffeine gum (300mg of go-go juice!) and applied PR lotion to the legs before kitting up and heading to the warmup.
Like last week, I ended up with a messy warmup because I had many things to set up: Zwift/Trainer/Discord/Video/Sauce for Zwift… it was all a bit of a mess. I got it all taken care of, though. Or at least, I thought I did.
With 40 seconds to go I realized I was still in my virtual Zwift Insider kit, in the pens! ZRL is a team race, and it’s important that each team’s members wear the same kit so you can see who you’re competing against.
I swapped kits at the last moment, but into the pink DIRT kit instead of the orange, because I couldn’t find the orange one in my list of jerseys. Thanks to the way Zwift caches other riders’ kits, everyone would probably be seeing me in my ZI kit for the race. But I couldn’t help that now. The race was on!
The Start
We knew the start of this race was going to be tough: a 1.5km climb right out of the gate, punctuated by the first sprint segment of the season. 394W (4.75W/kg) for 3 minutes was almost a 6-week power PB for me, but it was enough to keep me nicely positioned in the front pack.
I didn’t contest the Village Sprint, but sat in the wheels and spun my legs out to prepare for the next sprint.
Country Sprint Smash
The Country Sprint is a fast sprint in this direction because you enter it after descending from Village Onsen. This was a sprint I planned to target if the legs felt good, because the downhill lead-in would work to my advantage as a slightly heavier rider in this group (83kg).
My legs felt good, I had my aero powerup in hand, and quick access to trigger it via Zwift Play. Now it was just a matter of timing. As we neared the start line, I positioned myself near the back of the pack so I could sprint through it, then revved up the power to start moving through the pack, which was already traveling at 60+kph.
Approaching the front of the group, I triggered my aero and went all-in with power, flying off the front of the pack just as we passed the start line. A bit early, perhaps, but I was committed now!
A few seconds later I glanced up at the screen and saw my rider was in the wind, leading out the sprint in 1st place! That motivated me to keep pushing, and I gave it all I had to the line, crossing first about 25 seconds after starting my initial effort.
The sprint leaderboard popped up – teammate Dave Husbo had grabbed 1st for FTS, and I was 3rd FTS and 1st across the line (FAL). Hurray!
Disastrous Zwexit
Buoyed by my sprint win, I returned to sitting in the wheels, knowing the next two sprints were both great chances to grab additional points for my team. (Both the Alley Sprint Reverse and Country Sprint Reverse are slightly downhill.)
Then, disaster struck.
As my distance counter ticked over 12.7km in Neokyo, my Zwift visuals suddenly locked up… then disappeared. Zwift had crashed on PC. My race was over.
Here’s when it happened:
Reverting to DS Duties
There was nothing I could do to get back into the race – unlike outdoor racing there are no team cars or free laps in Zwift.
My race was done, but I could still sign on and watch the race, acting as DS on Discord to help my teammates ride smart and maximize our result. So I started up Zwift again, clicked to join a RoboPacer in Makuri Islands, then looked up my teammate Diogo in the Companion app so I could click to fan view him.
From Zwift crash to fan-viewing took just over 2 minutes. Inside I was still seething over the crash… I’d finally earned some intermediate points, and now they were gone! But I knew it wouldn’t do any good to voice my frustrations on Discord mid-race, and I knew I could help just a little by playing DS. So I opened browser windows and starting directing as best I could while turning over the pedals.
Sprints 3-4
We had 4 riders left in the front group, with our 5th (Wojtek) in a chase pack.
On the Alley Sprint, Grant grabbed 3rd and Husbo 6th for FAL, and I let everyone know that a fair number of riders got gapped off the back. “400 meters to the start of the Castle Sprint!” I called out.
Kraken did well on this fourth sprint, with Daz grabbing 2nd, Husbo 4th, and Grant 10th FAL. Daz also grabbed 4th, Husbo 5th, and Diogo 10th in FTS. A nice points haul. Then it was time to recover as the group made its way out of Neokyo and down the Pain Cavern descent to Urukazi.
Sprint 5 and Finish
The final sprint came after a longish climb where even more riders got dropped – but the Kraken held on! Husbo grabbed 7th FAL and 6th FTS. He was really cleaning up on the sprint points.
As the race progressed I was looking at ZwiftPower Live to see how many riders each team had left in the front pack, as this is often a good measure of overall team performance in ZRL. Kraken still had 4, and so did SZ (a strong team and last week’s winner) and team CONED. Most teams only had 3.
Our four in front held on up the long climb through the slot canyon, then gave it all they had to the finish line. Husbo was our best finisher in 6th, with Daz in 9th, Grant 15th, Diogo 28, and Wojtek 65th.
A strong performance, but where would we place overall, with my points removed from the total?
Watch the first 12.7km of my race… then watch me play DS:
Team Result
We finished 3rd in points for this race, but I couldn’t help asking: would we have placed higher if I hadn’t ZNFd? (Or maybe I should call it “Zwiftusinteruptis”, “Zenied”, “Zwiftwrecked”,”Z-railed”,”Zamboozled”, an “Electronical”… there’s a whole Facebook thread on this topic now.)
Computing what could have happened is an impossible task, of course. Would I have grabbed other sprint points? Where would I have finished? How would the points I grabbed affect the points for other teams… and my own teammates?
We finished 46 points behind 2nd place, 50 points out of 1st. So no small margin. If I had earned no further sprint points, but finished in the back of the front group with Diogo (27th) I would have earned 37 total points.
Ouch.
Throw in just 10 more sprint points (very possible on the Alley and Castle Sprints I missed) and we’re in 2nd place. 15 and we might have won it all.
See that spilled milk? I’m crying over it. Well done, though, to Foudre and SZ for their strong performances!
(If you’re curious: in ZRL, when a rider ZNFs like I did today, any intermediate points they earned are effectively removed from the race. As you can see in the points chart above, I keep those points, but they also aren’t included in the team total.)
Takeaways
Two takeaways for me this week. One is a bummer, but the other makes me happy!
First: looks like it’s back to racing on AppleTV for me. I’ve never had AppleTV crash in a Zwift session, and I can’t run the risk that another Zwift crash screws my team over again. This is a bit of a bummer, since Zwift on PC is what I’m used to, delivers better graphics, etc.
Second: apparently I can compete on some level in this B1 division! I’m happy about that, and it makes me excited for future races.
Reporting Zwift Crashes
With all my internal contacts at Zwift, I’m able to report Zwift crashes and supply logs, etc to people who can actually fix bugs. Rest assured this week’s crash was reported in detail. Zwift is looking into it, but they haven’t gotten back to me with anything concrete yet.
Windows Event Viewer indicates an exception thrown by my NVIDIA driver, but this doesn’t necessarily mean the problem is NVIDIA’s. I’m running current drivers, and it’s possible (I would even say very probable) a Zwift graphics engine bug caused the driver to crash. Here are the three relevant events from Event Viewer, for all the curious nerds:
Application Error:
Faulting application name: ZwiftApp.exe, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x65011717
Faulting module name: nvoglv64.dll, version: 31.0.15.3623, time stamp: 0x6482678a
Exception code: 0xc0000409
Fault offset: 0x0000000001941505
Faulting process id: 0x0x27CC
Faulting application start time: 0x0x1D9EB12ADE4ABBC
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Zwift\ZwiftApp.exe
Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_dispi.inf_amd64_675be35f1ba2315e\nvoglv64.dll
Report Id: f4ce65bf-ca31-4847-b8b1-8471d2c3ac3f
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:
NVIDIA OpenGL Driver:
Unable to recover from a kernel exception. The application must close.
Error code: 3 (subcode 7)
(pid=10188 tid=4704 zwiftapp.exe 64bit)
Visit http://www.nvidia.com/page/support.html for more information.
nvlddmkm:
The description for Event ID 0 from source nvlddmkm cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.
If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event.
The following information was included with the event:
\Device\0000008b
Error occurred on GPUID: 100
The message resource is present but the message was not found in the message table
Corrupt FIT Files
Another bit of Zwift minutiae: when Zwift crashes, it typically corrupts your in-progress FIT file so it can’t be manually uploaded to Strava.
The fix is easy on PC: run that FIT file through fitfiletools.com‘s “Time Adjuster,” which will fix the corrupted timestamps. Upload that fixed file and you’re golden.
Zwift has just announced its next major event series, and it’s the return of a crowd favorite: the Tour of Watopia (ToW) featuring double XP!
The first-ever “fall edition” of the 5-stage tour begins October 2 and runs through November 12. With double XP on tap, powerups doubled in duration, and a fresh kit to earn, you can bet Zwifters will be putting in the work to complete stages, earn points, and level up. Because everyone wants those fast bikes, fire socks, and level 60 status!
Note: registering just sets you up to start checking off stages and perhaps get some email reminders about the Tour. It doesn’t sign you up for any specific events.
Double Up: XP, PowerUps, and Drafting
Typically riders are awarded 20XP per kilometer or 30XP per mile, depending on whether you have units set to metric or imperial. For ToW stages, riders will receive 40XP per kilometer/60XP per mile. Learn all about ride XP and unlocks >
Runners typically receive 10XP per .25km or 15XP per .25 mile. You will receive 20XP per .25km or 30XP per .25 mile in ToW stages. Learn all about run XP and unlocks >
Additionally, powerups will last twice as long during ToW events. Here’s a list of powerups and their doubled lengths:
Lightweight (feather): reduces your weight by 10% for 60 seconds. Use on climbs, when weight matters the most.
Draft Boost (van): increases the draft effect you are experiencing for 80 seconds. Use at higher speeds (flats and descents) when you are already drafting off another rider (since this powerup only helps when you are drafting.)
Aero Boost (helmet): makes you more aerodynamic (reduces your CdA by 25%) for 30 seconds. Use at higher speeds (flats and descents), especially when no draft is available (although it is still useful when drafting.)
New for ToW Fall ’23
Zwift is rolling out several features we’ve never seen before in this Tour, including:
ToW Group Rides + ZRacing: ToW used to be just group rides, but this month’s “Race Watopia” ZRacing events are a part of ToW as well. Complete stages by participating in a Tour of Watopia group ride and/or a ZRacing event.
On-demand: once you’ve registered, you can complete a stage by riding the route in any way – not just as a ToW event! In a fresh twist, Zwift tells us we will earn double XP the first time we complete a stage’s route, whether we ride it as an event or a free ride. So free-ride the route, complete as part of the ZRacing series, do it in a Meetup with friends… it all counts toward completing your Tour. (Note: only ToW events award double-length powerups!)
New kit unlocks: complete all 5 stages to unlock the Tour of Watopia Fall 2023 kit! (Same colors as the ToW Spring 2023 kit, but a different pattern.)
Ride Stages
Group ride events for ToW use the following category/group setup:
Group A: Longer Ride
Group B: Standard Ride
Group C: Shorter Ride
Group D: Women Only (same route as Group B)
Late join will be enabled for all rides, but Zwift encourages everyone to get into the pens before the event begins to maximize the fun.
ZRacing events use category enforcement and also count toward ToW stage completion – learn more here.
Remember, any route listed below can also be free-ridden (or completed in a workout or meetup) for stage credit.
Stage 1: October 2-8 “Volcano Heat”
Turn up the heat for the opening stage of this year’s Tour of Watopia. Get ready for more PowerUps, levels, and XP!
ZRacing: Beach Island Loop – 2 laps – 25.9km (16.1 miles), 96m (315′)
Stage 2: October 9-15 “Long Haul”
Pacing is key because this is the longest stage of the Tour. Be on the lookout for more XP and more PowerUps, and make sure you’ve got plenty of food and water. Some find a group they like early and stay with them. Others mix it up and go interval-style. How are you going to tackle it?
Group Ride Longer: Eastern Eight– 54.1 km (33.6 miles), 413 m (1,355′)
Group Ride Standard: Triple Flat Loops – 36.3 km (22.6 miles), 134 m (440′)
Group Ride Shorter: Tick Tock – 19.2 km (11.9 miles), 44 m (144′)
Prepare yourself for an epic stage three—like any tour’s Queen Stage, it’s the most challenging stage you’ll face. Some may even say it’s a royal pain. Be on the lookout for more XP and more PowerUps as you conquer some serious elevation gain.
Group Ride Standard: Climber’s Gambit – 27.9 km (17.3 miles), 670 m (2,198′)
Group Ride Shorter: Volcano Climb – 23.3 km (14.5 miles), 192 m (630′)
ZRacing: Two Bridges Loop – 2 laps – 14.7km (9.1 miles), 160m (525′)
Stage 4: October 23-29 “Jungle Time”
Keep your eyes peeled and your safari hat at the ready! You’ll see plenty of wildlife under the cover of the jungle canopies as you unlock more XP, longer PowerUps, and new levels.
Group Ride Longer: Big Loop– 42.9 km (26.3 miles), 651 m (2,136′)
Group Ride Standard: Road to Ruins – 29.6 km (18.4 miles), 268 m (879′)
Group Ride Shorter: Jungle Circuit – 13.6 km (8.4 miles), 79 m (259′)
Celebrate the final stage of the Tour on all-new roads along Watopia’s Southern Coast. Be one of the first to ride this flat, coastal expressway—all the way from Fuego Flats to the Mayan Jungle, and enjoy the scenery along the way.
Group Ride Longer: The Big Ring– 48.9 km (30.4 miles), 268 m (879′)
Group Ride Standard: Coast Crusher – 42.4 km (26.3 miles), 208 m (682′)
Celebrate the final stage of the Tour on all-new roads along Watopia’s Southern Coast. Be one of the first to run this flat, coastal expressway—all the way from Fuego Flats to the Mayan Jungle, and enjoy the scenery along the way.
Missed a stage or two? Or maybe you just want more of that sweet double XP? Make-up stages will be held from November 6-12. During those 7 days, Zwift will host events every 30 minutes covering all 5 stages.
Kit Unlocks
There are both cycling and running kits to unlock during the ToW! Kit unlocks are progressive as you complete stages:
Complete one stage to unlock the Tour de Watopia 2023 Cycling Cap or Runnign Hat.
Complete three stages to unlock the Tour of Watopia 2023 Cycling or Running Shoes.
Complete five stages to unlock the Tour of Watopia 2023 Cycling or Running Kit.
Questions or Comments?
We’ve shared everything we know above, and will update this post with new info as it becomes available.
Still got questions? Post below and we’ll try to get them answered.
Interview with Zwift’s Leah Thorvilson – US Masters Champion and Inaugural Zwift Academy Winner
In 2016, 37-year-old Leah Thorvilson proved that age is no barrier by becoming the first-ever winner of the Zwift Academy just one year into her cycling experience, after switching over from running due to injury.
Seven years later, Leah just doubled up in August 2023 to become the US Masters champion in both the time trial and road race for her age category. And she did it in style, tearing up the roads made famous by golf’s Masters championship around Augusta, Georgia. Leah’s reward for her efforts was no green jacket but something better: two US Masters Champions jerseys at the age of 44.
What makes these victories extra special is that Leah is one of Zwift’s own, having won the Zwift Academy in 2016 and turning pro with CANYON//SRAM. Once the contract ended she came to work for Zwift in their Social Media Team before moving to their Content Programming Team and today, if you ride an event on Zwift, there’s a good chance it was set up by Leah.
She manages to fit bike racing around her role at Zwift, riding for the US-based team 3T/Q+M Cycling.
US Masters Championship
On Friday, 24th August, part one of Leah’s remarkable weekend unfolded. She posted a blistering time to clinch the US Masters Women’s time trial title by a huge four minutes. With a current FTP of 270W her fine form continued into the Road Race two days later.
Buoyed from her success two days before, Leah says, “I wanted to win this race. The Masters in 2019 didn’t go well, and in 2022 I trained well but got beaten.”
Before the start of the road race, Leah was speaking to the defending champion about another rider with a strong sprint who needed to be dropped. Leah explained that her original plan was to use the first lap to ‘feel people out’ before increasing the pace and making a move on the second lap.
This plan lasted all of two minutes.
“The first climb, two minutes into the race, I lifted the effort to 300 watts, to see who was capable. On the descent I pushed my effort and had a 5-second advantage. Over the next part of the course, this extended to 2:15 with 5km of the first lap to go.”
Leah was clear. On the first climb of the second lap, Leah pushed it again, using her climbing skills to her advantage. The gap increased to 5 minutes. At this point, Leah says, “I was on a mission. I just sent it. I felt really good.” It became clear that, barring a mechanical issue, the victory was assured, giving Leah enough time to take both hands off the handlebars and salute the victory. “I worked so hard for it. It meant a lot.”
The victory was emphatic, with an 11-minute gap to the next finisher.
“The time trial was special as that was the first victory, but the road race was emotional because I had to build a strategy. I really earned it and I am really happy and proud.”
Starting the TTMasters Road Champion!
Success Continued
Success at the Masters Championship continued the following week when Leah got 4th on the Queen Stage at Green Mountain, a 4-day stage race coming.
She finished 6th overall in the general classification, despite the fatigue from the US Masters Championship races the week before and the extensive travel to the events, including a 10-hour road trip and a flight to Vermont for the next.
Late Entry to the Sport
Despite her late entry into the sport of cycling at 37, Leah has proven that age does not have to be a limiting factor. Now 44 years old, Leah says, “I am getting my best results; my power numbers are still there, and I am beating my previous QOMs.”
In addition, Leah noted that she is “reading the races better” part of which can certainly be attributed to not only racing outside but racing on Zwift. She has no plans or reasons to stop.
Built on Zwift
The stellar power Leah recently demonstrated is directly attributed to her structured training sessions on Zwift.
“Zwift will get you fit,” Leah says. “I do all my interval training on Zwift where I use Erg mode. I use the ‘Circus’ session in the ‘Build Me Up’ program, which I undertake every few weeks because it forces me to work on repeating very high-intensity short bursts, which are arguably my weakest point. It’s most fun to train in the areas you are good, but I’ve realized I need to focus just as much time if not more on building up the areas where I struggle. Zwift has something for all of these types of workouts. Similarly, “the ‘Gorby’ is used to help improve my VO2.”
Traditionally a long-distance runner, and a good one at that (she ran in the 2012 Olympic Trials and turned in a Little Rock Marathon time of 2:37:26), Leah got into cycling in 2015 following surgery due to the wear and tear caused by running. In July 2015 she rode her first 100 miles and first used Zwift in December 2015 before participating and winning Zwift Academy the following year and turning pro with the CANYON//SRAM team. She describes the experience as the “coolest thing I have ever done.”
Leah in the 2017 CANYON/SRAM team lineup.
Leah took part in some of the biggest events in the Women’s Pro calendar, including the Giro d’Italia. Reflecting on her experience, she admits she sometimes “lacked the confidence required.” Being in such a competitive environment required a lot of mental fortitude and, “It took a lot to not mentally spiral down.” Yet despite the challenging days, which are often the norm when cycling, Leah notes, “I think back about the good times and miss the people.”
If you fancy following in Leah’s footsteps, Zwift Academy 2023 is launching on 6th November. You will have the chance to earn a pro contract with CANYON//SRAM or Alpecin-Deceuninck for the top-performing female and male. This year’s Academy challenges Zwifters to complete six workouts created by Dig Deep Coaching, as well as two Zwift races. As Leah herself says, “I think the ZA program is amazing.”
“Women’s Training Club” and Leah’s Winter Program
After her recent victories, you would expect Leah to think about having a rest. Instead, she is supporting the launch of Zwift’s new “Women’s Training Club.” Leah is integral to this, along with Kate Veronneau and Kristin Armstrong.
Leah explains, “We have some plans we will announce in the weeks ahead that will incorporate the Women’s Training Club with elements of Zwift Academy.” The Club delivers a consistent weekly schedule of group workouts and recovery rides which, along with club chat in the Companion app, connect the women’s cycling community and ensure advice from leading cycling experts is shared.
In the background, Leah has an epic challenge she is starting to focus on. “I’ve decided to take on a 6-hour time trial this fall! I have a teammate and best friend who does tons of ultra cycling events. I’ve crewed for her before at the 24-hour World Championship event, which I will be doing again this year. The day after the 24-hour challenge is the 6-hour event, and I thought that the 6 hours seemed like a fun challenge.”
Once this challenge is complete Leah plans to take a proper off-season before “ramping training back up for next year where I will use Zwift almost exclusively in the winter.” (But with all Leah is involved with, I can’t see much “off-season” happening.)
Summing Up
Leah’s recent results demonstrate that with commitment, dedication, and above all, perseverance, success can be achieved.
It also indicates that age doesn’t have to be a limiting factor to enjoying sport, and platforms like Zwift enable you to safely obtain and maintain a good level of health and well-being. With opportunities like Zwift Academy, the platform provides doors to routes that would previously have not existed, allowing you to achieve goals, often beyond expectations. Zwift allows opportunities for all.
Mountain Massif Structured Training Series Announced + New Rowe & King “Firebreather” Event
This Monday, a new Mountain Massif 6-week structured training program will commence. Created in collaboration with Rowe & King, the series kicks off with a 10.1km baseline ride at 5pm BST.
This series of structured group workouts has been designed to help you perform at your best as the road kicks up. Each workout in the Mountain Massif training series has a specific purpose, and when you stitch them all together in a structured training plan, you will improve your climbing ability on Zwift and in real life!
If you miss a workout, the files are available via TrainingPeaks for you to download and catch up.
Mountain Massif Structured Training Program
The training program’s events happen every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for 6 weeks. Here is the full list of events and workouts, with signup links:
In addition to this and to complement structured training, Rowe and King have a new weekly group ride called the “Firebreather” starting October 1, 7:15 am BST / 8:15am CST. That first event’s link is: zwift.com/events/view/3824554
This is a group ride with a difference. It will be a 50km ride which lasts roughly 90 minutes. During the ride, the leader will call out pace changes following this set format:
10 minutes at 1.5w/kg
10 minutes at 2 w/kg
10 minutes at 3 w/kg
5 minutes, easy stay with ride leader
15-second max effort, sprinting
4.45 minutes at 2 w/kg
15-second max effort, sprinting
4.45 minutes at 2 w/kg
15-second max effort, sprinting
4.45 minutes at 2 w/kg
10 minutes at 3 w/kg
10 minutes at 2 w/kg
Race the last 10km full gas
Courtney Rowe has noted he will get his family involved, who just happen to be Dani King (Olympic gold medalist), Matt, and Luke (INEOS Grenadier pro cyclist). This is a really interesting session as it combines a group ride with a bit of structured training mixed in!
Summing Up
The structured training program followed by the longer ride with Rowe & King will bring your fitness to new heights. And for those targeting the upcoming Zwift Academy (launching soon) these sessions will get you fit and strong, enabling you to reach your goals and even compete for that pro contract!
Zwift has just launched the “Zwift Women’s Training Club” (ZWTC), “your community for fun and fitness.” Open to women only, the core Club events are group workouts on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but there are also recovery events on Wednesdays and an active Club chat.
Zwift says, “Our main goal is to provide you with a consistent experience week in and week out, to challenge yourself in a supportive group setting, making friends and getting fit along the way!”
The Club’s event series takes you through some of Zwift’s most popular training plans, and you can join at any time. Everyone can benefit from these popular workouts designed by world-class coaches like 3x Olympic Gold medalist Kristin Armstrong!
Schedule of Events
The ZWTC schedule mixes group workouts and recovery/social rides.
Workouts happen every Tuesday and Thursday, so you’ll get two different workouts per week. They are scheduled every 3 hours, and each workout includes a beginner version (group B) and an intermediate/advanced version (group A).
Now through December 28, Group A will progress through workouts from Zwift’s “Build Me Up” training program, while Group B will work through Zwift’s “Back to Fitness” plan.
Wednesdays feature fun recovery rides (often including special guests) banded together so everyone can be social regardless of pace. These rides are 45 minutes long.
