“Four Horsemen” Route Details (Watopia)

Animated “Four Horsemen” Route Details (Watopia) Map
Animated map provided by ZwiftHacks

When it was released in March 2018, the “Four Horsemen” covered all of Watopia’s timed climbs: the original Hilly KOM, Volcano KOM, Epic KOM, and Alpe du Zwift. Along the way it also covered (nearly) every bit of Watopian road.

The Fuego Flats and Titans Grove extensions were released after this route launched, so Four Horsemen is no longer a nearly complete tour of Watopia.

When it was released in March 2018, the “Four Horsemen” covered all of Watopia’s timed climbs: the original Hilly KOM, Volcano KOM, Epic KOM, and Alpe du Zwift. Along the way it also covered (nearly) every bit of Watopian road.

The Fuego Flats and Titans Grove extensions were released after this route launched, so Four Horsemen is no longer a nearly complete tour of Watopia.

Route Basics

Length: 89.3 km (55.5 miles)
Elevation:
2112 m (6,929‘)
Lead-In: 0.6 km (0.4 miles)
Map: Watopia

Restriction: Level 6+

Achievement Badge: 1780 XP

Sprint & KQOM Segments

Hilly KOM (0.9 km, 5.5%)
Volcano KOM (3.8 km, 3.2%)
Epic KOM (9.5 km, 3.9%)
Alpe du Zwift KOM (12.2 km, 8.5%)
JWB Sprint (0.36 km, -0.1%)

BestBikeSplit Model
Estimate ride time, IF and TSS, plan your power, and more!

Route Description

Route profile by ZwiftHub – the place to plan and track your route achievements!

Interesting bit of trivia – this is the only Watopia route which includes a descent of Alpe du Zwift!

Want to hit both sides of every KOM in one ride? Check out our KOMonster Rebel Route!

This is no leisure tour: be ready to work as you climb over 2000 meters in just under 90 kilometers! And be warned: hitting the Alpe after working your way over the previous climbs proves to be both a mental and physical challenge. Prepare yourself!

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

36 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
James Metcalfe
James Metcalfe
2 years ago

I was prepared for the climbing, i wasn’t expecting the hardest part of the route to be the 15km of gravel AFTER descending the alp. This surface “feature” makes the jungle loop unbearable for me, which makes the alpe inaccessible. I can’t see why anyone would think this feature is a good idea, I mean fine for short sections but the jungle loop is not a short section, and having to put out 200watts to maintain a speed below 30kmh on a downhill is just a farce. Swapping bikes mid route is a joke and I don’t want to climb… Read more »

MATHEW M ROSE
MATHEW M ROSE(@matrose617)
2 years ago
Reply to  James Metcalfe

Yeah, I wanted to turn Überpretzel into my first vCentury, but I cut the ride at 93 miles after descending the Alpe and realizing I didn’t know how to avoid the gravel. I’m absolutely going to pause the ride and switch over to a MTB for this route, because I agree that the gravel feature is not for me in virtual riding (although, strangely, I like it when riding with my kids IRL).

Greg Schisla
Greg Schisla
2 years ago
Reply to  James Metcalfe

Cry more.

Or maybe pedal harder?

Doug Gerard
Doug Gerard(@douglas-gerard)
1 year ago
Reply to  James Metcalfe

If you are not racing, have found it to be less of a pain to change over to my mountain bike for the gravel sections.

JohnnyBabo
JohnnyBabo
2 months ago
Reply to  James Metcalfe

Come on work on your power

Lara cowden
Lara cowden(@laracowden)
2 years ago

Should note that this includes the bonus climb

Julián Alzate
Julián Alzate
2 years ago

Well, another lost badge, last week no luck with uber pretzel and some others had the same issue, today finished four horsemen and no, no badge, rode even up the zwift Kom just in case and no luck there, went down again and no, definitely no badge. Another bug? A total of 95km and no badge and no xp.

Sam Cates
Sam Cates(@sam_cates)
2 years ago
Reply to  Julián Alzate

I’m the same. Did it today…no badge. Soooo frustrating.

jack
jack
2 years ago

i did this course and got no badge, this is the reply i got from zwift support. Thanks for reaching out to us! I’m sorry to hear that you aren’t seeing the badge that you were expecting, but I’m happy to provide more information. Many of the courses in Zwift have lead-ins that aren’t part of the main route, and this portion doesn’t count toward the badge achievement. To earn a particular route badge, you’ll have to complete the lead-in to get to the route and then ride the full distance on the route. While I’d like to credit your… Read more »

Julián Alzate
Julián Alzate
2 years ago
Reply to  jack

I received the same answer for the Uber Pretzel, it is a predetermined answer, I wrote them again with proof that I finished it all and they haven’t said anything yet. I hate when they say about the lead in, that is beyond obvious and is a lead in, it comes first so you either do it or do it.

kieran
kieran
2 years ago
Reply to  Julián Alzate

have you contacted blue Peter? heard they have a pretty cool badge? maby if you send them a message they take pity and send you one? or perhaps you could just jump back on your bike and send it like a man 😥

Flavio Mrack
Flavio Mrack
2 years ago
Reply to  jack

Same situation but I’ve found out what happened. I use Zwift on a iPad, if I change the app during the route (just for a while) I can come back to Zwift and complete the route but I dont’t get the badge. Só my tip is: don’t ever change the Zwift app while riding on Zwift.

Paul
Paul
1 year ago
Reply to  jack

It is rubbish and I’ve been burned by this before so now I don’t stop riding until I see the route completed banner pop up on the screen.

luke
luke
1 year ago
Reply to  Paul

smart

Brian
Brian
2 years ago

It definitely seems like there’s a bug with this route currently because I rode it for the first time this afternoon and also didn’t get the badge or XP. Like Julián above I also went back up the Zwift KOM a second time just in case and stretched the ride well past the 90 km (route + lead in), so it’s not an “oops you forgot the lead in” issue. I liked the ride (well, except for the jungle…) but am bummed about the badge.

Julián Alzate
Julián Alzate
2 years ago
Reply to  Brian

That lead in excuse from swift is beyond lame to me, it comes firts on the route, there is no way you can just forget it and we all now that the end of every route is crossing some banner so we just don’t ride X amount of km and that is it, we ride and we make sure to cross a banner and besides the lead in for this route, or the uber which I had the same problem, are short, is not like we have lead ins of more than 10k like in Innsbruck. And yes, the route… Read more »

David BigJohn
David BigJohn
2 years ago

This was supposed to be my last badge. I stretched it even to 109km.
In Strava I could see that I had completed the “Four Horsemen (Zwift Insider Verified)” segment.
After the “missed” (also not given badge) Uber Pretzel last weekend it is a shame that Zwift hasn’t fixed it yet.
I was entertaining though to see myself in the live Vlog of GPLama (who did Quatch Quest) on Youtube!

Carl J
Carl J(@runbikebbq)
1 year ago
Reply to  David BigJohn

You get the badge when the message displays on the screen that you finished. NOT when you complete the Zwift Verified Route.

SIMON RIZK
SIMON RIZK
2 years ago

I did it 2 times and no badge is there a limit of time to be completed?

Julián Alzate
Julián Alzate
2 years ago
Reply to  SIMON RIZK

There is no time limit, zwift is just not giving the badge, same situation with the uber pretzel and if you write to them they write you back with a lame excuse related to the lead in and in theory you can write to them again sending proof that you did the whole route and guess what, they just don’t write back again.

Flavio Mrack
Flavio Mrack
2 years ago
Reply to  Julián Alzate

Same situation but I’ve found out what happened. I use Zwift on a iPad, if I change the app during the route (just for a while) I can come back to Zwift and complete the route but I dont’t get the badge.

David Jones
David Jones(@david-jones150)
2 years ago

Aero bike for this route, or Tarmac Pro?

Biggins
Biggins
2 years ago
Reply to  David Jones

Tarmac or Emonda all the way

Biggins
Biggins
2 years ago
Reply to  Biggins

I also completed at weekend and got badge no problem. Jungle is annoying but easily achievable, didn’t slow me down that much.

Bert Marchal
Bert Marchal
2 years ago

Did it today, got the badge 🙂 I used the Hunter’s Challenge ‘the mega’ workout with my ftp set to 90% of its normal value. This brought me halfway back down the Alpe. Last 16km from the bottom of the Alpe were the hardest. Jungle killed me, I should have changed to MTB for that. All in all, it took exactly 4 hours

Sam
Sam
2 years ago
Reply to  Bert Marchal

I completed today and earned badge. Zone 3 effort and took 4 hrs. Yes, gravel climb out of jungle is the killer as by that time you’ve climbed the big ones and just want to get on with it.

JF Cheung
JF Cheung
2 years ago

Yeah. I did it the other day and got the badge.😀 On the jungle route I always switch to the canyon grail (saw this bike swap at GP Lamas vids first) I think its a bit easier on a gravel bike.
Overall it was hard but my 20+ dropouts on the climb Alps the Zwift drove me crazy..
Dropout from the turbo trainer are like chain drop IRL,
Thanks for the great route details.

Simon Shackleton
Simon Shackleton
2 years ago

Terrific route – has a bit of everything. The last section in the jungle felt okay – changed to a mountain bike at the foot of the alpe and then back to the road bike when I hit the tarmac. Completed in 3hr 23m which I was real happy with!

Robert Munro
Robert Munro
1 year ago

Today I chose ‘Surprise me’ and seemed to be offered petit KOM which was fine. I thought I would do it plus another ride. However, just after starting a sign told me I was doing Ven Top. I’d a couple of hours to use so I went for it. However, nearing the summit none of the usual timing stuff appeared and when I summited I was a few metres short of a mountain.

That surprised me all right! Luckily I have the badge so no big deal..

Dave Schoepel
Dave Schoepel
1 year ago

I’ve done this route 8 times (even rode two loops of it for 110 miles), but it no longer shows up on the Veloviewer leaderboard anymore? It seems there are three versions now for the route, mine are listed as “From the Banner” and started by selecting route in Zwift before starting it. How in the world am I supposed to know which one counts and how do I make sure the I ride the right route?

MATHEW M ROSE
MATHEW M ROSE(@matrose617)
1 year ago
Reply to  Dave Schoepel

I like the route and have plans to ride it again. I also lost my time in Veloviewer. I’ll check back in if it works now for me. I can’t imagine that selecting the route and riding it would not be good for covering whatever the current ZwiftInsider Verified route is.

Wesley Freeburg
1 year ago
Reply to  Dave Schoepel

This also true, now, of the Big Loop and Uber Pretzel. Strangely, the “from the Banner” versions of these routes are the Zwift official routes, and these are the one traversed by the vast majority of the riders in Zwift. I was enjoying keeping up with the Rebel Routes (and all the other routes), until Eric began tampering with the routes/segment dimensions recently. I should think the route that grants the achievement badge in Zwift would be the one that governs which route/segment is used for the Veloviewer Zwift Insider leaderboard. It doesn’t make sense. Crickets from Eric when making… Read more »

Bobby Mac
Bobby Mac
1 year ago

Eric, you should make a Zwift Insider Strava Segment for the 7 Horsemen route. I’m riding it tomorrow as part of the Norseman series. After you go up the Alpe you descend and finish the race at the top of the EPIC KOM.

Weiwen
Weiwen
1 year ago

I just free rode Four Horsemen. Maybe a restatement of what James said below is that this is a really psychologically taxing route! You’re going up the Alpe after the Epic KOM + the Radio Tower, and I really have a love-hate relationship with the Radio Tower. Then after you go down the Alpe, you’ve got a gradual climb on gravel, and gravel does make the distance longer than it seems. Instead of “pedal harder”, one good piece of advice might be to wait for one of the badge hunter events and do this in a group. Drafting helps you… Read more »

Ramón
Ramón
1 year ago
Reply to  Weiwen

Great advice, buy a nice MTB in preparation for the switch. I stopped three times because I didn’t feel I was in the most efficient bike, had to buy one, it’s still quite hard, that jungle

Alex Paul
4 months ago

I’ve done this course twice during “The Norseman” and “L’Etape du Tour Sportive” events but still no badge. Hoping to make it real next week for a birthday solo ride 🤞🏾

36
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x