Use the links below to view route details for each course:
Master list of all Zwift routes >
You may also be interested in grabbing a poster map of Watopia.
Had a great time wrecking myself in today’s “Friday Criterium Series” (TFCS) race, the first race of a 6-race series organized by Rob Bolt. While this is the first “official” race of the series, we’ve had a couple test races leading up to this, as Rob is a very detail-oriented guy who wants to get everything right and keep it professional and organized.
Of the various races I’ve tried, the Friday Criterium races have been my favorite because they are run so well and only C and D riders are allowed. We’ve had is a very large turnout oThere are over 100 C/D riders registered, which is many more than the 20-30 C riders at a typical ZTR race. What this means is you get to ride in group more often… if you can keep up!
Going into the race my plan was to stay with the front group and attempt to break away on the second lap when we hit Libby Hill. I’m used to riding the ZTR race in Richmond which is 3 laps long, so I figured on a 2-lap race I could push pretty hard the whole time.
The race started with a “standing start” (no neutral) at exactly 11am PST. A lead group of C+ riders jumped out quickly and gapped me–I had to burn a few matches just to catch them. (Next race I’ll hit the pedals really hard really quick to stick with that front group.) I finally caught the front group of ~10 riders a couple miles into the flat section and caught my breath as much as I could before hitting the first sprint hard. (I mistakenly thought the first sprint was being used for extra points in TFCS–it’s actually the second sprint).
I was able to hang with this front group for the first lap, but got gapped when we reached the top of the last climb and hit the straightaway to the lap banner. I looked around and found one TFCS rider nearby (M. Rothe) coming up behind me so we rode together for most of the second lap, working together and taking pulls as much as we could to keep our speed and stamina up. We eventually caught up to G. Twiss who had dropped from the lead group, and picked up some non-race riders who hung with us a bit as well.
I did my best to break away when I hit Libby on the second lap, and in doing so left the small group I had been riding with. I pushed as hard I could from this point on. When I finished I felt like throwing up–I knew I hadn’t taken 1st, but I knew only a handful of riders were ahead of me. I also knew I had broken away and held off the group I had ridden with for that second lap, so I was happy about that!
Preliminary results show that I got 5th place overall–and I’m quite happy with that. Again, a great race thanks to Rob Bolt and his team.
UPDATE: final results (see table below) gave me a 4th place finish, and tied for 2nd overall in the points standings.
We’ve released new speed test data in the form of helpful charts. Here are the links:
Frame Speed Tests
TT Frame Speed Tests
Wheel Speed Tests
View data on Google sheets here >
The data above is for lap times ridden in isolation (no draft/veering effects) at constant wattage on various Zwift courses.
When these tests were run we hadn’t yet created the “Zwift Insider verified” Strava segments. Here are the segments used for the above times:
Zwift released an update today to version 1.0.9584. They’ve been hard at work fixing minor bugs and enhancing the overall experience!
A few of our favorite upgrades/fixes include:
Read the complete release notes >
Chris Pritchard has put together a great little video with his top 5 reasons to Zwift this winter instead of fighting the elements every day.
Editor’s Note: this is a guest post from Ben Reeve at CyclingTipsHQ.com
Ben hails from across the pond in the UK where he runs a blog sharing tips, tricks and tales from his world in cycling.
A retailer by trade, he has been cycling for a couple of years now. He believes there is no better teacher than an enthusiastic student, and Ben is very much a student of everything cycling and does his best to share it with the cycling community on his site.
So it’s dark and wet outside. We all know about ‘the rules‘ but for me this means seriously having to consider setting up the turbo trainer again. In previous years this has always proved to be a depressing thing to contemplate, but thanks to Zwift, this year may just be different….
This isn’t a review, more like the ultimate set up and unboxing guide to help you understand what’s involved and how to start.
Zwift’s aim is a simple, but utterly brilliant one. To make the experience of cycling solo on your turbo trainer more exciting. To make it social, interactive, challenging, and above all fun.
A computer game and a fitness tool!? Don’t know about you, but I’m sold.
Zwift lets you enter a new world right from the comfort (!?) of your garage (front room, shed, military bunker or anywhere else you set up your turbo!).
You are transported into a 3D landscape with other riders from around the world, cycling on virtual courses and earning achievements along the way.
Getting started is more simple than you think. 
I have produced this simple chart to show you how little you actually need.
Before starting Zwift I already owned a laptop, Garmin sensors, a bicycle and a turbo trainer so the only thing I have actually had to buy is the ANT+ dongle and the software itself.
I would imagine many of you will be in a similar position to this before starting out with Zwift.
Work your way through the chart on the right, then head on down to the gear guide to see what combinations Zwift recommend using.
As you’d expect there’s a really good guide on the Zwift site.
It essentially gives you three options
BASIC = A turbo trainer with speed sensor
FLEXIBLE = A turbo trainer with a power meter
PREMIUM = A smart turbo trainer
Once you’ve worked your way through the flow chart to establish what gear you need, examples of products are below:
ALL
Any Turbo Trainer
There are lots of different types of trainer out there.
I’m not going to attempt to take you through them all here, but if you want to read more there is a fantastic site called turbobiketrainer.com that will give you every bit of information you ever wanted about trainers (plus a bit more!)
I personally picked mine up from Ebay a couple of years ago, and if you look around it is possible to get some fantastic bargains..
Speed Or Cadence Sensor
Garmin have recently released a fantastic speed and cadence sensor which is perfect for Zwift. They are ANT+ enabled and will allow you to get an accurate speed on your stationary trainer.
Unlike Garmin’s past cadence sensors they are incredibly simple to fit, and will have you up and running in no time.
Any Turbo Trainer
There are lots of different types of trainers out there.
I’m not going to attempt to take you through them all here, but if you want to read more there is a fantastic site called turbobiketrainer.com that will give you every bit of information you ever wanted about trainers (plus a bit more!)
I personally picked mine up from Ebay a couple of years ago, and you can get some
A Power Meter
This is where the going the ‘flexible’ route starts to get more expensive.
Power meters are fantastic bits of kit, giving you really feedback on the work your are doing on the bike.
The challenge is they are expensive. Expect to pay prices about £500 to get a good quality one.
If you want more information on power meters I suggest looking here CyclingPowerMeters.com
If you want the full on Zwift experience then there is no doubt ‘premium’ is the route to go.
For this, you need to go down the smart trainer route.
A smart trainer will link into Zwift and then automatically change the resistance when it needs to, on a virtual hill as an example. NOW THAT IS COOL!
Again the challenge with most of these is going to be the cost. If you already have turbo in your garage it is a big investment to pick up some of the units below, and you’re not going to be finding any in the below £200 price bracket either.
Below is a list of the smart trainers compatible with Zwift, and I have put beside them the best price I could find on the internet (1st December 2015)
Given I had alot of the equipment already, I have decided to go down the basic route to start with.
If I really get into Zwift I will consider buying a smart trainer for the ultimate experience, but let’s give it a couple of months first!
I am really excited about getting going with Zwift.
My Ant+ dongle arrives any day now, and for the first time ever I am looking forward to getting the turbo trainer set up and ready to go.
Will this prove to be uniformed optimism!?
Keep an eye out for my next few articles, where I am going to take you through my first experiences of Zwift.
Thanks for reading and happy cycling!
Ben
This episode includes the following personalities:
Plus a head-to-head test and review segment featuring the Tacx Neo and Wahoo Kickr!
Many Garmin users (like myself) have an activity history built up in Garmin Connect. Zwift does not currently offer seamless integration with Garmin Connect, but since your Zwift rides are saved in industry-standard .fit files on your computer you can upload your Zwift rides to Garmin quite easily. Here’s how:
UPDATE: while the method described below still works, changing your system date can mess up other applications on your computer and make Strava behave badly. A better solution which does not involve changing your system date can be found on this page.
Zwift currently places everyone on the same course, according to the course schedule. The course schedule is posted each month in the Zwift Support Hub–for January 2016, the course schedule places everyone on Watopia Sunday-Wednesday, and on Richmond Thursday-Saturday.
Eventually riders will be able to choose which course they ride on. Until then, here’s an easy hack that lets you pick your course on Zwift.
Are ready? Here it is: change the date on your computer.
Yep. That’s it.
Zwift sets the course based on your computer’s date. So if you want to be on a different course than Zwift has you scheduled for on any particular day, just change your computer’s date to a date when the other course is scheduled.
I’ve been using this trick to get test laps in on Richmond while everyone else is on Watopia. The riders list will only show riders on the same course as you–which means it will be quite empty. You’ll also only be competing against those riders for the sprint, KOM, and lap jerseys–which means you’ll win some jerseys! Lastly, the chat will still show chats from everyone, regardless of which course they’re on. So that’s a little odd.
Notes for Strava Users
If you choose a date in the past, the ride will post to Strava as being on that past date.
The best solution? Set your date, open up Zwift, log in, then before you pair your devices set your date back to today. This will get you the course you want, but upload to Strava on today’s date.
Note: the data below is outdated, since Zwift released the Drop Ship and changed weight/aero values for many frames and wheelsets. That said, the principles explained below are still valid, so we’re keeping this post up.
See more current speed test info here >
We have completed an extensive series of test laps to provide hard data quantifying the impact of watt, weight, and equipment changes in Zwift.
