ZwiftPower has just rolled out a new feature allowing Zwifters to view the critical power curves of themselves and other riders. Here is an example from today’s KISS Sunday Night Race showing the power curves of winner Tim Cartwright and 5th place finisher Gavin Richardson.
How To Use It
Click the small green pie chart next to a rider’s name in the race results to switch to power curve view. You can then click the icon on multiple riders to compare their power curves for that event.
Want to see critical power history for a particular rider (including yourself)? It is now visible on the rider’s main profile screen. Here are top racer Greg Leo’s 5 second power numbers, for example. No wonder this guy finishes so fast!
Still Processing
Crunching all this data takes a lot of processing power, and James Hodges at ZwiftPower tells me it will take about a week to process the 200,000 efforts available in Zwift’s data history. Newer events will be processed first, so please be patient if you’re wanting to see older event data.
How Does This Help?
Your critical power curve helps you understand your strengths and weaknesses, and these become especially apparent when you compare your curve to others in a race. As a simplified example: if you’re able to hang with the pack until the end but always get dusted in the finishing sprint, chances are your 20 minute power is strong but your 5 second power is low in comparison to your opponents. While part of your power profile is genetically-influenced, you can always train to improve areas of weakness.
More importantly, knowing your critical power numbers for key intervals is the basis of most modern cycling training plans. And while critical power is available via other tools (Strava premium, for example) having it available free in ZwiftPower is pretty darn cool, since it gives us the numbers we need for our training while making it easy to assess other riders and evaluate our performance for a particular event.
Interested in training with power? Here are two books I highly recommend:
This page includes basic details for all routes on Zwift’s New York world. For additional route details, click the corresponding link to be taken to that route’s detail page.
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Animated map provided by ZwiftHacks
New York’s “Astoria Line 8” is named for NYC’s first subway line. This route covers all the ground-level roads in Central Park. Created from GPS data of the actual park roads, this route accurately reproduces the Central Park ride experience.
Dave Chauner (photo at right), who raced Central Park back in the late 60’s/early 70’s, had this to say after riding the roads on Zwift: Rode the new Central Park course this morning. It’s been a long time but I recognized every meter of the circuit, like this one, a mile or so from the base of Cat’s Paw Hill. But I couldn’t come close to the 13/14 minute lap times we routinely did way back when (’68, ’69, ’70, ’73) during the springtime Central Park Series. Great job Eric and the NYC boys at Zwift! (“Cat’s Paw Hill”, by the way, is the small rise leading up to the start/finish banner.)
Route Basics
Length: 11.5 km (7.1 miles) Elevation: 140 m (459‘) Lead-In: 0 km ( miles) Map: New York
Restriction: none
Achievement Badge: 230XP
New York’s “Astoria Line 8” is named for NYC’s first subway line. This route covers all the ground-level roads in Central Park. Created from GPS data of the actual park roads, this route accurately reproduces the Central Park ride experience.
Dave Chauner (photo at right), who raced Central Park back in the late 60’s/early 70’s, had this to say after riding the roads on Zwift: Rode the new Central Park course this morning. It’s been a long time but I recognized every meter of the circuit, like this one, a mile or so from the base of Cat’s Paw Hill. But I couldn’t come close to the 13/14 minute lap times we routinely did way back when (’68, ’69, ’70, ’73) during the springtime Central Park Series. Great job Eric and the NYC boys at Zwift! (“Cat’s Paw Hill”, by the way, is the small rise leading up to the start/finish banner.)
Released in October 2025 as part of the Prospect Park expansion to Zwift’s New York map, “Avon Flyer” is an homage to former Prospect Park Race Director Greg Avon, who is also a level 100 Zwifter!
Route Basics
Length: 3.3 km (2.1 miles) Elevation: 25 m (82‘) Lead-In: 1.8 km (1.1 miles) Map: New York
Restriction: none
Achievement Badge: 65XP
Released in October 2025 as part of the Prospect Park expansion to Zwift’s New York map, “Avon Flyer” is an homage to former Prospect Park Race Director Greg Avon, who is also a level 100 Zwifter!
Released in October 2025 as part of the New York map expansion, “Double Parked” does what you might expect – it takes you through both parks on the map! It feels like a fitting route, since both parks were designed by the same landscape architects, with Prospect Park a more tranquil, neighborhood-centric sister to Central Park.
Route Basics
Length: 42.2 km (26.2 miles) Elevation: 330 m (1,083‘) Lead-In: 0.1 km (0.1 miles) Map: New York
Restriction: none
Achievement Badge: 845XP
Released in October 2025 as part of the New York map expansion, “Double Parked” does what you might expect – it takes you through both parks on the map! It feels like a fitting route, since both parks were designed by the same landscape architects, with Prospect Park a more tranquil, neighborhood-centric sister to Central Park.
Released in October 2025 as part of the Prospect Park expansion to Zwift’s New York map, this route focuses on the new roads crossing the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges. It’s a circuit that begins with a lead-in from Prospect Park, then keeps riders on the two bridges riding CCW for as many laps as you’d like!
Route Basics
Length: 7 km (4.3 miles) Elevation: 80 m (262‘) Lead-In: 5.6 km (3.5 miles) Map: New York
Restriction: none
Achievement Badge: 145XP
Released in October 2025 as part of the Prospect Park expansion to Zwift’s New York map, this route focuses on the new roads crossing the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges. It’s a circuit that begins with a lead-in from Prospect Park, then keeps riders on the two bridges riding CCW for as many laps as you’d like!
Released in November 2025 as an event-only route to host the final race of Zwift Racing League Round 2, Empire Elevation is a one-way route that begins in Prospect Park and heads north for a spicy finish on the KOM in Central Park. It became an open route in January 2026.
Route Basics
Length: 24.2 km (15.0 miles) Elevation: 261 m (856‘) Lead-In: 1.8 km (1.1 miles) Map: New York
Restriction: none
Achievement Badge: 485XP
Released in November 2025 as an event-only route to host the final race of Zwift Racing League Round 2, Empire Elevation is a one-way route that begins in Prospect Park and heads north for a spicy finish on the KOM in Central Park. It became an open route in January 2026.
New York’s “Everything Bagel” is the longest route on the NYC course, and the perfect route for a hard ~1-hour effort. It covers nearly every road section, many of them in both directions. Looking for a challenge? You’ll get several chances to test your legs against the leaderboards as you hit the KOM and sprint sections in both directions.
Route Basics
Length: 34.8 km (21.6 miles) Elevation: 525 m (1,722‘) Lead-In: 0.1 km (0.1 miles) Map: New York
Restriction: none
Achievement Badge: 690XP
New York’s “Everything Bagel” is the longest route on the NYC course, and the perfect route for a hard ~1-hour effort. It covers nearly every road section, many of them in both directions. Looking for a challenge? You’ll get several chances to test your legs against the leaderboards as you hit the KOM and sprint sections in both directions.
First, there was Everything Bagel, the longest route in New York at just under 35km. Later, Zwift would release two event-only routes that were even longer. But in October 2025, “Fuhgeddaboudit” said “hold my martini” and came out at 79km! It’s quite a ride, covering (almost) all the roads on the map, including some in both directions!
Route Basics
Length: 79 km (49.1 miles) Elevation: 838 m (2,749‘) Lead-In: 0 km ( miles) Map: New York
Restriction: none
Achievement Badge: 1595XP
First, there was Everything Bagel, the longest route in New York at just under 35km. Later, Zwift would release two event-only routes that were even longer. But in October 2025, “Fuhgeddaboudit” said “hold my martini” and came out at 79km! It’s quite a ride, covering (almost) all the roads on the map, including some in both directions!
Released in October 2025 as part of the New York map expansion, “Green to Screen” takes riders on a tour of most of the expansion’s new roads, including Times Square (the screen), the bridges, Prospect Park (the green), and two of the three subways.
Route Basics
Length: 28.4 km (17.6 miles) Elevation: 207 m (679‘) Lead-In: 0.1 km (0.1 miles) Map: New York
Restriction: none
Achievement Badge: 575XP
Released in October 2025 as part of the New York map expansion, “Green to Screen” takes riders on a tour of most of the expansion’s new roads, including Times Square (the screen), the bridges, Prospect Park (the green), and two of the three subways.
Launching with Zwift Games 2026, this route begins and ends in Central Park, taking in portions of the park’s paved and glass roads. There’s also a quick down and back trip to Times Square!
Route Basics
Length: 20.3 km (12.6 miles) Elevation: 216 m (709‘) Lead-In: 0.1 km (0.1 miles) Map: New York
Restriction: none
Achievement Badge: 405XP
Launching with Zwift Games 2026, this route begins and ends in Central Park, taking in portions of the park’s paved and glass roads. There’s also a quick down and back trip to Times Square!
Released in October 2025 as part of the Prospect Park expansion to Zwift’s New York map, “Issendorf Express” is an homage to Charlie Issendorf, Zwift’s first head of events and also the Prospect Park race organizer for 17 years.
Route Basics
Length: 7.2 km (4.5 miles) Elevation: 53 m (174‘) Lead-In: 0.1 km (0.1 miles) Map: New York
Restriction: none
Achievement Badge: 145XP
Released in October 2025 as part of the Prospect Park expansion to Zwift’s New York map, “Issendorf Express” is an homage to Charlie Issendorf, Zwift’s first head of events and also the Prospect Park race organizer for 17 years.
New York’s “Knickerbocker” covers the same roads as the Astoria Line 8, with the KOM thrown in for good measure. (A Knickerbocker is simply a New Yorker, although the word itself has a long and interesting history.) This is the second-longest route on the NYC course.
Route Basics
Length: 22.5 km (14.0 miles) Elevation: 364 m (1,194‘) Lead-In: 0 km ( miles) Map: New York
Restriction: none
Achievement Badge: 450XP
New York’s “Knickerbocker” covers the same roads as the Astoria Line 8, with the KOM thrown in for good measure. (A Knickerbocker is simply a New Yorker, although the word itself has a long and interesting history.) This is the second-longest route on the NYC course.
This race route takes you six times around LaGuardia Loop before heading onto the glass roads for a go at the New York KOM Reverse. It starts off pretty flat, but has a sting in the tail!
Route Basics
Length: 20.8 km (12.9 miles) Elevation: 326 m (1,070‘) Lead-In: 0 km ( miles) Map: New York
Restriction: none
Achievement Badge: 420XP
This race route takes you six times around LaGuardia Loop before heading onto the glass roads for a go at the New York KOM Reverse. It starts off pretty flat, but has a sting in the tail!
This route begins in New York’s Times Square and heads south to Brooklyn’s Prospect Park before returning by the same road. But that’s not all… after a quick trip around the Times Square Circuit, it heads south once more to finish on the Brooklyn Bridge KOM.
Route Basics
Length: 31.8 km (19.8 miles) Elevation: 247 m (810‘) Lead-In: 0.2 km (0.1 miles) Map: New York
Restriction: none
Achievement Badge: 675XP
This route begins in New York’s Times Square and heads south to Brooklyn’s Prospect Park before returning by the same road. But that’s not all… after a quick trip around the Times Square Circuit, it heads south once more to finish on the Brooklyn Bridge KOM.
New York’s “Park Perimeter Loop” takes you on the outermost ground-level path around Central Park. Looking to grab an orange lap leader jersey? This is the only timed route on NYC’s course!
Route Basics
Length: 9.8 km (6.1 miles) Elevation: 126 m (413‘) Lead-In: 0 km ( miles) Map: New York
Restriction: none
Achievement Badge: 190XP
New York’s “Park Perimeter Loop” takes you on the outermost ground-level path around Central Park. Looking to grab an orange lap leader jersey? This is the only timed route on NYC’s course!
This simple loop is the centerpiece, or perhaps the endcap, of Zwift’s October 2025 New York map expansion. Since Prospect Park was designed by the same landscape architects as Central Park, it’s fitting that Zwift’s New York map begins with Central Park to the north and ends with Prospect Park to the south.
Route Basics
Length: 5.4 km (3.4 miles) Elevation: 37 m (121‘) Lead-In: 0.1 km (0.1 miles) Map: New York
Restriction: none
Achievement Badge: 110XP
This simple loop is the centerpiece, or perhaps the endcap, of Zwift’s October 2025 New York map expansion. Since Prospect Park was designed by the same landscape architects as Central Park, it’s fitting that Zwift’s New York map begins with Central Park to the north and ends with Prospect Park to the south.
Released in October 2025 as part of the Prospect Park expansion to Zwift’s New York map, “Spinfinity” takes riders on the elevated Times Square Circuit, through the City Hall Station subway, and across the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges.
Route Basics
Length: 19.3 km (12.0 miles) Elevation: 155 m (509‘) Lead-In: 0.8 km (0.5 miles) Map: New York
Restriction: none
Achievement Badge: 390XP
Released in October 2025 as part of the Prospect Park expansion to Zwift’s New York map, “Spinfinity” takes riders on the elevated Times Square Circuit, through the City Hall Station subway, and across the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges.
Released in October 2025 as part of the Prospect Park expansion to Zwift’s New York map, “Spinfinity Ultra” is basically two laps of “Spinfinity“, but with a change in bridge directions between each lap.
Route Basics
Length: 35 km (21.7 miles) Elevation: 291 m (955‘) Lead-In: 0.8 km (0.5 miles) Map: New York
Restriction: none
Achievement Badge: 710XP
Released in October 2025 as part of the Prospect Park expansion to Zwift’s New York map, “Spinfinity Ultra” is basically two laps of “Spinfinity“, but with a change in bridge directions between each lap.
Released in October 2025 as part of the Prospect Park expansion to Zwift’s New York map, “Stay Puft Pursuit” is the only new route taking riders up the NY KOM in both directions.
Route Basics
Length: 31.2 km (19.4 miles) Elevation: 416 m (1,365‘) Lead-In: 0.8 km (0.5 miles) Map: New York
Restriction: none
Achievement Badge: 625XP
Released in October 2025 as part of the Prospect Park expansion to Zwift’s New York map, “Stay Puft Pursuit” is the only new route taking riders up the NY KOM in both directions.
New York’s “The 6 Train” is the shortest route available for free-riding around NYC. Named for the most direct subway route between Grand Central Station and Central Park, this route covers the “middle loop” of Central Park’s three ground-level loop sections in a clockwise direction.
Route Basics
Length: 6.5 km (4.0 miles) Elevation: 70 m (230‘) Lead-In: 0.1 km (0.1 miles) Map: New York
Restriction: none
Achievement Badge: 130XP
New York’s “The 6 Train” is the shortest route available for free-riding around NYC. Named for the most direct subway route between Grand Central Station and Central Park, this route covers the “middle loop” of Central Park’s three ground-level loop sections in a clockwise direction.
Simply a reverse version of “The 6 Train”, this route covers the “middle loop” of Central Park’s three ground-level loop sections in a counter-clockwise direction. That means an uphill finish on Cat’s Paw Hill. Bring your feather!
Route Basics
Length: 6.5 km (4.0 miles) Elevation: 70 m (230‘) Lead-In: 0 km ( miles) Map: New York
Restriction: Event Only
Simply a reverse version of “The 6 Train”, this route covers the “middle loop” of Central Park’s three ground-level loop sections in a counter-clockwise direction. That means an uphill finish on Cat’s Paw Hill. Bring your feather!
Released in October 2025 as part of the New York map expansion, “The Double Borough” begins in Central Park, then travels south to cross the East River for a quick turnaround in Brooklyn and a return to Times Square.
Route Basics
Length: 17.8 km (11.1 miles) Elevation: 147 m (482‘) Lead-In: 0.1 km (0.1 miles) Map: New York
Restriction: none
Achievement Badge: 360XP
Released in October 2025 as part of the New York map expansion, “The Double Borough” begins in Central Park, then travels south to cross the East River for a quick turnaround in Brooklyn and a return to Times Square.
Released in October 2025 as part of the Prospect Park expansion to Zwift’s New York map, “The Greenway” takes riders through the upper portion of Prospect Park, the sunlit halls of the Brooklyn subway, and across the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges in both directions.
Route Basics
Length: 36.2 km (22.5 miles) Elevation: 290 m (951‘) Lead-In: 0.6 km (0.4 miles) Map: New York
Restriction: none
Achievement Badge: 805XP
Released in October 2025 as part of the Prospect Park expansion to Zwift’s New York map, “The Greenway” takes riders through the upper portion of Prospect Park, the sunlit halls of the Brooklyn subway, and across the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges in both directions.
New York’s “The Highline” is aptly named after Manhattan’s “High Line” elevated park, since the route keeps you on the elevated glass roads of Zwift’s futuristic NYC.
This route is fairly tame in terms of total climbing, maintaining a rolling profile except when it takes you over the forward KOM (1.36km, 6.4%) which tops out at 17% grade. And you’ll have to climb that KOM at least twice since it’s included in the lead-in before your lap even begins!
Route Basics
Length: 10.5 km (6.5 miles) Elevation: 179 m (587‘) Lead-In: 9.9 km (6.2 miles) Map: New York
Restriction: none
Achievement Badge: 210XP
New York’s “The Highline” is aptly named after Manhattan’s “High Line” elevated park, since the route keeps you on the elevated glass roads of Zwift’s futuristic NYC.
This route is fairly tame in terms of total climbing, maintaining a rolling profile except when it takes you over the forward KOM (1.36km, 6.4%) which tops out at 17% grade. And you’ll have to climb that KOM at least twice since it’s included in the lead-in before your lap even begins!
This route is an event-only reverse version of The Highline. Both routes are named after Manhattan’s “High Line” elevated park, since they keep you on the elevated glass roads of Zwift’s futuristic NYC.
Route Basics
Length: 10.5 km (6.5 miles) Elevation: 179 m (587‘) Lead-In: 10.5 km (6.5 miles) Map: New York
Restriction: Event Only
Achievement Badge: none
This route is an event-only reverse version of The Highline. Both routes are named after Manhattan’s “High Line” elevated park, since they keep you on the elevated glass roads of Zwift’s futuristic NYC.
Released in mid-November 2025, Times Square Circuit cover the glass roads of Zwift’s futuristic Times Square. This circuit also has its own leaderboard awarding orange jerseys in both directions.
Route Basics
Length: 3.5 km (2.2 miles) Elevation: 20 m (66‘) Lead-In: 0.8 km (0.5 miles) Map: New York
Restriction: none
Achievement Badge: 70XP
Released in mid-November 2025, Times Square Circuit cover the glass roads of Zwift’s futuristic Times Square. This circuit also has its own leaderboard awarding orange jerseys in both directions.
Released in October 2025 as part of the Prospect Park expansion to Zwift’s New York map, “Toefield Tornado” is an homage to Al Toefield, legendary Prospect Park race organizer and Kissena Cycling Club founder.
Route Basics
Length: 10.2 km (6.3 miles) Elevation: 53 m (174‘) Lead-In: 0.1 km (0.1 miles) Map: New York
Restriction: none
Achievement Badge: 205XP
Released in October 2025 as part of the Prospect Park expansion to Zwift’s New York map, “Toefield Tornado” is an homage to Al Toefield, legendary Prospect Park race organizer and Kissena Cycling Club founder.
Released in October 2025 as part of the New York map expansion, “Watts the Limit” is sort of a sister to “Double Parked“. Both routes start in one park, travel to the other, then return. They share exactly the same roads between the two parks.
But Watts the Limit spends very little time in (or near) each of the parks, whereas Double Parked rides complete circuits of each. And Watts the Limit begins in Central Park, while Double Parked begins in Prospect.
Route Basics
Length: 29.5 km (18.3 miles) Elevation: 200 m (656‘) Lead-In: 1.5 km (0.9 miles) Map: New York
Restriction: none
Achievement Badge: 595XP
Released in October 2025 as part of the New York map expansion, “Watts the Limit” is sort of a sister to “Double Parked“. Both routes start in one park, travel to the other, then return. They share exactly the same roads between the two parks.
But Watts the Limit spends very little time in (or near) each of the parks, whereas Double Parked rides complete circuits of each. And Watts the Limit begins in Central Park, while Double Parked begins in Prospect.
The first-ever Zwift “Interval Art Competition” has been announced on Zwift riders. Join in the fun… sweat for art’s sake! Here are the details…
It is officially the virtual artistic cycling season. This year we will hold Zwift’s first-ever virtual interval art championship.
Instructions
Set your FTP in Zwift to your best guess of your current FTP.
Do a ride or workout in Zwift. When you are finished, take a screenshot of the ride report and post it in the comments below. Give it a title, say a little something about the entry and tell us whether you used erg or sim mode. The workout or ride must be completed without stopping. Enter as many times as you would like.
Entry Deadline: 11/30/2018 11:59pm EST
Categories
Free Hand (Sim Mode)
Erg Mode
Judging
Entrants will be judged on artistry and degree of difficulty (relative to entrant’s FTP) by Nathan Guerra and Karissa Bramhall Minn. There will also be a “People’s Choice” award for the entrant (in both categories) with the most “thumbs up” reactions in the Facebook contest thread.
Greg Leo’s NYC Skyline
Keen Zwifter and “indoor specialist” Greg Leo developed the idea for this contest and shared his Erg mode entry–an attempt to recreate the NYC Skyline. Not bad at all–and not an easy workout!
We know there are some big updates rolling out in the next few weeks, but for now the developers have added a few features, made some tweaks and fixed some bugs in an update that dropped early on October 31. Here’s a quick rundown…
New Option to Mute Title Music
This was previously only doable as a hack. Now just click Menu>Settings and see the option at the top of the list.
Increased Spawning Areas
Most of the routes previously started just north of the start pens and start/finish banner and headed north. These have been moved to various points south so you ride through the start/finish to begin the route.
Additionally, the handful of routes that begin in a southward direction have had their starting points moved further north.
The end result is the spawning has been spread out, so we won’t have so many riders on the site of the road in one place. Here are the start points which changed in this update, as far as I can tell:
Custom workout sync now supports folder hierarchies: this was a big issue pointed out by Shane Miller when cloud sync was first rolled out. Hopefully it’s all cleaned up and working beautifully now!
Cleaned up some NYC map issues and other various bug fixes
Reduced chances of late-joining Zwifters getting stuck riding in tight loops
We published our last set of Zwift videos in June, then we took a break over summer. Many trips and mountains later, we are back. Zwift is crowding up again and you’re looking for inspirational support to keep you going through the cold weeks. For this first set of videos, we’ve handpicked our favorite videos from this summer – and a special Halloween treat.
Since I had the privilege to be at the UCI World Championships and ride the Zwift course in real life, I want to share with you Zwift’s own Innsbruck video to give you a flavour of the atmosphere.
Halloween has a skeletal tradition on Zwift. Best you experience it yourself on a ride. Shane Miller opens the season with a little look on what’s to expect.
Personally, I spent much of the summer cycling in the Alps. I invite you all to come over for a ride and yes, I think Zwift helps to train for the mountains. Here’s some good advice!
Early this year we introduced you to the Zwift Academy tri team. A full season has passed and culminated in the Ironman World Championships. Watch how Kona pushed them to the limit.
Shane Miller’s second video in this list highlights a key feature for training on Zwift. We’ve covered this video before, but I think it’s a very important feature to remind you of at the beginning of the trainer season.
Zwift likes to roll out fun stuff on holidays, especially April Fools’ and Halloween. Today we’re riding bone bikes and wearing pumpkin (or green skeleton) heads. (There may be more silly stuff, but this is all I’ve seen at a quick glance!) We’ve also got jack o’ lanterns and spiderwebs decorating Watopia… and is it just me, or is it permanently night time today?
Spooky archway
It’s a full moon!
Green skeleton head, matches my bike
Pumpkins and spiderwebs decorating the city center
To switch your head, go to Menu>Customize and try clicking the different headware options. My pumpkin head was hidden under the orange cycling cap, while the skeleton head was the runner’s sweatband.
How Fast Is the Bone Bike?
In case you’re wondering… it’s about as fast as the Zwift Carbon with Zipp 808 wheels.
On a related note: Halloween is already over in Australia–check out how Shane Miller made trick-or-treaters pedal for candy!
The Echelon Podcast: Greg Leo – The Indoor Specialist
Adam chats it up with his buddy Greg Leo. They talk about Greg’s crazy interval sessions on Zwift and what it’s like to be an “Indoor Specialist.”
About The Echelon Podcast:
We are amateur cyclists who cover everything in the world of cycling. Co-hosted by Adam Zimmerman and Chris Smith, you can find us on Soundcloud or iTunes.
Zwift Announced as Official Training Partner of L’Etape du Tour
This year’s L’Etape du Tour route matches what the pros will be riding for stage 20 of the 2019 Tour de France in the Alps. At 135km in length with 4,563 meters of climbing, L’Etape du Tour will give everyday riders the chance to experience Le Tour for themselves: but it won’t be easy!
Zwift CEO Eric Min said:
“Is there an amateur cycling event quite as renowned as L’Etape du Tour? The chance to experience one of the most beautiful, and challenging stages, of the Tour de France is why this has always been such a popular event and why it’s such an incredible occasion for any cyclist. It’s a real challenge, but this is what makes it such a fantastic event to complete.
Today’s big news out is that Zwift has been announced as the Official Training Partner of A.S.O.’s L’Etape du Tour, meaning Zwift will deliver the official training plans for 2019. The training plans will be developed by Zwift’s coach Kevin Poulton, coach to Paris-Roubaix winner (and keen Zwifter) Matthew Hayman.
Training Club Details
Zwift will be rolling out the L’Etape du Tour Training Club which will be capped 30,000 members. Following a similar model to that used for the Zwift’s Academies, the aim will be to create a training community of Zwifters who share the same goals, further aiding motivation to train. Those enrolled in the L’Etape du Tour Training Club will be able to track their progress and unlock unique in-game items as they advance, helping keep motivation high and ensuring they reach July in peak form.
Training club members will follow a structured workout plan while also participating in a series of Group Workouts. The Zwift L’Etape du Tour training programs will commence later this year.
More On the Partnership
Outside of the training plans, Zwift will also be hosting exclusive L’Etape du Tour rides in game, including select Ride to Win events with starting bibs for L’Etape up for grabs. These longer Zwift L’Etape du Tour rides will provide a fantastic challenge for those cyclists unable to attend the real-life event in July.
This is a win-win partnership, as it will help bring Zwift to a new audience while doing the same for L’Etape du Tour. CEO of A.S.O. Yann Le Moenner said:
We are really excited to further broaden the reach of L’Etape du Tour with Zwift. Zwift is a great way to train and helps bring together cyclists from all over the world. For those who cannot travel to L’Etape du Tour, the Zwift L’Etape du Tour rides will be a great way to experience the challenge of L’Etape du Tour from the comfort of your home.
About L’Etape du Tour
L’Etape du Tour allows anybody to live through the legendary experience of the Grande Boucle, on the same roads and conditions as the professional cyclists of The Tour de France. Every year, more than 15,000 amateur cyclists gather to face the mythical climbs of the professional event.
L’Etape du Tour is now the European reference in amateur cycling races. On July 21st, 2019, L’Etape du Tour will connect Albertville to Val Thorens.
Apparently, Greig was out of the saddle sprinting for a Zwift race win when his bike came off his Wahoo Kickr smart trainer, resulting in some rear derailleur carnage. Greig was sure he had broken his dream bike, but after taking it to the shop he was happy to learn it was only a broken derailleur hanger and some scrapes on the underside of the chainstay. $100 to get things checked and fixed. No broken carbon! Greig told me:
So costly but could have been a lot worse! I’m now using my old bike on the trainer and have a steel skewer (which has survived the CHOP, so I hope it holds up).
The culprit? A flimsy quick-release skewer. Greig was using the Wahoo skewer supplied by his bike shop, which was the skewer shipped with his 2018 Kickr. At first Greig thought his shop had made a mistake, but further discussion with Zwifters has brought to light that Wahoo is now shipping aluminum skewers with 2018 Kickrs instead of the heavy-duty steel ones shipped with previous models.
When In Doubt, Swap It Out
Heavy duty Wahoo steel quick release
If you are using the aluminum skewer (it has a black handle instead of shiny metal) on your Wahoo Kickr (or any trainer) I would highly advise you to swap to a heavy-duty steel skewer, such as this one which Wahoo sells. Stay away from lightweight titanium skewers when riding indoors as well.
If you don’t hammer out of the saddle and you’ve got your quick release installed properly, you probably have nothing to worry about. But I would say “better safe than sorry” when you look at the low cost of a beefier skewer vs the high cost of replacing bike parts!
Let’s Rock
Also, I’ll throw a mention in here of rocking plates. I use one myself, and am quite convinced that they take a lot of the stress out of your frame for out of the saddle efforts. You can build one yourself quite easily, or there are several solutions on the market. Check out the Rockit Launcher plans here >
James Hodges manages ZwiftPower.com and has been hard at work upgrading and expanding the site’s features as we move into peak racing season. James is a talented developer, but he’s so busy making ZwiftPower amazing that he tends to neglect sharing news of site upgrades with the Zwift community.
Because of this, I will be working with James to publish posts highlighting ZwiftPower upgrades. This is the first!
The Problem with Strava Leaderboards for Zwift
I love Strava, and you probably do too. And most Zwifters will agree that accurate Strava segments for key Zwift routes are important, which is why we’ve created so many Zwift Insider verified Strava segments.
That said, Strava leaderboards for Zwift segments are full of inaccurate results because it’s too easy to accidentally or purposefully post bad data. Dodgy smart trainers, inaccurate “virtual power,” weight dopers and more all wreak havoc on the accuracy of Strava leaderboards.
Solution: Link Leaderboards to Verified Efforts
If you visit ZwiftPower.com, click “Segments” and choose a segment such as Alpe du Zwift you can see James’ solution. He has implemented leaderboards on ZwiftPower for every KOM and sprint section on Zwift, but these leaderboards are only generated from logged Zwift events. That last part is key, because these events have at least some measure of oversight, allowing admins to automatically or manually DQ riders with inaccurate numbers.
While race organizers still lack the ability to bar riders from entering races, they can modify the official ZwiftPower results post-event. These actions affect the segment leaderboards as well, and habitual offenders (more than 3 ZADA strikes) have their times automatically removed. According to James other suspicious times will be examined and removed as well, with admins regularly checking the top times for accuracy and removing any that are suspect.
A Feast for the Data-Hungry
Weight doping (lowering your weight so you can climb faster) makes it easy to game Strava Zwift leaderboards, but unlike Strava every result on ZwiftPower displaysthe weight used during that effort. This makes it easy to spot riders who are changing their weight to gain an unfair advantage.
Additionally, each leaderboard entry displays average power, w/kg, speed, and a link to the event in which the time was recorded.
Not Perfect, But Darn Good
Is this solution perfect? Of course not. It’s still possible for a rider to race with inaccurate power and never be caught, because there is no workable way to validate every Zwifter’s power numbers at this time. Lower-category racers are especially prone to inaccurate power numbers due to their lack of training/racing experience and a lack of oversight from race administrators.
That said, these ZwiftPower leaderboards certainly present the most realistic rankings available today, letting us see who the top Zwifters are and where we stand in the mix.
A Few Tips
Want to see how you stack up? Your best segment time is available at the top-right of the leaderboard page.
Want to research a particular rider’s history on a segment? Hitting the green icon to the left of a rider’s name will display all their efforts. You must be logged into your ZwiftPower account for this to work.
A segment analysis graph can be viewed from the “Analysis” button next to the statistics at top of page. This shows the segment times compared to w/kg–a power vs time analysis (see sample below).
A note from James: sometimes the power value is wrong due to Zwift issues, so please ignore a time that doesn’t appear to match the w/kg. If it remains listed the admins have deemed it acceptable.
Additionally, the handful of routes that begin in a southward direction have had their starting points moved further north.
icon to the left of a rider’s name will display all their efforts. You must be logged into your ZwiftPower account for this to work.