We love new roads, even when they’re virtual. So today let’s celebrate the release of Zwift’s virtual Alp d’Huez, dubbed “Alpe du Zwift.”
Zwift created this route using GPS data to perfectly match the incline and distance of the storied climb with its 21 hairpin turns. The climb to Alp d’Huez actually has two different finish points: the “tourist version” and the Tour de France version. Alpe du Zwift matches the tourist version, which is ~2km shorter with 40 meters less climbing than the TdF. Here is our verified Strava segment for the timed KOM section of the new route.
Looking Good
Zwift took their time making this climb visually interesting in terms of both natural and man-made features. The landscape and flora change as you ascend, beginning at the bottom of the Jungle Circuit with lush grass and shrubs which change to pine trees which are eventually covered in snow. Soon enough you pass the treeline and are surrounded by only rocks and snow, but the visuals still dazzle with the northern lights visible at night and a cloud layer below so you really get the sense of being at altitude.
Man-made features include an alpine village, stone tower outposts, snow camping, timber harvesting, a satellite array and some sort of scientific outpost with a sign calling it “Macready Point Watopia”. Signs on each bend count down to the top, and most of the bends include encouraging messages just like the outdoor climb (“Thin air don’t care”, “Earn that downhill”, “Don’t give up!”, “So close”, etc). See if you can spot the names of some pro cyclist Zwifters as you make your way around the bends!
When you reach the top you are greeted by a giant statue reminiscent of the statues which still grace the original Watopia Hilly route.
Beginning in the jungle
Timber operation
Above the clouds!
At the top
New Routes
The update includes three new routes which take you up Alpe du Zwift:
Road to Sky: 19.9km, 1144m “The shortest route to the longest climb.”
Tour of Fire and Ice: 25.1km, 1166m “Winter is coming, but only after you ride out of the fiery pits of the Volcano.”
Level 12 and Up
You must be level 12 or above to ride Alpe du Zwift, unless you join a group event which is riding on an Alpe route.
New Game Features
In the past, Zwift has been clear that they will only include a long climb in the game if they can gamify it enough to keep it interesting. We can see the beginnings of that with this release, although there are more features still to come.
When you begin the climb, the map section expands vertically so you can better see what’s coming up. Each bend is numbered and starred off when completed. Additionally, when you reach the top of the climb a prize wheel pops up and spins, landing on items like gloves, helmets, etc. (This happens every time you complete the climb–if the wheel lands on a prize you’ve already won, you get 250XP instead.) A welcome added incentive to make it up the biggest climb in Zwift’s virtual universe!
A prize wheel
All that climbing for a virtual helmet? Totally worth it!
Zwift has also added a new badge you can earn (under Menu>Badges): the “Masochist” badge. How do you get it? Climb Alpe du Zwift 25 times! There is also an “Avid Climber” badge given for riding Alpe du Zwift 5 times.
Overall, I consider this a wonderful addition to Watopia because it’s something completely different from what we already have. It also helps keep Zwift well ahead of its competition, many of whom are based around replicating iconic climbs.
Watopia’s “Tour of Fire and Ice” begins in the lava and ends in freezing snow above the treeline. It’s a tour of Watopian extremes!
The route begins at the Volcano banner, then takes you to where the Road to Sky route begins. Therefore, this route is basically Road to Sky with ~7 miles and a few hundred feet of climbing added.
Events on this route begin at the downtown Watopia start pier, while free-ride efforts begin at the Volcano Circuit banner. After passing through the Volcano banner you head directly across the land bridge, up the twisty dirt climb to the Italian Villas, then turn right onto Ocean Boulevard to ride through the fishing village and head up the short climb that marks the beginning of the Epic KOM reverse.
But instead of completing the Epic KOM reverse, we hang a right toward the Jungle, climbing a bit then descending to the dirt road of the Jungle Loop. Then it’s a right turn to take us to the bottom of Zwift’s longest climb: Alpe du Zwift. Hope you brought your climbing legs (and climbing bike)!
When it was released in March 2018, the “Four Horsemen” covered all of Watopia’s timed climbs: the original Hilly KOM, Volcano KOM, Epic KOM, and Alpe du Zwift. Along the way it also covered (nearly) every bit of Watopian road.
The Fuego Flats and Titans Grove extensions were released after this route launched, so Four Horsemen is no longer a nearly complete tour of Watopia.
This is no leisure tour: be ready to work as you climb over 2000 meters in just under 90 kilometers! And be warned: hitting the Alpe after working your way over the previous climbs proves to be both a mental and physical challenge. Prepare yourself!
Zwift CEO Eric Min has traditionally posted a Strava “teaser” ride just prior to the launch of new routes, and this morning it happened again. This teaser, though, was Eric’s most challenging yet: a 56 minute climb up Alpe du Zwift!
Based on Eric’s Strava GPS data we can now confirm that Alpe du Zwift is a full replication of the iconic Alp d’Huez. (Zwift’s climb does not include the traditional Tour d’France finish up through town, but ends at the “tourist finish” in Veil Alpe.) Here is a comparison:
Alpe du Zwift (red) overlayed on the real-world Alp d’Huez (blue).
Climb Details
The climb gains 1036 meters (3400′) over 12km (7.5 miles) with an average gradient of 9%.
Surprisingly, the climb does not begin in the “construction zone” on the way to the Jungle Circuit. Instead, it begins with a right-turn near the flat section at the bottom of the forward Jungle Circuit.
Min’s ride combined with a Jungle Circuit map to show location in Watopia.
New Features
Min’s screenshot from the ride shows some major changes to the map layout at the top-right. This map is much taller, and each bend in the climb is numbered, with some sort of segment tracking happening between bends so you receive a star for each bend completed.
Additionally, you can see from Eric’s screenshot that Chinese language support has arrived.
When Will It Release?
While Zwift never promises release dates, Eric’s Strava post means the release is just around the corner. We also know it must be released by April 9th, when an event is scheduled on the new roads. My guess is the release will happen Wednesday or Thursday night (March 28-29), but as always game master Jon Mayfield will make that call.
Saturday morning, March 24, 2018: Monica and I arrive at the Stubhub VELO Sports Center in Los Angeles excited about what the day will bring. This is day 1 of the CVR World Cup event, and we’re stoked about the opportunity to finally meet some of the riders and community leaders who we’ve only interacted with virtually.
The venue is perfect: we’re set up on a velodrome infield, with plenty of space for our event and the added excitement of track racers constantly orbiting us. Ten of CVR’s Zwift race stations are set up end to end, with one line of five facing the other set of five like some sort of head to head virtual paceline battle.
The CVR team is ready to go in the tech area which swarms with computers managing event data and video streams, the news booth is ready for the weekend’s broadcasts, and it’s time to start the first qualifying heat.
There are a total of 40 riders here this weekend: 20 men and 20 women. Today’s heats will decide who is qualified to race in tomorrow’s Elite finals. The Elite bracket is the top set of racers, and they will receive the largest prizes, so everyone is gunning to make the cut. Those who do not make the cut will race in the Performance bracket.
There will be 4 heats raced today: every racer gets only 1 race to qualify. If you finish in the top 4 of your heat, you’re in the Elite finals. Once those 8 riders are chosen, the remaining 2 riders with the fastest times will also advance, for a total of 10 in the Elite finals for each gender. The other 10 will race in the Performance finals.
The weekend’s first race includes Alison Kubota, an online buddy of ours who we’re happy to finally meet and support here in the real world.
Here are the riders from heat 1:
Carey Conabeare
Laura Conway
Catherine Fortier
Inge Jansen
Alison Kubota
Esther Meisels
Athena Padouvas
Katie Pothier
Ingelin Rod
Jessica York
The first climb breaks the group up quickly, with a lead group of 6 forming which includes Conabeare, Fortier, Jansen, Kubota, Meisels and Pothier. After the second lap KOM that lead group is down to 4 when Pothier and Fortier are dropped. The lead group knows they only needed to work together and stay away from the other riders in order to advance to the finals, but the remaining 6 riders know their qualification is on the line, so they push hard!
On the last climb into the Esses Kubota attacks and only Meisels follows. The two team Vixen ladies (Conabeare and Jansen) wisely take it easy and finish together, knowing they have qualified. Meisels goes on to win the finishing sprint.
Behind the lead 4, Pothier is all by herself, with Fortier and Padouvas working together over a minute behind. In the third lap Pothier continues her strong TT effort to finish 5th, while Padouvas drops Fortier and solos to finish 6th.
Women’s Heat 1 Finishing Order:
Esther Meisels
Alison Kubota
Carey Conabeare
Inge Jansen
Katie Pothier
Athena Padouvas
Catherine Fortier
Ingelin Rod
Laura Conway
Jessica York
Katie Pothier gave a huge effort, and in fact had to be attended to by the medical staff on location due to what may have been low blood sugar or dehydration. She and Padouvas would have to wait to find out if they made the time cut for the next day’s Elite finals.
Pothier attended to by the medical staff.
Watch the entire race broadcast:
Athena Padouvas
Jessica York
Ingelin Rod
Laura Conway
Inge Jansen
Carey Conabeare
Kubota after the sprint finish
Katie Pothier
Alison sprinting up the Esses climb
Alison brought her stuffed duck Maura along for moral support
The pack breaks up on the first climb with Schumm, Bay, Drujon, Netzer, Arber, and Sorenson staying together on the front. This group of 6 stays away together for the entire race, with Eric Sorenson pulling off a long final attack to win by 4 seconds.
Men’s Heat 1 Finishing Order:
Eric Sorenson
Mathieu Drujon
Casey Schumm
Dan Netzer
Soren Bay
Gavin Arber
Tim Norris
Motti Pikelny
Stefan Stefanov
Frank Levick
Bay and Arber have to wait for the second heat’s results to see if they qualify for the Elite finals. Since they stayed with the front group for the entire race they know they have a good chance of turning in a qualifying time.
Watch the entire race broadcast:
Casey making it look easy (well, the race hadn’t started yet…)
On the first climb 4 riders break off from the pack: Real, Behring, Joyner and York. York nearly gets dropped on the climb, but digs deep and fights back to the pack, knowing staying with this front group means qualifying for the Elite finals tomorrow. On the final lap KOM Behring goes off the front and will stay away for the rest of the lap, easily winning by 27 seconds. Real, Joyner and York finish behind her, qualifying for the Elite race.
From Women’s Heat 1 Pothier and Padouvas are rewarded for their hard solo efforts, qualifying as the final two for the next day’s Elite race based on their times.
Cheryl Muldoon wins the “true grit’ award for this race. She had crashed the weekend before at the outdoor CVR training camp and has massive bruising on her right leg. Her efforts in this race hurt that leg so much Cheryl can’t even walk on her leg afterwards. These racers are keeping the medics busy!
Women’s Heat 2 Finishing Order:
Claudia Behring
Jennifer Real
Beth York
Emily Joyner
Lauren McMurtry
Holly Gabel
Liz Rice
Cheryl Muldoon
Julie McKenzie
Mila Allinson
Watch the entire race broadcast:
Cheryl Muldoon shows true grit
Winner Claudia Behring
Mila Allinson
Beth York
Jennifer Real
Holly Gabel
Claudia stays cool, calm and collected
Emily Joyner
Lauren McMurtry
Emily Joyner
Jennifer Real pushes it
Liz Rice
Emily Joyner gets a cooldown from Vixen teammate Dixie
Mila Allinson working on getting aero before the race begins
The pack breaks up on the first climb with Gardiner, Sanders and Zimmerman going off the front. Little, a strong racer, is surprisingly dropped, and must now TT to stay away from those chasing behind him so he can secure that 4th place finish. Ikebe and Davis are just a few seconds behind him, chasing for that coveted spot.
Lionel Sanders shows his massive TT power, staying in front of the lead pack for much of the race. Gardiner and Zimmerman know their only chance is to stay on his wheel for the sprint finish, so they wisely follow his every attack.
Ikebe eventually catches Little in lap 2, but Little then rides away from him to keep his 4th spot safe. In the finish Matthew Gardiner (“the fastest accountant on Zwift”) jumps on the climb into the Esses (taking a cue from Sorenson in heat 1) to take the win with a long break, with Zimmerman outsprinting Sanders for 2nd place.
Men’s Heat 2 Finishing Order:
Matthew Gardiner
Adam Zimmerman
Lionel Sanders
Kim Little
Sadao Ikebe
Mike Davis
Greg Ambroisine
CJ Tully
Ryan Goldenberg
Bill Gros
Watch the entire race broadcast:
Watch Lionel Sanders’ personal video for the race:
I noticed one annoyance today: non CVR racers could actually join the Zwift event and affect the race! Since these events were set up as official Zwift events, anyone could join them. The event description asked riders NOT to join, but nearly every race this weekend would have non CVR riders participating, and that’s no good at all when so much is on the line. Zwift and CVR need to work together to roll out some sort of “private event” feature so CVR can control who participates.
Fantasy Teams Are Set
I’m happy to see that my cycleFANTASY team picks did decently well, moving on to the races I selected for the next day. We’ll see if my racers finish well and give me a shot at a cash prize.
The Big Race Is Next
The next day’s racing begins early with the Men’s Performance Bracket at 8:10AM. I’m wondering if the two ladies who needed medical attention (Pothier and Muldoon) will even be able to race tomorrow–they both were pretty messed up after their race! Hope they’re able to rest up and put in efforts they can be happy with tomorrow.
Stay tuned for a follow-up post about the big race day…
If you’ve ever put out a great effort on Zwift you know what it’s like to come off the bike feeling accomplished and exhausted. But have you ever felt broken? I hadn’t until recently.
I’ve been testing the waters of racing recently, honestly just for the sake of writing about it on Zwift Insider. So when my husband said, “You should race in the US Women’s Nationals tomorrow!” I of course said, “That’s a terrible idea. But okay!” Keep in mind I’ve only raced one other time and my FTP says I’m a Cat D (or lower, if that’s possible).
The only real requirements for the race were that you had to race in whichever race your Zwift flag was from, and you had to be able to average 1.0-5.0 w/kg. I knew I’d get crushed in the race but I also thought there wouldn’t be many opportunities to say, “I raced in the US Women’s Nationals!”
The race was two laps of the Volcano Climb route. That was exactly one lap more than I’d ever ridden. From the start I was able to stay with the front pack for a solid couple of minutes. Eric stood by my side cheering me on: “grab her wheel,” “don’t let them drop you right here,” “you got this!” I didn’t have this. I got dropped fast. I blamed my newly found practice of doing weighted squats at the gym.
At the front… for a very short time.
8 minutes in I stopped pedaling and said, “I can’t do this!!!!” But I immediately started pedaling again knowing that I would be overwhelmingly disappointed in myself if I didn’t ride longer. I decided I’d ride for 20 minutes no matter how far back I was by then. 20 minutes at my full effort would be a pretty big deal for me, I thought. At 20 minutes I decided I might as well ride for 30 minutes. Eric stayed with me in the garage, pretending to clean but actually just staying for moral support. At the 30-minute mark I’d give myself a new goal that was smaller than just “finish the race.” It helped a lot!
As I got closer to the top of the Volcano on my first lap the gals who were leading the race were all split up and coming down from the top. I thought it would be funny if I waved to them as they came down. I don’t know if any of them noticed but it gave me something to do to keep my mind off the fact that I’d have to do this a SECOND time!
During my second lap another gal who had been behind me finally caught me. She and I pulled each other for a bit but there’s no way I could maintain her pace. I let her know I was toast so she knew she should ditch me.
I finished my race a solid 45+ minutes after Claudia Behring won the whole thing. I came in last. BUT I FINISHED! I could barely get off my bike afterwards. When I did though I laid on the ground and cried. Bawled, actually! I think all the tough events in my weeks leading up to the race came to a head, adding to my exhaustion and my sense of sweet relief that I didn’t quit. I laid there for a long time. Sweet, sweet relief. I thought of minute 8 where I quit for a split second and was SO INCREDIBLY HAPPY that I stayed the course.
Finished!
The rest of my day was spent wishing we didn’t have a staircase in our house, napping, and eating whatever I wanted.
But now? I’ve not been interested in riding since then. Exercising? Yes. Riding on Zwift? No. I’m reminded of the last time I felt this. Another hard effort kept me from the bike for a solid two weeks. I know I’ll get back to it. I have a Tron bike to earn (I’m at 75%). But for now, I’ll determine not to do any more races that are beyond me. That’ll at least help my mental capacity for considering Zwifting more.
ZwiftPower Link to Race Results: https://zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=42448Thanks for the Ride On, Eric!
Zwift has posted a new video teaser for Watopia’s next new route, which will at least partly consist of a major climb replicating the famous Alp d’Huez.
The latest video compares the new climb, dubbed “Alpe Du Zwift”, to Watopia’s three existing climbs. Alpe Du Zwift is a monster! See for yourself (turn of the volume):
There has been speculation about whether Zwift would attempt to fully replicate Alp d’Huez, or just create something similar. It’s looking more and more like a full replication, which has people excited. Based on the scale used in the video above, Alpe Du Zwift will be in the neighborhood of 1000 meters+ of elevation gain. (Alp d’Huez is approximately 1100 meters, depending on where you start counting.)
A few images of the new roads have also been released, including the image at the top of this article, and this:
Build Your CVR World Cup Los Angeles Cycle Fantasy Teams
Just ahead of this weekend’s big Major Winter race in LA, CVR has rolled out their cycleFANTASY platform where you can build your own male and female fantasy cycling teams for this weekend’s big event.
Similar to what Velogames does for fantasy outdoor cycling teams, cycleFANTASY allows you to pick your teams, predict finishing places, and even win big cash prizes. Pretty cool!
About the $10 Fee
You can play for free, but you won’t be eligible for the cash prizes. (First prize is currently $534!)
Here’s the really cool part: each $10 entry fee paid increases the cycleFANTASY prize pool by $5, and the CVR World Cup Los Angeles prize pool (what the racers will win) by $2. (So really, I’m sharing this post so the prize pool will grow and I can win more cash with my entry. Ha!)
Setting Up Your Teams
To get started, go to the cycleFANTASY page and sign in. Agree to the terms and conditions, then choose whether you want to pay the $10 entry fee.
Now it’s up to you to build your team. You start with a blank slate:
There are 20 women and 20 men racing in LA this weekend, but your fantasy team will only use half of the available riders, since your teams can only have five riders apiece:
Women’s Elite Bracket
Women’s Performance Bracket
Men’s Elite Bracket
Men’s Performance Bracket
The “Elite” bracket is the top 10 riders (of each gender) based on the qualifying heats on Saturday, while the “Performance” bracket is the lower 10. If you place a rider on your elite bracket, but they don’t qualify for the elite bracket on Saturday, that rider will not earn you any points in Sunday’s races. Same thing if you choose a rider for your performance bracket but they qualify as elite. So choose carefully!
You may want to do some research on some of the riders… click their profile picture to get a text description of the rider, and visit ZwiftPower’s rider search page to look up the riders and see their race results.
Once you’ve selected your teams (see my randomly-selected sample below), you can click and drag to decide where you think each rider will finish on each stage of the race (more on race stages here.)
Complete rules and instructions can be found at the bottom of the cycleFANTASY page where you build your teams.
We’ve had a lot of fun on Zwift this season. There are some issues with the software nonetheless. Ronald Kuba takes a look at the ones he sees. Do you agree?
Rocker plates were one of the big stories of the 2018 Zwift season. However, some folks ride them incorrectly! Follow this walk-through and rocking Zwift should be more much natural for you.
SickBiker has shot a very easy-to-follow tutorial video on how to use Zwift’s inbuilt workout creater. If you’re not served well with the existing workouts, just use your creativity or your training notes from other sources.
It’s a bid odd that a new trainer’s release date is the end of the indoor training season in the Northern hemisphere. Still, JetBlack’s trainer was highly anticipated by many. Shane Miller had a look at it.
Editor’s note: Ian Murray is using Zwift to train for the International Triathlon Union Long Course World Championships held in Odense/Fyn, Denmark July 2018. His weekly Zwift Insider series discusses the previous week’s training and the plan for the upcoming week.
Coming off of the recovery week, I was anxious to get back to work.Sure, I had hit the run on Saturday pretty hard, but the rest of the week had been pretty easy.Getting back to increasing the volume would have to wait one more week, though, as the first week of the build cycle was still relatively easy from that perspective. With a little over three months left to prepare, it’s time to get the body ready for what it will face.
Why Won’t They Just Respond!
Here’s the thing.My body doesn’t take well to recovery weeks.Yes, I know my body needs it.Yes, I know that recovery is important.Vegetables are important, but that doesn’t mean I have to like them.Heck, I know that beets are a great source of nutrients.But, I hate beets and won’t eat them or drink the juice.
Unfortunately, unlike the vegetable scourge that beets are, I have to deal with the recovery weeks to prevent overtraining.The reason I don’t like recovery weeks is actually pretty simple.It makes my legs feel weird.What I mean by that is it confuses my body.It gets so used to pushing that the down time sometimes throws it off, and it gets hard to get it back into hard training mode.I often lack what I call “snap.”Lacking snap means that I may not be able to get into that top-end gear, or I lack acceleration, or something along those lines.Sometimes, the recovery week leads to a lack of mental snap, too, meaning I just can’t mentally get through a grinding interval.At various points throughout the week I experienced different versions of these feelings intermixed with some snap.That inconsistency is what I dislike about the recovery weeks.
Now that I’ve laid out how I feel about this type of week, let’s get into it.
Week 14 Summary
Things started out pretty good.The legs felt ok, a little dull, but normal for the day after a recovery day.The follow-on swim that afternoon was awesome, as I negative split my 2K continuous swim, coming in at just about 34 minutes.The swim the next morning was also pretty good, and then I hit the gym for a strength session.It was only 30 minutes or so.Pretty simple.Three sets of a five-exercise circuit.I thought I felt pretty good going into it.No, I did feel pretty good.That was the problem.I let my brain take a break when choosing the weights for the shoulder press exercise.For fifteen reps, I think I was ok. The problem ahead was that I still had two more set to go. I was not ready for that, and the interest payment on that charge would last for days!
I more or less made it through Wednesday unscathed, even turning out some good 20-minute intervals during my tempo run, averaging about 6:00/mile (maybe just a hair under). By SkillZ and DrillZ on Wednesday, though, I could feel it coming on. Yeah, the DOMS was getting ready to make an appearance. Thursday was horrible. I could only manage 2000 of the planned 3000. My shoulders were absolutely shredded. The subsequent strength workout was not really any better. I got through it, but I could barely get my arms up to shower afterward. Brutal.
Friday went off pretty successfully, and Saturday was filled with a partial workout and the ODZ Coffee Ride, where I served as a domestique for one of our long-time ODZ riders. I couldn’t help myself, as we had a few knuckleheads on the ride who didn’t really want to follow the ride description and then proceeded to talk a lot of smack. I spent a bunch of energy launching attack after attack on the climb to make the gentlemen chase. They ended up blowing up, and I helped my teammate to the third step of the podium. A quick run off the bike finished the week off. Not a bad one, but I could have done without the shelled arms on Thursday. Planned TSS – 752; Completed TSS – 751
Travel Threatens the Training – Planned TSS – 838
Week 15 starts with a three-day whirlwind trip with flights on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Plus, I will be escorting folks, so there will be a bit of mandatory socializing along the way. We’ll see how it goes, but I am not super hopeful. I am looking forward to getting back to my old stomping grounds to run on the Key West High School track. I love that thing.
So far, everything seems to be on track as far as training is concerned. It’s time to increase the bike volume, and I need to start spending some time on my tri bike. The trusty Dimond has had a bit of an off-season, as I have been mostly working on the road bike on the trainer. Time to break out the rollers! That’s it for now. More to follow soon. Until then, Ride On!
