Mark your calendars, Zwifters. For the first time ever, we at Zwift Insider are organizing our very own race/ride series. And it’s a special one… for two reasons.
First, all events are held on Rebel Routes – those routes originally created by community members and published here on Zwift Insider before they were officially added to the game.
Second, all event finishers will unlock the Zwift Insider kit. It’s a kit that speaks to what we’re all about here at Zwift Insider! Ride smarter. Rider harder. Dig deeper.
The series is six weeks long, with each week dedicated to a different Rebel Route. Here are the details…
Race and Recon Ride Schedule
Each week features two recon rides on the week’s featured route:
- Thursday @ 6:10pm GMT (7:10pm BST/2:10pm EDT/11:10am PDT)
- Friday @ 1:10am GMT (11:10am AEST/2:10am BST, Thursday 9:10PM EDT/6:10pm PDT)
These are leaderless group rides at no stated pace. Ride them as a recon for Saturday, or just because you want to earn a route badge, grab the Zwift Insider kit, or ride with friends!
The races happen in three timeslots each Saturday:
- 7:10am GMT (5:10pm AEST/8:10am BST/3:10am EDT/12:10am PDT) Sign up for week 1 >
- 12:10pm GMT (1:10pm BST/8:10am EDT/5:10am PDT) Sign up for week 1 >
- 5:10pm GMT (Sunday 3:10am AEST, Saturday 6:10pm BST/1:10pm EDT/10:10am PDT) Sign up for week 1 >
- Week 1 (May 7): Downtown Titans
- 1 lap: 25.4km, 295m
- Week 2 (May 14): Eastern Eight
- 1 lap: 54.1km, 412m
- Week 3 (May 21): Seaside Sprint
- 6 laps: 40.7km, 312m
- Week 4 (May 28): Three Little Sisters
- 1 lap: 38.4km, 437m
- Week 5 (June 4): Triple Flat Loops
- 1 lap: 36.4km, 162m
- Week 6 (June 11): Watopia’s Waistband
- 1 lap: 27.8km, 101m
See all upcoming events in the series >
Zwift Insider Kit Unlock
Complete any of the recon rides or races and unlock the new Zwift Insider “Ride smarter, ride harder” kit!
Race Rules and Specifics
The rules for this series aren’t much different from other Zwift races, but here’s what you need to know:
- Races are using Zwift’s new category enforcement tools to reduce sandbagging.
- Categories will start separately.
- Three race-friendly powerups will be given out at each banner: aero (helmet), draft boost (van), and lightweight (feather).
- Heart rate monitor required if you want to be included in the final results.
- Smart trainer or power meter required. ZPower riders will be removed from final results.
- Final results will be available on ZwiftPower.
League and Scoring
These are typical “scratch races”. You can treat each race as a standalone event, or go for the overall series win!
See the Zwift Insider Rebel Races league page on ZwiftPower for current GC standings >
Team Participation
While these aren’t team-based points races like ZRL, there will be teams participating including DIRT, SISU Racing, and others. Bring teammates, implement tactics, work together to support your GC rider(s), and make the races interesting!
Questions or Comments
Share below!
i noticed the avatar is wearing oakley flight jacket sunglasses, how to get it?
Those were an unlock from a past event. Not sure which!
Any chance you’d consider adding one more time slot? Maybe 8:10pm GMT on Saturday or Sunday 3:10pm GMT?
Not this round… but maybe next?
love it
Can i race? or i am auto DQ? 😛
Hey Eric great series. Looks like the AEST times are incorrect currently AEST is GMT+10 so the times listed are actually NZST/GMT+12
Fixed… I think.
Yep you’ve fixed the 7:10am GMT, the 5:10pm GMT also needs to be changed to 3:10am AEST
Brilliant – everything hanging on finish line position, or something on primes too?
No primes. Just scratch races!
will have a community in discord?
No plans at this point. Teams will have Discord going, I’m sure.
Nailed it – SISU Racing will be supporting and racing / riding.
http://www.sisu.racing
Nice!
awesome idea Eric … perfect routes selected … easy rules … and a cool kit unlock … I’m looking forward to sign in for having a good time on future Saturdays 🙂
Excellent!
Can’t wait!
I can’t wait!
Will it be best 4 or 5 results that count or something similar? Would like to do as many as I can to compete in the overall competition but probably can’t do them all.
Nope, we’re doing best overall from all 6 events. So if you miss a week, it’s gonna cost you!
How is 20 min FTP predictive of average power over a 45 min to 90 min race? a 3.2-3.4 w/k on a crit is NOT the same as the same power over 60 min. There should be stratification specific to shorter races and longer races
I assume you can race different time slots each week or are they 3 seperate GCs?
You can race different timeslots.
Looking at the events list in under the Zwiftpower leagues tab it looks like the following two races are missing:
Downtown Titans 12:10pm GMT
Seaside Sprint 07:10am GMT
Thanks for the heads up. Fixed!
Hi Eric, is Watopia’s Wasteband going to become a badge?
Don’t know! Haven’t heard anything from Zwift’s side about it…
Hi Eric, series looks great. Couple of questions:
1) Although each Category starts separately will they all be visible? I am a “Nearly B” C which means under Category Enforcement I have to enter B category. I’ll give it my best shot to keep up, but if (when) I get shelled will I see the C category riders behind that I could drop in with?;
2) And on Category Enforcement – the 8:10 race this Saturday has As in B cat, Bs in C Cat and Cs in D Cat; not many, but what gives with that?
Other categories will be visible, so while you start separately, you may end up riding with other cats.
Category enforcement boundaries aren’t identical to ZwiftPower boundaries. CE cats are better/more accurate (arguably). Hopefully soon Zwift will upgrade ZP so it doesn’t show its ZP’s categorization scheme when a race uses category enforcement, but for now, we sort of have two systems going, which can be confusing.
Thanks Eric. See you on Saturday!
I want to ride D but the join button indicates it’s “restricted.” Is this because I’m “Almost C” in Zwift Power?
Yes.
It’s because this series uses Zwift’s new category enforcement, which isn’t the same as ZwiftPower’s categories. Basically, Zwift is saying you’re a C. Just go with it!
More on how CE works: https://zwiftinsider.com/category-enforcement-update/
Apply rule #5 George 😉
Wanda Archer has been sporting this kit for a while, so rather than BigBadDom having to launch a GTB (Grand Theft Bicycle) attack to steal it, I can now get it peacefully…happy days 😄😄😄
I’ve seen her wearing it! Glad you’ll be able to get it too.
Am in for Saturday 👍👍👍 (blue thumbs)
Hi Eric, it was a funny 1st race last Saturday. I thought the point structure for the series was 20,19,18…,1 points per race. But it looks like a time-based-ranking (100% for the fastest rider of all 3 time-zones). So, with this we can compare all of us in the same Cat. per day BUT we have to hope that we are in the fastest race which needs different strategy than a scratch-point-race. Am I right ?
Great race! First time I’ve competed in a non-WTRL series!
If I do two of these on Saturday, what determines which race counts in the standings; best time or best points? I could come 5th in the morning but finish in a slower time than getting 20th in the afternoon (unlikely for me personally, but not completely infeasible).
I am a solid Cat D – how do I sign up for an event as D if it is blocked and says restricted? I have plenty of data on ZwiftPower to support this. Thanks.
That means Zwift’s Category Enforcement tool (which doesn’t work on the same parameters as Zwift Power) thinks you’re a C. See https://zwiftinsider.com/category-enforcement-update/ for more info…
I just saw the series results pushed, I raced all 6 but only 5 show up, any way I can find out why? I didn’t have any DQs…
Update to my own comment, looks like the 0810 race is not included in results on ZP at all
Hello Eric, thank you for maintaining this website and organizing the Zwift Insider Rebel series, it’s a shame I didn’t know about it sooner, so I’m looking forward to the new season, would you have any spoilers for this? Thank you again.