Today, Zwift launched their next “mini Challenge”, celebrating new routes created for the upcoming Zwift Games 2025. Named “Route Chaser: Zwift Games”, the challenge is to complete all five of the routes which will be raced in March’s Zwift Games series:
- Makuri Madness
- 16km, 88m elevation
- Achievement Badge: 325 XP
- ZIMetrics Difficulty: 7.4/100
- Scotland Smash
- 18km, 167m elevation
- Achievement Badge: 365 XP
- ZIMetrics Difficulty: 9.1/100
- Downtown Eruption
- 19.9km, 278m elevation
- Achievement Badge: 400 XP
- ZIMetrics Difficulty: 11.2/100
- London Uprising
- 20.8km, 359m elevation
- Achievement Badge: 420 XP
- ZIMetrics Difficulty: 12.5/100
- ZG25 Queen
- 44.8km, 896m elevation
- Achievement Badge: 895 XP
- ZIMetrics Difficulty: 28.4/100
Note our ZIMetrics difficulty ratings for each route: they get higher as you move through the challenge! In fact, our estimates say Makuri Madness will take just 24 minutes to complete at 3 W/kg, while ZG25 Queen is estimated at 87 minutes at 3 W/kg.
Challenge Rewards
Your reward for completing all five routes? Boosted fitness of course. Because any ride is a good ride, right?
But also, you will surely earn a route badge or five, as these are all new routes. Each route badge is worth the amount of distance XP earned for riding the route’s length, meaning you effectively earn double XP the first time you complete a route and earn the badge.
As with other mini challenges, you will also get a 1000 XP bonus for finishing this one.
Joining the Challenge
To sign up for this Challenge, just click its card on the home screen (the big banner at the top):
If you see this screen, you’re signed up:
Clicking a route from this screen will take you to the corresponding map to ride that route. But you can also ride these routes via other methods once you’re signed up. Ride them in events, as workouts, or even as free rides by choosing them from the route picker. As long as you sign up beforehand, completing the route via any of these methods will mark it as complete for the challenge.
You’ll know you completed the route for the challenge because you’ll get a banner on your screen:
Getting Creative
Once you’re signed up for the Challenge, you can get creative about how you complete the routes. Do them in workouts, do them in events, do them as free rides. You do you!
Here’s a 200IQ move if you’re looking to complete as many of these mini challenges as possible: you can complete other workout-based challenges like Cardio Crusher or The Racer’s Edge and this Route Chaser challenge by doing one of the Cardio Crusher/Racer’s Edge workouts on one of the Route Chaser routes! (But again, make sure you’re signed up first.)
Zwift Games: Coming Soon
Zwift Games begins in early March, and it’s going to be huge! Watch Zwift Insider for a post covering all things Zwift Games this Monday, February 24.
Questions or Comments?
Share below!
Seems to be some problems with badge confirmations on these.
From Zwift:
We’ve tested internally for these routes, including launching from the challenge card and free ride. So far it seems things are working as expecting for route completion, badge awards and no wrong turns being taken automatically.
There could still be something we’re missing of course, we’d love to be able to look at logs for users reporting the issue. Right now the best thing to do is to report to Zwift support, they will be able to award completion status for those users that completed but didn’t get the badge. This will also help us get logs so we can look closely at these sessions.
I did the Makuri Madness yesterday (free ride) but no banner with badge conformation after completion
It would be nice if Zwift allowed event organizers (like me) to pick one of these routes for one of our weekly events.🙂
I’m checking with contacts at Zwift to learn when this will be possible.
Thanks! Unfortunately, it appears these are point to point routes so it doesn’t make as much sense for most group rides including (cough cough) PaceBots. I seem to recall when people finish the point-to-point routes, Zwift will make a random decision as to which way people go at the next turn.
I haven’t investigated all of these routes yet, but at least the “after party” for Scotland Smash, the game actually routed all 100+ riders onto Loch Loop Reverse as a default route during a time-based event. A similar thing applies for after parties upon completion of Coast to Coast – everyone goes the same way around Jarvis Island by default. The Coastal Road routes which end before Watopia Jungle don’t do this, but maybe in the future they will.
I have a suspicion, but have not confirmed for all of the new routes yet, that given the plentiful reports of splitting up for the recently added Coastal Road route after parties, that Zwift took steps in designing these to avoid that from occurring.
I can say that for the after party of Danger Noodle, on a time-based event, over 200 of us were routed on a Titan’s Grove loop together and it appeared to be the same for ZG25 Queen, but there weren’t enough people left after that event finished to deduce whether this was the case, because that event was length-based and not time-based.
I rode the Scotland Smash as a workout event yesterday, only to have the challenge pop-up today (so I get to ride both it and ZG25 again).
Interesting. I did both Scotland Smash and London Uprising today and I got notified about the Route Completion and 2 of the 5 Zwift Games Challenge completed. We will see what happens tomorrow! I will save ZG25Queen for a long day 😁.
I did both of these as workouts and Zwift updated when I booted it up today.
I see these routes on the list when setting up Meetups or Club Events. Problem is, an error pops up when you try to use them. Zwift tells me ZG routes won’t be available for meetups/events until after Zwift Games.
Guess that means we’ll do em somewhere in the summer then..
we want to complete routes and stuff as a banded group, and since thats impossible for a while … we’re gonna skip this for now …
Jim – You can. Reach out please 🙂
What does a 99/100 route look like?
PRL Full, but with a coffee breaks.
Pure evil, that´s what it would look like.. Melting your legs und your hardware..
https://zwiftinsider.com/route/the-prl-full
lol, that and Everest, I wouldn’t do even for $$$. I think that “route” skews the ranking system. I saw GG rode it and almost lost the badge by an accidental turn on the final downhill. Fortunately, she corrected and got the credit for the full prl.
I think you’re right. There needs to be a “Highest Category” route ranking because most of us probably aren’t going to do more than 2 hrs. Or maybe we just get used to the fact that most of our routes are 1-15 rating or something like that.
While not a route, the Norseman 12 hour challenge with it’s multiple repeats of the Four Horseman would be a 99/100 ride. Now I wonder what they are going to do this year.
Yep, did that. Do-over!
While signing in for the challenge I noticed a “Leaving soon” banner on some of the earliest challenges. Any more info on this like an ending date?
If you click on the specific challenge you’ll see the date. The ones I looked at were all Feb. 28th.
I had a look and could not find a date. Where is it displayed?
On the specific challenges page, right under the title of the challenge. “Complete all tasks by February 28 to earn 1000XP”
I wonder if it’s 28th end of day or by 28th
Unfortunately I completed the ZG25 Queen route on the Feb. 18 James Bailey Group ride before this challenge became available. I won’t be doing the route again. And this morning I completed the Makuri Madness route before clicking on the challenge.
Drop me an email ([email protected]) and I’ll give you credit for both stages. As you know, you have to click on the challenge before you receive credit on future stages.
I rode ZG25 with you, but I do intend to ride it again, I thought it was one of the better routes that I’ve been on lately, with just the right amount of “will this ever end” heading up the Epic. I’m just hoping I’ll be faster without the bobblehead.
Weird thing hapened to me. I did the Scotland Smash today and Zwift Companion shows route completed, but Zwift didn’t download my workout. I hadn’t updated yet – could this be the trouble because the route wasn’t yet on my Zwift account? The “save” just kept spinning…
Other weird thing was that when I went to my feed someone had been added as a person I follow – I had never even heard of this person and definitely didn’t add them. Very odd. Bad glitching is the only thing I can think of.
I tried to do a couple of these rides today. The Downtown Eruption went fine, but it went off course when I did the Scotland Smash. I wasn’t choosing any turns, just letting it take the defaults, and it seems to have missed one of them, so no badge for now. Maybe I’ll need to make a turn sheet for my next attempt at one of these routes.
It turns out that I probably inadvertently steered my way to the wrong turn. I thought I had turned my intersection selection off, but checking back on it, it was set to on.
did the ZG25 Queen three days ago and still haven’t been credited with completing the route…
Hi Chris, we’re investigating reports of this at Zwift HQ. I’d be happy to look into this for you. Feel free to contact me at [email protected].
Hey admins,
Will I earn the same badges and kit completing the five routes during the Games as when doing them as part of the challenge prior to the Games?
Happy trails
Yes.
Apparently not. I’ve done the first two stages of the Games and have no credit in the challenge.
Hello.
How long do we have to complete the 5 courses please? I think the next time Makuri Islands is available to ride is Saturday so assuming past then?
Thanks 😊
No deadline at this time.
You can just click and ride any of the five routes whenever you’d like though. No need to wait for the map to be scheduled.
Perfect, thank you for confirming
How long will “Route Chaser: Zwift Games” be available for?
Should be a jersey for doing all 5 routes
I have completed 3 routes so far but Zwift keeps taking me off course which makes it very difficult.
Its random, tells you are about to turn then at the last second switches to the other direction.
Eric do you know how long we have to complete the challenge?
I do not.
From the forums post “Complete all five featured routes by April 7, 2025, to earn 1,000 XP.”
But it disappeared today – was hoping to do the last missing (Uprising) today after doing the ZG25 Queen yesterday. Disappointing. Why can’t they keep their schedule?
Will this challenge continue into Match?
Is there a time limit on this challenge? Must all the routes be completed by a certain date?
I’ve done all 5 routes now ahead of doing them again as races. I am so looking forward to racing the ZG25 Queen 😳😱🥵☠️
I see that the mini challenges are time limited with some of them dropping away at the end of March. Is there a place you can see which ones you completed once they are retired?
It would be great if the many challenges we have completed are stored in our achievements page.
These races are killing off all the other Zwift racing. Why oh why do they need to be everyday on the hour….makes no sense at all.
The mini challenges have all disappeared from my main screen, some of them several weeks early. What gives?
Is this the same basic set-up for 2026? @Eric Schlange eschlange1?