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Zwift Update Version 1.24.0 (100757) Released

Eric Schlange
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85
Zwift Update Version 1.24.0 (100757) Released

The latest Zwift update is now available on all platforms: Mac, PC, Android, iOS, and AppleTV.

Not sure if your Zwift install is up-to-date? Here’s how to check >

This update includes free ridable former Rebel Routes, a couple of new bike frames, homescreen UI updates, and lots of workout localization. Here are the details…

Release the Rebel Routes!

The 5 Rebel Routes which were released for Tour of Watopia are now in-game and available for free riding. We’re not gonna lie – it’s pretty cool to see routes we designed here at Zwift Insider now available for free rides, for the first time ever!

New Bike Frames

Not included in the update notes, but added to the Drop Shop nonetheless, are two more frames:

  • Allied Able (gravel): 721,000 Drops, Level 15+ required, rated 2 stars for aero, 3 for weight
  • Scott Spark RC World Cup (MTB): 745,400 Drops, Level 21+ Required, rated 1 star for aero and weight

Additionally, Zwift tells us they’ve added the Giant Revolt Advanced and Liv Devote Advanced as event-only frames in this update. We assume these gravel frames are for use in upcoming partner events and will eventually be added to the Drop Shop.

We’re testing the Allied and Scott frames now, and will publish results when available.

Chapter2 TOA Frame Nerfed

Zwift included this line in the list of bug fixes for this release: “Fixed an issue causing the Chapter2 TOA frame to show as 4 stars weight instead of 3 stars.”

Yup. Zwift has nerfed the Chapter2 TOA, which had become the Tron-beating best all-arounder in game. Its Alpe du Zwift test climb time has gone from 48:54 to 49:03, while its flat time is essentially unchanged.

Related feature request: hopefully Zwift will create a way for Zwifters to sell back items in their garage, or just delete them, or save a handful of “preferred setups”, as more and more Zwifters are getting annoyed at the growing list of useless frames in their Zwift garage. Vote up this feature request >

KICKR Direct Connect Enabled for Windows

In a separate forum post from Shuji today, Zwift announced that Wahoo KICKR Direct Connect is now enabled for all Zwift platforms. Previously it had been enabled for all platforms except Windows, but as of today we’ve confirmed it’s working for Windows as well.

Read more about Wahoo KICKR Direct Connect and Zwift >

Home Screen UI Update, Rollout Notes

This release includes updates to Zwift’s new home screen UI which has been slowly rolling out to PC and Mac users since January.

Today’s update includes a “workout anytime” carousel which currently shows the Workout of the Week plus 5 random workouts for the day (Zwift says they plan to make this more intelligent as time goes on). Zwift has also improved the UI so you can select from any course on any world when you do a workout. Another way to ride any world at any time!

Workout carousel
Selecting a workout world
Selecting a route
Filter by Club under “Type” dropdown

Lastly, you can now filter upcoming events to only show events in your Clubs, using the “Type” dropdown. Unfortunately, this only shows Club events in the next 60 minutes, which isn’t terribly useful. Perhaps an event count limit makes more sense than a time limit, eg show the next 20 events (with the ability to click for more) instead of the next 60 minutes of events?

Zwift tells us the new home screen will be quickly rolling out to many more Windows and Mac users in the coming days, with testing now underway for AppleTV, iOS, and Android.

See Zwift forum topic for details and discussion >

Training Plans Available as On-Demand Workouts

Zwift has been working to put all Training Plan workouts into On-Demand list, so Zwifters can take advantage of these workouts on an ad-hoc basis. These were released in version 1.23.1, but Zwift has updated their folder names so they match the Training Plan titles:

  • Active Offseason
  • Back to Fitness
  • Build Me Up
  • Crit Crusher
  • Dirt Destroyer
  • Fondo
  • FTP Builder
  • Gran Fondo
  • Gravel Grinder
  • Pebble Pounder
  • Singletrack Slayer
  • TT Tune-Up
  • Zwift Racing

New Workouts of the Week

Workouts have been added to the on-demand list for April and May. You can only see the current week’s workout, which you can do on your own or in a Wednesday Group Workout. These four workouts are all about gravel:

  • April 18-24: ‘Texaco Hill’ Temp
  • April 25-May 1st: Recipe for Grit
  • May 2-8: Happy Trails
  • May 9-15: Dirty Teeth Drills

Workout Localization

Perhaps not a glamorous update, but Zwift continues to localize On-Demand workouts, rolling out 24 workouts in Japanese with this update. Workout of the Week workouts are also now localized into French, German, Spanish, and Japanese.

Lastly, running workouts have begun localization into French, German, Spanish and Japanese. Localized run workouts in this release include 3-2-1, 8x400m Repeats, Broken Tempo, Down and Up the Ladder, Endurance Run, Fartlek 5’s, Furtherance, Hill + Tempo #1, Hill + Tempo #2, and Ladder Intervals.

Lazer Helmet Update

The Lazer Bullet helmet was formerly given as one of the prizes atop the Alpe, but it’s been upgraded to the new Lazer Vento.

Don’t be creeped out, but Zwift managed to sneak into our garages and swap out all of our Bullets for Ventos, too. Thanks, ZHQ!

Bug Fixes and Misc Improvements

Here’s Zwift’s list of fixes and improvements included in this update, with notes in italic from us:

  • Running Training Plans now provide access to workouts from past weeks. This added flexibility was rolled out for cycling training plans in a previous update.
  • Fixed an issue causing some audio elements to be missing when the 3D World Volume slider was set to ON.
  • Fixed an issue causing the camera to sway in some situations when a Zwifter joins the world.
  • Fixed an issue on gravel surfaces that caused Tacx road feel to feel a bit more bumpy than it should have.
  • Fixed an issue that caused the Tour of Watopia cap and shoes to remain equipped after the Tour of Watopia event concluded.
  • Fixed an issue causing the logo for the ENVE wheelset to appear improperly.
  • Fixed an issue with the Back to Fitness training plan where the sprints were the wrong duration.
  • Fixed an issue with the workout text spacing in the Global 2×30 FTP intervals workout.

See Wes Salmon’s notes on this update release in the Zwift forum >

Questions or Comments?

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

Sub 7 Sub 8 Event Series Announced

Eric Schlange
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2
Sub 7 Sub 8 Event Series Announced

Sub 7 Sub 8 Event Series Announced

The Pho3nix SUB7SUB8 project powered by Zwift aims to break the 7 and 8-hour time barriers for both men and women respectively, in the sport of long distance triathlon (3.8 km/180 km/42.2 km). 

This is no small task: the current men’s iron distance record is 7:27:53, while women’s is 8:18:13. Two men and two women will meet up on Sunday, June 5 in DEKRA Lausitzring, Germany to attempt to rewrite the history books.

Leading up to the big event, Zwifters are invited to take part in an 8-week slate of events ranging from group rides/runs to races.

Event Schedule and Details

This series is made up of group rides and runs, running races, TT races, and drafting bike races. Six events are being held each day for the duration of the series.

Sub 7 events are open to men and women, while sub 8 events are for ladies only. All events are single-category events, so you will be racing against athletes of all abilities.

See all upcoming events at zwift.com/events/series/sub7-sub8-event-series

Kit Unlock

Complete any event throughout the 8-week series to unlock the exclusive SUB7SUB8 kit. 

About the Athletes

Two men and two women will be competing to set the Sub 7/Sub 8 mark. Here are their details….

Alistair Brownlee is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, two-time ITU World Champion, and four-time European Champion. He is the only person to have ever defended Olympic Gold in triathlon and is the first person to win the ITU Triathlon World Championships for Junior, U23, and Senior. 

In 2021, Kristian Blummenfelt stormed his way into the history books, becoming the first-ever male athlete to win both Olympic and World Championship titles in the same year. In November, he set the fastest iron distance time of 7:21:12 ever recorded on debut, at IRONMAN Cozumel.

Nicola Spirig is a Swiss triathlete and five-time Olympian. She won gold at the 2012 London Olympic Games in one of the closest sprint finishes in triathlon. In 2016, she claimed Silver in Rio and finished sixth in Tokyo 2021—her fifth Olympic Games. She was World Championship runner up in 2010, Junior World Champion in 2001, Junior European Champion in 1999, and Elite European Champion in 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2018. She was considering retirement before this project caught her attention. 

Lucy Charles-Barclay is ranked among the biggest names in Triathlon, and she’s just getting started. In Kona, she obliterated the 19-year old swim course record, recorded the second-fastest ever bike split and overall course time, and has never finished lower than second place. In 2021, she won the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship, solidifying her place at the top of the podium. All before the age of 26—and she’s only getting faster. 

About the Pho3nix Foundation

The Pho3nix Foundation is a non-profit organization with the sole purpose of promoting physical activity as a way to improve health and wellbeing among children with a particular focus on those in disadvantaged situations.

Questions or Comments?

Share below!

Coaching Explained… Zone 2 Training (Zwift PowerUp Cycling Podcast)

Eric Schlange
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4
Coaching Explained… Zone 2 Training (Zwift PowerUp Cycling Podcast)

Matt Rowe and Greg Henderson explain what Zone 2 training is, why it’s popular with some of the greatest cycling talents, and how you can implement it in your own training (even if you aren’t a pro)!

About the Podcast

The Zwift PowerUp Cycling Podcast features training tips from host Matt Rowe (Rowe & King), with regular co-hosts Greg Henderson, Rahsaan Bahati, Dani Rowe, and Kristin Armstrong.

UNBOUND Gravel Training Experience Series 2022 Announced

Eric Schlange
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15
UNBOUND Gravel Training Experience Series 2022 Announced

UNBOUND Gravel Training Experience Series 2022 Announced

UNBOUND Gravel is the world’s marquee gravel race. Known as “Dirty Kanza” for its first 15 years of existence, UNBOUND has earned Emporia, Kansas the name Gravel City, USA.

And now UNBOUND has named Zwift as its Official Training Community and Training App. So it’s no surprise to see Zwift partnering with UNBOUND to put together the ultimate Zwift experience for UNBOUND racers and others just looking for a training challenge!

Program Details

The program consists of weekly workouts, recovery rides, and endurance rides.

See all upcoming events at zwift.com/events/series/garmin-unbound-gravel >

On-Demand Weekly Workouts

Each week will feature three fresh workouts available in your “Garmin UNBOUND Gravel Training Plan” workout folder. There are two shorter sessions for midweek training, then one longer session for the weekend. Here are the first week’s workouts:

While the long weekend session exists as a workout file, it would appear that the intention here is not to actually ride it as a workout. Instead, as the workout description says, “Ride around the amazing worlds of Zwift, join in a Zwift group ride, or head outdoors – ideally on your gravel bike and off-road.” See “Endurance Rides” below for more on the Zwift groups rides…

Recovery Rides

These 45-minute group rides are held each Wednesday at various times. The idea is for rides to do these events in between their midweek workouts. Recovery ride events are planned on a variety of routes and may include special guest hosts (like Ashton Lambie, Whitney Alison, and Kae Takeshita) or podcast episodes.

Endurance Rides

These long weekend group rides are being held at various times each Saturday, and include different route options depending on the ride length and pace you desire. If you’re still missing a few long route badges, this events may tickle your fancy!

  • A Category: longer route, 2.5-4 w/kg target pace
  • B Category: shorter route, 2.5 w/kg target pace

Each week the endurance rides get longer as the program progresses. Here’s the full schedule:

Can’t make the big IRL UNBOUND event on June 4? Zwift is hosting a final set of endurance rides as a capstone to the program:

Kit Unlocks

The stylish UNBOUND kit and UNBOUND helmet are available as unlocks in this series.

  • Wednesday Recovery Rides April 13-May 4 will unlock the helmet
  • Wednesday Recovery Rides May 11-June 1 will unlock the kit

Prizes

ENVE is giving away a G23 gravel wheelset to one lucky winner. To be entered into the giveaway, complete all 16 midweek workouts in your on-demand workout folder.

Questions or Comments?

Share below!

How the Race Was Lost: Road to Ruined (ZRL Week 1)

Eric Schlange
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13
How the Race Was Lost: Road to Ruined (ZRL Week 1)

How the Race Was Lost: Road to Ruined (ZRL Week 1)

The first race of Zwift Racing League 2021/22 Season 3 was held last Tuesday, and it was a doozy in several ways. First race of the season. On a challenging route (Watopia’s Road to Ruins) with mixed surfaces and no intermediate points. And the first race in the B1 division (EMEA W) for my team (the DIRT Roosters) after working our way up, division by division, in the past three seasons.

Honestly, I didn’t think I would be able to hang with the front group until the finish, given the stronger riders in the B1 division and the two climbs on the course. But I resolved myself to give it all I had to stay with the front group. Here’s how it went…

Race Prep

With no intermediates to contest, our team strategy was simple: finish as close to the front as possible!

I did what I could to be fresh and prepared for the race:

  • Easy effort the day before
  • Plenty of sleep the night before
  • A clean, carby oatmeal breakfast
  • Beet juice two hours before the race
  • Caffeine gum – three pieces (300mg), one hour before the race
  • PR lotion on my legs about 45 minutes before the race. More bicarb=less burning.
  • Pick my bike setup (Chapter2 TOA + ENVE 7.8 wheels) and join the start pens with 30 minutes to go to save my spot in front.
  • A nice 30-minute warmup with the C. Cadence crew

My legs felt fresh, but I worried it wouldn’t be enough. Still, I was ready to give it all I had!

The First Climb

Hammering up the first climb

The race began tamely enough, with riders taking it easy through Ocean Boulevard, knowing the fireworks were up the road.

This is something important to understand about division 1 racers, especially in the B and A categories: most of them know how to race. Because of how ZRL promotions and demotions work, division 1 is stacked with strong teams. Why is that? Because the strongest division 1 team isn’t promoted up and out of the division, like they would be if they were in Division 2. Instead, they just stay there. The only team changes are the bottom two teams getting dropped to Division 2, while the top Division 2 teams are brought up to 1.

So you end up with the very best teams in that timezone, all stuck in Division 1. In theory, at least. Riders upgrading to a new category change this, as do new teams, but basically Division 1 has a lot of strong, smart racers.

As we turned left at the windmills to head toward the first climb, the road tilted up and the pace increased. This was it: the base of the Epic KOM. My nemesis. I’ve raced this section many times, and always seem to get dropped on it, early into the race. So I had already decided I would turn myself inside out to stay with the front pack on this climb, because I knew if I got dropped here, I wouldn’t see the front again.

The first part of the climb is the steepest, and it’s where I generally get dropped. So I moved toward the front before the climb began, giving me a bit of space to “sag” if needed while still staying in touch. Then I stomped on those pedals, trying to hold a good position.

And somehow, it worked! I got to the top of the steep section in the front pack. It took two minutes at 445W, but I had surprised myself. I tried to sit in and recover as we descended to the Jungle, because I knew the dirt climb wasn’t far away.

The Jungle Climb

The Zwift gods were angry. Despite my prayers for a steamroller powerup at the Jungle banner, I received (wait for it…) +10XP. Ouch.

Somehow the powerups were misconfigured for the event, so instead of getting something useful I got 10XP – the most useless “powerup” of all, given I’m at level 50 already!

Other riders reported getting +10XP as well, so at least I can find a bit of solace in the fact that the gods hadn’t singled me out. Still, it sucks pretty bad when some riders get the super-powerful steamroller powerup heading into the race’s key climb, while you get nothing. I sure hope Zwift/WTRL fixed this for future events.

I yelled at the Zwift gods, but to no avail. And as we began the Jungle climb riders attacked hard, and I simply didn’t have the legs to hang on. Was it the first climb that had emptied me? Was it the psychological strain of +10XP? Who knows. But I was dropped, sweating my way through dusty no man’s land in 35th place.

Dropped on the Jungle climb

Then it got worse: disaster struck our team captain Antoine partway up the climb when his Internet connection dropped! He was holding his own in the front group, but with no riders visible on screen and no draft benefit Antoine eventually climbed off the bike and rebooted his router to finish 57th.

In the space of just a couple of minutes, the Roosters had gone from 5 riders in front to 3. Ouch.

Trying to maximize my finishing position, I kept hammering with what I had left, chasing three riders up the road who had also fallen off the front pack. But try as I might I couldn’t catch up and grab their wheels. Eventually I just sat up and let the pack 15s behind catch me, because I knew I wouldn’t be able to stay away solo for 11km, and I wasn’t catching the riders ahead.

The Finish

Now in a pack of 11 representing places 34-44, my plan was to sit in then attempt to outsprint most of the riders and grab the 34th or 35th slot, since those slots were worth 1 more finishing point than 36th-40th. And it worked! One rider in our pack outsprinted me (nice work Andrew Hilton) but I grabbed 35th.

Teammate Dejan finished in a group just behind me, Antoine behind him, and we had three riders finish in the front group: Clem, Sean, and Thomas.

See activity on Strava >
See ride on Zwift.com >
See results on ZwiftPower >

Watch my race video (apologies for the audio mix):

Team Result

Our finish points were tied for third place with TFC Bugatti, but ties go to the team whose front rider finishes first, so TFC took third, beating us out by less than 1/10th of a second.

Another DIRT team (the Alligators) took first, so even though it hurt to lose, it hurt a bit less knowing DIRT won. Well done, Gators!

We would have easily grabbed third if Antoine hadn’t had a “mechanical” – but that’s just how these things go. Having upgraded from Division 2 to 1, I’d say we Roosters were fairly happy with our result – though not at all satisfied, of course.

Takeaways

Could I have raced this better? Only in terms of team communication, I think. My Discord comms were wacky (everyone’s voices were very quiet) and that may explain why I didn’t communicate well during the race.

And that’s an important note, because team-wise, it’s possible we didn’t play things as well as we could have. On the Jungle climb we had some riders pushing the pace at the front, which may have contributed to me being dropped. I didn’t communicate well with my team as I was struggling, though, so that’s on my shoulders. Possibly we could have eased on the climb and ended up with me in the front pack, able to sprint for a better finish.

But it’s also possible that other teams would have attacked on the climb anyway, and I would have still been dropped. We’ll never know for sure, but my takeaway this week was: do a better job of communicating with my team.

Your Thoughts

Share below!

Zwift Racing League 2021/22 Round 3 Week 2 Guide: Greater London Flat TTT (Giant Tips)

Eric Schlange
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0
Zwift Racing League 2021/22 Round 3 Week 2 Guide: Greater London Flat TTT (Giant Tips)

The first TTT of Zwift Racing League 2021/22 Round 3 happens Tuesday, April 12, and on paper it’s pretty straightforward. But the fastest teams will be those who dial in their pacing in order to keep speeds high over the slight rises scattered around the course.

Let’s dig into the race, including recommendations for bike choice, TTT tips, and crucial segments!

Looking at the Route: Greater London Flat

The Greater London Flat route is 11.6km long, with 45m of elevation gain per lap. But it includes a substantial lead-in (from the start pens to the Classique banner) of 5.7km, meaning all categories will be racing a total 28.9km over two laps of the course.

As the name implies, the course is quite flat, with no uphills more than a minute long or over 5% incline.

This image shows key points on the route. (Note that this shows the lead in plus one lap.) Click to enlarge.

Rather than take you through a turn-by-turn, let’s just discuss the key sections of this course from a TTT perspective.

The Start: the road is rolling at the start, so make sure you’re feeling the inclines and going harder on the uphills to maintain speed.

Northumberland Climb (400 meters). When the road turns a hard right you’ll start the first climb, which you’ll only see once today. Go hard up Northumberland to keep your pack speed high, then settle in at the top.

Piccadilly (1 km). Not a steep climb, but it’s draggy and you can lose valuable seconds if you don’t go hard.

Read more about the Greater London Flat route >

PowerUp Notes

Once again we get powerups in this TTT, adding a fresh strategic element to the race. Riders will be awarded powerups through each segment banner, meaning we’ll get 3 powerups during the race (at the start banner, then twice through the Classique banner). See course profile above for powerup arch locations.

Three powerups will be randomly given out at each banner:

A simple white helmet with a visor, shown in profile with three lines behind it to indicate speed, centered on a turquoise circle with a gray and white border.

Aero Boost (helmet): makes you more aerodynamic (reduces your CdA by 25%) for 15 seconds.
Best used when you’re going fastest and air resistance is highest. That means you’ll get maximum impact using this on the front of a TTT, because that’s when air resistance is impacting your speed the most.

Lightweight (feather): reduces your weight by 10% for 15 seconds.
Best used on climbs, when weight matters the most. Save this for Northumberland and/or Piccadilly.

Draft Boost (van): increases the draft effect you are experiencing by 50% for 30 seconds.
Use at higher speeds (flats and descents) when you are already drafting off another rider (since this powerup only helps when you are drafting.) Useful if you’re looking for a bit of recovery after taking a hard pull.

Bike Frame + Wheel Choice

Riding up the Piccadilly rise

Bike choice is simple this week: go with your most aero setup. With no climbs long or steep enough for a lightweight bike to give you an advantage, aero is everything!

Check out our guide to find the fastest frame and wheels available to you. (Hint: if you don’t have a disc wheelset and fast frame, the Tron bike is your most aero bike).

More Route Recon

Many events now being consistently planned each weekend on the upcoming ZRL route. If you’re not familiar with this course, jump into one of these events and do some recon! Here’s a list of upcoming Greater London Flat events.

Looking for a video recon, with lovely British commentary to boot? Here are our two favorite recon videos this week:

Sherpa Dave

Si Bradeley

Si includes a helpful recon notes doc available here >

TTTTips

Team Time Trialing on Zwift is a challenging mixture of physical strength, proper pacing, and Zwift minutiae like picking a fast bike and understanding drafting.

This week’s course will give valuable seconds to teams who are able to keep their speeds high over short rollers which pepper the course. Staying in formation while surging your power for these rises is a challenge, especially if riders are using various Trainer Difficulty settings. For a flat course like this, we recommend your team uses a high trainer difficulty (75-100%) so you feel the inclines and can automatically boost power accordingly.

Your goal in this week’s TTT is to get four riders across the line in the shortest time possible. That means every team’s pace plan will be different, based on the abilities of each rider. We highly recommend having an experienced DS on Discord directing your team, especially if your team contains some inexperienced TTT riders.

If you really want to go down the TTT rabbit hole, check out Paul Fitzpatrick’s zwift-ds.com site and particularly the Excel Power Planner sheet.

Your Thoughts

Any insights or further thoughts on this race? Share below!

About This Series

The Giant Tips ZRL series is sponsored by Giant Bicycles and delivers helpful tips for upcoming Zwift Racing League stages so you can unleash your full potential.

Giant is the world’s leading brand of high-quality bicycles and cycling gear. Part of the Giant Group founded in 1972, the brand combines craftsmanship, technology, and innovative design to help all riders unleash their full potential. Learn more at giant-bicycles.com, or visit one of their 12,000+ retail stores around the world.

Notable Zwift Events for the Weekend of April 9-10

Tim Perkin
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4
Notable Zwift Events for the Weekend of April 9-10

This week we have selected a wide range of events to try ranging from group rides to badge hunts to races. We’ve also included some events specifically for women!


Z Badge Hunt – London PRL Full

The “PRL Full” is the longest route badge you can earn on Zwift. At 173.8km you pretty much need to block out half a day in your schedule if you want to achieve this! I have only ever done this route once… I did it solo, and it was a long ride. Would highly recommend undertaking this in a group, with doubledraft enabled. So these Badge Hunting events are perfect!

 The “PRL Full” route consists of 11 laps around London, taking in Box Hill, with an elevation gain of 2290 meters. 

Saturday, April 9 – Multiple timeslots
See upcoming events at zwift.com/events/tag/zbadgehunt


Sub 7 Group Ride / Sub 8 Group Ride

The Pho3nix SUB7/SUB8 initiative, powered by Zwift, intends to break the 7 and 8-hour time barriers in long-distance triathlon (3.8 km/180 km/42.2 km) for men and women, respectively.

This series of events actually includes races, group runs, and running races. But we wanted to focus on the group rides happening Sunday. Note that there is no ride leader, so ride at your own pace, and unlock the kit at the finish.

These events are gender-specific.

Sunday, April 10 – Multiple timeslots
See upcoming events at zwift.com/events/tag/sub7sub8


Women’s Time Trial Racing Series p/b Herd Racing

Four cyclists in matching blue and green outfits ride in formation on a green gradient background, with the words THE HERD in bold white text on the left side.

This event caught my eye because it’s very rare to see a “Women’s Only” time trial. 

This race takes place on the “Duchy Estate” route and is 16.1km in length. TTs require a totally different skillset to racing where apart from long mountain climbs, efforts are shorter and more dynamic. Personally speaking, I have found time trials an excellent way to improve my overall riding, I think in part because you push yourself to the limit and then maintain that effort and thus get the mental and physical benefits that come with undertaking sustained efforts at your limit.

Saturday and Sunday, April 9-10 – Multiple Timeslots
See upcoming events on ZwiftHacks


Wahoo Le Col Racing Series Season 3

With Zwift Racing League kicking off again for another season, the Wahoo Le Col Racing Series is running in parallel, giving you chance to try the route before the Tuesday race.  This weekend the route consists of 2 laps of the “Greater London Flat” route, totaling 29km.

Men’s/Mixed Race Saturday, April 9 @ 11:15am BST/6:15am EDT
Women’s Race Saturday, April 9 @ 3pm BST/10am EDT/7am PDT
See upcoming events at zwift.com/events/tag/wlc

Your Thoughts

Got other events that stand out this weekend? Share below in the comments!

Sneak Peek at the New “Gravel Mountain” Map… Launching Soon?

Eric Schlange
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53
Sneak Peek at the New “Gravel Mountain” Map… Launching Soon?

Sneak Peek at the New “Gravel Mountain” Map… Launching Soon?

Cyclists love exploring new roads, indoors and out. So it’s no surprise that Zwifters are always happy to hear news of fresh roads coming to the platform.

Zwifter James Eastwood recently posted an image on the Zwift Hype Facebook group that appears to show new dirt Zwift roads.

Digging a bit further, the image came from the latest Companion app update, which includes a new map folder called “gravelmtn”. Piece the images in that folder together and you come up with this:

We can’t tell from the map what the elevation profile will look like, but with a name like “Gravel Mountain” we would guess there’s some climbing involved! If this map is designed like Watopia’s Fuego Flats, the dark parts of the map would be the mountains, while the light part is the flatter land. That means this map definitely has lots of potential for climbing, but of course Zwift could have the roads tunneling into the mountains if they’d like.

Comment from Zwift

We reached out to Zwift for an official comment. Here’s what they said:

Gravel Mountain is the code name for a new experiential event-only map developed by our game team as they explore new ways to build maps and worlds with greater efficiency. As an experiential map, Zwift will be hosting invite-only events to test this map for stability and eventually, new features. While we are unable to confirm when this map will be broadly available, we’re excited about what this new, faster, iterative approach means for Zwift and for map innovation in the future.

Zwift’s statement is quite interesting, and something we’ve never heard them say in the past. “New ways to build maps and worlds with greater efficiency” is welcome news for Zwifters who love shiny new roads. Calling the map an “experiential” map is an interesting choice of words, too. It leans into the idea that Zwift will want Zwifters to share their experience (perhaps via an end-of-ride survey) so Zwift can further improve this new, faster development process.

Note also that Zwift has clearly stated that Gravel Mountain is an “event-only map” so like Crit City and Bologna, it won’t be in the monthly guest map rotation. Instead, you’ll have to join an event held on the new map/course in order to see it.

Lastly: Zwift says they’ll be hosting invite-only events on Gravel Mountain. That means the events won’t be public and open to all Zwifters, but rather only open to those specifically invited. Interesting! We hope we get an invite.

When?

That’s always the question, isn’t it? Zwift has been quiet about this new map, but our guess is initial events will be held in the next 2-6 weeks, since it’s been added to the Companion app.

Why So Much Gravel?

If you’ve been paying attention, you may have noticed that Zwift has released a lot of gravel-centric features in the past few months:

Some Zwifters have complained about this gravel focus, saying they don’t like gravel in game since it just rolls slower and creates dust. But others enjoy the change of pace, the fresh twist it brings to race strategy, and the way virtual gravel emulates IRL gravel, at least in terms of increased workload per mile.

Gravel is a huge trend in cycling, increasing in size in recent years in relation to other sectors like road. One gravel pioneer said, “You know something is here to stay when Shimano dedicates a groupset to it.” (This was in reference to GRX, the gravel-specific groupset launched by Shimano in 2019.) Gravel’s popularity is particularly evident in the USA, but it’s spreading worldwide. The number of gravel events in the USA has skyrocketed in recent years, although this change was somewhat muted by Covid.

So it’s no surprise that Zwift would try to tap into the gravel market. But will a dedicated gravel world prove popular with Zwifters? And will this new world’s roads use the new gravel surface which rolls faster than the Jungle dirt?

We’ll just have to wait and see.

Your Thoughts

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How To Get Strava To Match Old Activities To New Zwift Segments

Eric Schlange
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11
How To Get Strava To Match Old Activities To New Zwift Segments

How To Get Strava To Match Old Activities To New Zwift Segments

Many Zwifters use Strava as their main fitness tracker, dumping outdoor activities as well as Zwift sessions into it so everything is in one place.

But when a new Strava segment is created for a Zwift road/route you’ve ridden in the past, chances are your old activity won’t be matched up against that segment. Why is that, and how do you get it to match? That’s what this article will answer.

Intro to Strava Segments

Strava has lots of features, but its “segments” are arguably its most popular feature. Users can save an activity, then create a “segment” covering all or part of that activity’s roads. If that segment isn’t marked private then it’s public, and anyone else can complete that segment and get ranked on the leaderboard.

Segments let you automatically track your own times on specific roads/routes, competing against your old self as you strive for new PRs. And segments let you compete with others too if you’d like!

The Weirdness of Strava Segments + Zwift

Strava segments for Zwift roads have always behaved a bit differently than they do outdoors, probably because Strava’s system wasn’t built with the idea that tens of thousands of people would be riding the same segments each day.

Here are a few oddities about Zwift Strava Segments:

  • Segments can be flagged as hazardous, even though they’re on virtual roads
  • There is only one Strava account currently allowed to create public Zwift Strava segments. And that account belongs to Zwift Insider! Read more about the history behind this >
  • Segments must be at least 300m long. The limit used to be ~170m, or 0.1 miles, but Strava lengthened it a few years back. This may make sense outdoors, where GPS data may be a bit spotty. But on Zwift, GPS data is rock-solid, since it’s simulated. We’d love it if Strava would allow for shorter Zwift segments, so we can finish creating segments for each Alpe du Zwift turn!
  • Strava’s “Local Legends” feature only works for a handful of Zwift segments. Read more about this >
  • When a new Zwift Strava segment is created, Strava doesn’t always pick up older activities that match the segment.

Let’s unpack that last point…

Old Activities + New Segments

With outdoor segments, you can create a fresh public segment and Strava will go back in time to find matching activities from everyone who has ridden that segment over the years. Cool, right? (I just did this today, in fact – let’s see if my KOM holds!)

But if Zwift Insider creates a new public Strava segment for a stretch of Zwift road, Strava doesn’t go back to find old matching activities. Or at least, it doesn’t go back and find all past matches.

I haven’t figured out exactly what’s going on this regard, but from what I’ve seen, the longer the route, the less chance Strava will go back and find matching activities. For example, today I created a short test segment on a popular stretch of Watopian road. Within 30 minutes, Strava had found over 1000 matching activities, dating back at least 2 years.

But I’ve created longer segments for established routes, and very few matching activities are found, even after days for Strava to process the new segment.

Our guess is this is related to the processing load required to pore over millions of Zwift activities, which is a much larger job compared to IRL activities in a given region.

Getting Your Old Activities to Match New Segments

And so we arrive at the point of this post: how do you get your old Zwift activities to match up with Strava segments created after the activity occurred?

Strava has a “Refresh Activity Achievements” option in its desktop version. Logically, this would do the trick. But it doesn’t!

And you used to be able to change the activity type to something else, like Surfing, then back to Virtual Ride, to force a refresh. But that doesn’t work anymore.

Nope. The only ways to reliably force Strava to match your activity to newer segments are:

  1. Re-upload your activity. This is best done via your web browser.
  2. Crop your activity. This can be done easily via the smartphone app or desktop browser version. Just shorten your activity by 1 second, save the change, and presto! (This is the easiest solution, in my opinion).

Here are some screenshots showing how to do each of these via your web browser:

Re-upload Your Activity:

Export/download original .fit file from Zwift
Delete activity from Strava
Upload activity
Upload form

Cropping Your Activity:

Choose “Crop”
Shorten your ride by 1s and click “Crop”

Questions or Comments?

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Global Bike Festival Series Announced

Eric Schlange
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0
Global Bike Festival Series Announced

Global Bike Festival Series Announced

Global Bike Festival is a unique long-weekend cycling experience hosted by the world’s largest cycling and mountain bike channels (GCN, GMBN, and EMBN) June 16-19, 2022. Held in the heart of the Austrian Alps, it’s a 4-day celebration of everything road, mountain, gravel, and electric mountain biking!

Zwift has partnered with GBF to hold a series of Zwift events which celebrate all things cycling while helping you prepare for the main event! Here are the details…

Schedule of Events

Group rides and workouts will take place every other week until the end of May:

  • Wednesday social rides, every other Wednesday, with special guests. Tomorrow’s kickoff event is hosted by Andre Greipel!
  • Group workouts every Thursday. These workouts are “taken straight from GCN presenters’ workout folders, including Si Richardson, Dan Lloyd, and Tom Last.”

See upcoming rides at zwift.com/events/series/global-bike-festival

Prizes

Complete one of the GBF events for a chance to win two VIP packages to the event for you and a friend including:

  • Festival weekend ticket
  • Four nights of B&B accommodation in the four-star Saalbacher Hof hotel
  • Airport transfers from Munich or Salzburg
  • Access to the VIP area at the wrap party on Sunday

Prize package worth up to £700. Travel to Munich or Salzburg not included. Terms and conditions

Exclusive Race

Finishing any of the events also earns you access to an exclusive racing event with GCN. (Final details to be revealed in the coming days.)

Questions or Comments?

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