Update July 8, 2025: the community has developed an on-demand TT solution! Read all about it here.
Credit where credit is due: this article began with someone else’s great idea. Back in December, reader “Gordon” posted this comment on my Zwift Announces Race Calendar Cleanup post:
It would be a shame if TT events were culled heavily as they are very much a solo effort. As much as I hate them myself I know others like them.
What I’d like to see with TT is having something a bit different. Some way to choose a course/route of the week yourself, signup and ride it at any time then have a global/team leaderboard.
This is where Zwift is missing out, constrained by Zwift events and ZwiftPower scoring formats.
(His comment, by the way, received 32 likes as of the writing of this article on January 14. That’s a lot of likes for a comment.)
Gordon’s idea got me thinking. Could Zwift create a sort of “on demand time trial” competition? And would it be compelling?
Déjà Vu?
As I began to ruminate on this idea, a feeling of familiarity hit me. Why did this on-demand TT idea seem so obvious? And then I remembered: I had created a small local competition here in Lake County, California around 10 years ago. I even made a logo:
The big idea was this: each week for a month, local road riders were invited to turn in their best possible time on a chosen Strava segment. The rules were simple: it had to be a solo effort.
Whoever turned in the best time each week won a prize. We had gift certificates from local restaurants, and of course prizes from the LBS. It was all a lot of fun, and riders were watching wind forecasts and putting in multiple attempts to get their best possible time.
This on-demand TT idea is, in many ways, a Zwifty version of my Solo Strava Smackdown Series.
On-Demand Time Trials: The Basics
The basic idea for on-demand time trialing in Zwift would be this: Zwift would designate a course of the week (or month), and if you complete that course within the designated time window (say, Monday through Sunday) on a TT bike you are automatically added to a global leaderboard.
Thinking Through the Details
Let’s unpack the basics above and dig further into this idea.
Course Selection
One fun aspect of this approach to time trials would be the opportunity to mix up routes so they cater to different rider strengths. One week may feature Tempus Fugit, the flattest route on Zwift, tailor-made for riders with big watts. The next week might feature Bologna’s rarely-used Time Trial Lap, which ends in a punishing climb for the w/kg workhorses.
We could also mix up distances. One week’s TT could be on a single lap of the Volcano Circuit for a total of 7.7km, while another week might see riders taking on something like the Mountain Route which could be completed in around an hour at 3 w/kg.
Qualifying Activities
This is a solo race against the clock, so drafting would need to be disabled for an activity to count. Rather than having people “accidentally” enter if they complete the chosen route on a TT bike, it may make the most sense for Zwift to add a card to the homescreen for the on-demand TT. If you want to participate, you have to click the card.
This would pop up details of the featured route, a simple explanation of the competition, and a button you can click to proceed to the start pen.
Clicking to ride would drop you into the start pen, where you could configure your TT bike for maximum speed. And as soon as you start pedaling the timer begins. Go go go!
Rider Visibility
What about seeing other riders on course? Sure, you aren’t able to draft, but still, seeing other riders has a psychological effect. I see a few options here:
- Show all riders: show every rider on the road, whether they’re taking part in the on-demand TT or not.
- Show competing riders: only show other riders who are currently putting in the on-demand TT effort. These would be carrots to chase.
- Show only myself: hide all other riders. It’s just me and the clock.
Of these three options, I like #2 the most. I don’t want to ride through a sea of non-competing riders, but I like the idea of having a few riders up the road, and some riders chasing behind. I think that would be motivating.
Global Leaderboard
A leaderboard would be essential if Zwift wants to inspire participation in these on-demand TTs. A simple leaderboard would be sufficient for the initial launch of a minimum viable product. Zwifters could see the leaderboard via the Companion app or log in to see leaderboards at zwift.com. The result page would show their name and rank at the top, with a scrollable list of all results below, along with simple power and other metrics and a link to view the rider’s activity.
Of course, the leaderboards could become much more interesting. Let us filter results by age, gender, country, or weight class. Let me view only riders who are in the same Club as me. And of course, let me view past weeks’ results as well as the current week.
Making the leaderboard available in the Companion app would also be nice.
Partner Prizes
Many riders are motivated by prizes, which is why I lined up local restaurants for my Solo Strava Smackdown Series. Zwift could easily line up prize giveaways with partners to inspire more participation in the on-demand TTs.
I wouldn’t recommend giving prizes based on overall rankings, but rather, giving them to random finishers. A pair of Oakleys, a new pair of shoes, a sweet new speed suit, a set of Ceramic Speed jockey wheels. The possibilities are endless!
Leader’s Jersey
The icing on the cake: if you finish in the top 1% by gender for the week, you get access to the leader’s jersey which you can wear if you so choose for the following week. It doesn’t last long, but it’s fun while it lasts!
Why It Would Work
Why do I love this idea so much? Let me count the ways…
- I love it when Zwift builds on IRL ideas but takes them next-level in ways that are only possible in virtual cycling. This is just such an idea.
- The ability to mix up routes means the competition would attract different types of riders each week.
- It’s completely flexible in terms of schedule, so anyone can compete at any time.
- It’s a new way to inspire people to give their all, which in turn helps build fitness.
- It’s an even less intimidating way to race than standard Zwift scratch racing.
Required Game Changes
An MVP version of this idea could be created with very little work on Zwift’s part. Here’s what would need to happen:
- Select the route of the week: someone at Zwift would need to set up a schedule of routes for the weekly (monthly?) competition.
- Detect and log qualifying efforts: at its very simplest, Zwift could simply log any effort on a route that was completed on a TT bike. This could include all types of rides (free rides, events, workouts), as long as drafting was not involved.
- Display a leaderboard: a simple leaderboard would need to be available on zwift.com and/or in the Companion app.
- Announce the competition: riders would need to know what the featured route is each week. This could be announced in the “This Week on Zwift” email, on Zwift’s racing homepage, on the game homescreen, or in other places.
That would be a very basic implementation, though. To really do it as I’ve described above, Zwift would need to do some additional work:
- On-Demand Event Flow: it would take some UI changes to let riders click to start their effort, which places them in a start pen where your ride timer doesn’t begin until you start pedaling. That’s not how Zwift events currently start.
- Rider Visibility: making it so you could see other on-demand TT riders on course may also require a few tweaks.
- Leader’s Jersey: automatically calculating who gets the jersey, then temporarily placing it in their garage and notifying them of their win would take some setting up and design work. But once the system is in place, it’s a zero-maintenance affair.
- Partner Prizes: Zwift would need to interact with partners to line up prizes if they decide to add this fun facet.
- Fancy Leaderboards: as explained above, the leaderboards could be given lots of fun features to make the competition even more compelling.
Your Thoughts
What do you think – does the on-demand TT competition model appeal to you? Are there any great ideas you would add to it? Share your thoughts below!
With a friend I started doing this a year or so ago. We had a series of courses. The winner beat the average difference between your competitor from the last three races. If I had won by an average of 3% he either had to lose by less than 3% or I had to win by more. It was a fun way to compete when we have different power numbers. But yes, I’ve been wondering why on demand TT racing hasn’t been happening. Seems straight forward.
on-Demand Event Flow – clicking the ‘card’ or whatever should enter you in the start pen and you start on the next minute + say, 2 or 3 minutes. You then get count-down clock and start as normal in a TT (and with time to tweak your bike/ wheels, if not already done).
Simpler for Zwift maybe, rather than trying to detect start time from start of pedalling.
Why not just use holoreplay times for a route? Sorry if I’m missing something?
Yeah i do like the idea.
Yes great idea!
My club in the UK (Trowbridge) has been doing this for years IRL – the prizes have gone away so it is just for bragging rights now. But it is a fun thing to do and the same in Zwift would be interesting. Maybe kit etc manufacturers could be persuaded to give actual prizes or even bigger % discounts, as prizes.
My TT experience is zero but the idea and your model design sound compelling. I imagine TT fans and Tri Athletes would like it. It would inspire me to give TT a spin.
Yeah, this would be nice
Great idea, Eric & Gordon. I was a regular rider in the Zwift TT Club, but stopped a few months ago when my favoured timeslots were culled. I notice that the ET morning times have been reinstated, but an on-demand system would be perfect. ZwiftPower is good at collating and ranking the TT efforts for the week and series. I hope the idea gains traction with Zwift. Regards, David H.
Great idea! Varying courses and course lengths sound appealing. Though I also like to compare myself against previous TT’s. So if participation levels are sufficient it might be nice to have two choices every week, a standard version with a fixed distance (i.e. 10 miles) on flat roads and a hillier version of varying length.
100% worth doing
what about showing the current leader as a grey hologram like prev attempts.
I was scrolling down to write just this, but you’ve beaten me to it ! Would be great. Or if they really wanted to tailor it, you could see a hologram that’s ‘leading’ your category, for instance A-D or racing score or however they want to categorise the leaderboards, assuming it’s not just one giant list.
If Zwift doesn’t want to support the ideas in the article above, I recommend the Herd’s ‘stampede’ ITT series, although it’s not on demand.
I love time trials and fully support this.
Great idea!
Great idea. A bit like the monthly z racing but for TT
You could even have permanent jerseys for whomever wins the weekly, and a grand prize Jersey for whomever wins the series for the quarter/year.
If you win the week, you unlock a special jersey that isn’t just temporary. You could even have special versions of the jersey so that if you finish top x%, you get a different jersey colour or something.
Not sure if they still do this or not but World of Warcraft used to have special mounts for those who were too 5 or 10% in the arena for each season and the winners of each season got an even specialier mount.
You could translate this over and have the top 5% get a seasons jersey and the winner gets a special bike (same aeroness as Tron but unique to only a handful of individuals)
When do we start. I love TT..
Love this idea. Would be good to have some weeks where the bike and wheels are prespecified so that everyone is on the same kit.
Yes to on demand TTs! This is a great idea.
Yep I like this idea, the current weekly Zwift TT Club could migrate to this. I like the monthly format with the route getting longer each week before starting again the next month. This might get more participation.
WTRL did actually implement the idea with the Duathlon league. Yes, you still have to join one of the hourly races on a Wednesday (and you also have to run) but the results of all of those races are then consolidated into a monthly league. What I’m saying is that they clearly already have some experience with the format and they would be a great source of ideas of what would be needed to properly implement this and make it successful.
Oooh I do like that idea. Sometimes the organised times just don’t fit with family life but on the fly sounds amazing 👍
Love it!
Hologram could also show the then fastest rider.
This would be a very welcome addition. Go for it!
I’m not a TT guy, but this sound interesting and fun. I would definitely give it a try if offered.
This would be a great idea. I find that scheduled TT events don’t often occur in the very random times that I am able to race, so being able to complete them at will would be a game changer
I don’t race much, mainly due to time constraints, but I would race these. If Zwift wanted to test it out before pushing it to the full community, they could offer it as virtual races for the runners (we don’t draft anyway) and let us hammer it out on various courses
don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.
Really love the idea. But for a quick start; are prizes really necessary? Same for starting pens.
just use the current routes, on a free ride everyone goes through a start-banner and Finnish under a banner (same as route badges)
for other riders, use one of the holograms
or make a private event
isn’t a quick an dirty list already available on zwiftpower? Perhaps some date filters are needed. I don’t know if zwift can extract afterwards who was on a TT bike, so drafting was not an issue. If the data was extractable, one could even do this with excel.
zrl or frr wasn’t (still isn’t) user friendly in the beginning either. But it grew, maybe just like this?
Great, great idea. Would love this. Never joined a lot of TT but this would change it defenetly
Love the idea TTs are my favourite type of racing
wow. That would be perfect. Go for it Zwift.
Sounds like a nice addition, until every time the top spots are taken by 10W/kg cheaters.
On demand TTTs were trialled with the ladder folks.
They are currently on pause but likely will return in the coming weeks.
There was a weekly vote for people to have a voice in selecting courses, a 4 week rolling leaderboard and was organised on zwiftracing rank levels. Teams could be 2 to 9 riders.
Rhino are currently running a 2 person version of on-demand TTs right now.
That’s a next-level idea to build on top of the individual on-demand TT idea, for sure. Let pairs of riders schedule a time between themselves to take on the week’s course, then show that on a TTT leaderboard. Drafting would need to be enabled, of course. But just between teammates. Fun!
Yes that’s the idea with the Rhino one. We did an internal one before Christmas was a lot of fun. Trying another early March with a few more teams joining in.
We did this at HISP club, with one variation still. When Indurain’s Pina Espada was presented, we challenged our members to a distance challenge in one hour in daily events. It was a success, even for those normally not inclined to TTs. Exact distance in meters can be extracted from the event classification at Zwift.com. Else, all of those who covered at least the Marathon distance, received a funny badge for Strava or any social media.
Solid idea. Leaderboard by race category and/or gender might not be a bad idea so that more people feel they have a fighting chance.
Also (and this bit may require some more tech), but then you could also show a ghost for your category/gender leader to chase. Or, using existing tech, redeploy whatever tech they have already implemented to make competitive ghosts appear on segments.
Brilliant! Love it!
I’m not a TT guy but would be interested in giving this a go!
It would still need categories or the 1% of results will be dominated by A+ riders. If I never have a chance at a jersey, not sure if I would try very hard.
This looks like a good idea and may attract more riders who currently can’t do the time slots. I don’t think number 2 visibility of competing riders will work though as the chances of a number of other riders competing at the same time as you across an open 24 hour period is slim…….the fastest ghost rider from your category would work though……….although I would be happy with choice number 1.
I suggested on-demand TTs a couple of times in the Zwift TT Club forum over the past 12 months, but the idea was shot down by James ZHQ. Someone else probably suggested before me. James seemed to think there was no way it would be a development priority for Zwift.
I think this is unfortunate, but I understand Zwift has many competing priorities, since I think ‘this is the way’ to maximise numbers in the Zwift TT club monthly general classification. While I’ve only seriously competed in the Zwift TT club a couple of times, I love it! It’s seriously competitive amongst those who ride every week.
A side note – I think individual TTs are under done by Zwift. It is the ONLY general classification racing competition that works, since it’s not impacted by the number of riders/drafting in a race. The GC for Zwift monthly series (e.g. Flat is Fast) is useless, since you have to live in Europe or the US to set a fast time (big numbers = big draft). iTTs provide a pure racing experience, not impacted by numbers and drafting. On-demand iTTs could be a HUGE thing for Zwift, and I don’t think they realise how big it could be.
This is an excellent idea if we take into account the age and gender of the Zwifter. Personally I find it extremely motivating.
there’d have to be a virtual hot seat for the leader until the end of the stage week, then you could get a time trial champion jersey until the next one is awarded
Can we get a velodrome league??
I hate time trials, DO IT! This would be a good way to gauge progress.
@Eric Schlange – I hope one of your next suggestions will be an elimination race.
We have 4 routes that would be perfectly suited for that : Bell Lap, Downtown Dolphin, Glasgow Crit Circuit and Glasgow Reverse.
The Crit City routes are 2km and the Scotland 3km, so that is perfect and they all have 2 banners on the route.
It is all there. Only thing Zwift has to do is program that the rider who passes the banner last gets pulled out of the race till there is one left.
Already wrote about elimination races! https://zwiftinsider.com/pondering-elimination-races/
Ohh sorry, missed that one. Stil think it is a great idea.
Great idea, I enjoy the challenge of TT but can very rarely find a TT that suits my racing time.
I think this idea to be brilliant. As an older cyclist I have chosen only to compete in Time Trials and Cyclocross. A Zwift on demand TT series would be right in my wheelhouse. We may need to have TTers categorized by racing score and scored as such.
We also already have the Climb Portals just sat there, not doing much, already neatly separated from everything else, making filtering out efforts easy. They could have their own leaderboards, and, if organised by pace category or ZRS, and draft was turned off, boom, you’ve got an on-demand hill climb series.
Love this idea! I don’t race on Zwift, Tuesday and Thursdays are my run nights and most other races are outside the times I normally ride. To be able to select a TT at any time and compete against others (with little chance of winning) would be fun. As you say having the leaderboard in the companion app and filter by various categories would make it more interesting. Fingers crossed this may happen one day!
Yes great idea. I’d be up to take part