Canyon Ultimate Pretzel Mission extended to June 26th
I’ve received confirmation from Zwift HQ that the Canyon Ultimate Pretzel Mission deadline for entries has been extended to June 26th.
Entrants must join the mission and complete the full Pretzel Route before 23:59 (UTC) on that date to be entered to win a real life  Canyon Ultimate CF SLX 8.0 bike.
The original deadline in the game terms and conditions was June 21st. As of today the terms and conditions still show this old date, but Zwift HQ says this week’s upcoming minor update will include a change to that date.
10 new group ride features from Zwift (and why they matter)
Early June game and mobile app updates have officially brought powerful group ride features to Zwift, and the Zwift community couldn’t be more excited!
These features represent a significant upgrade over various hacked-together solutions used by Zwifters up to this point, which means the user experience will be improved for everyone.
Browse events via your phone
#1: Mobile App Calendar
Upcoming rides using the new group features are listed in the mobile app, making it easy for Zwifters to see what’s coming up. This feature (and the in-game list of events) seems to have increased group ride participation significantly in the past couple weeks.
Leader beacon spotted ahead–gotta catch up!
#2: Ride Leader Beacon
Ride leader now have a yellow beacon over their avatar and an indicator next to their name in the rider list. This makes it easy to spot the leader so you know if you’re too far ahead or behind.
#3: Lap Counter/Ride Length Indicators
During the ride the top of your dashboard includes a lap counter, progress meter, and total group ride length amount. Especially handy when you lose your lap count in the heat of racing!
#4: Group Messaging
Once you’ve joined an event, your messages will only be seen by others who have joined the event. This keeps things uncluttered for those not participating in the group ride while helping to keep the group ride focused.
Clear leader messaging
#5: Bold Ride Leader Messaging
Messages from the ride leader show up in large font, center screen, making it very easy to for leaders to effectively direct the group.
#6: Filtered Rider List
You only see riders in your group in the list on the right. This is especially useful for races since it lets you know if you are competing against particular riders on course.
Mass starts are now easy and fair
#7: Uniform Group Starts
Groups are now released en masse at a precise time, greatly simplifying race starts. This greatly improves race starts which used to be challenging due to neutral start speeders, clock sync issues and riders jumping the gun on standing starts.
#8: Warmups
You can warm up on course then click “Join Event” before the event starts, or you can click “Join Event” right away and spin on a trainer in the staging area. Either way, you’re able to easily warm up before the event without needing to restart the game.
#9: Split Strava Rides
If you do a warmup ride on course then join in a group ride, Zwift treats these as two separate rides so they can be uploaded to Strava individually. This is helpful for races, which typically need a warmup but also need a race-only Strava file for use on ZwiftNation.com and ZwiftPower.com.
#10: Custom Strava Ride Titles
The default name for your Strava upload now includes the event title (eg, “Zwift – Back to Work UK”) so you don’t have to type it in with shaking, sweaty fingers after a ride!
But wait… there’s more!
Zwift CEO From Eric Min has indicated that there are more group ride changes in the pipeline. It is clear that Zwift HQ sees the value of group rides, and is working to make the tools both and more powerful (not an easy task). Here are two recent quotes from Eric:
More importantly we’d like to see people join rides that are already in progress. Nothing worse than missing the start of a ride.
Each staging area can accommodate 1000 riders so that amounts to 4000 riders on the pier.
Groups rides and races turn your solo trainer time into a social experience. Just like real life, riding with others can help you push beyond perceived limits and pass the time in a more enjoyable fashion. Here’s how group rides work in Zwift.
Joining a Group Ride
Step 1:Â Register
Do this from the game screen or the mobile app. Just click which category you are signing up for (most rides only have one category, labeled “A”) and you’re done.
Events show up in game a few hours before they start. The calendar is being constantly updated by ZwiftHQ, so if you don’t see an event listed that is only a day or two away, you should check later. You may browse the next few days’ events via the mobile app or on the official Zwift events calendar.
Click a category then “Join?” to register in-gameClick the orange + to sign up for the ride
Step 2: Join
After registering you may begin your ride on whatever route you’d like. While riding, click the “Join Event” button at the bottom-left to be transported to the staging area for your event.
By default the “Join Event” button shows up 15Â minutes before the event begins, although ZwiftHQ can modify this for particular events.
If you do not click “Join Event” but continue riding, the game will pop up a warning that your event is starting soon, and will automatically take you to the start area if you click nothing and continue to ride.
Clicking “Join Event” takes you to the staging area
Step 3: Ride!
Have fun! Once your group ride is complete you will automatically revert to normal riding mode.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Group Messaging:Â once you’ve joined an event, your messages will only be seen by others who have joined the event.
Can you quit the event? Yes. If you stop pedaling while participating in a group ride a “Quit Event” button comes up.
Do warmup miles count? Only if you ride them on course (not in the staging area) and your ride must be at least 1km in length. Any time spent pedaling on the “trainers” in the staging area is not counted as mileage in Zwift or Strava. If you ride on course then click “Join Event” Zwift will automatically post your warmup ride to Strava (if connected). Your “main ride” (the group ride) will be uploaded to Strava when you choose to do so at the end of your session.
Can I register via the mobile app while riding on course? Yes! Once you register via the mobile app a “Join Event” button will show up, provided the event is starting soon. Keep in mind the “Join Event” button may not show up for a couple minutes due to server communication delays.
Should I change my name for the group ride? If the instructions in the event description request it, yes. You can change your name via the mobile app, or in-game.
Richmond staging area120+ riders waiting to start a group ride with Fumy Beppu
Team dZi has announced their third Nepalese Summit Race, to be held on June 15th at 1900 UK Time.
This popular race gets its name from the race’s long and steep finishing climb, but also because of Team dZi’s link to its eponymous foundation supporting mountainous Nepal. The race is relatively long at 36.1km with a significant amount of climbing.
The race starts with about 2.5 laps of Ocean Boulevard the concludes with an exciting finish where many racers will come together on the tough, long final climb to the Watopia Radio Tower.
The racers will come together due to the event’s unique staggered, reverse starting times releasing CAT D first and the fastest racers CAT A last.
CANYON//SRAM Racing and Zwift have teamed up to offer women cyclists from around the world an opportunity to develop their talents, grow their community and, for one lucky rider, win a pro contract with the CANYON//SRAM Racing team for the 2017 season.
Qualification
The site shows qualification details/progress for each rider. In order to qualify, riders must join a total of at least 9 Zwift Academy training rides. They must also complete the Zwift Academy specific workout plan which has 27 workouts ending in an FTP test.
As of today the site shows 425 riders enrolled, 96 remaining group rides, and 83 days left to train.
Want to Join?
Deadline for enrollment is July 31st, 2016.
Good luck to all the riders–as far as we’re concerned, you’re already winning just by participating!
Win a Canyon Ultimate by completing the Pretzel Mission
Today Zwift HQ launched the “Canyon Ultimate Pretzel Mission”–a chance for all Zwifters to win a real life  Canyon Ultimate CF SLX 8.0 bike!
To join, just start up Zwift and click the appropriate button at the top-left:
You’ll need to agree the legal stuff, but then the real work begins–you have to ride the entire Pretzel route (72.2km, 1333m of climbing) to be entered into the drawing. You must complete your ride on or before 23:59 (UTC) on June 26th (the original deadline was June 21st but this has been extended).
Important: unlike the California, Everest, or Italy challenges, you can’t complete just part of the ride then come back. Perhaps that’s why Zwift HQ is calling this a “mission.” You must complete the Pretzel in one session to be entered. If you sign out then back in, you’ll need to join the mission again and start from zero!
Once you complete the route you will get another popup on your screen:
Yesterday Zwift HQ has released the latest major upgrade to their mobile app for iOS and Android which includes two major new features: an events browser and a Strava friend finder.
Zwift HQ has retained a consistent focus on  bringing cyclists together, and these tools will help make that happen. (Zwift says on their homepage: “Make new friends. Connect with old ones. Drop into the Zwift community and never ride alone.”)
Events
You can now browse upcoming events from the app and mark that you plan to attend. Event details displayed include start time (in your local timezone!) ride name, description, lap count, and number of people attending. All listed events will begin in the newly launched staging areas on Watopia and Richmond, allowing for more organized group rides.
Note: if you are a group ride organizer who wants their ride on this official events list, you should contact Charlie Issendorf at Zwift HQ.
Find on Strava
The search tool has been upgraded to easily find Zwifters who you already follow on Strava. Simply click “search” from the app home screen, then click “Find on Strava.” This will bring up a list of Strava users who also use Zwift, so you can follow them on Zwift if you’d like.
Zwift HQ pushed out an update today which includes fixes, upgrades, and some stuff you won’t even notice which is laying the groundwork for things we’ll see very soon!
Notable changes are:
Fixed flat route routing on Richmond
Control of TACX smart trainers over Bluetooth added (via Zwift Companion)
Ride leader function now works on distance based events
Lap based events are now supported
Timed results now more accurately stored for events (but still not shown)
Events chat screen visuals tweaked
First month of Zwift Academy workouts added
Zwift Companion to Zwift pairing connection made more stable
Messaging in events now generally works better than before
Save and Exit dialog reworked to avoid accidental discard click
Zwift co-founder Jon Mayfield also mentions this in the update notice: “It’s worth mentioning that while we’re continuing to enhance group rides, our creative team is full force on making our next course – London. Expect some teaser shots soon from that to whet the appetite.” Exciting stuff!
Zwift enthusiasts know that regular riders reap rewards of many sorts. But did you realize that Zwift acts as a time machine? #ReadOn.
A study published in June 2015 by the Healthy Urban Living research program at the University of Utrecht (Netherlands) attempted to estimated how much the death rate in the Netherlands decreases through regular bicycle use.
Data collected for the survey shows the mobility of approximately 50,000 Dutch people. Researcher Dr Carlijn Kamphuis notes: “… we were able to calculate that on average, for every hour of cycling people live about an hour longer. For Dutch people, that equates to living for about six months longer for every 75 minutes of cycling each week.”
Did you catch that? For every hour of cycling, people live about an hour longer.
That means when you climb onto your steed in your pain cave and spend an hour sweating your way around Watopia, you’ve actually spent no time at all. You climb off your bike with just as many minutes left to live as when you climbed on.
We could debate the vagarities of the study as long as we’d like, but instead let’s just tuck this little nugget away for the next time our spouse complains about all the time we spend riding.
The search tool has been upgraded to easily find Zwifters who you already follow on Strava. Simply click “search” from the app home screen, then click “Find on Strava.” This will bring up a list of Strava users who also use Zwift, so you can follow them on Zwift if you’d like.
