15 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Riding on Zwift
Like any worthwhile endeavor, Zwift has a learning curve. Even experienced cyclists will find they have new equipment to set up and software settings to understand. Less experienced cyclists have even more to learn, as they must also wrap their minds around new training terms, group ride etiquette, and more.
Here’s our first in a series of posts with real tips from real Zwifters. Thanks to the Zwift Riders Facebook group for supplying their best tips!
Get a fan with a remote control or voice-activated start. Trust me.
Christina Json
We like wifi power strips which allow you to turn each socket on and off from a phone app. Here’s one we recommend.
Always always check for an update before you do a group ride or suffer maybe not being able to see chat, be sent on a completely different route from everyone else, or get kicked out of the ride.
Christina Json
Running an outdated version of Zwift can lead to unpredictable behavior. PC & Mac users typically get updates installed automatically, but iOS or Android users may want to check for updates just to be safe. Learn more about updating Zwift from this post on their blog >
How to turn off the blurry vision mode for workouts and turn on the power and heart rate graph.
Michael Flanagan
The blurry vision mode is under Menu>Settings>Workout Pain Effect. Power/HR graph can be enabled by hitting “G” on the keyboard, or clicking in the middle-bottom of your screen and clicking the graph icon.
To sign up for the Everest challenge right away. I rode for over a year with no challenge selected.
Greg Johnson
If we had a nickel for every time we’ve heard a Zwifter lamenting their lost elevation! Entering the Everest Challenge is smart, because completing that challenge is a necessary first step toward unlocking the Tron bike.
How to give out the mega-thumbs up in the Companion App. I rely on Zwift heavily for the social aspect, and that’s the easiest way possible to show support for other riders.
I wish I hadn’t taken so long to realize that I didn’t just have to start riding in Watopia or Guest Worlds without choosing one of the many available Route options. Guided exploring of where I go (and completing route badges) is so much more satisfying than just riding somewhat aimlessly as a noob. Select a Route and go!
Jeffrey Cory
Many new Zwifters don’t grasp the guest world setup and/or their ability to select a route. Poke around on the main join screen (the one you see just before beginning your activity) and learn how to select which world and route you’ll be riding!
Use 3 second average power.
Erik Wolfe
This option is under Menu>Power Display. It doesn’t change your power numbers at all (that’s up to your legs!) but displays your power averages across 3 seconds, instead of instantaneous numbers. This provides a more stable and useful number since instantaneous power will jump all over the place.
zwifthacks.com will show you if a ride has the fence, late join, and other super useful information.
Christina Json
There are actually several tools for browsing Zwift events and filtering/searching them to find just what you want. ZwiftHacks is one of our favorites, but read “6 Tools for Finding Your Perfect Zwift Event” for more tips!
I wish I had known how insanely corrosive sweat was.
With the Northern Hemisphere winter in full force, we’re seeing lots of new Zwifters on course. Many have little or no experience riding with power–that is, measuring wattage output and understanding how watts affect speed in solo and group ride situations.
Fortunately, Zwift behaves very much like the real world in terms of physics, so any understanding you may have of outdoor cycling physics will translate to Zwift, and any additional understanding you may gain from Zwifting will transfer outside.
One common question people ask, especially in race situations, is “Why am I getting beat by people who are putting out lower watts per kilogram?”
There are several answers to this question, but first make sure you understand how Zwift is calculating your speed. Secondly, understand that watts per kilogram (w/kg), or power to weight ratio, is your current wattage (the power you’re putting into the pedals) divided by your body weight in kilograms.
Example: I weigh 84kg, so if I’m putting out 300 watts my w/kg is 300/84=3.57
Now, back to the question. Here are the two top reasons why you’re getting beat by people who are putting out lower watts per kilogram.
#1: You Aren’t Staying in the Draft
Drafting in Zwift results in a power savings of approximately 25% (more in large groups or with double draft.) In other words, all other things being equal, a drafting rider only needs to put out 75% of the power a non-drafting rider is putting out to maintain the same speed.
If you’re “in the wind” on the front or off the back of a group, you will need to hold much more power than those who are drafting.
Tools like kreuzotter.de’s calculator can give you good numbers here which reflect outdoor and Zwift physics quite well.
Example from kreuzotter.de: a 75kg rider holding 225 watts will travel at 35kph. Another 75kg rider will be able to hold their wheel putting out 25% less power, or 169 watts.
Note: you cannot draft in Zwift on a TT frame. Others may draft behind you, but you will not receive any draft benefit.
Watts per kilogram is a good pace metric for climbs, where gravity is the main thing slowing you down. But pure wattage is a better metric for flat roads because once you get moving on the flat your speed is mostly determined by wind resistance and your wattage.
Because of this, when we take drafting out of the equation on a flat course, a heavier rider will always be faster than a light rider when both are doing the same w/kg–because the heavier rider is putting out more watts. This is true outdoors as well.
Example from kreuzotter.de: a 60kg rider and a 80kg rider both hold 4w/kg on flat ground. How fast are they traveling?
60kg rider holding 240 watts travels at 37kph
80kg rider holding 320 watts travels at 39.5kph
The 60kg rider would need to hold 288 watts (4.8w/kg) in order to keep up with the 80kg rider, if drafting isn’t taken into the equation.
The One-Two Punch
Where things really get tough is when #1 and #2 above both apply to you. If you’re a lighter rider who gets dropped from the pack on a flat course, you’ll have to hold a much higher w/kg than the group in order to catch that group again!
Here’s a simplified example with numbers pulled from kreuzotter.de’s calculator: let’s say you are a 60kg rider racing in a pack being pulled by a 90kg rider who is putting out 360w (4w/kg). The pack would be traveling at 40.6kph. Since you are drafting, you only need to put out 75% of the 312w it would take you to travel that same speed solo. That’s 234w, which is 3.9w/kg. Don’t miss this!Just to maintain your position in the draft your w/kg must basically match the heavier rider who is pulling in the wind.
Then if you get dropped and lose the draft’s 25% power savings, you’ll need to put out 312w just to keep pace with the group. That’s a whopping 5.2w/kg, while the guy pulling in the pack is still just doing 4w/kg. Couple this with the fact that others in the group can rotate through and take pulls so everyone stays fresh, and you’re going to have a very hard time catching the pack in this situation!
The Takeaway
Just like riding outdoors, lighter riders will be challenged to keep up with heavier, more powerful riders on flat courses. Stay in the draft to conserve energy so you can use it when it counts. And remember: you’ll get ’em in the hills!
Zwift has just rolled out the first events in the new women’s “PowerUp” group workout series.
For 12 weeks, Olympic gold medalists Kristin Armstrong and Dani Rowe will bring key workouts they’ve used throughout their careers to Zwifters around the world.
Each week’s workout will be offered at several time zones throughout the week, with Kristin and Dani joining live twice a month.
Most of the events are for ladies only, but there are some unisex events mixed in.
Who’s Kristin?
Kristin Armstrong is the most decorated U.S. women’s cyclist of all time and the best time-trialist in sports history. A three-time Olympic Gold Medalist and two-time World Champ, Armstrong is the only female athlete to win the same event in three consecutive Olympic Summer Games (Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016).
These days, she’s in Boise, Idaho, where she’s started a business called PIVOT Lifestyle + Fitness that focuses on health and fitness. And, some days, she pops into the Zwift studio to offer insight with the PowerUp Cycling Podcast.
Who’s Dani?
As a three-time World Champion, two-time European Champion, Olympic Gold Medalist, and the World Record holder for the 3km Team Pursuit, Dani Rowe (nee King) was an absolute legend in the saddle.
In 2018, at age 28, Rowe retired from professional cycling, and now spends her time working with sponsors, partners, and making media appearances. And that’s not even getting into her very own coaching business, Rowe and King. Like Kristin, some days she pops into the Zwift studio to offer insight with the PowerUp Cycling Podcast.
Have you seen Zwift’s latest ad campaign, featuring Mathieu van der Poel?
If you don’t know who Mathieu van der Poel (MVDP) is, you haven’t been paying attention to cyclocross for the past several years. As a junior, MVDP turned in perfect seasons (nothing but 1st place) in both 2011-12 and 2012-13. And he’s won most of the cross races he’s entered ever since!
This past year he moved into road racing and was arguably the most exciting racer in the peloton. He won the Tour of Britain, the Amstel Gold Race, and turned in impressive performances in several other races.
Watch this summary of his incredible Amstel Gold win:
Here’s the crazy thing: he’s only 24 years old.
Did we mention he’s also a mountain biker, winning the Dutch national championships in 2018 and getting 2nd overall at UCI Worlds in 2019?
Some are saying he’s the most exceptional talent in the new generation of riders. We tend to agree. Apparently, Zwift does too!
MVDP was an obvious choice for their new ad campaign, which is targetted at gravel/cross riders and the MTB crowd. MVDP is perhaps the only rider in the world who has universal appeal and recognition across the road, cross, and MTB disciplines. It helps that he’s an absolute monster on a bike.
How the Race/Not a Race was Lost: Le Col Metric Century
What better way to start off the new year than a good hard ride? When the Le Col New Year’s Day Celebration rides were announced, I cleared my schedule. Let’s do this!
Full disclosure: I wasn’t one of the crazies who tackled the imperial century. 100 miles with over 10,000′ of climbing, are you kidding me? No. I went with the metric instead, with 5,000′ of climbing. That seemed like more than enough work for my “day off.”
Pre-ride planning was pretty casual this time around–I took it easy the day before, ate tons of New Year’s Eve party crap, and got to bed much too late.
Waking up just in time for my pre-race ritual of caffeine gum and some PR lotion on the legs, I filled every water bottle I could find (5, as it turns out) and got on Zwift just in time to spin the legs for a minutes before the clock hit 0. No pre-race warmup today.
The Start
But let’s be clear: this was not a race. Yes, some riders treated it as a race. But I certainly wasn’t going to do that.
Or maybe I was?
To be honest, I really hadn’t decided. I knew I didn’t stand a chance of winning–there was way too much climbing involved. We were riding almost a complete lap of the Mega Pretzel, after all, which goes over the Epic KOM climb in both directions.
But how hard did I want to go? I really wasn’t sure.
We blasted off Watopia’s starting pier and I found myself in something like 250th place out 720 riders. On huge, long group rides like this I tend chase placings as a way to push myself.
First goal: work my way to 199th place or better.
The vegan debates began early. I wasn’t sure I could take it for 3 hours!
Here’s the other reason why I wasn’t sure about racing this ride: I didn’t have the course memorized. I knew it went over the Epic KOM in both directions, up the volcano, and into the jungle. But I really wasn’t sure in what order things happened.
No, this wasn’t a day for a race. But the legs were feeling pretty good, so I decided topush hard and see how many places I could claw back. First order of business: the Jungle.
Jungle Swap
When we turned right to head toward the Jungle, I decided it would be fun to swap onto a mountain bike for the dirt portion. I already knew from our tests that the mountain bikes were significantly faster than road bikes on the Jungle dirt, so if I did it right I should be able to gain a few places while having fun passing roadies on my fat tire bike!
This was a last-minute decision, though, and I wasn’t even sure which mountain bike(s) I owned. Had I bought the Specialized Epic yet? I didn’t want to mess around with purchasing the bike while trying to swap mid-ride, so I came up with a little hack on the fly: I would open Zwift on my iPhone and check my garage there.
Good news: it worked! Bad news: no Specialized Epic. So I bought it on my iPhone.
When our group hit the dirt I noted what place I was in: 197th. Then I applied the brakes and went to swap to my new Epic–but it didn’t show up. Dang. Apparently Zwift only saves new bikes when you save your ride. So I grabbed the Zwift Mountain bike instead and headed into the Jungle dirt.
In case you’re wondering: my hack didn’t work, because I was in the middle of a ride session on another machine when I did it. After I saved my Le Col ride, I checked and the Epic was not in my garage, and my Drops had not been debited the cost of the bike.
As we began making our way around the Jungle (reverse direction) it was clear that even the slower Zwift MTB was much faster than the road rigs everyone was on. I was flying past packs of roadies who were putting out significantly more power than myself. Ha! Game on.
By the time I finished the Jungle Circuit and swapped back to my road bike (Tarmac Pro with Meilensteins, of course) I was in 176nd place. 21 places gained–I’ll take it.
Epic KOM Reverse
We tackled the backside of the Epic KOM next, and I figured this is where I would lose a lot of places since the climb is fairly steep and 25-30 minutes long. But surprisingly, as we climbed I found myself catching a few riders, and not being passed by many!
I crested the top in 162nd place, gave myself a pat on my sweaty back, then pedaled hard to catch the small group ahead so we could draft together on the descent.
(Drafting doesn’t matter much at slow climbing speeds, but on the descents it can make you move a lot faster.)
There was a lot of message banter going on, and one recurring theme was thankfulness that we didn’t have to tackle the Radio Tower climb. I heartily agreed.
As we descended from the KOM I grabbed my first food of the ride: a Caramel Toffee & Sea Salt Clif Bar that had just arrived a few days before from TheFeed.
Related note: if you’ve never shopped at TheFeed before, check them out. Some great deals on bars, gels, etc. And if you make your first purchase through this link I’ll get a $15 credit!
My basic rule for long rides is this: eat a Clif Bar every hour. I’ve found this keeps me fueled sufficiently, and as long as I stay hydrated I can go for 5-6 hours this way.
After the big descent it was time to hit the Hilly KOM forward, then make our way over to the Volcano climb. Thankfully, these climbs were short/flat enough that they don’t hurt much if the group isn’t pushing the pace.
We’d passed quite a few riders on our way up the Volcano, so I set a new goal: to finish better than 90th.
The two-hour mark was just ahead, as was the Epic KOM. Time for my second Clif Bar: Blueberry Crisp!
Epic KOM Forward
The next big event was climbing the Epic KOM forward–a climb I had just done the day before! Instead of expecting to lose places this time around, I decided I would push to at least keep my place, since that seemed doable.
And it was. I actually gained a few spots on the climb, finishing in 88th, but didn’t have any riders near me for the descent. I didn’t like being in No Man’s Land, but with 720 riders on course I figured I would find company soon enough.
The Dreaded ANT+ Drop
We turned left toward the Jungle, which actually surprised me. (For some reason I thought we only hit the Jungle once on this route?) And as I began to climb toward the Jungle my ANT+ data suddenly went away. Nooooo!!!
I’d had one very small dropout earlier in the ride, which was unsettling, but this was a big dropout, and my signal didn’t appear to be coming back. I realized I could connect to my KICKR and TICKR via Bluetooth on the Companion App, so I did that and was moving forward once again, just in time for a couple riders to catch me.
As we rode I realized why I’d lost ANT+ signal: I had stuck a funky-junky Chinese ANT+ dongle in our Zwift machine while doing some lab testing the day before, and forgot to remove it. Zwift had connected to that dongle instead of the good one on the extension cable. Whoops.
Bike Swap #2
As we hit the Jungle dirt again, I swapped back to the Zwift MTB and noted my place: 107th. Let’s see if we can claw back a few more places!
The MTB definitely wasn’t faster on the wood bridge portions at the bottom and top of the Jungle, but everywhere else I did nothing but gain time. I came out of the Jungle in 82nd place. 25 places gained!
The Finish… Sort Of
This ride had a custom finish line at the 100km mark, and we didn’t really know where that would be on course. What we did have was our distance counters, but my distance on the right wasn’t matching my distance at the top, so I wasn’t sure how far I had left. I just chased “M. Blot” ahead, got on his wheel, then rode to the finish line at the fishing village.
Top 4%? I’m not sure the math checks out, but I’ll take it!
Then the real suffering began.
Earning It
Since I wanted the achievement badge for the Mega Pretzel, I had already planned on riding a few miles past the finish. (The Mega Pretzel’s length, after all, is 66.5 miles.)
But here’s the problem: that’s the length if you start from the spawn point. If you start from the starting pier in an event, like we had, you add another 2-3 miles to the route! And for some reason, at this stage in the game, that felt like a million miles.
Feeling Cramptastic
I was taking it easy, using the final miles as a cooldown spin, when I made one mistake: I reached as far to the side as I could without unclipping in order to grab my last water bottle. And when I did that, my legs said nope.
That ominous pang of a quad cramp kicked in, beginning at the top of my right leg and moving down to the knee, locking up that entire muscle in a harder cramp than I’d had in a while.
Perhaps last night’s dinner of Doritos and Li’l Smokies was a bad idea.
No sooner was the right leg under control that my left leg decided it wanted in on the action. Hurray, cramps all around! I’m not gonna lie–I may have snarled a bit, in frustration and pain. I was only a mile or two from the finish, and I could hardly pedal!
I shifted to an easier gear, and just tried to keep spinning. Eventually, the cramping stopped.
As it turns out, I had to ride nearly 7 more miles to get the achievement badge.
And even though this wasn’t a race, I set some 6-month power PB’s, averaging just a bit more than I’d done in the Vegan Cyclist 100+1 ride.
Bike swapping works: swapping on and off the MTB for the Jungle portions let me gain around 20 places each time. Plus, it was fun! Depending on your race situation, it could really be a smart strategy. It definitely makes sense on rides like this, where you’re not on the front and there are packs of riders all around.
Be kind to your body, and it will be kind to you: a cleaner diet the night before would have certainly made my body behave better. Clean carbs, lots of water, plenty of sleep. All things I did not do to prepare for this ride.
Solo Dongle: don’t double-dongle it–you’re just asking for trouble.
What About You?
Did you undertake a Le Col NYD ride? How did your experience compare to mine? Share below!
Video: Team Fearless Women’s Team Championships 2019
On Saturday, December 14, women from all over the world competed in the biggest women’s team race on Zwift. The Team Fearless 3rd Annual Women’s Team Championships had a whopping 226 finishers, up from 140 last year! And this year, Zwift Community Live provided live coverage and commentary.
Teams of 3-5 women worked together to cross the finish line as fast as possible. (If a Zwift team had more than 5 racers, they just entered more than one “team.”) The finish times of the top 3 riders on each team were added together. Teams were awarded points based on those times and any sprint and QOM points their riders earned. Then, the one with the most points was declared the winner.
Each category got its own results and its own podium, celebrating women at a variety of ability levels.
Watopia’s Sand and Sequoias route is mostly flat, but the rolling hills of Titan’s Grove leading into a QOM climb gave the racers a chance to break things up. And they took it! Multiple categories saw a breakaway closely pursued by a determined chase group. Did they stay clear? Check out the video below to watch the race and see. Then, click here for full results.
Zwift has released its “10,000 Calorie Mission” for the third year in a row, just in time to burn off some extra holiday pounds.
Starting the Mission
Sign up for the mission from the Zwift startup screen by clicking “Let’s do this” in the mission box (top-left).
Completing the Mission
This part is simple, but not easy: burn 10,000 cumulative calories on Zwift by January 31st. Here’s how many hours it will take you if you’re riding at various average wattages (runs also count!):
How does it perform? Decently, but it’s not going to be on the list of the very fastest frames or best climbers. It came in at 2 seconds slower than the Zwift Aero frame on our flat test, and 2 seconds faster than the Zwift Aero on the Alpe. So a solid performer for the money and level lock, but there are plenty of faster frames out there for higher-level riders.
First, they’ve reduced the threshold for standing from 80 to 70RPM, which seems like a good move. But more interestingly, they’ve changed in-game data flow so we only see riders standing if their cadence is in fact below 70.
Before this update, all riders (except your own) would automatically stand on any +3% incline. This was done to reduce the amount of processing and data flowing between Zwift’s servers and your machine. But Zwift has optimized their data flows and code so we can see the real-time standing status of all nearby riders.
Other Changes?
Notice anything else new in this update? Comment below!
2019 was Zwift’s biggest year yet, in all the ways that matter. New game features? Yep, lots of those. New worlds/roads? Construction crews have been busy. Overall participation numbers? Bigger than ever before!
Let’s take a look at all the big Zwift news from 2019.
New Roads and Routes
Zwift has released more new roads and routes in the past year than ever before. It began in early January with the release of three new event-only routes for the zFondo series:
And in February yet another event-only route (NYC KOM After Party) was launched.
In April we welcomed the Fuego Flats Watopia Expansion, a beautiful desert-scape made for flat, fast TT efforts. This release included a handful of new Watopia routes:
Next came May’s release of the Giro d’Italia Bologna TT course, an exact replica of the prologue ridden at this year’s Giro. Released on May 11th so Zwifters could ride it the same day as the pros, it’s a smaller course which is only used for events.
In July the Watopia’s Waistband route was made official, even though it’s event-only. This began as a Rebel Route, so it was fun to see it show up in game!
August 1st saw the release of Titan’s Grove, the “National Forest” add-on to Fuego Flats. Titans Grove is a rolling course connecting to the ends of Fuego Flats, and it came with several new routes:
Then the Yorkshire UCI route was released in early September. This replica of the finishing Harrogate circuit of the 2019 UCI Road World Championships lets us ride what the pros rode, without getting wet! Here are the six routes available in Yorkshire:
In early October, just released its first-ever singletrack route, named Repack Ridge. Just for mountain bikers, it is also where riders can test the in-game steering feature.
Then just in time for a little Halloween fun, Zwift released the event only “The Magnificent 8” for riders to traverse while picking up pieces for their costumes.
All year long, Zwift’s event organizers kept up a steady stream of major Zwift-organized events to complement the hundreds of community-organized events happening each week.
Here are just some of the major events which happened on Zwift in 2019–click for more details:
There’s been a lot happening in the world of Zwift beyond new routes, game updates, and big events. Here are some of the top Zwift news stories from this year:
Our sources tell us Zwift has even bigger plans in store for 2020, including many game updates to facilitate the first-ever UCI eSport World Championships happening later in the year.
We also know the following updates are happening for sure:
Club functionality (allowing teams to organize events, etc)
UI Redesign
New world launch (Eric Min said, “we are heading east…”)
Better automatic race rules enforcement
What else does Zwift have in store, and when will it all happen? We’ll have to wait and see. See you out on course!
