Olya Perevalova Cohen is a keen Zwifter and artist who delights our community with illustrations of her Zwift experiences. We previously featured her illustrations from Tour de Zwift, and today we’ve got the first 4 stages of Tour of Watopia for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!
“Bigger Loop” is a modified version of Zwift’s “Big Loop” which basically adds ~11km of flat road to the start of the route. Released as part of Zwift’s Fuego Flats desert expansion, this route features the new desert roads as well as the Epic KOM, Jungle Circuit, and portions of Volcano flat.
Begin in Watopia’s downtown, then hang a left from Ocean Boulevard to head toward Fuego Flats. Enjoy the desert sites, descend through the redwoods, then hang a left to attack the Epic KOM. It’s gonna hurt!
Descending the KOM then turning left to the jungle, you will hit the circuit and climb back out before descending down to sea level. Your climbing is finished: now it’s time for the flat run-in to the finish, by way of the Volcano flat route.
In summary: 15km of flat followed by 30km of climbing or ascending, ending with 10km of flat. That’s “Bigger Loop”.
The course profile makes this an appealing route for a longer race. Climbers will be able to get away on the Epic KOM, but heavier riders with higher watts may be able to chase them back over the jungle roads and final flat kilometers.
You must be level 10 or above to access Bigger Loop in a free ride. Alternatively, you can join a group ride held on this route–but Big Loop group rides are rare.
When freeriding you will spawn just before the downtown start/finish line. For our Strava segment we started and ended at the downtown start/finish since this is a stable point (unlike spawn points, which have some randomness to them).
We will create another segment beginning at the start pens to cover events on this route, once events begin running here.
Route details:
Distance: 53.1km (33 miles)
Elevation Gain: 678m (2,225′)
Strava Forward Segment
“Out and Back Again” is a route which is quite flat… until it isn’t. Released as part of Zwift’s Fuego Flats desert expansion, this oddly-named route isn’t an out and back at all, but rather two loops connected in a figure 8-style course.
This should be a popular race route given its length and mostly-flat profile punctuated by two distinct climb sections.
The first half of this route is quite flat, while the second half contains its two climbs.
Beginning in Fuego Flats, we make our way across the desert then descend through the redwoods down to Ocean Boulevard. Hanging a left at the Jarvis Tree, we climb our way up the false flat to the Italian Villas, then twist through The Esses and turn left toward the volcano.
Our Volcano KOM climb begins almost exactly at the 20km mark. Ride up the volcano, descend, then take the flat land bridge road back to the Italian Villas.
Our second climb is next, Hilly KOM Reverse. Once you’ve completed this climb and descended down to sea level you’ll hang a right onto Ocean Boulevard then a quick left toward the finish line at Fuego Flats.
When freeriding you will spawn just before the desert start pens, giving us a lead-in of approximately 2.5km before the sprint finish line. For our Strava segment we started and ended at the sprint finish line since this is a stable point (unlike spawn points, which have some randomness to them).
We will create another segment beginning at the start pens to cover events on this route, once events begin running here.
Route details:
Distance: 39.8km (24.8 miles)
Elevation Gain: 303m (997′)
Strava Forward Segment
“Tick Tock” is a clockwise loop covering Fuego Flats and portions of the Ocean Boulevard tube. Released as part of Zwift’s Fuego Flats desert expansion, this route is flatter than Watopia Flat or Volcano Flat, with the only pitchy bits being in and out of Fuego Flats, and in and out of the ocean tunnel.
This is the second-flattest route in all of Zwift as the time of its release, with 2.6 meters of climbing per kilometer of road. (Tempus Fugit, the flattest, has .92m/km.)
Beginning in Fuego Flats, your trip will be pan-flat until you exit Saddle Springs and descend through the Redwood Forest. This descent maxes out at 3% and brings you to the entrance of the ocean tube which is a short downhill ramp. You then proceed through the flat tube, hit the ramp up and out, then hang a right toward Fuego Flats. You’ve got just a bit of gradual climb toward the start line, but nothing more than most cyclists would call a “rise.”
There are lots of landmarks on this route to make this visually interesting and help you keep your bearings. First you pass the cliff dwellings near the first turnaround loop, then you hit the forward 500m sprint segment. Next you’ll ride through the old town of Desert Flats (watch for the steam engine to come roaring through) then through a gap in the rocks to a hidden oasis complete with a waterfall and dinosaur fossils.
Continue on and you’ll ride into Saddle Springs, the 1950’s-inspired resort town. This is where the Tempus Fugit route turns around, but for Tick Tock we continue through town and down into the Redwood Forest–the longest descent on the route, but it’s over before you know it!
Cross the bridge to Ocean Boulevard, then descend into the ocean tunnel. When you exit the tunnel you’ll soon turn a right to cross another bridge toward the island containing Fuego Flats. Hit that 500m sprint segment once more, and the stone arch is your finish line.
When freeriding you will spawn just before the desert start pens, giving us a lead-in of approximately 2.5km before the sprint finish line. For our Strava segment we started and ended at the sprint finish line since this is a stable point (unlike spawn points, which have some randomness to them).
We will create another segment beginning at the start pens to cover events on this route, once events begin running here.
Route details:
Distance: 16.8km (10.5 miles)
Elevation Gain: 44m (146′)
Strava Forward Segment
“Tempus Fugit” is Latin for “time flees (or flies)”, and this is certainly a flat, fast route. Released as part of Zwift’s Fuego Flats desert expansion, this route is definitely designed as an out and back TT race course, with the lead-in from the desert start pens making the course come in right around 20km in length.
This is the flattest route in all of Zwift as the time of its release, with only 16m (52′) of elevation gain from start line to finish. There are some ~1% false flats, but they are barely noticeable as you fly through the picturesque desert.
There are lots of landmarks in Fuego Flats to help you keep your bearings. First you pass the cliff dwellings near the first turnaround loop, then you hit the forward 500m sprint segment. Next you’ll ride through the old town of Desert Flats (watch for the steam engine to come roaring through) then through a gap in the rocks to a hidden oasis complete with a waterfall and dinosaur fossils.
Continue on and you’ll ride into Saddle Springs, the 1950’s-inspired resort town where you’ll make your turnaround before heading back home. Just after the turnaround you’ll cross the start line of the 7km “Fuego Flats Reverse” segment which ends at the same rock arch where the forward sprint ends.
You’ll ride through this arch, around the first turnaround loop (the one with ruins of cliff dwellings) then finish the route with a second effort on the 500m sprint segment.
When freeriding you will spawn just before the desert start pens, giving us a lead-in of approximately 2.5km before the sprint finish line. For our Strava segment we started and ended at the sprint finish line since this is a stable point (unlike spawn points, which have some randomness to them).
We will create another segment beginning at the start pens to cover events on this route, once events begin running here.
Route details:
Distance: 17.3km (10.7 miles)
Elevation Gain: 16m (52′)
Strava Forward Segment
Zwift has released its long-awaited Watopia expansion, dubbed “Fuego Flats”. The ~9 miles (~15km) of winding tarmac is the flattest set of roads available in-game, making it ideal for time trials or other steady efforts.
The expansion’s terrain takes some of its inspiration from areas near ZwiftHQ in Long Beach. This includes Death Valley, where Jon Mayfield has ridden double centuries. Fuego Flats is a nod to other American deserts as well, including Moab, the Antelope Canyon in Arizona, Mesa Verde in Colorado, and the annual California Super Bloom.
The terrain is beautiful, and unlike anything we’ve seen on Zwift. The combination of rocks, sand, and desert flora/fauna is a feast for the eyes.
Are there dinosaurs? Well, sort of. Zwift didn’t quite give us our much-requested terrible lizards, but they threw us a bone.
Nature takes center stage in this expansion, but man-made elements are scattered throughout. Key features include two towns, humorous road signs, cliff dwelling ruins, and a train trestle bridge high overhead.
The first town “Desert Flats”, an old Wild West sort of place, complete with a steam train rolling through (good luck outpacing it) and Watopia’s oldest (and only) saloon. The second town is Saddle Springs, a Palm Springs-style resort featuring Googie-style architecture from the mid-1900’s which was inspired by the “space age” of the time.
New tarmac means new routes, and Zwift has given us five! Three of the routes are centered in Fuego Flats, while the other two routes (Bigger Loop and Über Pretzel) are enlarged versions of existing routes which are modified to include Fuego Flats.
Some Zwifters have asked, “Why add more flat roads?” The answer is: because those are the roads most Zwifters prefer! Ride Watopia any day of the week and you’ll find much more traffic on the flat routes than the hills.
Here’s what Eric Min had to say about it:
As a New Yorker, I personally love to ride the rolling New York (Central Park) course – it brings back great memories for me. However, it’s not an easy course unless you really know how and where to make your efforts. Sometimes, we all just like to have some fun on the flats, and I know a lot of Zwifters out there will enjoy the new Fuego Flats–myself included. Not only is it something for the sprinters, but it also opens up whole new possibilities to cater for our Triathlon and Time Trial audiences.
The new Fuego Flats provides an excellent place for riders to test themselves. Looking for a ~20km TT effort? Ride the new Tempus Fugit route. Prefer the visual of flat roads for your FTP test? Ride “Tick Tock” or “Tempus Fugit”.
There are also two long timed sprint sections–a 500m sprint going clockwise, and a 7km sprint beginning in Saddle Springs and going counter-clockwise. Top the leaderboard for either and get the Fuego Flats sprinters jersey.
The roads into Fuego Flat include a closed-off section of road through the towering redwood forest. Is this more tarmac which Zwift will be opening soon? I hope so, because the winding road through the redwoods remind me of riding near my house here in Northern California.
Indeed, the map shared on Zwift’s “Jet to the Desert” announcement includes this currently-closed stretch of road, indicating that it will be open very soon. Based on what we can see currently in-game this stretch of road includes some climbing, which makes it a welcome addition to this area of Watopia, giving riders the option of a flat route to the far west or a climbing route a little closer.
Zwift’s game master Jon Mayfield has posted a Strava teaser for Watopia’s upcoming Desert Expansion. Here’s what we can glean from his ride…
The new expansion adds approximately 8.5 miles (13.7km) of new roads to Watopia–a substantial addition, on par with the Epic KOM, Jungle, and Alpe du Zwift expansions. Here’s where it fits into the existing Watopian road system:
This expansion is desert-themed, as shown in Jon’s screenshot below:
Most of the desert expansion is pan-flat. There is a slight climb up to the desert from where it connects with Ocean Boulevard just before the ramp down into the tunnel, and a slight descent from the desert to the connecting point which comes just after Ocean Boulevard ramps up towards the Epic KOM.
There is a special sprint jersey awarded–in fact Jon is wearing it in his screenshot and you can see the sprint point on the profile portion of the minimap.
For those who are wondering: the curious-looking loops are used for turnarounds, so don’t get your hopes up, velodrome lovers!
In the past Strava leaks have been posted by ZwiftHQ 1-2 days before an expansion goes live, so I’m sure this desert expansion’s arrival is just around the corner. Can’t wait to give it a go!
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We have lots of Zwift tutorials and how-tos on Zwift Insider, and we also regularly share content that’s made for beginners. Since the early days, Zwift has added lots of features, so the menus can seem quite complex to the new user. Here’s a video walking you through the Zwift game interface.
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Have you spotted the small plaque on the Watopia sprint bridge? Here’s a little Zwifting history about how the bridge was named. Read more about JWB here >
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Elite’s Direto and Drivo trainers have an established position on Zwift. Generally, Zwift is a lot about wheel-on and direct-drive trainers, but there are few roller options available. Elite has one smart roller option… here’s a demo video of the Elite Nero.
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It might be a bit tough to get a hand on the Magene trainer if you’re outside of China. That said, it’s a legitimate trainer that’s well worth a look. Is there innovation here which may be adopted by the big names? Or is it a good budget option to consider despite low accessibility?
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The Cycling Esports show covers the British Zwift Championships once more, but we share it for an exciting battle between the presenters. Who is fastest up the Epic KOM? And is it a victory of legs or smarts?
In this episode, our topics include:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rK1doEbwLE&w=560&h=315]
Recording Date: 04/15/2019
This is the last of a three-part series exploring Zwift racing’s challenges and opportunities. Part one focused on spectating, part two on broadcasting, and part three on the actual race participants.
Today, in the final post of this series, we continue part 3 by taking a look at the actual in-game experience for Zwift racers–things like teamwork, pack dynamics, race visuals, etc. What’s working, what isn’t, and how do we fix it?
In Zwift races, the “blob” (peloton) is a churning mass of riders constantly trading places at the front. This results in:
Could Zwift implement a “draft feel” feature, where your smart trainer’s resistance gets bumped up to indicate that you are in the wind? This may make pack positioning more intuitive and realistic.
There has also been talk of implementing some sort of steering mechanism. This was actually part of the original game Jon Mayfield created, but was scrapped to keep the interface and experience simple and easy. I’m not sure I want to hassle with using some sort of steering controls while Zwifting, but if my phone could sense the tilt of my bike (which is on a rocker plate) I could easily steer with it.
The double draft is more realistic than Zwift’s “standard” draft algorithm, but it has a fatal flaw: packs move too fast. When you are saving even more power in the draft, and that is coupled with the front churning (see above), you end up with pack speeds which are (in my experience) 2-3 miles per hour higher than they should be.
What’s the result? Well, entire groups get coned in races as we saw in the KISS Community League Richmond race a couple months ago (this is an obvious red flag telling us double draft pack speeds are too high.) But more importantly, it results in a lack of attacks because riders know they can’t stay away from the hard-charging pack for any significant amount of time.
If Zwift could slow the packs in double draft races we would get more animated events. Riders could sit in the draft to conserve energy, then attack and possibly stay away.
How could Zwift slow down the pack? That’s a question for the programmers!
If you’ve bombed down Alpe du Zwift or even raced London’s Classique route you know our avatars take corners at unrealistically high speeds. Not only does this make your head swim at 55mph, it also makes the game feel less realistic and makes races more TT-like and less animated.
If riders automatically slowed heading into a corner, races would immediately become more animated. Just like outdoor crits, a hard short effort would follow each tight corner as riders worked to get back up to speed. Certainly, some sort of “auto-braking” could be employed to make this happen.
Some riders complain that Zwift racing is just a power contest. Obviously, this is an over-simplification: recent KISS Super League pro races pitting pro riders against experienced Zwifters showed us that experience on the platform is a major factor when it comes to winning. Even knowing which frame and wheelset to use for a particular course gives more knowledgeable riders a distinct advantage.
That said, the complaint holds a bit of truth: Zwift does lack many of the variables found in outdoor racing. This results in more predictable races and, perhaps, a less engaging experience overall.
Modifying pack dynamics (discussed above) would be some help, but even more could be done to make Zwift races less TT-like. Zwift is currently testing an event mode which always gives “useful” powerups (aero helmet, feather, van) at arches, giving racers more opportunities to strategically use a powerup. This is a step in the right direction.
What else could be done? Zwift could introduce new powerups just for racing. Perhaps a Ninja powerup where a rider disappears for 15 seconds, or if auto-braking in corners is implemented, a “sticky tires” powerup that lets you maintain more speed through the corner.
We could also increase the number of powerups given. What if you could qualify for a powerup by putting in a hard effort? Maybe a breakaway off the front would give you a powerup, or a PR on a particular stretch of road (much like Alpe du Zwift works currently), or closing the gap to a group up the road, or setting a new 5-minute critical power PR.
Other randomness could also be introduced. One obvious idea is wind. Outdoors, attacking into a crosswind is usually the best plan, while attacking with a strong tailwind or headwind is less useful. In a game, of course, anything is possible: the sloth could reach down and scratch random riders, slowing them down for a short time. Rain could cause wheel-sucking mud to form, or increase the level of auto-braking into corners. Rock slides could slow the pack. As long as race organizers can choose the level of random wackiness allowed in their events, why not create more options?
No matter how strong of a rider you are, most of your Zwift racing experience will be you, alone, in your pain cave without spectators to cheer you on. For some Zwifters may not be much of a change from their outdoor racing experience at nearly abandoned office parks. But if we’re looking to bring pros onto the platform we need a way to inject some of that spectator excitement into their experience.
Plus, wouldn’t it be motivating and exciting to have others cheering you on, even as a lower-category racer?
Zwift racers who want to take the platform seriously have been streaming for years, building an audience of fans. This will continue to grow as Zwift racing becomes more popular, but I hope to see racer streams somehow integrated into the game so spectators can easily watch live video of riders. Live-streaming your race provides an added level of motivation in itself, knowing others are watching your race effort.
Allowing some level of spectator interaction would also help motivate racers. Currently, spectators can give a racer a Ride On, but that’s it–and it’s not very easy to do! Zwift could start by making the Ride On process easy for spectators, but even more could be done. Why not allow spectators to private message a rider, send audible encouragement (Hammer time!) and more?
Lastly: we’ve got virtual spectators on the streets of London and NYC. Why not build some race-specific blocks of rabid fans who light smoke bombs on our way up the Watopia KOM, or scream their lungs out in the final sprints?
Cycling is a team sport, and Zwift is a social platform. So it’s no surprise that teams have been active in Zwift races since the early days. And yet, everyone knows team dynamics on Zwift are muted compared to outdoors.
Much of this is due to Zwift’s drafting algorithm which makes precise pack positioning nearly impossible (ideas for improving the draft are shared above). But it’s also due to a lack of any team functionality in game.
Teams most commonly use Discord to talk to each other during races, and it works quite well. That said, this is a third-party app with its own idiosyncrasies, and streamlining the racing experience is important. ZwiftHQ has talked about building voice chat into the game, and this would prove quite handy for team racing, as long as you could choose which Zwifters you want in your ears.
Another teamwork-encouraging feature would be some sort of “team powerups.” I recently chatted with Zwift Community Live host Nathan Guerra who shared several mind-bending team powerup ideas inspired from his time in other gaming environments. For example: what if a team could give teammates different roles (domestique, sprinter, leadout man, etc) then Zwift would deliver powerups based on those roles?
A leadout man may receive a leadout powerup where, if that team’s sprinter is behind the leadout man, the sprinter receives the equivalent of the van powerup while the leadout man gets the aero helmet equivalent as a reward. Or if the domestique is working on the front on a climb and activates their domestique powerup, any team members behind them get the equivalent of the feather powerup.
You get the idea. More advanced powerups that help teammates when used properly.
Both the audio chat and team powerup features would require some sort of in-game team features where riders could join teams and enjoy a higher level of interaction with those teammates.
The experience of Zwift racing differs greatly from outdoors, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In creating its virtual world, Zwift has the opportunity to create a variety of race experiences… some which mimic outdoors, some which do not.
Additionally, there are clearly many tweaks which could be made to make Zwift racing more animated and strategic for individuals and teams. Many of these changes are already in the works at ZwiftHQ, and it’s only a matter of time before we begin to see them in game.
What parts of the Zwift racing experience could be improved, and how should it be done? Share your thoughts below!
