Group workouts via Zwift Meetups? This hack makes it easy!
Meetups are a handy tool if you’re looking to ride with a specific group of friends, and the new “Keep everyone together” option has made them even better.
But there’s one Meetups feature which Zwifters are still looking for: the ability to do a group workout. That is, to set up a Meetup with whoever you’d like, where each person is doing the same structured workout and you all stick together for the duration.
Ideally, this would work like the official group workout events happening all the time and available via the Zwift Events calendar. Except this is an event you plan, with just the people you want to invite and the workout you want the group to complete.
You may think this isn’t possible on Zwift–but it actually is.
Here’s a simple Meetup hack that lets you organize a group workout on Zwift today.
The settings screen all ready to go–just add friends!
It Starts Like Any Other Meetup
First, create your Meetup. They’re very easy to plan via the Companion App. If you’ve never done it, here’s a simple guide.
Just a few important notes as you organize your Meetup:
Do it for a set duration, not distance. This ensures your Meetup won’t end before the workout does. We recommend setting it for 5-10 minutes longer than the workout length, so you can hang out in your Meetup for a bit once the workout is over.
Be sure to select “Keep Everyone Together” under “Customize Your Meetup”, otherwise riders with different FTPs will become separated as they’ll be holding different wattages even if they’re doing the same workout.
It’s a good idea to put instructions for finding the workout in the “Message Your Group” field, so everyone knows what the workout is called and where to find it. You can also message the group while everyone is waiting for the Meetup to begin.
One Step Magic
Once your friends have joined the Meetup and you’re sitting together waiting for it to begin, it’s time for the magic to happen. Are you ready?
Click Menu>Workouts or hit “E” on your keyboard. This will open the workout picker window:
Workout picker window
Choose the correct workout, click “Workout”, and you’re ready to go!
You’ll now see the workout plan on the left:
Ready for the Group Workout to begin
The workout will begin once the Meetup begins. Each rider can control their workout independently, adjusting FTP bias or skipping sections if they choose. With the “Keep Everyone Together” option you will all stay together regardless of wattage variances between riders.
In some ways this is a better experience than official group workouts, because the group moves faster in a Meetup (a more realistic speed, instead of the very slow group workout speeds).
When the workout ends, each rider will get the typical workout summary screen pop up. If the Meetup is still going, you will remain in the Meetup even though the workout is finished.
Notes
The biggest challenge here is getting each rider to select the correct workout. But the cool thing is, if the rider picks the wrong workout, or even neglects to pick a workout, they will still ride with you! Your Meetup can have one rider doing workout A, another free riding, and another doing workout B. And everyone can stick together.
Have You Tried It?
Tried this hack? Share your experience below! Got questions? Share those too, and we’ll try to answer them.
Zwift has issued an official press release covering Crit City, Zwift’s newest map. They have also confirmed that events will launch on the new course this week. (Our guess is Zwift is waiting for their latest update to roll out to iOS users before scheduling Crit City events.)
According to Zwift,
Crit City will be an event-only course designed to deliver racing that is both fun to watch, and fun to play.
Designed “explicitly with racing in mind”, the course is just 1.9km in length, with 26ft in elevation gain per lap. It is clear Zwift has put some thought into the course layout, attempting to create a very crit-like course. They say:
Similar to real-life criterium circuits, the circuit weaves its way around the tightly packed buildings of Crit City over cobbles and sweeping roundabouts. Dead turns and a couple sections of parallel road allow a few opportunities to keep a close eye on either the breakaway or the chasing bunch.
The start of Crit City’s punchy prime section
Fun Visuals
This course is for racing, not sightseeing–but Zwift has still thrown in some fun visuals including:
A colorful graffiti mural inspired by the landscape of Watopia
A Big-Z building just off the course itself
Riders on trainers using Zwift near an event area with popups
In the DNA
Criterium racing is in Zwift’s DNA. The press release quotes Zwift CEO Eric Min saying, “As someone who grew up racing crits as a junior, I’m really excited to test my legs in Crit City. Criterium racing really is an art form, and I’m sure that racing this course will be no different. Knowing how to conserve energy and when to make your move is critical when racing for the win. I know that this is something that our racing community will love.”
The finish line includes a lap counter
Event-Only
This was rumored to be an event-only course, and now Zwift has confirmed it.
What exactly does event-only mean? It means that, unlike guest maps such as Yorkshire or New York, Crit City can only be experienced by joining an event on that course.
This is how the Bologna TT course behaves as well. This is done because, with so many Zwifters on the platform, these smaller courses simply can’t be opened up to everyone to free ride… they would be too crowded!
I lose a lot of Zwift races. But sometimes those losses are… special.
Yesterday’s was the P Race–one of my favorite races because it ticks off all the boxes for me:
Fairly flat: long hills don’t lead to good race results for bigger riders like me
Double draft: this lets me sit in if I want, or push the pace over small rises to help drop a few riders
Longer: typically 30+ miles long, and I like slightly longer races, especially on Saturdays when I’ll be riding for a few hours anyway
Separate categories: I prefer races where each category competes separately. Never been a fan of trying to hold onto the A’s!
Zwift Companion said we were doing two laps of Watopia’s Waistband. This route is 15.8 miles long, but (and this is important) we also have a 1.4 mile lead-in to the start/finish banner. So the total distance should be 15.8+15.8+1.4, or 33 miles–which is exactly what Zwift Companion told me when I signed up.
Zwift had rolled out an update the day before which included in its list of bug fixes, “Fixed bug where event distance estimations were wrong.” I was happy to see this because there have been distance issues in lap-based events for a couple of months now.
I got on course, warmed up, then hit the start pens. Let’s race!
We began with 73 B riders, but that group was quickly whittled down to 50, then ~35. This race was feeling like most of my P Race experiences: challenging, but doable. While I was suffering after half a lap and wondering if I could do two full laps of this, I also knew I wasn’t on my very limit. It would hurt, but I thought I had a good chance of hanging with the front until the final sprint.
Knowing the distance bugs were supposed to be fixed, I had my eye on those numbers as well. I noticed that the distance completed on the top bar now matched the side bar (that’s good!), but I also noticed the distance to go seemed too low. Early in the race if I added the distance to go with the distance ridden it totaled 30.2 miles. Later on, adding those numbers totaled 30.5 miles.
30.2 miles total?
And this is where I started questioning myself.
Was it 33 miles total? My glycogen-depleted brain wasn’t sure. Maybe they left the lead-in off of the distance we’d traveled? (A silly idea in hindsight, but race brain isn’t always the smartest.)
As we rode through the tunnel bridge toward downtown Watopia, I looked at the minimap. My distance counter said we had less than a mile to go, and I swear the start/finish banner in downtown Watopia had that blueish glow that you see when an event uses a custom finish line.
Was that our finish line? Were we not doing two full laps, but instead finishing here in downtown Watopia? My distance counter certainly indicated so, and the blue glowing banner reinforced it in my mind.
With 300 meters to go I jumped. Hard. Even with tired legs I gave it all I had, because I saw there weren’t many riders who had followed me. I crossed the line in 2nd, as the distance to go hit 0, having averaged 832 watts over 15 seconds.
But where was the finish screen? Nothing happened. And a few seconds later, the peloton flew past.
The race wasn’t over.
My distance to go now read over 10,000ft. Feet!? My legs were burning, heart pounding out of my chest, and the front was already 10 seconds up the road. My race was done!
I limped my way into the finish–demoralized mentally and completely drained physically. I probably wouldn’t have won, or even made it onto the podium. But I bet I could have finished in the top 10. Instead, I finished 38th (30th in the official Zwift Power results).
Companion app screenshot showing time-based, lap-based, and distance-based events
Don’t Make My Mistake
I’ve heard from lots of other Zwifters who have made the same mistake I made in this race. Here’s how to avoid it: know the race route!
Zwift events are run for a certain length of time, a certain number of laps, or a set distance.
Zwift races are always a certain number of laps or a set distance. (Time-based events are used for group rides and workouts.) Lap-based races end at the lap banner, unless you’re on a point-to-point route like Bologna TT or Road to Sky. I should have trusted what the app said: two laps of Watopia’s Waistband.
Next: trust the event distance. It used to be, the Companion app’s distance figures weren’t entirely reliable–I think perhaps they left off lead-in distances? I’m not sure. But I learned not to trust them, which is unfortunate. Because now they seem to be accurate! So pay attention to that event distance number when you sign up for the event.
One more tip: if you’re like me, you don’t make good decisions at the end of a race. Our brains aren’t quite getting all the glycogen they need, so while the legs are firing on all cylinders, the mind is not.
So take notes if you need to, indicating the start/finish point of the race and the overall distance.
It’s funny, but on Zwift, like outdoors, racing smart is really up to you. Sure, you can just hop in and race whenever you’d like–but knowing the course and devising a strategy beforehand will give you better results.
About the Bug
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed that this distance bug still isn’t fixed. It’s been broken for two months.
That said, it sounds like Zwift’s QA team is pushing hard to get this distance bug squished, and that perhaps it’s only affecting specific routes. That’s good news!
(Kudos to the team at Zwift HQ, by the way. I know you’re juggling a lot of priorities and projects. When a company is growing quickly and building things out in many directions, stuff can get messy.)
Here’s hoping this fix gets rolled out very soon, since it’s affecting a lot of races and group rides.
More to Come
I’ll probably turn this into a series of articles, because I’m always devising new and interesting ways to lose a Zwift race.
Got inventive stories of your own? Have you lost your race by sprinting for the wrong finish line? Share below!
Dan Plews on Heat Adaptation (Zwift PowerUp Tri Podcast #19)
Say hello to Dan Plews, the architect of Zwift Academy Tri’s training plan. A physiologist, sport scientist, and researcher, Dan is a top-level triathlon coach as well as the fastest-ever age group athlete at Kona. He’s all about low carbs, high fats, and heart rate variability.
In Episode 19, he drops into the studio to chat about heat adaptation as well as some of his favorite workouts in the program and the “why” behind them.
Beyond that, we also chat about news regarding aerodynamic effects of drafting riders and motos.
About the Podcast:
The Zwift PowerUp Tri Podcast is hosted by former pro triathletes Matt Lieto and Jordan Rapp, lending their in-depth knowledge of the multisport to the Zwift Tri audience.
Top Zwift Videos You May Have Missed: Yorkshire Worlds
We’re highlighting some great videos you may have missed in the world of Zwift! This time, let’s take a look back at the Yorkshire World Championships from September 2019.
Zwift vs Real Life | YORKSHIRE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2019
How does the Yorkshire course on Zwift compare to real life? Will Cowen and his friend Mika ride the reverse KOM/QOM to find out.
Zwift at the Yorkshire 2019 UCI Road World Championships
In this official Zwift video, you’ll get a taste of what it was like to be in Yorkshire during the excitement of worlds week! Matt Stephens gives a tour of Harrogate, the world championships city circuit, and the Zwift Draft House. You’ll hear from pro racers and roadside fans, too.
COUNTDOWN TO WORLDS | Zwift Training #1
Pro cyclist Alex Dowsett (Katusha-Alpecin) shares how he uses intervals on Zwift to prepare for the 2019 UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire. It’s the first of three videos featuring Zwift and his worlds training.
COUNTDOWN TO WORLDS | Zwift Training #2
Dowsett practices his TT pacing on Zwift’s Yorkshire course. It must have worked, because he went on to place 5th in the world in the time trial championship!
What’s my last training session before Worlds? Zwift Training #3
https://youtu.be/EyDQgGUOy50
Finally, Dowsett goes for a free ride around Watopia. He says he’s just going to “spin” for an hour, but he admits that he might get a little competitive…
Zwift released a significant update today which includes new bikes in the Drop Shop, more training plans, a new world (Crit City), added achievement badges, and more.
The update is currently available on PC, Mac, and Android. (Like most updates, because of how Apple approves releases, Zwift can’t say when it will arrive on iOS or AppleTV. It should be any day now!)
Here’s what else we know…
New Dirt Bikes
More bikes in the Drop Shop is always exciting! With Zwift increasing the rolling resistance of dirt in recent updates, we knew they would be coming out with some dirt-specific bikes soon. And that’s exactly what they’ve done!
We have four new Gravel/Cross bikes:
Canyon Inflite
Cervelo Aspero
Canyon Grail
Zwift Gravel
All four bikes come with one wheelset, called “Zwift Gravel”, which cannot be swapped out. This wheelset has its own rolling resistance numbers for each type of road surface in Zwift–our testing will determine those numbers and help you decide which bike is best for you.
The update also includes three new mountain bikes:
Canyon Lux
Scott Spark RC
Specialized Epic S-Works
These all use the same “Zwift Mountain” wheel that the Zwift Mountain Bike uses–and the wheel cannot be swapped out at this time.
We’re testing these bikes to see how they perform. Watch this space!
Zwift Mountain Bike Tweaks
The Zwift Mountain bike was also updated in this release: it’s been taken from 3 stars for aero to 1 star, and the Zwift Mountain wheelset went from 3/4 stars to 1/1. It’s also showed up in everyone’s garage, so you don’t have to perform well on Repack Ridge to unlock it anymore!
More Route Achievement Badges
Route achievement badges were added in the Oct 1 update, but only 25 of Zwift’s routes got badges. Now they’ve added badges for all open routes, bringing the grand total to 67!
Runners also have achievement badges for each of the dedicated running routes (as well as all the mixed-use routes):
These badges are perfect carrots to get Zwifters exploring new routes and on Zwift more often. Hip hip hurray!
New Training Plans
Three new dirt-focused Flexible Training Plans have been added.
Pebble Pounder: gear up and get read for an all-road adventure Beginner level, 5-6 weeks, 4 hours/week
Gravel Grinder: dominate the dirt roads and prepare for any adventure. Intermediate level, 7-12 weeks, 5 hours/week This plan was already in game, but we listed it here to show how it fits with the other dirt plans.
Dirt Destroyer: build massive pedal torque to crush it offroad. Intermediate level, 4-6 weeks, 6 hours/week
Crit City Course
This new map has been teased out by Zwift in the past week, and it’s officially live now. But since it’s an event-only map, you can only ride it by joining an event held in Crit City!
My guess is we’ll see events there beginning in the next day or two. We’ll just have to be patient until then…
BETA ANT+ Heartrate strap support on Android (more device support to come in next update)
Fixed pedaling animation bug when riders were warming up in an event paddock
Female riders see female leaderboards first now
Fixed bug where event distance estimations were wrong (note: reports from users are saying distance bugs are still present)
Hammer H3 spin down support over ANT+ added
Neo 2T road feel fixed over ANT+
Is it just us, or is the sloth more animated now?
Note: several hours after the update to version 1.0.43645 rolled out, another one dropped which takes us to 1.043784. Presumably, this fixed a bug that popped up in the first release.
Up Next
Jon included this in the release notes:
As for hints of what is coming in the very near future – our new menu system is coming along nicely and should hopefully make its first appearance on Apple TV next month, and later make its way to all versions of Zwift. A little something is coming for runners soon too, and we’ve also been playing with some new ways to steer bikes within Zwift. Stay tuned.
December Mission(s) Announced for Runners and Riders
Zwift has rolled out a new mission for December, available in the game update which is just now being released. Here are the details…
For Runners AND Riders
This new mission is actually two missions–one for runners, one for riders. And you can join both!
One random finisher of each mission will receive a BIG grand prize–entry into a big event in London, plus the spending money to get you there. Super cool!
For Riders
The “Prudential RideLondon Century Mission” requires you to ride 100 total miles during the month of December to unlock the in-game Prudential RideLondon kit.
You’ll also be entered into a drawing to win a full VIP Experience to the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 (including event registration) along with $1,500 USD to help get you there. Sweet prize!
Once your Zwift install has updated to the latest version, you’ll see the links to join these missions at the top-left of the main join page (just after the pairing screen.)
Runners will see a link to join the running mission, while riders will see the link to join the riding mission. Simples!
The route is ~1.9km (1.2 miles) long, with just one small rise. That rise is around 400 meters long, and averages perhaps 3-4%. Perfect for a crit course that needs a little something spicy to break things up!
Based on the picture Eric uploaded, we can see where the start/finish is, and see there is a lap timer as well as a KOM jersey awarded (Eric has the mixed leaders jersey for fastest lap and KOM in his screenshot below):
We can also see some fun imagery in the screenshot–Scotty on a bike, a big screen with Zwift video on it, Zwift popup tents, and more.
Where in the World?
In terms of GPS coordinates, Crit City is located 188km from Watopia. It’s on a small island called Tinakula, which is northwest of Teanu where Watopia resides.
At that distance, it’s highly unlikely these two maps will ever be connected.
When?
In the past, Eric’s Strava teaser rides have always come just a day or two before the new route is released. So I would guess Crit City will go live today or tomorrow, but there’s a big gotcha…
Event Only
Certainly this route will be event only, like Bologna. It’s so short, if a few thousand riders were all on it at once it would be a zoo! So we’ll have to wait and see when the first events are scheduled.
Rumors of a new Zwift world have been swirling for weeks, and we’re seeing our first glimpses of the new map via some social leaks.
First, we saw this video at the end of Zwift live stream:
Then this week, we’ve seen two different prominent community racers sharing shots of their avatars on the course. Here’s Casey Schumm (click to enlarge):
And here’s one from Mathieu Drujon:
Lastly, Jonathon over at Zwift Hype just changed his group’s cover pic:
Is that Watopia’s yeti, and the jungle sloth? I think it is!
What else do we know?
The new course is coming very soon. Historically, Zwift hasn’t leaked this stuff until a course is just a few days away.
Zwift is definitely going for the “downtown crit” feel for thise course. Set on city streets, with sharp turns. Very cool.
The course is small (2-3km), and event-only, so we won’t be able to free-ride it whenever we’d like. (Being a small course, it would have to be event-only, until Zwift implements features which limit the number of riders per event.)
The course is relatively flat, but does include at least a bit of climbing (see Casey’s pic above). That would make sense, as a little kicker each lap would break up the course.
New routes are always exciting on Zwift–entirely new maps even more so! Stay tuned for more info as it becomes available.
Vegan Century at 7:00 am pacific time Wednesday. Join me. Joe
That was the text message I received on Sunday. DIRT teammate Joe Randall was inviting me to ride “The Vegan Cyclist 100 + 1 Ride” and this month it was taking place in the morning–perfect! I wrote back:
Had to shuffle stuff around but… I’m in! Let’s do this!
Prepwork
It had been a while since I’d ridden an imperial on Zwift. Metric centuries aren’t a huge deal for me, but imperials are rare! So I made sure to eat a few extra carbs the night before, drink lots of water, and get plenty of rest. (I’ve never DNF’d a Zwift event, and I wasn’t about to start now.)
On the morning of the ride, I got all my food ready. One Clif bar per hour? Check. A bottle or two per hour? I could only find 6 bottles, so I filled them all. I even added some powder to one for a little extra carb/electrolyte hit.
Then I rubbed in some PR Lotion before kitting up, chewed a piece of caffeinated gum, climbed on the bike, and booted up Zwift. Let’s ride!
Getting Started
This monthly ride takes place on Watopia’s Tick Tock, a fairly flat route with just a few rises to change your effort level and wake you up. At 10.5 miles per lap I knew we’d be riding 9 laps plus a bit extra.
We began in a fairly tame fashion, and I hung with the front group averaging around 250 watts for a while before some strong riders strung it out. I’d heard from Joe that the front of this ride could get pretty spicy, and I also knew there were some very strong IRL riders up there. I wasn’t in for a 100-mile suffer-fest, so I eased up and let the beacon (ride leader) catch me.
(The beacon, by the way, is Tyler Pierce, aka “The Vegan Cyclist”. He’s a cat 2 road racer who lives just a couple hours away from me here in NorCal. I’ve watched some of his stuff on YouTube, and was looking forward to riding and interacting with him.)
Soon enough we settled into a nice pace, holding 25mph at around 220 watts. Could I do this for 4 hours? Only one way to find out!
About the Pace
The ride broke into three distinct groups fairly quickly: the slow group, the beacon group, and the fast group. There were riders scattered between, of course, but these were the main groups.
Looking at the ZwiftPower results, the slow group averaged roughly 2.1-2.5 w/kg, while the beacon group was at 2.5-2.9 w/kg, and the fast group at 3.0-3.5 w/kg.
Good Company
I was on Discord with Joe, along with Patrick Tan from Singapore who leads a lot of group rides on Zwift. Joe was up ahead with the fast riders–Patrick was back leading the slower group. And I was in the middle with the beacon. We chatted and communicated our positions throughout the ride.
Discord is a great way to help the time pass on long rides. I listen to music or podcasts while running it, which works great.
When You Gotta Go, You Gotta Go
We ticked away the miles pretty quickly, but at the two-hour mark I had a problem.
There were 50 miles to go, and I needed to pee.
Pro tip: do NOT drink from this bottle
According to the event description, there was a bathroom break midway through–but Tyler said we were pressing on. I didn’t want to hop off and head to the toilet, because I would lose the beacon group and not be able to chase back.
On an outdoor ride, I might have pulled over and gone, or even stood up and gone off to the side while moving. But you can’t exactly do that in your pain cave, can you?
Another buddy on the ride (Canadian Alan Dempsey) suggested peeing into a water bottle. Was he serious? I wasn’t sure. But when we hit the downsloping entry tube into Ocean Blvd, I gave the pedals a few hard spins and did the deed.
(I had envisioned being able to pedal while peeing, but that didn’t work out. I think I need more practice.)
I got dropped by the beacon group, but to be honest, I was just happy I didn’t pee all over myself. In this elated/relieved state I began hammering to catch the beacon. It took 5 minutes at around 320 watts, but I finally caught them and settled back into a sustainable pace.
Unfortunately, I was a bit too tired to chase the sprint prime Tyler offered a few minutes later–a cool t-shirt for the fastest rider from the beacon group on the Fuego Flats sprint.
Fatigue Sets In
Around the 60 mile mark I started to feel the fatigue–you’ve felt it, right? That dull ache in the legs. My heart rate had stayed in high zone 2/low zone 3 for most of the ride, and PR Lotion had kept the burning to a minimum–but still the fatigue was building. The mental fatigue was there, too–I found myself dropping off the back, not being attentive to the pace of the group.
Focus, Eric. Finish strong! 90 more minutes…
God Bless the Rocker Plate
Being able to get out of the saddle and ride naturally thanks to my rocker plate was a nice luxury on this ride.
There are three uphill portions on each lap: on the way out of Saddle Springs, climbing out of the ocean tunnel, and climbing up to the desert.
On each of these sections, and even on the flats in between, I would get out of the saddle and stretch my legs. Felt great!
Funny Bugs
There was some noticeable buginess on this ride, especially if you were Tyler, the beacon. I kept seeing his avatar ride to the front then flip a double u-turn, effectively shuffling him to the back of the pack over and over again. He said he’d never had that problem before, and couldn’t figure out how to fix it.
Kudos to him for hanging strong despite the (literal) setbacks!
We also had the same weirdness with the distance counters that I’ve noticed in the last couple of months in group rides. (On a ride this long, you end up looking at those counters a lot.) The counter on the right bar was different than the counter at the center-top! See below:
Finishing Strong
We began with 400+ riders, but as we neared 85 miles the number of riders had been whittled down to perhaps 100, with the beacon group being the largest. Joe was up the road about 80 seconds, with the flyer group several minutes ahead of him. Patrick’s group was more than half a lap behind.
Tyler announced that the final lap would be a “Fool’s Gas” lap, with a $100 prime. I knew I didn’t have a chance to win it, but decided to hang with the front as long as I could, just to challenge myself.
Only those in the beacon group were eligible for the prize, and when we crossed the desert start line it was go time! But this wasn’t like any hot lap I had ever experienced. Wattage bumped up from ~225 to… ~250? It wasn’t bad at all. Apparently everyone else was feeling the fatigue too.
So I hung with the front group until the climb into the desert, where things got split up when we caught another group and I wasn’t paying close enough attention. We crossed the line and had just a few easy miles left until the finish line in Saddle Springs.
That’s what I thought, at least. But my buddy Alan had different plans, because he saw we were barely on pace to finish in under 4 hours. So he got on the front and hammered away, pulling us along to the finish. Nice work, Alan.
Feeling salty
Debriefing
I’d worn a brand-new pair of Assos bibs for the ride, which could have been a very bad idea if the fit wasn’t good. But it turned out alright–gotta love Assos.
The bibs probably weren’t happy with the result, though. This is why I drink electrolytes on long rides!
My first 100-mile ride on Zwift happened exactly 3 years and 1 day earlier. I did that with a very small group while riding the Buffalo bike on WBR day–needless to say, it wasn’t as fast. But it was super fun.
Every century ride is an experience in itself, and the 100+1 did not disappoint. Kudos to Tyler for hanging in there despite unintended donut spinning, and kudos to all the other finishers.
The 100+1 takes place on the first Wednesday of the month, and has been running for a few months now. Times vary, but you can see upcoming events here.
Route
The ride takes place on Watopia’s Tick Tock route, a fairly flat route with just a few rises to change your effort level and wake you up. At 10.5 miles per lap you’ll be riding 9 laps plus a bit extra.
Pace
The goal is to finish the ride in right around 4 hours, so you’re looking at a 25mph pace. For me, sitting in with the pack, that worked out to an average power of 224 watts, or 2.75 w/kg.
Kit Unlock
If you join the event and ride more than 30 miles, you’ll receive the in-game jersey within a week and be eligible for prizes.
Prizes
I’m not sure how the prizes listed for the event work–Tyler Pierce didn’t mention it during the ride as far as I saw. My guess is they are randomly drawn from the pool of riders who complete at least 30 miles.
What I found really fun was Tyler calling out two different “primes” during the ride. It keeps things interesting!
What About You?
Have you tried the 100+1 or other century rides on Zwift? Share your experience in the comments!
