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Wahoo Recapitalized by Founder + Additional Investors

Eric Schlange
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8
Wahoo Recapitalized by Founder + Additional Investors

Wahoo Recapitalized by Founder + Additional Investors

Wahoo Fitness has been a worldwide leader in the smart trainer industry since the introduction of their first KICKR in 2012. And even though their latest KICKR leads the pack in terms of features, the post-Covid years have been challenging for the cycling industry overall, and for Wahoo in particular.

The situation became downright dire a few months ago, when (according to a brilliant article by DC Rainmaker) “15 different banks had called the debt, and took over the business.” Since then, Wahoo has been in a sort of holding pattern. They ceased marketing, most sponsorships, and limited non-critical business functions, including product development, all in an attempt to save money.

But there’s good news!

Wahoo announced this week that founder Chip Hawkins, along with “new and current investors”, has “fully recapitalized its business.” Or to put it more simply: Chip and additional investors have bought back Wahoo from the banks and put it on solid financial footing.

According to DC Rainmaker, the additional investment partners are:

Wahoo’s press release says these are “new and current investors with substantial experience in supporting diverse connected fitness and endurance athlete platform businesses.”

Here’s more from the press release:

Confidential terms of the arrangements eliminate all debt and provide significant cash liquidity designed to extend the company’s prominence in advancing innovation in the global smart fitness and training category.

Wahoo Founder, Chip Hawkins commented, “The successful recapitalization of the business provides the flexibility we were seeking as a management team to allow for investment in innovation and growth from the company’s substantial base and category leadership position, by diversifying the breadth of its offerings to better support athletes and fitness enthusiasts.  Wahoo’s management team is energized by a renewed focus on delighting its customers and continuing Wahoo’s mission of building a better athlete in all of us.”

Mike Saturnia, Wahoo CEO stated, “The investment from both new and existing investors is a clear sign of confidence in the strength of Wahoo- specifically our team, brand, strategy, and powerful ecosystem of innovative products, software, and services.  This could not have happened without months of hard work and support from our channel partners.  We want to thank our supply chain and retail and distribution partners for their trust and confidence as we navigated to a successful conclusion to this process.” 

The terms of this transaction are confidential.

Questions or Comments?

Be sure to read DC Rainmakers much more thorough post on this topic for a clearer picture of what led up to this week’s announcement.

Got questions or comments? Post below!

Zwift Academy Tri Team 2023 Announced

Eric Schlange
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2
Zwift Academy Tri Team 2023 Announced

Zwift Academy Tri Team 2023 Announced

The Zwift Academy Tri Team has just been announced. This year IRONMAN changed their World Championships locations so the men race in Nice, France, while women race in Kona, Hawaii. Because of this change, Zwift made the decision to select an all-female team for the first time. The women will be working to qualify for and compete in the 2023 IRONMAN World Championships in Kona.

The full text of Zwift’s press release is below.

Zwift, the global online fitness platform, has today announced the four women who will comprise the 2023 Zwift Academy Tri Team. All four women will receive support as they attempt to qualify for IRONMAN World Championships, held in Kona, Hawaii, in October 2023. 

Thousands of athletes participated in this year’s Zwift Academy Tri. For most participants, this year’s program was an opportunity to improve from their baseline fitness. The program included six structured workouts, as well as a Finish Line Run and Finish Line Ride. Finalists also submitted personal video statements. The 2023 Zwift Academy Tri team was then selected from these finalists. 

2023 marks the first time the Zwift Academy Tri team will be an all-female team. With the men’s and women’s races now alternating between Kona, Hawaii, and Nice, France, Zwift made the decision to focus on athletes competing in Kona, leading to this year’s all-female team.

The four members of the team are:

  • Stephanie Clutterbuck, Great Britain
  • Livia Eggler, Switzerland
  • Camille King, France
  • Jana Richtrova, Czech Republic 
Jana Richtrova
Stephanie Clutterbuck
Camille King
Livia Eggler

Zwift Academy Tri aims to identify the world’s best triathlon talent. The goal of the program is to support athletes, ensuring they have every advantage in their quest to race for the podium, or even win, on triathlon’s biggest stage.

To help athletes prepare for IRONMAN World Championships, athletes will travel to Koblenz, Germany, to complete bike fitting and aero position refinement with Zwift Academy Triathlon bike partner Canyon. Athletes will also receive high-performance equipment from SRAM, wheels from Zipp, and will receive training, health, fitness, and equipment support from other partner brands. 

The most current information on the Zwift Academy Tri program can be found here. 

Zwift Update Version 1.40 (111622) Released

Eric Schlange
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100
Zwift Update Version 1.40 (111622) Released

The latest Zwift update has been announced and will be released in phases over the next couple of days. This is a minor update mostly focused on fixing issues introduced in the previous update (1.39.0). Let’s dig into the details…

First, A Note from Zwift

The forum thread for this update begins with this post from Mike Lusthaus, recently-hired CTO at Zwift:

Hi everyone,

I’d like to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Mike and I’m the Chief Technical Officer at Zwift. Our last game release, version 1.39, was not at the quality level that it needed to be, and we know that there were many issues that prevented you from enjoying riding and running in Zwift. We take your feedback very seriously, and are grateful to the many members of the Zwift community who reported issues and provided helpful information about your experience, environments, and devices.

The new game version 1.40 is focused on resolving many of these issues as our top priority, and we have many additional fixes and improvements actively in development which will be released as part of our next game release real soon.

Version 1.39 is an important release for us as it contained a major merge to our game codebase. We tested it a lot and rode it internally for weeks but still missed some things we should have caught. Going forward, we won’t have this type of merge behavior and while we will still introduce issues from time to time, they shouldn’t be as broad as the ones we introduced in 1.39. As you’ve likely noticed, we’ve been investing in our game launcher so that we can release phased rollouts of new versions (which lets us minimize blast radius in the event of an unexpected critical issue), and we’re investing in our automated testing and crash detection systems. We have a renewed focus on driving down existing bugs and quality-of-life issues in the game, and we’re in the final stages of testing Zwift for native Apple Silicon which we’ve observed to have huge performance improvements across the board.

Thank you for your patience and please keep your feedback coming. We’re working hard to keep you riding and continue to improve the experience alongside launching new features.

Mike Lusthaus and the Zwift engineering team

A few worthy callouts from Mike’s note:

  • An exceptional update: Mike notes that 1.39 “contained a major merge to our game codebase” but also notes “Going forward, we won’t have this type of merge behavior”. Sounds like Zwift is planning to make code changes in smaller but steadier steps.
  • Investing in testing: Mike says “we’re investing in our automated testing and crash detection systems.” Applause for this! We would love to see Zwift provide more detail as to the cause of crashes, and of course better automated testing is a big win for everyone.
  • Zwift for native Apple Silicon coming soon: “we’re in the final stages of testing Zwift for native Apple Silicon which we’ve observed to have huge performance improvements across the board.” This should be very good news to everyone with a newer Apple machine that uses Apple silicon.

New Look for Ride RoboPacers

RoboPacer cyclists have been modified to look like actual robots instead of holographic humans:

One reason Zwift told us this change was made was to make it clear that RoboPacers put out a draft “shadow” just like any other rider. Making them look like actual physical riders in game, and not a hologram, helps clarify this while the robo look makes it clear they are automated riders.

Run RoboPacers have the same look as before, but Zwift says this will change in a future release.

HoloyReplay Icon Tweak

The beacon floating above the head of HoloReplays has been modified so it’s different from the RoboPacer beacon (see below). This icon was also updated in the rider list on the right.

RoboPacer icon
HoloReplay icon

More Fixes and Tweaks

Here is the list of fixes/tweaks Zwift included in their release notes:

  • Adjusted estimated duration for La Reine to bring it in line with other routes.
  • Joining a RoboPacer or another Zwifter is more reliable.
  • Fixed an issue causing misrouting when riding the Big Foot Hills, Downtown Titans, Zwift Gran Fondo 2022 or Eastern Eight routes.
  • Fixed a crash during launch when running on Windows N Edition.
  • Fixed a crash on Android when signing in for the second time after saving or discarding a ride.
  • Fixed a crash that could occur when scrolling through race results.
  • Fixed an issue preventing calibration of the Sterzo steering device.
  • Fixed an issue with the Zwift Hub not properly setting “free ride” blocks from Erg mode to SIM mode in workouts.
  • Fixed an issue that was causing the Zwifters Nearby list to scroll unexpectedly while viewing other Zwifters and made the Ride On button inaccessible.
  • Fixed an issue where Kickr Bike steering could not be disabled.
  • Fixed an issue with Tacx trainers not properly applying correct road feel for tarmac and cobbles.
  • Fixed an issue where additional cobblestone sections were appearing in France.
  • Fixed issue where running kit changed colors mid-session.
  • Fixed an issue where some effects like dust and rain were glowing.
  • Fixed an issue where menu buttons would be unresponsive if the Action Bar was visible.
  • Fixed the interaction for ignoring screenshots when ending an activity.
  • Fixed an issue where some Notable Moment screenshots were blurry.

See notes on this update release in the Zwift forum >

Known Bugs Carried Over from 1.39

  • Popup detail text not showing on ride summary power curve chart
  • Vertical scrollbars not functioning properly in the garage when trying to scroll through items using your mouse in Windows 10.
  • Difficulty editing intervals in workout editor due to remapping of arrow key behavior

Questions or Comments?

If you spotted any other changes or bugs in the update, please comment below!

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

Eric Schlange
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13
Tiny Race Series – May 20 Routes and Last Week’s Results

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

Last week’s Tiny Races resulted in some very close overall points competitions. In fact, we awarded the first ever DOUBLE WIN (aka, a draw) to the D category mixed group in Time Zone 3, where the two top riders both won 2 firsts and 2 seconds in their races.

(Typically we give the overall win to the rider with the highest single race placings, but in this case we couldn’t since they both had the same single race placings!)

Rather than bringing it down to finishing times, we decided to award the first-ever overall tie, to celebrate this unique occurrence. Well done, David White (EVO) and Craig Harcombe!

Last Week’s Results

Overall Winners

Zone 1 (9am UTC)

A: Joakim Lisson (POAUTO-CeramicSpeed)
B: Westley Yates
C: Gertjan Van Schelvergem (BZR)
D: Damo (EVO)

Zone 2 (3pm UTC)

A: Jon Werme (eSRT)
B: P. Vignol (FFZ)*
C: Peter Enserer (WLBB)
D: Cody Chandler (DraftingDinos)

Zone 3 (9pm UTC)

A: Sam Crofts (DIRT)
B: Colin B. (DIRT)
C: James Balloch (Coalition)
D: TIE: David White (EVO) and Craig Harcombe**

* Vignol tied with “Mark R” in points, but Vignol gets the overall win since he had the highest single race finish.
** David and Craig both achieved 2 1st place wins and 2 2nd place wins, tying them for points. We considered looking at finish times to declare the winner, but decided to give them both the win instead!

Women’s Winners

Zone 1 (9am UTC)

A: Emilia Welte (SYNERGY)
B: Maria Marb (Beastmode pb ROSE)
C: Jessica Hamilton (KittyHawk)
D: –

Zone 2 (3pm UTC)

A: –
B: Amanda Wendorff (IRACELIKEAGIRL)
C: Jill Sarginson (Synergy)
D: Darja Vavpetic (VirtuSlo)

Zone 3 (9pm UTC)

A: –
B: –
C: Carly Graham (CrushPod)
D: Mina S (ZSUNR)

This Week’s Races: 1 Route, 4 Powerups

To celebrate/highlight/test Zwift’s newly rebalanced powerups, this week, for the first time, we’re racing the same route for all four races. The only difference between the races is the powerup you will receive near the start of the race.

How will powerups change the race? And will riders learn and improve on this very technical finish after taking it on race after race? Let’s find out!

  • Race 1: Volcano Circuit CCW (4.84km, ends at Volcano Circuit lap banner)
    • Powerup: Feather (1x)
  • Race 2: Volcano Circuit CCW (4.84km, ends at Volcano Circuit lap banner)
    • Powerup: Draft Boost (1x)
  • Race 3: Volcano Circuit CCW (4.84km, ends at Volcano Circuit lap banner)
    • Powerup: Burrito (1x)
  • Race 4: Volcano Circuit CCW (4.84km, ends at Volcano Circuit lap banner)
    • Powerup: Ghost (1x)

Sign up at zwift.com/events/tag/tinyraces

ZwiftPower Results

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:

Rules

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.

Questions or Comments

Post below!

RoboPacers on Alpe du Zwift: Summit Seeker Weekends Announced

Eric Schlange
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32
RoboPacers on Alpe du Zwift: Summit Seeker Weekends Announced

RoboPacers on Alpe du Zwift: Summit Seeker Weekends Announced

Almost a year ago, Zwift organized several test events using RoboPacers on Alpe du Zwift. The idea was that riders could join the RoboPacer holding their desired pace, then climb the Alpe with the bot instead of focusing on personal power numbers.

Schedule Details

This month, Zwift has brought back the climb pacer idea with a set of events titled “Summit Seeker”. James Bailey at ZHQ tells us that the plan for now is to hold Summit Seeker events on the last weekend of each month, alternating between climbing Alpe du Zwift and Ventoux.

The first weekend is on Alpe du Zwift May 26-28, and the events are already in the system, slotted every three hours beginning Friday at 11am UTC/7am EDT/4am PDT.

See upcoming events at zwift.com/events/tag/alpepacer

Introducing Summit Seeker Bots

Zwift has created a fresh set of RoboPacers for these events, and riders simply sign up for the category that corresponds to their desired pace. Each category begins separately, with faster Pacer Groups starting first.

Here are the categories, RoboPacer names, paces, and estimated Alpe du Zwift climb times:

  • A – Andrew Alpinist – 4.0 w/kg – 49 minutes
  • B – Beth Baroudeur – 3.3 w/kg – 59 minutes
  • C – Christopher Climber – 2.8 w/kg – 69 minutes
  • D – Danielle Danseuse – 2.15 w/kg – 89 minutes
  • E – Émile Étape – 1.6 w/kg – 119 minutes

See upcoming events at zwift.com/events/tag/alpepacer

Starting with a Warmup

You don’t need to be warmed up before starting your Summit Seekers ride. Each Pacer Group will start you off with a gentle warm-up at 75% of the climbing pace until you reach the start of Alpe du Zwift. Once the climb begins, the RoboPacer will hold the stated pace to the top!

Pacing Strategies

How should riders use the RoboPacers in these Summit Seeker events? It’s up to you, and may vary depending on your personality, fitness level, and goals. Here are a few ideas:

  1. Steady on: sit on the RoboPacer’s wheel for the entire climb, letting the bot pace you like a Tour de France domestique.
  2. Catch me if you can: try to stay ahead of the RoboPacer for the duration of the activity.
  3. A hard finish: hang with your RoboPacer for most of the ride, then go hard near the end if you’ve got anything left.
  4. Hold on for dear life: join a Pacer Group slightly above your ability level, then hold on as long as you can. Do the same thing next month and see if you’ve gotten stronger!

Climbing Bike Recommendations

Specialized Aethos (level 34) and Roval Alpinist CLX wheels (level 32) – the fastest climbing rig in game

In Zwift, each bike frame and wheelset performs differently based on aerodynamics and weight. If you’re unsure which frame and wheel combo to use for these events, check out Fastest Climbing Bike Frames and Wheels at Each Zwift Level and learn which available frame and wheel combo will climb the Alpe best!

Questions or Comments?

Post below!

All About this Weekend’s “Ride Like King 15” WBR Benefit Events

Eric Schlange
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0
All About this Weekend’s “Ride Like King 15” WBR Benefit Events

All About this Weekend’s “Ride Like King 15” WBR Benefit Events

Celebrate the 15th year of Ride Like King (and its 6th year on Zwift) this weekend with events featuring celebrity leaders, product giveaways, and jersey unlocks.

Every 500km ridden by the Zwift community means one more Buffalo bike donated to World Bicycle Relief… up to 500 bikes! Read on for more details…

What is Ride Like King?

In 2007, at age 73, Giant Group King Liu completed a 15-day, 927km ride around Taiwan.  This resulted in a renewed passion for cycling and the benefits it brings to the individual, community, and country.  Following this, King traveled to countries and spoke with governments to promote the positive impacts of cycling. 

His message resonated within the company as well. ‘Ride Like King’ started in 2009 as a small event within the Giant Group to celebrate their founder’s passion for cycling. But it grew to be an annual event and now is in its 15th edition! Zwift is an active partner and has been hosting the event on its platform since 2018.

The WBR Buffalo Bike IRL
And in game!

Bring On the Buffalos!

To honor Giant Group celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, a new “500 for 500” challenge is being introduced. Giant Group will donate one bike for every 500km ridden by participants on Zwift virtual rides and outdoor rides that get logged through World Bicycle Relief’s “Ride Like King 15” campaign hub. The goal is to accumulate enough kilometers to donate up to 500 bikes, which will surpass last year’s total of 300.

Event Schedule and Details

This year there are 12 Zwift ride events over three days with open and women’s-only options for each event. The Zwift rides will be supported/led by Giant and Liv pro racers from affiliated teams including Team Jayco AlUla, Liv Racing TeqFind, the Giant Factory Off-Road Team and Liv Racing Collective along with Giant Group ambassadors including Tim Searle, Rahsaan Bahati, and Shequaya Bailey of The Black Foxes.

Everyone will be assigned RLK15 kits during their rides, unlocking those kits upon completion of a ride. Riders will be assigned Giant TCR Advanced SL Disc bikes for the open rides or Liv Langma Advanced SL bikes for the women’s rides. For the gravel rides, riders will be assigned the Giant Revolt Advanced Pro for the open rides, and the Liv Devote Advanced Pro for the women’s rides.

Alternatively, three of the rides (one per day) will use WBR Buffalo Bicycles for both the open and women’s rides (see event details in Companion app for each event’s bike assignment).

There’s a fresh route each day, encouraging riders to complete more than one RLK15 event. Each day features four timeslots, with different times each day for ultimate availability. The route schedule is:

Friday, May 19
Makuri Islands’ Neokyo All-Nighter (1 lap)
Total Distance: 24.6 km
Total Elevation: 167 m

Saturday, May 20
France’s Douce France (1 lap)
Total Distance: 24.8 km
Total Elevation: 136 m

Sunday, May 21
Watopia’s Triple Flat Loops (1 lap)
Total Distance: 36.2 km
Total Elevation: 161 m

Gravel Events (all three days)
1 Lap of Watopia’s Jungle Circuit or Jungle Circuit Reverse

Sign up for events at zwift.com/events/tag/rlk15

Jersey Unlock and Prize Drawing

Completing any of the events will unlock the RLK15 jersey (shown above).

Riders who finish any of the events are eligible to win IRL prizes. Five randomly-chosen riders from each of the 12 event timeslots will win a limited-edition Ride Like King 15 jersey along with a card signed by King Liu.

Questions or Comments?

Post below!

Introducing The Zwift Club Ladder

Douglas Cook
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14
Introducing The Zwift Club Ladder

Introducing The Zwift Club Ladder

Want to be part of one of the most exciting new race formats on Zwift? (Don’t just take my word for it, those that have taken part so far have called it “Game changing”, “A blast” and “The most enjoyable races I have taken part in.”) Read below to learn all about the Zwift Club Ladder!

Innovation, Collaboration

A collaboration between Team Electric Spirit Co., TT1, Sunrise Racing, and Rhino Racing, the Zwift Club Ladder promises to be one of the most exciting new formats on Zwift in a long time. Currently midway through its first season, nearly 30 teams are involved, with over 400 riders having taken part in races so far.

Leapfrog Ladder League

The league is a team-based one operating in a leapfrog ladder league format. Never heard of that before? It’s a particularly popular format in racquet sports, so you may have taken part in one at your local tennis club. It works through a series of challenges, with each team free to choose who to play by challenging teams up to 5 places above them in the league to a race on the course of their choice. They then race against that team and if they win, leapfrog above them in the standings, and bump their opponents down.

Points Format

The races themselves are run in a head-to-head team format, with two teams of 5 riders going up against each other. The winning rider scores 12 points, through to 1 point for 10th. The points are then totalled up, with the team with the highest combined points winning the match. If you’ve not previously raced in a 5v5 team format like this, it makes for hugely tactical racing as teams look to outsmart their opponents.

One Big League

An innovative feature of the league is the way it mixes all abilities into a single uber league together. Each individual team is made up of a squad of riders based on Zwift Racing Rank, and upon joining the league for the first time they will be ranked accordingly against current teams.

From there, the only boundaries in who they race are those within 5 places in the league, whether they are riders of a higher “category” or not. While this might seem daunting at first, we are already seeing teams taking the scalp of those that would traditionally race in a higher “category”. The format in particular helps with this, as very rarely do pure watts win the day in such a tactical racing format. The fluid nature of the league also means it never ends, the battle is not to be at the top of the table at “season end” but to climb as high as you can and continually battle the challengers around you to keep your spot. This also makes it very easy for teams to join or leave the league on an almost ongoing basis.

Scheduling Flexibility

For captains and managers pulling their hair out at chasing riders for a set time every week, the flexibility of organizing for the league is a breath of fresh air. It allows teams to fit racing around their schedules and other racing commitments, with the power to choose their opponents, race dates, times, and courses.

This does mean there is a bit more involvement from captains required to pick courses and set races up themselves using Zwift Clubs. Hence, it’s not quite as simple as turning up to ride, so we do ask that everyone interested in participating takes the time to read the race book carefully before deciding if you want to sign up.

Read the race book >

Get More/Sign Up

If all that was not enough to whet your appetite, how about checking out some of the race action in a recent Swedish Zwifters v Team Electric Spirit Co. battle:

Or head on over to the league website to check out the current standings and upcoming fixtures: https://ladder.cycleracing.club/

Read all that and want to come battle? Sign up here and we’ll be in touch very soon.

Questions or Comments?

Post below!

Rebel Route: Glasgow Crit Circuit Reverse

Eric Schlange
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3
Rebel Route: Glasgow Crit Circuit Reverse

Note: Zwift turned this into an official in-game route in March 2024. Read about the official route here.

Zwift’s Scotland map has beautiful views and purpose-built racing segments including the Sgurr climb, Glasgow Crit Circuit, and of course Breakaway Brae.

But there are only 5 official Scotland routes, so we decided it was time to create some thoughtful new ones. Today we introduce the third in our series of Scotland Rebel Routes. We’ve got one more coming next week!

“Glasgow Crit Circuit Reverse” does what it says on the tin: it’s the reverse version of the official Glasgow Crit Circuit route.

Have you seen the traffic cone atop the equestrian statue?

About Rebel Routes

“Rebel Routes” are Zwift rides not available on Zwift’s routes list, thus requiring manual navigation.

See all Rebel Routes >

The reward for your rebel ride? Exploring a new route, knowing you’ve gone where few Zwifters have gone before. And a Strava segment rank in the tens or hundreds instead of the thousands! Rebel Routes are also included as a separate category on our Veloviewer Route Hunter leaderboard.

Route Description

This is a simple route: just choose “Glasgow Crit Circuit” as your route, then once you ride through the Champion’s Sprint banner after your short lead-in, flip a u-turn and ride the circuit in reverse.

You’ll head uphill fairly quickly, hitting the pitchy Clyde Kicker Reverse segment (this short KOM isn’t covered by any of Zwift’s official Scotland routes). Then it’s a short descent passing beneath Central Station and winding back to the Champion’s Sprint banner for the finish. Wash, rinse, repeat!

Profile

Nothing is flat on this circuit, so be ready to punch those climbs if you’re chasing the KOM!

Getting Started + Lead-In

The easiest way to get started is to choose “Glasgow Crit Circuit” from your Scotland route options, then once you ride through the Champion’s Sprint banner after your short lead-in, flip a u-turn to ride the circuit in reverse.

Turn by Turn

No turn-by-turn instructions are needed for this Rebel Route. After flipping the u-turn at the Champion’s Sprint banner, there is only one intersection on this course. Just stay straight (left) at that intersection to stay in Glasgow and you’ll stay on course.

Route details:
Distance: 2.98km (1.9 miles)
Elevation Gain: 33m (108′)
Strava Segment

Rebel Route Suggestions

Got an idea for a great Rebel Route? Share it below and maybe we’ll publish a post about it!

Top 5 Zwift Videos: Weird Races, Gaining Fitness, and New Zwifters

Oli Chi
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0
Top 5 Zwift Videos: Weird Races, Gaining Fitness, and New Zwifters

This week’s top 5 Zwift videos include a video about winning a weird Zwift race, gaining fitness through Zwift racing, a new setup and first FTP test, a Zwift race with category enforcement, and a time trial.

Can I Win This Weird Zwift Race?

Upon signing up, Jake Sanderson from SNOWMAN Cycling hopes that more riders will join the race he is signed up for. With a poor turnout, Jake experiences some odd racing from the other riders in the race.

Get Stronger Racing on Zwift! Getting Dropped, Burritos, and Anvil Wars!

After recently participating in a KOM event in Taiwan, Leonard Goh returns home and resumes training. As part of his training, Leonard tries to race once a week; this video provides a recap of his last few races.

New Zwift Setup and First FTP test

In hopes of improving his fitness and lose weight, Ryan Condon purchases a Wattbike Atom. In this video, Ryan puts together his new Zwift setup and takes his first-ever FTP test!

Zwift Race with zMAP

As an attempt to make racing fairer, Zwift has recently released their category enforcement feature, which uses zMAP to calculate categories. Oliver Moore, aka not tadej pogacar, discusses his tactics and analyzes his recent Zwift race.

Steady TT Race

As an amateur triathlete, Mark Vear talks through his recent time trial on Zwift. Watch to hear his thoughts, strategies, and more!

Got a Great Zwift Video?

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

Training Log: Build Me Up, Week 8

Eric Schlange
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3
Training Log: Build Me Up, Week 8

Training Log: Build Me Up, Week 8

Welcome to my week 8 “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

After a tough week 7, week 8 was a breath of a fresh air… a regeneration week! I only did two workouts, throwing away the rather pointless “pedaling drills” workout and riding outdoors to enjoy myself a bit.

Workout Journal – Week 8

Tuesday, May 9: Hang Ten

See activity on Strava

Today was my 44th birthday, so I decided I needed to knock out at least 44 miles. While I would have loved to ride those miles outdoors, my day’s schedule didn’t really allow for it – plus I had two workouts to knock out for the week, and was running out of days to do them.

So I did a long warmup with Coco, then a Crit City race (read about it here), then this workout. Total distance: 56 miles!

The Hang Ten workout isn’t particularly tough, but racing beforehand put some sting in it for sure. The workout is made up of 5 sets of this 7-minute block:

  • 1 minute at 95% of FTP (305W)
  • 2 minutes at 80% of FTP (255W)
  • 1 minute at 110% FTP (350W)
  • 2 minutes at 80% of FTP (255W)
  • 1 minute at 95% of FTP (305W)

Of course, there were some cadence changes thrown in, but nothing too crazy.

Thursday, May 11: Bricolage

See activity on Strava: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

This was the big workout for the week – and at 2 hours long, this was also the longest workout yet in BMU! Bricolage, as the name suggests, has a little bit of everything: threshold work, Z2, Z3 with bursts, and some short VO2 intervals. All with cadence changes mixed in.

This workout was sort of crazy, but not because of the workout itself. I was juggling various things in my day (phone calls, Zwift tests, etc)… then Zwift decided to crash on my PC. Twice! So I had to restart the game, then hit tab to skip through the intervals I’d already done. That sort of sucked.

This workout didn’t look terribly hard on paper, but I was definitely dreading that final 10-minute block at FTP. I knew once I got there my legs would be rather tired. And I was right! But I was able to push through, doing some out-of-the-saddle riding to mix things up in those final hard 10 minutes.

Whine of the Week: Zwift Crashes

As mentioned above, Zwift crashed twice on me during my Bricolage workout this week. This is the first time Zwift has crashed during a BMU workout – but I’ve had various Zwift crashes over the years for sure.

Here’s my specific complaint: it’s not so much that Zwift crashes… it’s that Zwift crashes and I have no idea why. I can’t find any error logs that are helpful. I just wish, if Zwift was going to explode, it would log the reason why first. That’s all.

Summing Up Week 8

This week was an easy week. I got some outdoor rides in, did the two key workouts, and feel rested heading into the next block.

  • 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 (not counting my outdoor rides)

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 8, here are my picks:

  • Key Workout – Bricolage: While this wasn’t a super-efficient targeted workout, I think putting in the time and doing the work on various energy systems was a great way to maintain fitness during the regeneration week without stressing the body too much.
  • Throw Away – Pedaling Drills: We’ve already thrown away this 30-minute workout on previous weeks… it’s just nothing special. I skipped it this week.

Coming Up Next Week

Week 9 is next, and it looks like we’re heading into “pointy” short, hard efforts while trying to maintain the fitness base already built. “Mosaic” is going to be a doozy!

Questions or Comments?

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