Here’s our complete archive of great Women’s Racing videos. Got a video that should be included? Email the link to [email protected].
12 Zwift Tiny Races in a Day
What do you do on the longest day of the year?
12 Tiny Races of course. 3 rounds of 4 races starting at 10am, 4pm, and 10 pm.
FCC Hot Summer Nights Mini 3
FCC Hot Summer Nights Mini 2
FCC Hot Summer Nights Mini Race 1
ZWIFT Tiny Race Disaster: How many things can go wrong?
Zwift Insider Tiny Races – Can I keep up with the men?
Krakens v Hooligals
Zwift Tiny Races with Synergy this morning
Tiny Races this morning with team Synergy. This is a short race every 15 minutes really working on your sprint and attacking efforts. Always difficult. I love that race 3 and 4 start with the same 1km. Race 3 we were motoring along at 250W and Race 4 the same section at 200W but it felt harder! All part of Tiny Races! Thank you Ryan Granger for DSing us!!
Women’s Ladder Commentary: SZ Mane v. Coalition
ZRL Danger Noodle Recon
LIVE: Zwift Tiny Races || Feb. 15, 2025
Caitlin from #TeamSaundersTri takes on the Zone 2 Tiny Races with simple goals—push watts, survive the suffering, and rack up points! Who will come out on top? Stick around to find out!
Roads to Ruins Rev FCC ZRL Recon
ZRL Douce France Recon
Tour de Boudicca 6 – Stage 3
Get ready for the ultimate thrill! The Queen’s stage is here—the grand finale of the weekend. We’re taking you to the Big Apple for an unforgettable race. Pick the perfect bike and wheels, and let’s hit the road! Good luck, everyone!
Tour de Boudicca 6 – Stage 2
In the Sprint race, teams of warriors will collaborate to earn valuable Sprint points for their Team GC. Some segments will offer First Through Segment (FTS) and Fastest Across Line (FAL) points. Plus, there are bonus points waiting at the Finish line!
Tour de Boudicca 6 – Stage 1
We kick off the Tour de Boudicca with an exciting scratch race to get you geared up for the journey ahead! Race to the finish as fast as you can to secure an early lead in the Individual General Classification.
The Ultimate Women’s Mini Races
Zwift 4 tiny races + Oh hill no!
Gabi takes on Zone 3, A cat. Then does hill repeats of The Grade!
Anvil powerup fail: how to NOT use this power up on Zwift Tiny Races
Top racer Gabi Guerra raced the Zone 2 A category and says, “I’m so glad i got to race Tiny Races again, it’s been good training! This week was super fun courses but I TOTALLY screwed up the anvil powerups…”
Zwift Racing League // Race 2 – Sugar Cookie Points Race – EMEA-E Western Division A1
Zwift Women’s Racing Series – Beautiful Bologna
The final race in this Series – a TT in Bologna.
FEMMECYCLE COLLAB
Zwift Tiny Races: Four Races in One Hour || Will We Survive to the Finish?
Gravel Bike Win Up the Alpe
ICENI – Challenge Four
ICENI – Challenge Three
Zwift Games – Women’s Climb Championship and Overall Finale
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY – CHASING THE DREAM
Chasing the Dream Chase Race – A Category
International Women’s Day Chase Race – C Category
Zwift Games Women’s Sprint Race 2
Zwift Games Women’s Sprint Race 1
BMTR Checkered Lillies ZRL Round 3 Race 5
ZRL 2023/2024 American East Womens Div C February 20, 2024 Chasing the Sun 35km
ZRL 2023/2024 Round 3 Race 5 EMEA Central Womens A2
Chasing the Sun 35 km RIOT House Party
ICENI – Challenge Two
Zwift Games – Women’s Epic Championship
Zwift Race Tactics in the Zwift Games Sprint Championships
“My race didn’t go as planned, but I was still able to watch my Movistar teammate, Mika, get on the podium and join the community race instead. Which let me tell you… is still a tough time!”
Gina van Rossum (Team NL) – Island Hopper ZRL (B1) Win!
LEG SNAPPER I HATE YOU! ZRL Round 3 Race 3 Innsbruckring
“My best ZRL race yet,” from KJ Phillips.
ZRL Crit Delirium ZRL 11.21
RIOT Ladies ZRL EMEA Div A Round 3 Race 2 Island Hopper
Featuring Em Nyquist.
First race FRR Tour France Stage 1
WIN SPRINT after great battle with KK – Echelon Racing League #1
What’s Harder – Zwift Racing League or Zwift Grand Prix?
Zwift Grand Prix // Round 4 Women ZRL – Scratch Race
Winning a Zwift A cat. Points race – the Muckle Yin Scotland – Women’s racing series
“Wasn’t sure how my legs would do today but went into warmup and race with good mindset, decided to enjoy and have fun and give all i have. Turned out really well.”
How Fast Are Female Tour De France Pros? We Find Out!
How to Race Like a PRO on ZWIFT
WRTL Women’s Empowerment Series 3 – Z2 Lizzy & Tracy final sprint to podiums
Tour de Zwift 2024 is fully underway, with hundreds (sometimes thousands) of riders jumping into group rides and races. It’s Zwift’s biggest annual party on wheels!
The vast majority of TdZ events are group rides, not official races. But of course, that doesn’t stop some riders from going all-out and treating them as a race!
Other riders treat them as easy recovery rides, while others choose a longer-than-comfortable route for the challenge of completing it. Lots of riders. Lots of goals.
Today we’re announcing a fun little challenge to add another dimension to your TdZ group rides: the Tour de Zwift Chase Challenge! The idea is simple: catch as many riders as possible during your TdZ group ride, record your numbers, and share them on this page. The two top chasers will receive our Watopia map poster as a prize.
One Challenge, Two Contests
The big idea of this challenge is to catch riders up the road during your Tour de Zwift group ride. But group sizes can vary a lot from event to event and category to category, so we’re actually awarding two winners in the challenge:
Overtaker Award: for the rider who passes the most people, as documented by their screenshots.
Pack Gobbler Award: for the rider who passes the highest percentage of the group, as documented by their screenshots.
Challenge Rules
To document your TdZ Chase Challenge, you must post screenshots or video(s) showing your full Zwift screen. Two screenshots are required:
Starting Shot: your starting position is the position shown at the top of the rider list on your screenshot/video at least 1km into the ride. (The 1km requirement is in place so you can’t just sit in the pens for a few seconds to let everyone ride away before taking your first screenshot.) If you’re sharing via video, the starting number is what’s shown when your distance ticks over to 1km (or 0.6 miles).
Ending Shot: your ending numbers screenshot can be from any location within the final kilometer (final 0.6 miles) of the event. Most riders will just use the screenshot automatically taken when you cross the finish line.
After getting your screenshots, you must share them as a comment on this post. Three sharing methods are allowed:
Upload your screenshots as part of your comment on this Zwift Insider post. Only one image is allowed per comment, so you’ll need to post two comments.
Video links to YouTube or Twitch are allowed.
Links to public Strava activities including the necessary screenshots and/or videos are allowed.
Your comment on this Zwift Insider post is your official entry. Along with the necessary photos/videos/links, your comment must include a summary of the final numbers, so we don’t have to do the math on our end and people can scan comments to see how others did:
You’ll need three numbers: your Starting Position (S), Finishing Positioning (F), and Total Riders In Event (T). Note that total riders in event is the second number showed at the top of the rider list on your ending shot.
Your comment/entry can just be something simple like this: “S-F riders overtaken, which was (S-F)/T percent of the group.” See example below…
You can enter as many times as you’d like.
Poster prize (see below) is only offered for smart trainer/power meter users. (Simply put, the lightning bolt must be visible next to your power number in screenshots.)
Entry Example
Starting ShotEnding Shot
From the screenshots above, I can get the following numbers:
Starting Position: 507
Finishing Position: 202
Total Riders in Event: 1022 (from ending shot)
I would then share those two screenshots in comments on this post, along with the following summary:
305 riders overtaken, which was 29.8% of the group.
Poster Prizes!
We will ship a Watopia map poster to the “Overtaker” and “Pack Gobbler” award winners once TdZ ends.
We assume someone (or multiple someones) will probably gobble the entire group. If there is a tie of any sort, the win will go to whoever rode in the largest event (highest total rider count in the ending shot) because gobbling up a pack of 100 riders is easier than gobbling up a pack of 300!
Alternative Contests
Along with the official Chase Challenge contest, consider making your TdZ group rides more interesting by taking on a few alternative personal challenges:
HR Efficiency: can you overtake many riders while keeping your average heart rate down in zone 2? This pushes you to ride as efficiently as possible.
Power Efficiency: similar to HR efficiency but based on power. Keep your overall average power low, while overtaking as many riders as possible.
Most Improved: you may have difficulty competing with the Chase Challenge numbers of super strong riders. But you can still compare your own personal numbers and try to improve them as TdZ goes on.
Ride Smarter (and Harder?)
To perform your best in the Chase Challenge, you’ll have to ride efficiently and make lots of strategic decisions:
Know the course
Use steering to cut corners
Use powerups at the perfect time
Put in a well-timed dig to bridge up to the next pack of riders. Or don’t put in the dig, because you know your pack will reel in the riders ahead within a few minutes!
Happy New Year, Zwifters! Our first weekend of the year finds us right in the middle of peak Zwift season, with lots of interesting events to choose from. Here are my favorites for the weekend…
Tour de Zwift 2024 kicked off this week, and the group rides so far have been packed! This weekend we have the first TdZ “Epic” races, which are a fresh addition to the standard TdZ group ride format. Choose from stage 1’s race on London’s Triple Loops (41.3km, 567m elevation), or stage 2 on two laps of Scotland’s The Muckle Yin (47.1km, 562m elevation).
If you don’t want to race or are just looking for a shorter TdZ route, check out the TdZ group rides happening this weekend. You can choose from three length options.
Scott McVeigh has been organizing ZSUN’s popular multi-category 100km Base Builder 2 ride for years. But this week is a special one! Scott will be hitting the 100,000 kilometer mark on Zwift during the ride, and he wants everyone to come celebrate with him!
(Scott tells us, “In that time, I have also climbed 610,000m, the equivalent of 69 times up Mt. Everest.” Wow!)
Scott will be leading the B category, but A, C, and D category groups are also available. All categories will be riding the Douce France route. Be sure to read the event description for details, including a link to the active Discord voice chat used during the ride.
Team ZTO (Zwift Tri Oz) are making an attempt to set a new world record on the Fuego Flats Reverse segment. Six different events have been organized, so riders around the world can give it a go.
This will require riders working together in a sort of mass TTT fashion. The events are set up for maximum speed: the fastest bike in game (Cadex Tri) is automatically assigned to all riders, drafting is enabled, and fast powerups as well. Can anyone break the 7:39 mark set on ZwiftPower last year?
Innovation Cycling team member Glenn Utteridge was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer in early 2023 and by June 2023 had had 5 fractures to back, neck, and jaw plus two major surgeries. Still, he is back on his bike and back on Zwift!
This is a 60-minute event on Watopia’s Waistband at 1-3W/kg. During this ride, leaders will share information about the disease and raise awareness about prevention. After the ride, some INC riders will continue for an additional 23 hours to gather donations for Glenn’s overseas treatments.
We’re highlighting this event because it’s interesting on several levels. This is the first of eight e-fondos organized by the Suarez Gran Fondo National Series, and riders can qualify for the USA Gran Fondo National Championships through these Zwift events!
This weekend’s event is on Watopia’s The Big Ring (51.1km, 273m). You earn points based on your segment times on sprints and KOMs, as well as your finishing position, and those points are what qualify you for the IRL Gran Fondo Nats. Read more about the series >
We choose each weekend’s Notable Events based on a variety of factors including:
Is the event unique/innovative in some way?
Are celebrities (pro riders, etc) attending/leading?
Are signup counts already high, meaning the event is extra-popular?
Does the ride include desirable unlocks or prizes?
Does the event appeal to ladies on Zwift? (We like to support this under-represented group!)
Is it for a good cause?
Is it just plain crazy (extra long races, world record attempts, etc)?
Is it a long-running, popular weekly event with a dedicated leader who deserves a shout out?
In the end, we want to call attention to events that are extra-special and therefore extra-appealing to Zwifters. If you think your event qualifies, comment below with a link/details and we may just include it in an upcoming post!
Your Thoughts
Do other events stand out this weekend? Share below in the comments!
The coffee stop is a time-honored tradition in road cycling, and in May 2023 Zwift brought it into the game. You may have noticed it: a circular coffee mug icon floating over riders’ heads in the group.
What’s it all about, and how does it work? You’ve come to the right place…
What is Coffee Stop?
Taking a “coffee stop” in Zwift doesn’t inject caffeine into your veins, but it does let your avatar keep pace with your current group while you take a short break! Here’s a quick demo:
Why take a Coffee Stop?
Have you ever been riding with a great group on Zwift, but you need to hop off the bike to grab a towel, refill a water bottle, or take a nature break?
Coffee Stop lets you stop pedaling and do what you need to do without getting dropped from the group you’re in. Camaraderie often develops in packs of Zwift riders, and the Coffee Stop is Zwift’s method of preserving that special social aspect even when nature calls.
How To Take Coffee Stop
Need a coffee break? Simply tap the Coffee Stop icon (coffee mug) from the action bar or within the Companion app:
What? No Coffee?!
If the Coffee Stop button is greyed out, it may be that you recently used a Coffee Stop. Mousing over the Coffee Stop icon should tell you why it’s not activated or how long you have to wait before it will be active again:
If no riders are nearby, you aren’t moving, or you’re near the end of a group ride event (see usage limits below), Coffee Stop will automatically be disabled:
If the Coffee Stop button isn’t visible, that means you’re in a race event, group workout, or individual workout. None of these allow Coffee Stops.
Coffee Stop Usage Limits
You can take one 30-second Coffee Stop in the first 5 minutes of your ride
Once you pass the 5-minute mark of a ride, you can activate a 3-minute Coffee Stop
Once you end a 3-minute Coffee Stop, a 30-minute timer begins. Only after these 30 minutes elapse can you trigger another 3-minute Coffee Stop.
Coffee Stop is available on all routes in Zwift, but is automatically disabled in race events, group workouts, and individual workouts. Tip: during individual workouts you can just hit the “Pause” button in Companion or the Action Bar if you need to take a break for any reason.
Coffee Stop is available in group rides, except it cannot be triggered in the last 5km of distance-based group rides or the last 15 minutes of time-based group rides.
Coffee Stop is disabled if you aren’t moving or are riding alone (no nearby riders moving in the same direction).
Zwift Coffee Stop Minutiae
A few more bits for the Coffee-curious:
It Doesn’t Add Up: As of October 2026, you do not accumulate progression of distance, elevation, XP, Drops, or bike upgrades during your Coffee Stops.
Segments Count: You can complete all or part of a timed Zwift or Strava segment while taking a Coffee Stop.
Strava Visibility: Your power, heart rate, and cadence continue to record during a Coffee Stop. So while your Coffee Stop won’t be super-obvious when looking at your ride on Strava or Zwift, it will show as a time block where you had zero power and zero cadence.
Cutting It Short: If you want to end your coffee break early, just click “Done” on screen or in the Companion app.
Riders Only: Coffee Stop on Zwift is only available for cyclists. No coffee for runners!
Ending Early by Pedaling: Once your watts hit 0 after starting your Coffee Stop, if you begin pedaling again so your watts go to 40W+ for 5+ seconds, the Coffee Stop will automatically end. So make sure you’re ready to get going once you start pedaling!
Coffee Controversy
You may see some Zwifters complain about other riders “abusing” Coffee Stops. This is especially prevalent in group rides because yes, more coffee mugs tend to pop up on climbs than on flats or descents.
While we’re not here to tell you how to think, keep in mind that Coffee Stop is disabled in races. So while Coffee Stop users get a free ride for a few minutes, it’s a free ride in a social event where there are no winners.
Questions or Comments?
What do you think of Zwift’s Coffee Stop feature? Got questions about how it works? Share below!
Changelog
October 20, 2026: Starting in v124, Zwifters no longer accumulate progression of distance, elevation, XP, Drops, or bike upgrades while coffee stopping.
Zwift released their teleport feature in a June 2023 update, but you may have missed it if you were busy riding outside and haven’t dug into the updated action bar. This is a really handy feature, though – one that perhaps you didn’t know you needed until you tried it – so let’s dig into how it works.
What Teleporting Does
Teleport lets you seamlessly move between RoboPacers or active friends currently riding or running in the same world as you. Crucially, Zwift doesn’t start a new activity when you teleport. This allows you to bounce around between RoboPacers or friends while keeping your workout in one single file.
How To Teleport
It’s easy! Access teleporting via the in-game action bar or via the Companion app. Here’s a quick video showing how it works using the action bar:
Why Teleport?
Teleporting lets you do fun things in a single activity that weren’t previously possible, like:
Gentler Warmups: spin your legs up with a slower RoboPacer before popping over to a faster pace group for the main part of your workout
Tour de Amigos: feeling social on a day with no set workout plan? Bounce around the map to ride or run with friends who are currently online. Pop into each of their activities to say hello and wish them well.
TeleSweeper: if you drop off the back of a RoboPacer group for any reason, it’s easy to teleport back in whenever you’d like.
There are also more “advanced” use cases we’ve seen from some community members:
RoboPacer Intervals: replace a structured workout by bouncing between RoboPacers holding particular w/kg. (for example, a B rider might bounce between Jaques and Constance for an Over-Under workout.)
RoboPacer Ladder Challenge: start with an easy RoboPacer, then move to the next hardest after 5 minutes. Keep going until you can’t keep up! (Stronger riders may need to increase the interval to 10 minutes or more.)
Post-Race Cooldown: racing in Watopia or Makuri Islands? Once your race ends, you don’t need to end your activity and start a new one to cooldown with a group. Just teleport to a RoboPacer to spin out your legs and cool down.
Endless Everesting: turn any climb into endless elevation by parking a friend at the bottom so you can Teleport down to them once you reach the top. (Note: we don’t see anything in the official vEveresting rules prohibiting this, but it could lead to faster vEveresting times, so we may see those rules get updated.)
Get Bigger Than Jensie: still haven’t earned your achievement badge for getting 100 Ride Ons in a single ride? Teleport to a busy RoboPacer, ride in the pack for 15 minutes… then teleport to a different busy pacer. Keep doing this until you’ve got all 100.
Activity Maps
What do your activity maps look like after teleporting? Zwift has done a very nice job when viewing the activity on Zwift.com:
In the Companion app, teleportation just shows as a solid white line, like the rest of your activity.
Strava (shown here using the ZwiftMap for Strava Chrome extension) charts all the lines the same way (like Zwift Companion, but not as pretty as Zwift.com).
It’s important to note that the teleporting portions aren’t figured into your overall activity distance, speed, etc on Strava or in Zwift.
Rules of Teleportation
Zwift’s teleportation feature includes some necessary rules/limitations:
You don’t get distance credit or XP for the distance covered while teleporting.
You will get credit for any routes or segments completed during your activity, as long as you don’t teleport in or out during that route or segment.
You cannot teleport into or out of events.
You cannot teleport during a workout.
You can only teleport to Zwifters you follow who also follow you back.
The Drops multiplier game restarts whenever you teleport to a RoboPacer… even if it’s the RoboPacer you were already with.
Questions or Comments?
What do you think of Zwift’s teleport feature? Any uses you’ve found that we didn’t cover above? Any questions? Share below!
Now in its 12th round, Zwift Racing League continues to take racing to the next level on Zwift! With the first two rounds of the 2023/24 season wrapped up, team signups for the third and final round are now open.
Here’s everything you need to know about what’s coming next for Zwift Racing League…
Intro to Zwift Racing League (ZRL)
ZRL is the world’s largest virtual cycling competition. How big is it? Over 26,000 riders have participated so far in the 2023/24 season, making it the biggest season on record!
Organized by WTRL, this is a team-based points competition spread across multiple weeks, with teams organized into divisions based on time zones and ability. Races happen every Tuesday, and the season is broken into three 6-week rounds with short breaks in between.
ZRL is Zwift racing at its highest level. Its unique structure and varied race formats drive serious Zwift racers to show up week after week while providing a place for new racers who jump in and find their first team home.
This page contains the latest info about the current ZRL round, and is updated as WTRL announces new details.
Ruleset Updates
If you’re new to ZRL, you’ll definitely want to get familiar with the ruleset and scoring structure, as these inform strategic team decisions.
There are no rule updates for round 3.
Timeslots and Divisions
Some divisions and start times get tweaked between each round, so make sure you pick the time slot that works for your team. Here are the divisions and time slots for 2023/24 round 3:
Teams and Registration
ZRL is a team-based competition – you cannot sign up as an individual rider. Teams can have up to 12 racers rostered, but only 6 can race in each event. Teams must have at least 4 riders on their roster, and a rider can be rostered on no more than 2 teams per round.
Team registration opened December 22 wtrl.racing/zrl-registration. Teams signed up for Round 2 will be automatically registered for Round 3.
Want to race, but don’t have a team? Here are six ways to find a team:
If you’re already a member of a larger Zwift Club, contact a senior Club representative to see if you can join one of your Club’s ZRL teams.
Join an official team-lead ZRL Group Recon Ride where several teams can be found looking for more riders. These run several times a day starting two weeks before the first race. Learn more >
Join the ZRL Facebook Group and post preferred race times/league, Pace Group Category, and any other preferences under the #zrlteamhunt tag where many teams are eagerly waiting.
Reply to one of the #zrlrecruiting posts that teams make in the ZRL Facebook Group if you don’t want to post your own request.
Reach out directly to WTRL and they can match you to a team based on race times, category, and team preferences.
Race Routes and Dates
Each ZRL round comprises weekly races which are either scratch races, points races, or team time trials (TTT). Scratch Races and Points Races are both actually points-based in terms of final results, but Points races include intermediate segments while Scratch Race points are all earned at the finish line. TTT winners are the teams who complete the race course fastest, with team time taken from the fourth rider across the line.
Our first TTT of Round 3 is on a familiar route. Flat and fast, R.G.V. lets you focus on smooth rotations and pushing your team to the edge of its capabilities. Save a bit for Les Intestins near the end!
A favorite circuit of many racers, Innsbruckring is all about the Leg Snapper climb in the middle of each lap. Do you have the punch to survive it three times?
Race #5: Chasing the Sun February 20, 2024 (Points Race)
Raced in previous ZRL seasons, Chasing the Sun has something for everyone, with three flat sprints before the big Temple KOM that will surely force a big selection.
Race #6: Out and Back Again February 27, 2024 (TTT)
We finish this round with a TTT course that is very unlike what we typically see in ZRL. Not only is this the longest race of round 3, but it takes us up the Volcano KOM and the Hilly KOM Reverse! Teams will need to optimize for longer climbs, which can look very different from flat road rotations.
The minimum category you’ll race is determined by your power history on Zwift. See this post for details.
Riders must use a power sensor to transmit power to the game – this would be a smart trainer, smartbike, or power meter. (You’re allowed to race C and D categories with a “classic” trainer and virtual power, but your points are cut in half.)
Heart rate monitors are required. (You’re allowed to race without a HRM, but your points are cut in half.)
Cadence monitors are required (new rule for Round 2).
You’ll want to have at least a few races under your belt before you try to join a team, so you are confident that you’re in the correct category. It causes a lot of hassle if you join a team, and then are forced to upgrade to a new category mid-round.
Recons and Broadcasts
Official Recon Rides
If you’re unfamiliar with a particular week’s race course, join a ZRL recon ride! These happen multiple times per day and are led by experienced racers who may share route info and racing tips as you ride.
2023 began a bit rough in the land of Zwift, with workforce reductions announced and very few updates being released. But as the year went on, Zwift’s restructured teams and refreshed leadership seemed to find their footing, releasing new features and game updates at a regular bi-weekly cadence.
Was 2023 everything we’d hoped for on Zwift? Of course not, because we always want more than Zwift delivers. That’s just part of being a Zwifter; we never get enough new roads, carrots to chase, or new shiny features. But Zwift made some major internal changes this year to focus on their core product more than ever, and that bodes well for 2024.
This is our look back at all things Zwift for 2023. Enjoy the ride!
New Roads and Routes
Heading out from the Jungle to the new coastal road
While Zwift still isn’t creating fresh roads as fast as most Zwifters would like, they’re still giving us new routes on existing roads from time to time. This year, the Scotland map was added, plus a solid Watopia expansion. Here’s a list of new routes added to the game:
In 2023, we didn’t see Zwift rolling out major new community events. Instead, they largely built on previous years’ successes, attempting to improve what was already proven to work in marquee events like the Tour de Zwift, Tour of Watopia (which they did twice), Zwift Fondos, Zwift Academy, and more.
Zwift introduced the “Zwift Ride Series” in May. These are monthly themed group rides set up to provide consistent group rides when there isn’t a big event underway like Tour de Zwift. This is a smart move on Zwift’s part. It feels inconsistent to have large Zwift-owned events come in every few months then have community events fill the gaps on the off months. The ZRS keeps the calendar feeling like it has a more consistent balance between community-led and Zwift-owned events.
On the racing side, Zwift Grand Prix built on the previous year’s launch success and is nearing season end, while Zwift Racing League continues to grow and will soon enter the final round of this season. Zwift’s ZRacing series (see the current series here) has matured and built a reputation as the most popular weekly series, the inventive Ladder Races are receiving rave reviews, and (shameless plug) Zwift Insider’s Tiny Races are still very popular every weekend.
We should also mention the UCI Esports Worlds that happened in February, since, well, it was the Worlds, hosted on Zwift! Also worth a mention is the Olympic Esports Series held in Singapore in June, simply because it points to bigger things to come in the Olympics with indoor cycling.
We won’t list all of Zwift’smajor events for 2023 here, but you can certainly browse the events archive to see what we highlighted throughout the year.
Workforce Reductions and New Hires
In March, Zwift announced a 15% workforce reduction. This wasn’t a surprise, given the state of the indoor cycling industry and overall economy. Plus, the tech space as a whole was reducing its workforce at the same time (giants like Facebook, Microsoft, and Alphabet/Google all announced similar cuts).
March’s cuts were actually the beginning of a refresh in top Zwift leadership. A month or so after the 15% reduction, some top leaders left, including Chief Marketing and Revenue Officer Steve Beckett, VP of Acquisition Ian Vinten, SVP of Brand Experience Laurent Janneau, Director of Content Programming Craig Taylor, and more. Departments were reorganized and newish co-CEO Kurt Beidler soon brought on CTO Mike Lusthaus (former Amazon) and CPO Manlio Lo Conte (former Meta).
What are the fruits of all this change? Zwift seems more focused than ever on product (both hardware and software), taking more of a “quick and dirty” approach to the marketing side of things. And that may be exactly the balance needed in these times. A glance at their careers page indicates a strong focus on product development, which any Zwifter should be happy to see.
Wahoo: Foe to Friend
2023 began with Wahoo and Zwift embroiled in a legal battle but ended with them acting like the closest of friends. What happened?
It appears both companies realized that the way forward is to work together to grow the pie. Instead of squabbling over pieces of the current pie, they could collaborate to make indoor riding a better experience, attracting and retaining more customers, thus growing the pie. So they announced a settlement in September and seem to have been working closely ever since.
Hear Wahoo CEO Chip Hawkins discuss this with DC Rainmaker in a recent interview:
What are the fruits of the Wahoo + Zwift collaboration so far? Wahoo items are now being sold in Zwift’s store, Wahoo is selling trainers bundled with a deeply discounted year of Zwift membership, and Wahoo’s KICKR Core has replaced the Zwift Hub Classic as the go-to trainer if you want a full cassette. Word is Wahoo is working with Zwift to bring other features like virtual shifting via Zwift Play to Wahoo trainers.
Hardware
Zwift made a big move in the hardware space this year by releasing Zwift Play: bar-mounted controllers with buttons for steering, braking, virtual shifting, navigation, powerups, and more. Since their release in June, Zwift has steadily improved functionality and reliability, and today you’ll see many riders using them on Zwift’s roads.
Still, it’s clear Zwift hasn’t convinced the vast majority of Zwifters to jump onto the Play wagon. What will it take? A velodrome? Auto-braking on corners? Virtual shifting capabilities on existing trainers? It will be interesting to see what happens in 2024 in this space.
The Zwift Hub trainer made waves when it was released in 2022, and it kept doing so in 2023 as Zwift updated firmware to enable premium features. First came auto calibration in April, then 10Hz “race mode” and virtual shifting in October.
The Hub One trainer was also released in October. This was the existing Zwift Hub trainer, but with the new Zwift Cog installed in place of the cassette, and a Zwift Click device for handling the virtual shifting from your bars (although you can also shift with Play controllers). The big news here was virtual shifting, which seems to have received positive reviews across the board. Smooth, quiet, accurate, and compatible across almost all bikes… what’s not to love? Once we used it, it was hard to go back to mechanical shifting.
The only big miss we can see in Zwift’s hardware moves for 2023 is their lack of availabilityoutside of the USA, UK, and EU. Canada and Australia/New Zealand, both popular Zwift markets, can’t place orders on Zwift.com. Hopefully this changes soon.
Racing Score Reboot
Zwift soft-launched their new “Racing Score” metric in June with the goal of creating a new metric for racer capabilities to categorize riders based on race results instead of power numbers.
However, feedback from riders wasn’t very positive because riders had already experienced a much better alternative. Zwift’s new Racing Score was a simple metric that fell short of the more robust metrics developed by community sites like ZwiftRacing.app.
Eventually, the first version of Racing Score was taken offline (see forum post), and Zwift has been reworking it ever since. Word is we may see something in January/February 2024, and early indications are that they listened closely to feedback and riders will be happy with what they see! 2024 may very well be when Zwift racing categories see a big shakeup for the better.
New/Expanded Features
Along with everything listed above, Zwift rolled out additional new features in 2023 and improved existing features. Here’s the complete list in somewhat-chronological order:
Climb portal scaling, completion tracking, and rankings read more >
Companion update: “Keep Everyone Together” option added to Club rides read more >
Companion update: guest map calendar now available read more >
Companion update: route browser now available read more >
Companion update: per-club notification settings read more >
Companion update: personal leaderboards and route/badge info read more >
Companion update: more workouts added to Club event templates read more >
Game Updates
Zwift started the year off a bit rough, with just three updates in the first four months. But starting in May, they began releasing updates every two weeks and stuck to that cadence for the rest of the year, which was refreshing. Cyclists like a high cadence!
Wahoo shut down RGT in October (see the interview with DC Rainmaker above for details on that), taking what was once considered Zwift’s biggest competition out of the game. So who’s left?
This year we’ve seen big moves from two other competitors: MyWhoosh and Indievelo.
MyWhoosh surprised many by beating out Zwift in their bid to host the Esports World Championships for 2024/2025/2026. Indievelo, started by former ZADA head George Gilbert, has been making waves among Zwift racers since it’s being developed as competition-first platform. MyWhoosh has a lot of cash behind it, and the motivation to perform well on the big stage. Indievelo’s small team continues to release race-friendly updates at an impressive rate.
It’s fair to say neither MyWhoosh or Indievelo are close to Zwift in terms of user base size, but both platforms are keeping Zwift honest, holding their feet to the fire by releasing new features and hosting events Zwift would like to see on its own platform. Keep an eye one these platforms in 2024. You know Zwift will!
What’s Coming in 2024?
What’s coming soon to Zwift? Here are a few things we know… and a few things we’re guessing at:
Zwift Games: a huge set of races for both elite and community riders at all levels
Player Highlighting: this was supposed to be released last summer, so we assume it’ll show up soon
New Frames/Wheels: Zwift hasn’t released anything new in over a year, so they’ve got to add some frames or wheels in 2024… right?
KICKR Core virtual shifting: with this trainer replacing the Hub Classic, virtual shifting (and hopefully 10Hz race mode and auto calibration) must be added soon. Otherwise, it’s a step backward.
There’s more to come in addition to what’s listed above. Some things we’re not allowed to mention yet, but there are definitely other things Zwift simply hasn’t told us! We’re looking forward to 2024 and all the Zwifty upgrades it will bring. We hope you are, too.
Your Comments
What are your thoughts on Zwift’s 2023? Favorite new features, things you wish Zwift had released but didn’t? And what would you most like to see in 2024? Share below!
