“Big Flat 8” Route Details (Watopia)
Originally created as a Rebel Route in November of 2021, the Big Flat 8 was created because we wanted a long, flat route on Watopia without riding over the same tarmac repeatedly. At 3.5 meters of climb per kilometer of distance, this is Watopia’s flattest route apart from Tempus Fugit and Tick Tock. And it’s much more scenic!
This route was added to the Zwift canon in January 2024 to host the final stage of Tour de Zwift 2024.
Route Basics
Length: 29.2 km (18.1 miles)
Elevation: 103m (338′)
+2.3km (1.4 miles) lead-in with 6m (20′) elevation
Map: Watopia
ZIMetrics
Rating: 13.9/100 🛈
Time Estimates 🛈
lead-in + first lap
4 W/kg: 42 minutes
3 W/kg: 46 minutes
2 W/kg: 55 minutes
Start & Finish
Events begin at the desert start pens with the lap officially starting and ending at the desert rock arch.
Format: Loop
Ride Achievement Badge: 580 XP
Run Achievement Badge: none
Leaderboard Segments |
| Fuego Flats Sprint (0.5km, 0.2%) |
| Fuego Flats Sprint (0.5km, 0.2%) |
Strava Segments
Bike Selection
Aero is your best choice here, since there is very little climbing. See Fastest Bike Frames and Wheels at Each Zwift Level >
Route Description
Route profile by ZwiftHub – the place to plan and track your route achievements!
Knowledgeable Zwifters can visualize this route is a mashup between Watopia’s Tick Tock and Volcano Flat Reverse routes.
The Fuego Flats stone arch/banner is your start/finish line. From there, you’ll ride through the desert, descend through the redwoods to Ocean Boulevard, then make your way to downtown Watopia and the “Volcano Flat” portion of the ride.
Ride the slight ramp up to the glass bridge, then around the base of the Volcano and up the Dirty Sorpressa. Pro tip: if you’re chasing a good time on this route, this is the most important place to hit the watts hard and keep your speed up.
Climb past the waterfall before descending to the Fishing Village and back into the Ocean Boulevard tunnel. (This is the only repeated road on the route.)
Turn right after climbing out of the tunnel and take the slight uphill back to the Fuego Flats start/finish. All done!
Finally its coming good for steady group rides that can go the distance.
You said it!
Nice to have a longer flattish route
Do we have a Shamrock Rebel Route yet? The second time into the glass tunnel, head back toward the desert, taking the Southern Coast route around to the jungle and then down the start of the reverse Epic KOM, back into the glass tunnel and head toward the desert to finish.
Eh? This route only goes through the glass tunnel once.
Sorry – the underwater tunnel
The pancake flat crowd will still complain there are too many hills
I’m trying to work out how this route covers the whole of Watopia’s Waistband *and* some …
… but has less total elevation gain.
🤯
You refering to the climb per km stat mentioned at the top? This route is longer because it is figure 8 style, so it covers the middle section twice, so it’s 29km vs 25 km for waistband probably has something to do with it. The absolute elevation gain for this route is 103 vs 95 for waistband.
It looks a lot like Triple Flat Loops but shorter!
Do we get double xp when riding it for the first time in tdz?
Basically, yes. Like any new route, you’ll get the route badge XP the first time you finish it, plus the normal distance XP.
Hi Eric,
I completed the Big Flat 8 yesterday, but did not get any XP nor any badge.
This will be a nice course for my group rides. Well done Zwift.
Hope they open up for Yumi to pace on this one after the TdZ =)
Really wish this was not event only. As I’m getting older 70, I really do appreciate the flatter routes that are scenic.
Not anymore as of today!
Well thanks for letting me know. Genuinely appreciated. All the best from Yorkshire, UK.
Not a problem! I saw yesterday they were making it available as a Free Ride, so came here this morning for a good look at it and a skim through the comments… Seem rude not to.
When will we be able to chose this route along with the other former rebel routes for creating group events? Still not a route option when creating an event.
Looks good for tomorrow’s group ride/recovery mode. Posting a very biased review after douches😀
Hello,
The segment chosen for the Leaderboards ranking on Veloviewer is Big Flat 8 From Pens.
This does not seem fair, since it is now impossible to complete this route without participating in an event.
This also goes against the rule that had been laid down, according to which the segments chosen were primarily from banner to banner.
Those who had completed the segment while respecting the rule are wronged.
It seems right to go back to the original Big Flat 8 Banner to Banner https://www.strava.com/segments/26974627
That is weird, especially since anyone doing this event from the pens will match the banner to banner one, which is not true for all routes.