Today, Zwift announced an update to the game’s route time estimates. While past estimates were universal across all riders and rounded to the nearest 30 minutes, the new estimates are more precise and based on your individual FTP.
Comparing Estimates
I checked route estimates for a 75kg rider at various in-game FTP settings. Here are the new time estimates supplied by Zwift, along with our ZIMetrics time estimates:
Zwift 2 w/kgFTP
Zwift 3 w/kg FTP
Zwift 4 w/kg FTP
ZI 2 w/kg
ZI 3 w/kg
ZI 4 w/kg
Tempus Fugit
45m
35m
30m
32m
28m
25m
Road to Sky
2h
1h 15m
1h
1h 40m
1h 9m
55m
Three Sisters
3h
2h 30 m
1h 45m
1h 58m
1m 32m
1h 22m
Without spending hours digging deep into the new route estimation algorithm, it would appear Zwift is estimating route completion times based on riders holding around 75% of FTP for the duration of the ride.
(It’s entirely possible that Zwift’s algorithm is much more complex than this, though. Since the estimates are rounded, it’s hard to pin down exactly what’s happening behind the scenes.)
FTP Setting, Restart Required
If you’ve never set your FTP in game, you may want to double-check to make sure it’s accurate so your route time estimates will be accurate. Do this by going to “My Profile” and changing the “FTP” field:
Don’t know your FTP? It’s worth noting that, thanks to a recent update, the game now auto-detects your FTP using any effort in the 8-60 minute range. So you can do an actual FTP test to estimate your FTP, or simply go out and smash a maximal effort for 8-60 minutes and let the game estimate your FTP based on that effort.
(Pro tip: set your FTP unrealistically low in your profile before doing an FTP test/effort, to make sure the game detects an increase and sets your FTP automatically).
It appears that the game needs to be restarted in order for your route time estimates to be updated after your FTP setting changes.
Rounding
The new time estimates get more rounded the longer they go. That means 5-minute rounding if the estimate is 60 minutes or less, 15-minute rounding for 1-2 hour estimates, and rounding to the nearest 30-minutes for 2+ hour estimates.
Questions or Comments?
What do you think of Zwift’s new personalized time estimates? Share your thoughts below!
How did you get into cycling: I came into cycling out of necessity. I was desperate to lose some weight for health reasons and started looking into ways to go about it. I’d tried running outdoors and found it totally awful, so my partner convinced me to take up cycling. Got my first bike and learnt to ride it on my street. Safe to say, it was a love-hate relationship… but here I am, 10 years later!
How many years have you been racing on Zwift: I’ve been on Zwift since January 2020 but didn’t start racing till a year later. I was initially only interested in the training aspect of Zwift but coming from a gaming background, was also curious about this other racing world within the platform. However, I found it all a bit intimidating y’know… like you had to be near pro-level experienced to race or really know your sh*t! And it didn’t help that at that time, there weren’t any black women racing on Zwift. Anyway, I eventually tried a Crit City race and to my surprise, I did very well and loved it! A few months later I decided to dip my toe in a couple of series… Iceni and later, HERd SHEries (now, Zwift Women’s Series). I made loads of new friends along the way while learning a lot more about racing. My first Zwift Racing League wasn’t until January 2022 with the lovely ladies of team RAVE so I think of that as my official start to Zwift racing. 😉
Are you part of a virtual team: Yes… I’m with the phenomenal Synergy Ladies Racing team!
What do you love most about racing? Honestly, everything! But I especially love that racing is as much mental as it is physical. At some point on Zwift, you WILL be humbled by a race. You come in with great legs, high hopes, perfectly fuelled, thinking, “this is my kinda course… I’ve got this one!” Then the race kicks off, you’re in your head, your legs are looking at you looking at them and you find yourself bumming super hard! 😉 But really, I love when I’m able to impress or surprise myself in a race. The pre-race and post-race banter with friends/competitors are always fun too. And… you’ve got to love Guerra and Towle! They make every race coverage come alive!
What is your favourite style of racing: Easily sprint points racing, no doubt! I absolutely love a good sprint and find a repeatability with them before tiring out.
I also love TTT with my Synergy teammates and while my physiology isn’t remotely suited to time trialing, I love the camaraderie of a TTT. It’s the support of one another, shared suffering, and the banter, for me.
What is your favourite Zwift women’s race series: Zwift Racing League (Women’s division) … there is virtually no greater buzz than ZRL! Even the lead-up to it is exciting: from the course announcements, endless debates over categorisation/sandbagging, old friends across time zones returning… even that temporary crash of WTRL’s site post-race cause everyone’s too eager to check placements. ☺ It’s its own kind of special, y’know. However, the start of a ZRL season is equally bittersweet cause it marks the beginning of winter… for me anyway. But yeah, aside from ZRL I do enjoy racing Zwift Women’s Series and Iceni.
What is your most memorable racing experience, inside or outside or both:
Hmm… I tend to remember something from every race and every interaction on Zwift, so this isn’t an easy question. But one that stands out is a points race I did last year.
It was a women’s series finale with a pretty small field of about eight or so women. Four laps of Innsbruckring with segments at play. Five of us broke away from the onset and I was busy sprinting my little legs out on Legsnapper and the sprint segment. But when we got to the final lap, I’d completely run out of steam and had nothing left to get to the finish line so found myself dropping back.
However, this one American lady racing for COALITION dropped all the way back, mid race to lend me her wheel. I messaged her to pls go on and win the race as I had no energy left but she insisted on hanging back, saying I’d been doing so well and still can win it. So, we rode together, caught up with the other riders ahead and as undeserving as it felt, I won that race!
This is what makes Zwift different. It’s the community spirit and kindness that sets it apart from other training platforms… even ones peddling free subscriptions and prize money! 😉
What is your favourite food to eat post-race: Earlier in the year, I kept getting weird cravings for foods I grew up eating… one especially – Efo Riro, a West African delicacy made with mixed vegetables (spinach, pumpkin leaves, kale etc) and spices. Turns out I needed more iron in my diet… lol. But anyway… in reality, I do most racing in the evenings on weekdays and finish around dinner time so it’s mostly straight to whatever (equally wholesome) meal we’re having. In any case, there’s always a tub of SiS Recovery powder (strawberry flavour) around the house for my other non-racing activities and workout. Blend that with some ice cubes and you’ve got yourself the perfect recovery smoothie.
What advice would you give to a woman entering her first Zwift race:
My advice would be to someone like me 3-4 years ago, and inexperiencedcyclist who is completely clueless to Zwift racing.
Don’t sweat the small stuff! It’s okay if no one is of your ethnicity or background… we’re all just avatars on screen and the Zwift community is one of the friendliest corners of the Internet.
Start off with a scratch race like the Z-monthly races… they’re relatively short and a simple race-to-the-finish-line. Zwift is evolving so much that you’re now more likely to be paired with folks of similar racing ability.
Then try a few other styles of races such as the Zwift hill climb racing and sprint races like SNOW series or Meathead series… that way you give yourself every opportunity to know if you truly enjoy racing and where your strengths lie. If you think racing is for you, join some women’s groups/racing groups on Facebook and similar clubs on the Companion app. Some things will come to you organically the more races you do, but also ask questions. There’s a fountain of knowledge on Zwift and the ladies (and gents) are always super helpful. This website right here – Zwift Insider, is the holy grail of Zwift… use it! More importantly: make friends, cheer people on (in-game messages, ride-ons, emotes, activity comments etc) … do it with love and kindness, it’ll come back to you in folds!
And if racing is not for you, that’s okay too. But please stick around. Group rides/workouts and events are equally fun. Just keep the pedals turning when you can. You signed up to Zwift for a reason so whatever you do, my one take will be – do it consistently. No wahala!
Any upcoming race you are looking forward to: I haven’t ventured into the world of real-life racing (yet!), but I do have a couple of sportive events scheduled I’m looking forward to. The first is the London to Brighton ride and the following weekend, Femme Cheshire. I’ll also be raising some funds for a charity I work with. And on the virtual front, whatever community-level racing Zwift’s got planned for the new season, I’m down for it! Most especially ZRL!
As we head into deep winter in the new year, rides are stretching long and we’re putting those resolutions to work. See below for five group rides selected for this weekend, ranging from 50 to 173km in length!
The popular Doddie Aid rides are back, raising funds and awareness for the “My Name5 Doddie Foundation,” which aims to find effective treatments for the currently incurable MND/ALS. Join Sir Chris Hoy and friends on a Sunday social ride every week, and you can donate here.
This unique event is organized by Team 3R, Valhalla, and GoG, and “fueled by Vikings and friends.” The goal? Set a PB for the 100km distance on Zwift!
Everyone will be on Tempus Fugit. Category A will be chasing a 100km record time attempt, while category B is for any other riders who simply want to pursue their own PB. Both groups will start at the same time, and everyone will be on the fastest setup in game – the Cadex Tri frame with DT Swiss disc wheels. Drafting is enabled!
✅ Popular Event ✅ Endurance Challenge ✅ Kit Unlock
Still need to earn the longest route badge in Zwift, on London’s “The PRL Full“? Here’s a group ride to help you get it done. Sponsored by the German ENJOYYOURBIKE group, there are lots of riders already signed up!
Still need to earn one or more of the Volcano Circuit multi-lap badges? Join this ride to earn all three (5, 10, and 25 laps)! Finishing all 25 laps will take just over 100km.
We choose each weekend’s Notable Events based on a variety of factors including:
Is the event unique/innovative in some way?
Are celebrities (pro riders, etc) attending/leading?
Are signup counts already high, meaning the event is extra-popular?
Does the ride include desirable unlocks or prizes?
Does the event appeal to ladies on Zwift? (We like to support this under-represented group!)
Is it for a good cause?
Is it just plain crazy (extra long races, world record attempts, etc)?
Is it a long-running, popular weekly event with a dedicated leader who deserves a shout out?
In the end, we want to call attention to events that are extra-special and therefore extra-appealing to Zwifters. If you think your event qualifies, comment below with a link/details and we may just include it in an upcoming post!
The last community race of the Zwift World Series happens next week, with riders tackling the climby Power to the Tower route. While race 5’s has been delayed for elite racers (read more here), all are welcome to participate in next week’s community events.
Here are the big reasons why the Zwift World Series community races are interesting:
They function as a monument race one weekend per month from September to January, offering a chance to challenge and test yourself against the Zwift racing community
Plenty of opportunities to participate, with races scheduled from Thursday to Sunday across multiple time slots
Zwift World Series Community kit unlock when you complete any of the five races
Three brand-new courses and two never before featured in Zwift racing (see all routes here)
Route Details: Power to the Tower
This route has, by far, the most elevation of the five ZWS races. It also may be the most inventive of the new routes created for the Zwift World Series. It features three tough climbs: the Epic KOM Reverse, The Grade, and the Epic KOM forward. And it’s the only route in game that uses the Radio Tower KOM as the finish line!
2024 was a big year for Zwift, which means it was a big year for us at Zwift Insider. We published over 600 posts last year covering important Zwifty news and tips, but we only scratched the surface. There are always more stories to tell!
It seems like only last year we were lining up for races at the lap banner, hoping our clocks were synced up. But Zwift actually turned 10 just a few months ago, around the same time we saw the fitting resurrection of the beloved Zwiftcast (thank you, Simon), an unwelcome price rise (thanks, inflation), and Zwift’s biggest hardware success to date (Zwift Ride). It’s been quite a year.
This is our look back at all things Zwift for 2024. Enjoy the ride!
New Roads
Heading out from the Jungle to the new coastal road
Zwift and the racing community used these new roads and existing roads to create an unprecedented number of new routes this year. In total, Zwift added 43 new routes to the game in 2024. That’s a lot of badges! Here’s the full list:
This year saw Zwift create several new major events, which was a refreshing change from recent years where Zwift mostly iterated on events they’d already done. Without going into too much detail, here are the big new events we think were most worth mentioning:
Zwift Games: this massive racing festival for community and elite racers saw a lot of firsts on Zwift, and it also broke records with over 80,000 riders participating and more than 215,000 races finished.
Zwift Big Spin: this fun ride series showed just how far we’re willing to go to spin a prize wheel. (Hint: it’s far.) With a prize spinner at the end of every route, and some fun/unique prizes available, Zwifters just kept putting in the laps.
Tour de France Climb Portal Challenge: this fun series leveraged the Climb Portal to let riders take on the same climbs as the IRL Tour de France was racing, on the same days.
Zwift World Series: a new flagship race series which acts as both a series of qualifiers for elite racing, plus monthly “classics” style events for community racers.
Zwift Camp: Baseline: a new style of assessment-oriented training program that is surely a sign of more to come from Zwift.
While the popular Tour of Watopia and Tour de Zwift happened again, Zwift chose to skip the traditional Zwift Fondo series due to all the extra 10-year celebration events.
We also saw this year’s Zwift Academy change direction, with more of a focus on talent ID and less of a focus on community training. Will Zwift Academy continue to move this way in 2025? We’ll have to wait and see…
On the racing side, Zwift Racing League continues to be the biggest racing series on the platform, while Zwift’s ZRacing series (see the current series here) is the most popular scratch race series on the platform. Shameless plug: Zwift Insider’s Tiny Races are still the most popular race each Saturday!
We won’t list all of Zwift’smajor events for 2024 here, but you can certainly browse the events archive to see what we highlighted throughout the year, including many community-organized events.
Racing Changes
This was the year Zwift finally launched the long-awaited Zwift Racing Score, effectively reshuffling the deck by bringing results-based categorization to races. Riders are no longer classified purely by power numbers, which means it’s harder to sandbag at the top of a category. It’s a whole new era for Zwift racing.
There have been lots of tweaks to Zwift Racing Score since its release, and there are more to come (learn what’s planned here). January 2025 sees Zwift making some radical changes to categorization schemes for ZRacing events – read more about that here.
The racing events calendar was cleaned up dramatically in 2024 as well. It began in August with women’s race events, then the overall racing calendar saw a major cleanup in December. Overall, Zwift is clearly taking control of the public calendar in an effort to deliver consistently good race experiences to Zwifters. It seems to be working with women-only events. As for the open races? A bit too soon to tell.
Perhaps the single-biggest new Zwift software feature for 2024 is the Training API, which allows third-party partners to communicate workout data to and from the game. This effectively expands Zwift’s workout library from several hundred standalone sessions to an infinitely-massive library full of workouts and plans built by qualified coaches or AI engines!
It’s up to Zwifters to decide which third-party partners they want to work with, and most come with additional fees. While we’re still waiting on TrainerRoad to release their Zwift Training API integration, six partners have come online since the API went live:
In June, Zwift made a huge move into the hardware space by releasing the Zwift Ride smart bike. Where other smart bikes were selling for $2500-$4000, the Zwift Ride was priced at just $1299US, which immediately disrupted the market. A couple of months later the Ride frame became available for purchase as a standalone item ($799US), giving existing Zwifters with virtual shifting-capable trainers an upgrade path.
Chatting with contacts inside the company, it’s clear they’re happy with how Zwift Ride has landed. Tens of thousands of units have sold, and while there have been some hiccups with shipping damage, by and large customers seem quite happy with their purchases. Zwift Ride looks to be the company’s most successful hardware venture yet.
The other big piece of hardware news is around virtual shifting. When 2024 began, just one trainer, the Zwift Hub, supported Zwift virtual shifting. Then the Wahoo KICKR Core got virtual shifting support in February, along with the KICKR v6 and KICKR Move. Later in the year trainers from JetBlack, Elite, and VAN RYSEL would also receive virtual shifting support.
Nobody likes the fact that Zwift virtual shifting is proprietary, meaning the Zwift Ride effectively only works on Zwift. But virtual shifting is so good, and Zwift is so popular, that literally tens of thousands of people chose to purchase a Zwift-only setup this year. That says something.
New Features
Along with everything listed above, Zwift released or improved many game features in 2024. While many of the changes are quite minor on their own, their combined weight helps drive the platform’s continued adoption. Here’s a complete list in chronological order:
There are still just three companies in the indoor cycling app market that Zwift is competing against: IndieVelo (now TrainingPeaks Virtual), MyWhoosh, and Rouvy. Each is chasing market share in unique ways:
TrainingPeaks Virtual quickly built a reputation as a rapidly evolving, feature-rich, race-centric platform. Bringing TrainingPeaks into the mix adds a training angle to their offering, not to mention thousands of new users.
MyWhoosh hosted the UCI Esports Worlds for the first time this year, and will be hosting it for the next two years as well. There are two simple reasons why riders are attracted to the platform: it’s free, and you can win cash in races.
Rouvy has been advertising heavily this year, and features real-world footage that the other platforms lack.
While Zwift is still the massive leader in terms of user base, these other platforms keep Zwift on their toes by releasing new features and hosting events Zwift would like to see on their own platform. The good news is, we all benefit from this competition.
What’s next?
What’s coming soon to Zwift in 2025? Here are a few things we know about:
Zwift Community Live in Mallorca: the first ever IRL Zwift meetup is happening in April in Mallorca, Spain. We’re getting prepped for epic rides and community time!
Garage Upgrades and Halo Bikes: we know this is coming soon, but it sounds like it may be delayed even further, so we’re guessing a February 2025 release.
TrainerRoad Fitness API Integration: TrainerRoad has already said they’re working on it, but we haven’t seen a target date. Our guess is sometime in Q1 2025.
There’s definitely more to come in addition to what’s listed above, though. Zwift keeps us in the dark on some of their future plans, while others (including map expansions!) we get to peek at, under embargo.
Regardless, we’re looking forward to 2025 and all the Zwifty upgrades it will bring. We hope you are, too.
Your Comments
What are your thoughts on Zwift’s 2024? Favorite new features, things you wish Zwift had released but didn’t? And what would you most like to see in 2025? Share below!
As more and more riders are finding themselves indoors on Zwift, this week’s top video features two content creators getting together for a fast and competitive category A race.
Also included in this week’s picks are videos about FTP testing, a throwback to 2015 Zwift, and more Zwift racing fun.
Racing Against My Rival
Jeff from Norcal Cycling and EJ from EJ’s Training Camp get back together in a race on Zwift. In this video, they discuss their relationship, views on indoor cycling, and the benefits of riding indoors with Zwift.
FTP Ramp Test: A Start to the Zwift Racing Season
As Caedmon Cycling starts to ride more indoors, he tackles an FTP test to see where his fitness is at.
Throwback: Zwift on ITV Cycling Show – July 2015
As Zwift celebrates its 10th anniversary, we thought it would be fun to showcase an interview with Eric Min from 2015 that also features first impressions of Zwift with former professional cyclist Jens Voigt.
Still not enough for CAT C?? Learning to Zwift
In his second Zwift race, James tackles a category C race. Is a 3.8 w/kg average power enough to win this race?
Zwift FTP Ramp Test After a Year of Cycling
Daaaanjj provides a brief recap of his cycling in 2024 and then tackles an FTP test to see where his fitness is heading into the 2025 season.
Got a Great Zwift Video?
Share the link below and we may feature it in an upcoming post!
Nowhere Fast Episode 53 – The Cheating Detective, with Bjoern Ossenbrink
Bjoern Ossenbrink’s eyes *clap clap* are watching you, they see your every move.
Well, kind of, but he does use data analytics to verify virtual racing performances at the high levels of the sport. He joins the pod to talk about the low-cadence craze, power meters and smart trainers, and that one time he raced against KBH.
We also try to determine if CrossFit is the Zwift of working out.
About the Podcast
Nowhere Fast is a member of the Wide Angle Podium network. To support this podcast and help pay for Mike’s coffee stop glitch research, head to wideanglepodium.com and contribute to our advanced virtual racing research.
To keep up to date on all our real coverage of fake bike racing, subscribe via Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
How did you get into cycling? I was running a lot. Aimed to complete a marathon under 3 hours. Back injury in 2019, so tried cycling. Had never tried a real racing bike before that. Thought it looked boring until I started. Found Zwift as the weather in Sweden does not always allow outdoor cycling, and now I’m hooked!
How many years have you competed on Zwift? 4 years
Are you part of a virtual team? eSRT
What do you love most about racing? It’s captivating, you’re invited to keep up, there are many others. You train, take in, have fun, have to be on your guard and suddenly you have trained hard and had fun.
What is your favorite style of race (eg points, scratch, iTT, TTT, Chase, duathlon)? Scratch
What is your favorite women’s Zwift race series? A tough series with long races and elements of several tough slopes.
What is your most memorable racing experience, inside or outside or BOTH Iceni on March 13, 2021 on Innsbruck’s Achterbhan (47 km). It was a great feeling after. I survived!
What is your favorite food to eat after the race? Fresh pasta, giant prawns, garlic and a creamy sauce.
What advice would you give to a woman participating in her first Zwift race? Have fun and always try to stay in the pack.
Any upcoming races you are looking forward to? ZRL
