A Closer Look at Watopia’s Upcoming Expansion
Last week’s This Season on Zwift included the always-exciting announcement of a Zwift map expansion. Even more exciting, it’s the expansion of everyone’s favorite map, Watopia! Let’s dive into the scant details we know as we look forward to its October launch.
The Big Picture
Here’s how the ~18 km of new roads (in red) fit into the existing Watopia map:
As you can see above, the new roads connect the Jarvis circuit to the Jungle, offering what Zwift calls a “flat bypass option around the Epic KOM”.
A Flat(ter) Western Bypass
Based on Strava data, the elevation of the new road at the Jarvis juncture is ~3 meters, while the elevation on the other end at the Jungle is ~31 meters. So we know there is at least a bit of climbing to be done on these new roads, but it’s much less than the ~100 meters of elevation gained when you ride up the base of the Epic KOM Reverse from the Marina and turn to the Jungle.
Another way of looking at it: Zwift’s southern coast expansion in October 2023 added ~19 km of flatter road around the Epic KOM to the southeast. This upcoming expansion adds a bypass to the northwest.
Teaser Visuals
Zwift says this expansion is an archipelago island chain inspired by Catalina Island and California’s West Coast, which makes sense. Zwift is based in Long Beach, CA, after all, and various biomes in Watopia are based on California themes, including the redwoods of Titans Grove, the beachfront in downtown Watopia, and the desert of Fuego Flats with its California Super Bloom.
I’ve only been able to get two teaser images from Zwift, which I’ve included below:
The first image is quite nondescript and could be in Makuri Islands apart from the tiny floatplane pictured. The second image faces Alpe du Zwift, and shows a whale jumping (sure to be a dramatic animation!) and a lap banner for one of the new crit courses.
More Details
The new map includes two “crit-style circuits” with “mini paddocks” attached, “made specifically for racing” according to Zwift. We don’t know exactly how the crit circuits will be laid out, but you can see my best guess below in white:
There’s also a lightning-bolt-shaped circuit which has been referenced as “Power Island” internally at Zwift. This will include some power segments (introduced in the recent New York expansion) which will feature in an upcoming event series (see below). Also, it sounds like Zwift may be expanding the power segment idea to include the ability to set power targets for specific segments. Interesting!
This expansion will add 20 new routes to Watopia. That may seem like a lot (Watopia already has 127 routes!), but with all the roads in Watopia, adding fresh roads creates a huge number of interesting potential routes. I don’t think we’ll find the new routes as repetitive as those released with the recent Paris expansion.
We don’t have details on these routes yet, but one I’m personally hoping for is a slightly longer, flatter version of “The Big Ring” that will be even friendlier for long group rides. (Hopefully it will go in a CCW direction, too, which should make the Jungle section feel like much less of an obstacle.)
Related Events
Two major Zwift events will take advantage of the expansion, beginning with the ever-popular Tour of Watopia (October 5-November 22) with its double XP and another ultimate challenge.
Stage 4 of the Tour kicks off on Monday, October 26, and that will be our first chance to ride these new roads. Tour of Watopia is a 5-stage tour, and Zwift says the Tour includes “6 new route badges to chase”, so it would seem that the three routes used for Stage 4 and the three routes used for Stage 5 will all be new.
Additionally, a new “Power Play” series kicks off in November, running from November 23 to December 27. Details are sparse, but they at least tell us the Watopia expansion will include multiple power segments. Zwift says the series “aims to give Zwifters a fresh and fun new way to get a quality workout, making use of Power Segments in New York, the Montmartre and The Grade climbs, and new Power Segments that will launch in the new Watopia Expansion.”
Your Thoughts
What do you think of Zwift’s planned Watopia expansion? Can you see any cool route ideas that use the new roads? Share your thoughts below…
