Zwift is spinning up a series of “Z Badge Hunt” events where Zwifters can ride together and earn some of the more challenging route badges.
We’ll publish a complete post about that series soon, but here’s what we’re stoked about right now: Zwift Insider is hosting some of the events, and the first one is this Saturday on London’s PRL Full route!
The event takes place on Saturday, December 11th, at 7am PST/10am EST/3pm GMT.
About the Route
The PRL Full route was released with the original London map, and the intent was to mimic the length (but not the actual roads) of the IRL Prudential Ride London event.
In contrast to Zwift’s typically complex long routes, The PRL Full is quite simple: it’s just 11 laps of the London Loop, followed by a bit more riding to get you onto The Mall where you finish at the Classique forward sprint:
The big feature of the London Loop is Box Hill – 3km/1.9 miles long with 136m (446′) of elevation gain for an average gradient of 4.4%. It’s not a particularly long or steep climb, but 11x up any climb is a challenge!
Read Monica’s story of finishing the PRL Full in her Route Hero challenge >
Read more about The PRL Full >
Category Details
There are just two categories for this event: an open category, and one for ladies only.
More Ride Specifics
- Show up on time, because there is no late join for this ride. Why? Because if you late joined more than a minute or so into the event, you wouldn’t unlock the route badge! And we don’t want that on our conscience.
- This will be a double draft ride, so sit in with others on the flats in order to conserve your energy.
- Steering is enabled, to make it more engaging and fun!
- We’re serving up a custom mix of only useful powerups, evenly split between the Feather, Van, and Helmet. Use them for a bit of relief.
- This is not a race – it’s a group ride. You can treat it as a race if you’d like, of course, but the ride will break up naturally into pace groups. Find riders working at your target pace and work together.
- Based on the VeloViewer Leaderboard we can see that top riders crush The PRL Full in 4.5 hours. But most mortals require 5.5-7 hours, with plenty taking even longer. You do you. Be sure to plan accordingly.
Discord
Zwift Insider’s Discord server will be used for voice chat during the ride. This really helps pass the time, so we highly encourage it!
Click here to join the server, and read “Using Discord on Zwift” for details if you’re new to Discord.
Invite link: discord.gg/zwiftinsider
Pro tip: enable push to talk or decent noise cancellation, so everyone only hears you when you want to be heard.
Sign Up Now
You can sign up for the event in Zwift’s Companion app, or online at zwift.com/events/tag/zbadgehunt/view/2505097.
Additional Ride Times
If this ride’s start time doesn’t fit your schedule, there are additional (not Zwift Insider-hosted) Z Badge Hunt PRL Full events happening this weekend at these times:
- Saturday 6am GMT
- Saturday 4am PST/7am EST/12pm GMT
- Saturday 11am PST/2pm EST/7pm GMT
- Saturday 4pm PST/7pm EST
- Saturday 7pm PST
Questions or Comments?
Post below and we’ll answer them!
Good luck to everyone, I’m gonna pass on this 😀
I did complete the mega pretzel but PRL Full is still 1-2h more than that… Not quite possible for me right now. My bum hurts just thinking about it ;D
Your link in the sign up now is going to a ride from March 13.
Fixed, thanks!
Never again. Never, ever, again. I was slow, and I don’t apologize for that, but it was brutal.
To be fair, doing it in a large group situation would have to help. Mine was a solo effort and was a mental and physical achievement.
Good luck all!
Solo is really tough. Riding with others gets you over the flat bits much faster! Discord chatter is an added bonus…
Hi Dave – I feel your pain, mine was a solo effort, I agree, it’s a long time on your own but a totally different dynamic in a group. Should be fun 👍
I should say that I regret nothing. Thanks to both Eric and Tim for the replies.
If this event had popped up and I hadn’t done the PRL full, I totally would sign up.
How can sign up to the event Saturday 6am GMT? I can only find the one starting 4:00PM CET
Thanks 🙂
Do I need to wait until saturday to see it and join? https://www.zwift.com/eu/events
Found it in companion app 🙂
Another questions on these long rides are their breaks planned in? I mean if you need to go to the toilet?
I doubt there will be planned breaks unless you’re grouped with some friends. But you can count on being able to just let your avatar descend Box Hill without pedaling, so I have taken my breaks then. If you haven’t already done the climb, don’t forget after you pass the Box Hill KOM banner, there’s a short uphill stretch before the actual descent. Also, there will probably be enough people that if you get separated from one group, you will probably catch another group when you start up.
Hi Emma, I will need to take breaks. I am a D rider and usually take multiple breaks in any long ride. I have completed all the routes in Zwift except this one, but I did take breaks on all of them.
So bummed I can’t make this date. Still need this route badge but I refuse to do it outside of a double-draft event haha. I hope there will be others this winter for this route and I’ll join then. Enjoy the ride!
Damn it, this is the last badge I need (save the crit Neokyo) and I was talking about it with my wife two days ago. I was looking to do it day after x-mas. I need more lead time than a couple of days. I’m fat and need to hit the ole training program before. Good luck to all that participate.
I did it today (alone) in 6 hours with one short and one long break. Would’ve loved the double draft and powerups but I don’t get off that much time on weekends due to family.
Hello everyone. I am a “D” rider but only have the London Full PRL left to do to have done all of the Routes on Zwift, so I am going to try this. Anyone know what the best bike to use. I have most of the bikes from tron to Venge to Dogma, etc. I would appreciate any input!
I’d go Tron. Climbs a little better than the pure aero bikes, but is still quite aero. Best all-around performance.
Thanks Eric, really appreciate the input!
How about for those of us who haven’t unlocked Tron yet…
Was thinking Aeroroad+454s since it’s climby over the S52020+808s?
Fantastic idea. I am trying to crack Level 30 by year-end so this could be quite helpful. As an event, does it still earn double-points for first time route finishers?
Yes, in the sense that you get the XP bonus for earning the route badge the first time, plus you get your normal per-km/mile XP.
Got it. Very tempting!
And the Badge for the first 100 mi (if u havent got it already). Anyone knows, what that Badge is worth?
Darn it, I love a group ride on PRL Full but this is a long century and starts a bit late for me. I really hate to miss it but I have to stick to the BMTR century.
Didn’t work. Signed up days in advance. All prepped. Saw it as “going” on my list but wouldn’t let me go to the ride. Very disappointing
Thanx again for the Event, Eric. That went really well with our huge group. Looking forward to the next event.
Thanks for a great ride Eric and everyone else who rode, this was one of the two long routes I was missing, thanks to the fantastic group got round in 4:55. Just hope my legs recover enough to do the Uber Pretzel ride with you next Saturday
Thanks Eric. Great ride. Split it up due to. UK time n being an old git. Did 7 laps Sat n 4 laps n finish on Sun. That was my last normal route badge. Thanks again. 👌👍
For me, unfortunately, the app crashed 30 sec before the start. :-(( Annoying, very annoying.
When is the next event on this short distance planned? 😉
Is there a group ride for the PRL full schedule for 2022?