Two years ago WorldTour pro team Movistar made waves in the esports world by holding a competition on Zwift to recruit members for an elite eSports cycling team. This became the first esports cycling team ever owned by a WorldTour team!
Today sees the start of another recruitment competition, this time for a development squad that will race in the top Zwift Racing League community division.
Squad Goals
The new Movistar esports development team will be racing in the community divisions of Zwift Racing League starting this fall. This team will race at the highest community division (A1), and riders may also get a chance to ride for the Movistar eTeam in elite competitions (think last year’s Zwift Grand Prix).
Competition Structure/Schedule
Details are rather sparse on Movistar’s website and the Zwift event descriptions, but it’s clear that you’ll need to fill out the Development Team Application if you want to be considered for the team.
5 men and 5 women will be selected for the new development team.
If you want a shot at getting on the team you’ll need to race one of the three race events (see details below) happening at the same time (6pm UTC/2pm EDT/11am PDT) on Thursday June 8, 15, and 22. You only need to complete one race to be considered for the team.
Movistar calls this “The Points Race”, although it’s unclear from the event description how the points will work. Best to assume each time up the Yorkshire KOM (1.2 km, 5.5%) and hitting the Yorkshire Sprint (0.25 km, 0.8%) awards points, as well as finishing position.
Power meter or smart trainer required (no virtual power)
No powerups
Post-race verification will occur for top candidates, so ensure your weight is accurate. Dual recordings are recommended, and Movistar says “Top performances will be subject to further verification before results are finalized.”
Tiny Race Series – June 10 Routes and Last Week’s Results
The competition at the top of last week’s Tiny Races was tight – more than half of the overall podiums were decided by 10 points or less, which is just one finishing place if you’re at the front of the race.
This week we’re revisiting our “Short Circuit” theme with a group of races on small loops. But before we get to that, let’s look at last week’s results…
This week’s short circuit theme finds us racing around tiny loops. Some are so tiny that we’ll race multiple laps, while others will just be a lead-in plus one lap. Either way, each course has its own challenges, spots for early attacks, and strategic finishes.
Race 1: Volcano Circuit (1 lap – 6.9km) After a lead-in from downtown Watopia we’ll hit one hot lap of the Volcano Circuit, finishing at the banner. This finish is always an interesting one, timing-wise. Use your aeros wisely!
Powerup: Aero Boost (2x)
Race 2: Duchy Estate (1 lap – 4.7km) This punchy little loop has a short climb just before the lap banner, which means you’ll hit the climb twice – once in the lead-in and once just before the finishing sprint. It’s gonna sting!
Powerup: Feather (1x)
Race 3: Bell Lap (3 laps – 5.7km) You don’t get a powerup on the first lap. Most racers know Crit City well, but have you ever raced just 3 laps? Hopefully somebody will go long on the final twisty climb and really make it interesting.
Powerup: Anvil (2x)
Race 4: Mech Isle Loop (6.06km, ends atop dirt climb) We raced one lap of Mech Isle Loop last week, but this week we’re doing more like 1.5 laps, finishing atop the dirt climb. Gravel bike or road bike? Choose your weapon!
Zwift displays preliminary race results in game when you cross the line, but points are computed after all four races are finished, with final results on ZwiftPower. (We have to do some data processing on our side to compute results, so if your rankings don’t show up right away, be patient.)
Riders will earn points based on finish position in each of the 4 Tiny Races. The category winner of each week’s series is the rider with the most points across their timezone’s 4 races. Here are the links for each timezone’s results on ZwiftPower:
Tiny Race rules are simple, but still every week 7-10% of registered ZwiftPower racers get disqualified and removed from the final results. Don’t let that be you! Four races, four rules:
You must have a ZwiftPower account, because final results are processed by ZwiftPower (learn how to sign up)
No skipping then returning. These races are meant to be raced as a set of 4. If you need to leave early, that’s fine… but once you miss a race in your hour’s set of 4, don’t come back and race another or you’ll be disqualified from that race since you rested while others were racing! (Example: racing only races 1 and 2 is fine. Racing 1, 2, and 4 is not – you will be DQ from race 4. And if you race 2, 3, and 4, you’ll be DQ from all those races, since you skipped race 1!)
Heart rate monitors are required for podium finishers
ZPower/Virtual power is not allowed. Smart trainer/smart bike or power meter required.
Join a Chat & Chill Cooldown
Immediately following each hour’s racing, we’ve scheduled 30-minute “Chat & Chill” events where riders from all categories can spin their legs together and chat about how it all went down. Find them at zwift.com/events/tag/tinyraces.
Zwift Insider Kit Unlock
Finish any Tiny Race or a Chat & Chill ride and unlock the Zwift Insider “Ride Smarter // Ride Harder” in-game kit.
The biggest news in tech for the past 7-8 months has been AI, and the huge leaps made in this space with the release of ChatGPT and other tools. While the jury’s still debating whether these leaps are bringing us closer to Utopia or our Matrixish demise, it’s clear that AI can be used in simple ways today make our lives better.
Recommendation engines are one example where AI has been used for years to surface the things we’re looking for (think Amazon’s suggested items or Netflix’s suggest viewing). This week Zwift released their new “For You” home screen feature, which is essentially a recommendation engine for your Zwift session. First announced in December 2022, “For You” is a row of activity recommendations (or as Zwift says, a “personalized collection of experiences”) based on how you Zwift.
Let’s dig into how this works, and where it may go next.
Personalized Recommendations
The new “For You” sits near the top of your home screen, just below the featured event boxes. It includes the following items:
Upcoming events you’ve signed up for (but only those starting soon)
“Join a Zwifter”
Recommended workouts, including your workout for today Today’s Plan or TrainingPeaks
Recommended RoboPacer groups
A recommended route to ride
“For You” may also include other items – one of our test accounts included a box linking to the main Training Plans page.
Seven Ideas
Zwift says, “This is a feature that will evolve over time. In its current phase – it’s designed to encourage exploration of the many types of Zwifty activities.”
After taking a quick look at my “For You” row, here are several ideas I have for the next evolution of the feature:
Today’s Training Plan workout: the carousel already shows today’s workout if you’re connected to TrainingPeaks or Today’s Plan. Why not show the next scheduled workout if you’re signed up for one of Zwift’s Training Plans? Big miss, but an easy fix.
Route badge recommendations: I’m not sure how Zwift is deciding which routes to recommend for free rides, but it clearly isn’t based on whether I have the badge or not. Recommending routes that roughly match up with what I typically ride each week on this particular day, and whose badge I haven’t yet earned, seems like a great pick.
Event recommendations: create a profile for the type of events I tend to join on a given day, then recommend upcoming events that match.
Hide “Join a Zwifter” if none are online: if none of my friends are online, hide this box to make room for better recommendations. (Currently it just shows any pro riders who are online.)
Better RoboPacer picks: it appears the current RoboPacer recommendations are based on my power history, not my RoboPacer history. (I assume this because it is recommending Jacques, a 3.0W/kg bot I haven’t joined in months, while not recommending the lower-powered Maria Maria who I’ve joined in recent weeks.)
Recommend more: the “For You” carousel currently appears limited to just 7 boxes. Why not 10 or 15? If each item has a good reason to be there (see below), it doesn’t hurt to include more. Just keep the most relevant ones to the left (and maybe make it easier to scroll horizontally…)
Tell me why: it would be great to see why Zwift recommended a particular experience. Mouse over a free ride route: “You haven’t earned this route badge!” Mouse over a recommended workout: “This will help boost your dismal VO2max!” 😊
Where To Next?
Zwift has so much content (think events and the workout library) that it can be hard to pick what you should do on any given day. I hope “For You” is just the tip of Zwift’s recommendation iceberg.
Imagine if the system could become truly intelligent, recommending workouts like a skilled coach and picking races that match your typical race activities. It could even look at your recent activities to determine how fresh your legs are, recommending recovery activities on easy days and races/workouts/tough group rides on hard days. The game could interview you about your goals, then make recommendations to help you get there.
There’s much potential here, and Zwift is only scratching the surface. If they can hone the game to become a better training partner/coach, everyone wins.
Questions or Comments?
Got other ideas for improving “For you? Chime in on this forum post to make sure your input is seen by Zwift staff. Got questions? See the You may also comment below!
This week seems to be a week of firsts. Our picks include a new Zwifter who quits his first race, an avid Zwifter making a rookie mistake, another new Zwifter tackling a Zwift race, a rider pondering bike choice in a mixed-terrain time trial, and a Zwifter roasting another’s race.
Quitting My First Ever Zwift Race
Triathlete Ollie Stevenson tackles his first-ever Zwift race. Not only is it his first race, but it is also a category-A race on the punchy Glasgow Crit Course. How long can he hold on before dropping out?
I’m an Idiot!! | Zwift Crit Club Race 4
Matt King of Target 2.5 recently took on a Zwift race. However, midway through the event he makes a terrible mistake that ends up costing him the race.
First Time Trying Zwift… it was a mistake…
Lucas Plays on Youtube tries Zwift for the very first time. He begins with a warm-up around the volcano before joining his first race, where he is caught off guard by how quick the category C riders are.
Did I take the wrong bike? // Zwift TT Club Racing Series
In the first week of the Zwift TT Club series, Gerben from RidewithGerben races one lap of the Mech Isle Loop course. However, as he looks back on the race, he wonders whether it would have been a better choice to race on a gravel bike rather than a TT bike.
Sunday Roast | Ollie Moore / Not Tadej Pogacar
Rob, aka Zwifty Zwifter is back with another Sunday Roast. This week’s roast highlights a submission by Oliver Moore, aka not tadej pogacar.
Got a Great Zwift Video?
Share the link below and we may feature it in an upcoming post!
Welcome to my week 11 “Build Me Up” (BMU) training log.
About this Series: I’m journaling my way weekly through Zwift’s “Build Me Up” training plan and calling out tough workouts, minor bugs, and Zwift feature suggestions along the way. For your reference, my FTP is set to 321W, as detected by Zwift’s ramp test at the start of the plan. Past weeks: Week 1 // Week 2 // Week 3 // Week 4 // Week 5 // Week 6 // Week 7// Week 8// Week 9 // Week 10
This was the final “real” week of BMU, and it included more TSS than any other week, by a good margin. Heading into it, I just hoped to complete all the workouts (7 hours of workouts!) without dying.
The first of two big 2-hour workouts in BMU’s final hard week, “Aspire” was basically a lot of what I’d call “threshold over-unders” followed by a set of 1-minute VO2 surges:
5x 2 minutes 105% FTP, 2 minutes 88% FTP
5x 1-1/2 minutes 105% FTP, 2-1/2 minutes 88% FTP
5x 1 minute 105% FTP, 3 minutes 88% FTP
7x 1 minute 115% FTP, 1 minute 55% FTP
The first 20-minute over-under was the toughest, and I just had to focus and keep pushing to finish all three for a total of 60 minutes of hard work. Those final 7 VO2 surges were tough on tired legs, but I knocked them out, finishing the workout without needing to hit pause or lower my FTP bias. Winner!
The ride gave me new power bests for 58 minutes all the way up to 2 hours, so it was definitely a butt-kicker of a session!
Last week’s sprinting workout wasn’t too bad, so I thought “Breakfast Returns” would be pretty doable as well. But I was wrong.
This was a classic set of 30/30 intervals, except the recovery wattage was at 70% FTP (225W for me), meaning I wasn’t getting the sort of recovery I’d get when pedaling super-easy between sprints like you’d do in most 30/30 sessions.
I’m not sure if it was just a bad day for me physically, or if it was the workout itself and those cursed “non-recovery” intervals. But as I progressed through these the heart rate kept creeping up. Finally, halfway through the final set of 10, I had to hit pause and spin for 3 minutes. And even after doing that, knocking out those last 5 was really tough!
TIL that “Thew” is a fancy word meaning “muscular strength”. This workout is basically a fancy VO2 session, with 6 blocks of this:
1 minute ramp from 115-140% FTP
1 minute recovery at 50% FTP
2 minutes at 115% FTP
3 minutes recovery at 65% FTP
The 1-minute ramp wasn’t too bad (especially since Zwift’s ramp algorithm means you never actually get to the top-end wattage stated for the interval). The 1-minute recovery was helpful but short enough that I wasn’t recovered heading into the 2-minute VO2 interval, which was the hardest part of the set.
This one had me close to the limit, but I held on and finished it with no cheating.
This 60-minute workout looked like the easiest one of the week, so I scheduled it the day before doing one the final tough 2-hour workout of week 11.
Ruckus was made up of two sets of the same intervals:
7x 2 minutes at FTP (320W) at a comfortable cadence, 1 minute 75% FTP (240W) out of the saddle
6x 2 minutes at FTP (320W) at a comfortable cadence, 1 minute 75% FTP (240W) out of the saddle
This was tougher than I thought it would be, but it was also easier than the other workouts for week 11. Was this because my legs were tired from the previous workouts, or because I underestimated the difficulty of this particular workout? Maybe a bit of both. Those standing intervals kept my heart rate from recovering, which meant it stayed up over threshold for a good portion of that final 6x block.
And just like that, here I was: at the last real workout of BMU.
As it turned out, scheduling got a little crazy in the final days of week 11, because this happened:
That’s Grae Monica Vanderwall, our first grandchild, born on the morning of May 31! As you may (or may not) recall, one reason I began this Build Me Up journey in mid-March was that I knew I’d be a grandpa soon… and I wanted to be a fit grandpa.
I thought I might have to put off this one last workout of week 11, but then schedules changed and I was able to sneak it in before we hopped in the car to drive a few hours to see Grae and her parents.
This workout didn’t look as tough as the other 2-hour session (Aspire), but it certainly wasn’t easy either:
2x 30-minute Z3 blocks at 86% FTP (275W) with 200% FTP 5-second surges
2x blocks of 4 1-minute at VO2 (115% FTP, 370W) with 1 minute recovery
My legs were definitely feeling the accumulated work from the past few days, but the 275W was mercifully a bit lower than the regular sweet spot 290W, and I just kept turning the pedals over. The final VO2 surges were just a matter of keeping the cadence high and looking at that finish line arriving in the distance!
It was a huge mental load off to finish this workout before heading out to see baby Grae. That “mission accomplished” feeling never gets old!
Whine of the Week: Mixing FTP Test Types
It’s odd to me that Zwift has me doing the “full” FTP test (20-minute test) to wrap up the program in week 12, when I began the program with the ramp FTP test. Comparing the results of the two feels like a bit of an “apples to oranges” comparison, since it’s well-known that the ramp test tends to overstate power for riders with stronger sprint/short-term power like myself.
My guess is Zwift does it this way because it’s hard to properly pace the full test, so doing the ramp test gets people into the program easily with a semi-accurate FTP setting. (And by the end of BMU, you should be able to pace the full test quite nicely, having done so many intervals at or just above FTP).
But it feels like Zwift may be shooting themselves in the foot a bit with this approach, as many people will get a lower FTP result from the full test at the end of the program than they would from a ramp test. I wonder if many riders have taken that full test in the final week and were disappointed with the results.
So my plan is to do the full FTP test as prescribed but also a ramp test afterward to compare apples to apples. Stay tuned for those results.
Summing Up Week 11
This was the toughest week of the entire BMU program, no doubt. With a huge jump in TSS, and the accumulated fatigue of previous weeks already in my legs, I was intimidated heading into week 11. But I finished it (even if I had to hit pause for 3 minutes on Breakfast Returns)!
Week 1: 274 TSS
Week 2: 343 TSS
Week 3: 363 TSS
Week 4: 212 TSS
Week 5: 312 TSS
Week 6: 358 TSS
Week 7: 430 TSS
Week 8: 217 TSS
Week 9: 388 TSS
Week 10: 441 TSS
Week 11: 521 TSS
One to Keep, One to Throw Away
I think each week of BMU features a key “cornerstone workout” and another which doesn’t really need to be done, so I thought it might be useful to call those out each week, in case your schedule is tight. For week 11, here are my picks:
Key Workout – Breakfast Returns: It’s hard to pick a key workout for the week, but this is a strong 30/30 session that will push you to the limit (it sure did for me). 30/30s are a proven workout that fit perfectly into the final weeks of BMU.
Throw Away – Tenacity: I’m not saying this is a “bad” workout, and in fact, I almost didn’t pick a throw-away this week, because I think it’s a great goal to complete all 5 workouts in the final week. But if you had to skip one, I think Tenacity is the one that feels most like an easier repeat of another work (Aspire) from the same week.
Coming Up Next Week
Week 12 is the last week of the program, and consists of 3 easy workouts and an FTP test.
It’s odd to me that Zwift has me doing the “full” FTP test to wrap up the program, when I began with the ramp test. Comparing the results of the two feels like a bit of an “apples to oranges” comparison, since it’s well-known that the ramp test tends to overstate power for riders with stronger sprint/short-term power like myself.
So my plan is to do the full FTP test as prescribed but also a ramp test afterward to compare apples to apples. Stay tuned for those results.
Zwift has been steadily building a calendar of Zwift-owned events that ensure riders have a consistent set of race events to choose from each day. First the ZRacing monthly series began in September 2022, then the TT Club Series was spun up in December 2022. The Crit Club arrived in May, and this week Zwift has announced their new “Hill Climb Racing Club”.
(For those unaware: the Hill Climb is an eccentric, lung-busting, very British genre of IRL bike racing. GCN did a nice bit on it a few years back if you’d like to know more.)
Hill Climb Event Details
The Hill Climb Racing Club is hosting daily Hill Climb race events beginning June 5. The selected climbs get progressively harder each week, and there are two crucial things to understand:
Riders are ranked on ZwiftPowerbased on their KOM time only. Your finishing time on the route is of no consequence – you will be scored based on your time on the climb.
Drafting is disabled, so there’s no need to hang with the pack for a slight advantage on the climbs. Ride at your pace, treating the start like a warmup and the finish like a cooldown if you’d like.
Here’s the schedule of climbs and overall routes for the next 5 weeks:
While events are only scheduled for the next 5 weeks, our hunch is this is an experimental launch of a new Hill Climb series, and if interest is high enough the series will continue.
Need a Climbing Rig?
Cannondale EVO + Lightweight MeilensteinsSpecialized Aethos + Roval Alpinist CLX
This weekend’s big feature is the WBR 500 events, where thousands of riders will gather to raise money for a worthy cause. We’re also highlighting a monthly imperial century ride and the start of three different race series!
✅ Feel-Good Factor✅ Unlocks/Prizes✅ Popular Event ✅ Innovative Format
The WBR (World Bicycle Relief) 500 is back! Join the team at WBR to help raise money to purchase bikes for those in need. Events will be taking place every 90 minutes for most of Saturday. Upon completion of the event, riders will unlock the World Bicycle Relief in-game cycling kit. Riders will also be placed on the Buffalo Fahrrad bike during these events.
Looking for a competitive race this weekend? Team DIRT is hosting the first race of their Hors Categorie Series this Sunday. These races are longer races that test riders’ strength and endurance. DIRT also has a set of rules in place to ensure that the race is as fun and competitive as possible.
The first race will take riders through the coastal roads of the Makuri Islands. All categories will be racing 5 laps of the Island Outskirts course.
For those who love endurance rides, this USMES ride will be of interest. In the first week of every month, USMES hosts their monthly century ride. Two different leaders/beacons are in the ride: one will be paced at 2.5 w/kg and the other at 3.0 w/kg.
This month, riders will tackle 100 miles (161 kilometers) of the Wandering Flats course in the Makuri Islands.
This weekend marks the start of yet another race series. This one, put on by Galaxy Cycling Club, is a points-based race series with both a men’s and women’s version. The men will race on Saturday and the women will race on Sunday. Multiple time slots are also available to make the event as rider-friendly as possible.
Both the men and women will be racing on 3 laps of the Rolling Highlands course in Scotland.
As team HISP’s latest mini-tour, this series is single-category and time-based. The best time that each rider achieves each week is the one that is counted towards their total time. Riders can race each stage as many times as they would like.
The series starts punchy with the 2 laps of the Astoria Line 8 course in New York. Expect a pretty quick and competitive race!
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
Got other events that stand out this weekend? Share below in the comments!
Included in this week’s top 5 Zwift videos is a video where a top 5 Zwift racer in the world looks back on the Chasing Pink series, a rider completes a Zwift race after recently running a marathon, a Zwifter tackles an endurance race, a comparison between the Zwift Hub and Wahoo Kickr, and a look at how much a Zwifter has improved in 2 years.
Chasing Cheaters in the Chasing Pink Tour
Cheating in Zwift is inevitable. As the fifth-ranked rider on Zwift Power, Josh Harris takes us through his experience with the Chasing Pink series, covering 12 of the stages, commentary of each of the stages, and more!
Zwift Race After a Marathon
After recently running a marathon, J Mower Cycling takes on a Zwift race. As he goes through his race recording, he talks about where he could have improved, why the race went the way it did, and more.
We Are Back with B’s | Top 10!
Eric Barfell has recently been focusing on training for IRL crit races. However, he decides to hop back on Zwift and take on a grueling endurance race in Category B.
Zwift Hub vs Wahoo Kickr – Mid-Range vs Flagship
In Tariq’s latest video, he puts the Zwift Hub ($499) up against the Wahoo KICKR ($1299) and compares the smart trainers’ main aspects. Is the KICKR worth the extra cash?
How Much Has My Fitness Improved in 2 Years?
Oliver, aka Not Tadej Pogacar, has been racing on Zwift for quite a while now. In this video, he takes a look at how much he has improved over the past two years, comparing two of his races on the same course.
Got a Great Zwift Video?
Share the link below and we may feature it in an upcoming post!
Zwift Companion Version 3.47: Clubs Notifications, iOS 16 Fix + More
Zwift released its latest Companion app (version 3.47) yesterday on Android and iOS, and it includes some key updates and fixes for iOS users. See all the details below…
Apple (iOS)
Added Support for ZAP Encryption When Using Zwift Hardware
We haven’t heard much about ZAP yet, but this is some sort of communication protocol Zwift has created for use with the Zwift Hub and (we assume) the ZCog and controllers discussed in our recent post on Zwift leaks.
Increased the Minimum Supported Operating System to iOS 13
Zwift is deprecating iOS 12 for Zwift Companion as of May 31. That means if you’ve been running Companion on an older iPhone or iPad running iOS 12, it will no longer work as of today’s update. (This iOS 13 requirement brings Companion’s minimum iOS version in line with the minimum iOS version required to run Zwift on iOS.)
Updates to Club Notifications Settings Including Turning On/Off Notifications Per Club
This has been a popular feature request ever since Clubs got big and people started using the Club Chat feature.
With this update, you can select “Club Notifications” using the 3-dot menu at the top-right of any Club’s homepage in iOS. From there, you can turn off all Club chats (which applies to all Clubs you are a member of) or just turn off club chat for the particular Club you have selected:
Chat turned on for all clubsChat turned off for specific club
You may do the same for new Club event notifications.
Fix for iOS 16 Users that Cannot Pair with Zwift App Due to Network Interface Conflicts
This (hopefully) solves an issue that first appeared back in September 2022, preventing some iOS 16 users on newer phones from connecting their Companion app to the live game.
Fixed a sorting issue with Quarterly view of Leaderboards
Fix an issue with scatter graph labels of Leaderboards
Visual improvements when rendering route maps throughout Zwift Companion
Usability improvements for interacting with Zwift Hardware
Google (Android)
This update doesn’t include as many new features for Android users, but to be fair, they already had Club notification customization from an earlier update, and of course the iOS 16 bug didn’t affect Android users.
Visual improvements when rendering route maps throughout Zwift Companion
Usability improvements for interacting with Zwift Hardware
Tiny Race Series – June 3 Routes and Last Week’s Results
Last week’s Tiny Races got steeper with each race. This week we’re doing something similar, but we’re using routes that include dirt/sand, just to make things even more interesting.
But before we get to that, let’s look at last week’s honor roll!
Each of this week’s races features dirt/sand at key parts of the route. Use it to your advantage by attacking in the dust cloud or choosing a bike that gives you the edge at just the right time.
Race 1: Fine and Sandy (6.85km, ending at Tidepool Sprint) Hit the Mech Isle climb early, then it’s a flat, fast ride through Festival Harbor and Mangrove Maze before we take on the beachfront Tidepool Sprint.
Powerup: Aero Boost (1x)
Race 2: Seaside Sprint (5.676km, ends at Volcano Circuit arch) This one is a bit of a roller coaster, starting on The Esses, down across the JWB sprint reverse, down the Dirty Sorpressa, then finishing inside the Volcano on one of Zwift’s most technical and challenging finishes.
Powerup: Draft Boost (2x)
Race 3: Serpentine 8 (5.5km, ends on rise climbing out of Mayan cutoff) This route is tricky in terms of bike choice, because it begins on pavement, is mostly dirt, but finishes on bricks! There’s even a bit of wood thrown in for good measure. Each of these surfaces rolls differently on different bikes, so you need to decide where you want your advantage. Read more about Crr on Zwift for details.
Powerup: none
Race 4: Sea to Tree (1 lap, ends at Temple KOM banner) We saved the biggest climb for last. Get ready to go all-in on this long dirt climb! You could do a bike swap at the bottom, but most riders will probably just start on a gravel rig.
Zwift displays preliminary race results in game when you cross the line, but points are computed after all four races are finished, with final results on ZwiftPower. (We have to do some data processing on our side to compute results, so if your rankings don’t show up right away, be patient.)
Riders will earn points based on finish position in each of the 4 Tiny Races. The category winner of each week’s series is the rider with the most points across their timezone’s 4 races. Here are the links for each timezone’s results on ZwiftPower:
Tiny Race rules are simple, but still every week 7-10% of registered ZwiftPower racers get disqualified and removed from the final results. Don’t let that be you! Four races, four rules:
You must have a ZwiftPower account, because final results are processed by ZwiftPower (learn how to sign up)
No skipping then returning. These races are meant to be raced as a set of 4. If you need to leave early, that’s fine… but once you miss a race in your hour’s set of 4, don’t come back and race another or you’ll be disqualified from that race since you rested while others were racing! (Example: racing only races 1 and 2 is fine. Racing 1, 2, and 4 is not – you will be DQ from race 4. And if you race 2, 3, and 4, you’ll be DQ from all those races, since you skipped race 1!)
Heart rate monitors are required for podium finishers
ZPower/Virtual power is not allowed. Smart trainer/smart bike or power meter required.
Join a Chat & Chill Cooldown
Immediately following each hour’s racing, we’ve scheduled 30-minute “Chat & Chill” events where riders from all categories can spin their legs together and chat about how it all went down. Find them at zwift.com/events/tag/tinyraces.
Zwift Insider Kit Unlock
Finish any Tiny Race or a Chat & Chill ride and unlock the Zwift Insider “Ride Smarter // Ride Harder” in-game kit.
