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!
“Why don’t my Garmin computer’s distance/speed numbers match Zwift’s?”
The answer to this is quite simple, although it can be hard to wrap your head around if you’re new to virtual cycling.
Simply put, Zwift calculates speed (and therefore distance) based on power, while your Garmin calculates speed based on wheel revolutions. Because of this, your numbers will never match. And that’s OK!
More Details
Let’s imagine you have your Garmin turned on while Zwifting. Here’s how distance computation is happening on your Garmin and Zwift:
Your Garmin is picking up each wheel revolution via the speed sensor on your back wheel and multiplying the number of revolutions by your tire circumference to compute speed and distance.
Zwift is taking the power you’re putting into the pedals and feeding that into its algorithm to determine how fast you go in the Zwift environment given your weight, height, virtual equipment, current road gradient, drafting status, and more. Read “How Does Zwift Calculate My Speed?” for more info >
Note: if you don’t have a smart trainer or power meter, Zwift is estimating your power based on known power curves for particular trainers (we call this “zPower” or “virtual power”). In this case, Zwift does use your speed sensor, but it is converting that wheel revolution data into power numbers. Read more about Zwift’s virtual power calculations >
Zwift has just announced its third annual Tour of London. Like prior years, this is a 5-stage event showcasing all of Zwift’s London map. But Zwift has made a few changes for 2019:
More climbing: we’ve got three climbing stages instead of just two
No Double Draft mode this year
New “E” race category: a “elite” category has been added for anyone wanting to race the stage. Zwift says groups A, B, and C are not races–just a personal challenge against the clock. But E is for racing, and will presumably be managed by Zwift on ZwiftPower. Zwift says, “Recommended w/kg is 3.5-5.0. If going anaerobic out of the pen is your cup of English tea then is the group for you.”
Scheduling: each stage happens across two days, giving people more chances to ride.
Read below for more details on what will certainly be a popular series of events!
Schedule
Each stage is scheduled across two days, with different times for each day. This gives Zwifters maximum opportunity to find a ride time that fits their schedule for each stage.
If you miss one or more stages, makeups stages will be scheduled December 21-22.
Kit Unlock
Complete all five stages to unlock the Tour of London kit. Note: it appears from Zwift’s messaging that this kit is the same as last year’s, which could be a bummer for anyone who already has the kit. Hopefully Zwift has something new in store for us!
Groups
Each time you sign up to ride a stage, you can select which group you want to join:
A Group (Long Distance) = The A Group rides the long-distance event. It’s not a faster group. Just a group that wants to ride a longer stage. Men and women can join this group.
B Group (Short Distance) = The B Group rides the short-distance event. It’s not a slower group. Just a group that wants to ride a shorter stage. Men and women can join this group.
C Group (Women Only) = The C Group is just for women.
E Group (Elite Racers) = New for 2019! The E Group is the race group averaging 3.7-5.0 w/kg. Separate races for men and women.
Stage Details
Stage 1: Greater London Flat, Dec 9-10
We start the Tour on Greater London Flat, a popular flat route through the streets of downtown London and along the Thames.
A Group (Long Distance): 3 laps Total distance with lead-in: 40.2km (25.1 miles) Total elevation gain with lead-in: 176m (577′)
B Group (Short Distance): 1 lap Total distance with lead-in: 16.8km (10.4 miles) Total elevation gain with lead-in: 82m (269′)
C Group (Women Only): 2 laps Total distance with lead-in: 28.4km ( 17.6 miles) Total elevation gain with lead-in: 127m (416′)
E Group (Elite Racers): 2 laps Total distance with lead-in: 16.8km (10.4 miles) Total elevation gain with lead-in: 127m (416′)
This stage’s London 8 route covers the entire original London course by combining the “London Loop” and “Classique”. There’s one climb in this stage, the legendary Box Hill. It’s the same climb used in the 2012 Olympic Road Race!
A Group (Long Distance): 2 laps Total distance with lead-in: 40.6km (25.2 miles) Total elevation gain with lead-in: 476m (1561′)
B Group (Short Distance), C Group (Women Only), E Group (Elite Racers): 1 lap Total distance with lead-in: 20.3km (12.6 miles) Total elevation gain with lead-in: 238m (780′)
The action moves to the Surrey Hills for Stage 3. The London Triple Loops route begins flat, but includes both the Leith Hill and Box Hill climbs. All groups ride one lap for this stage so there’s no B group.
All Groups: 1 lap
Total distance with lead-in: 40.8km (25.4 miles) Total elevation gain with lead-in: 544m (1785′)
After two climbing stages, your legs get a break with the Greatest London Flat course.
A Group (Long Distance): 2 laps Total distance with lead-in: 54.6km (33.9 miles) Total elevation gain with lead-in: 476m (1561′)
B Group (Short Distance), C Group (Women Only), E Group (Elite Racers): 1 lap Total distance with lead-in: 31km (19.3miles) Total elevation gain with lead-in: 294m (968′)
We end the Tour with a mostly flat stage that ends atop the Keith Hill climb, meaning more than half the overall elevation gain is completed in the final 4.1km! All groups ride one lap for this stage so there’s no B group.
All Groups: 1 lap
Total distance with lead-in: 36.2km (22.5 miles) Total elevation gain with lead-in: 407m (1335′)
Enhance Your Zwift Sessions with Philips Hue Smart Lighting
Most of us have seen and used smart LED lighting by now–you may even use it in your own home. But have you ever thought of how it could be used to enhance the Zwift experience?
Almost two years ago, Jon Mayfield posted a demo video of a weekend project created using Nanoleaf panels, some code he wrote, and (unfortunately for the rest of us) a level of access to Zwift’s game data that none of us have.
Unlike Jon, we can’t easily make our lights respond to things like gradient, watts, and weather at this time… but there are some simple, affordable setups that can really make your Zwift sessions more immersive while making the pain cave setup look seriously cool.
Here’s a walkthru of one simple smart lighting setup which was recently implemented in the Zwift Insider Lab.
Getting Started
Required Hardware
First, realize this particular solution only works if you’re running Zwift on a Mac or PC. If you are running Zwift on a phone or tablet connected via HDMI to a big screen, or running Zwift on AppleTV, the pricey Hue Play HDMI Sync Box will sync the Hue lights to your screen.
I went from opening the boxes to basic lighting functionality in 15 minutes. It took another 15 to dial in the syncing and brightness the way I liked. Simples! Here’s the process…
Bridge Setup
The Bridge must be plugged into your local network–it does not work on WiFi. Fortunately, the Hue lights connect to the Bridge wirelessly, so even if the Bridge is plugged in across the house from your pain cave, the Bridge can do its job.
I installed the Hue app on my iPhone, plugged the Bridge into power and my network switch, then opened the app to get the Bridge set up. Easy! It found the Bridge and prompted me to update the Bridge’s software, which I did.
Lights Setup
The lights were also easy to get going–just plug them into the power supply, click “Add Light” in the app, and the lights were quickly found. Once they were linked in the app I could control them using my phone, which is pretty fun in itself. But the real magic comes next!
Setting the Sync
At this point, the two lights were just sitting on a tray in front of my big screen TV. I wasn’t sure where I wanted to mount them–I wanted to experiment a bit before doing anything more permanent.
So I downloaded the Hue Sync app to my Zwift PC. This is the app which “sees” what is happening on your screen and uses that to determine what color each of your lights will be. It also has lots of options in it–more on that in a bit.
The Hue Sync software prompted me to set up an “Entertainment area” in the phone app. This was easily done: I added my two lights to the area, then slid them around to position them on the edges of my virtual TV.
The position of your lights here on the setup screen dictates which on-screen colors will be emulated–position the light to the right, and it will emulate the colors on the right of your screen.
Dialing It In
Since I hadn’t installed the lights yet, I could test out different locations to find one that suited my setup best. Although the Play lights include mounting materials for a variety of setup situations, I decided to use some adhesive-backed velcro I had sitting around, since it allows me to easily move the lights later if desired.
The most important change I made was to slide the brightness setting in the Hue Sync app on my computer to max. This took the lighting from a sort of “is that all there is?” to “Yesssss!”
I also changed the effect level from Moderate to Intense, which seemed to make the lights respond more quickly to on-screen changes.
In the end, I mounted the lights to the back of my TV, near the top, and just out of eyesight when on my bike.
The Results
To begin a Zwift session I now turn on the TV, click “Start light sync” on the Hue Sync app which remains open on the desktop, and boot up Zwift.
Here’s a video showing the results, on a lap of Volcano Flat:
Is it a game-changer? I wouldn’t go that far. A bit of environmental lighting like this definitely makes things more immersive, though. And you’ve got to admit that it looks pretty cool.
The two Hue Play lights aren’t massively bright, so the effect is most pronounced when your room is dark–perfect for my early winter morning sessions. Adding more lights would make it work better in brighter rooms.
Upgrade Ideas
There are several ways that this simple setup could be enhanced:
Overhead lighting: if I had an overhead light which accepted normal bulbs, I could buy a Hue bulb to place in that light, and have it fill the room with screen-emulating color. Unfortunately, my overhead light is an LED lamp that doesn’t use standard bulbs, so that’s not going to happen any time soon.
More TV lights: I could add more lights behind the TV to make the effect even more striking, especially when riding in daylight hours. Perhaps a Hue LightStrip along the top?
Jon Mayfield could open up Zwift data a bit more so we could have our lights respond to workout effort, Ride Ons, and more! What do you say, Jon?
What About You?
Are you using smart lights to enhance your Zwifting experience? Share some tips below!
Watopia’s “Jungle Circuit” was added with the Mayan jungle expansion in late October 2017. This is a lollipop route, meaning you start with a lead-in then remain on the circuit portion until your legs fall off.
Start Point(s)
If you choose this route for a free ride or workout you will spawn on the road to the Mayan jungle, several hundred meters before the jungle start pens. Ride into the circuit portion, then remain on the circuit for the rest of your ride.
Event riders begin at the Jungle start pens, giving you a short lead-in down to the bottom of the jungle before starting the first circuit lap. (See Strava lead-in segments below.)
Route Description
The jungle loop itself is almost 8km in length. In the forward direction, you roll through the lap banner at the loop’s lowest elevation, then ride a gradual climb (~3%) to cross the dizzying heights of the rope bridge. Soon enough you are zipping downhill to the bottom of the valley for another lap.
You must be level 10 or higher to access this or any other jungle routes. Want to get in anyway? Here’s how to do it.
Leaders Jersey
Jungle Circuit laps are timed in both directions, with leaders awarded a Mayan-themed lap leader jersey.
Pro tip: want to grab your first lap leader jersey? Flip a u-turn and hit the circuit in reverse. Not much traffic in this direction!
Here’s what the jersey looks like:
Event-Only Reverse Version
There is a reverse version of the Jungle Circuit route, but it is available for events only.
Changelog
Dec 3, 2019: changed segments and description since Zwift has changed the start points for this route. For events, this route now begins in the new jungle start pen.
Zwiftcast Episode 72 – Special from DC Rainmaker’s Pain Cave in Amsterdam
Simon, Shane, and special guest co-host Ray Maker, also known as DC Rainmaker, are together in person in Amsterdam to discuss all the latest Zwiftiness.
The three podcasters are gathered for Ray’s annual Winter Open House event where sports tech geeks get together over a few beers to discuss what’s hot and have fun.
Simon spends some time amongst this well-informed and enthusiastic crowd asking two questions: What’s Zwift doing well and where could it improve?
Elsewhere in this episode there’s a nice long chat with The Girl, Ray’s life partner and now business partner, on how the family and the blog is settling into life in Amsterdam.
Simon, Shane, and Ray discuss the implications of Ray’s scoop story about Zwift starting its own hardware division and Ray gets to join the Zwiftcast’s Guessing Club on Peak Zwift.
The trio discuss just how much work remains to be done for eSports on Zwift to be successful and, after an interview with Peter Lago from Elite on whether the Italian company is a bit behind the pack in the Smart Bike race, the episode wraps up with Simon talking about his recent big decision: to get an e-Gravel Bike.
