“Makuri Pretzel” Route Details (Makuri Islands)
Far and away the longest Makuri Islands route when it was released in September 2024, Makuri Pretzel covers key roads in each of the three Makuri Islands areas: Yumezi, Neokyo, and Urukazi. And it covers them in both directions, which means you hit four different sprint arches in both directions for a total of eight sprint opportunities.
This route is the brainchild of James Bailey, Zwift’s event guru. While it avoids all the Makuri Islands KOM segments, you’ll want to keep your eyes open in a race. There are plenty of sneaky, draggy climbs that provide ample opportunity for attacks.
Far and away the longest Makuri Islands route when it was released in September 2024, Makuri Pretzel covers key roads in each of the three Makuri Islands areas: Yumezi, Neokyo, and Urukazi. And it covers them in both directions, which means you hit four different sprint arches in both directions for a total of eight sprint opportunities.
This route is the brainchild of James Bailey, Zwift’s event guru. While it avoids all the Makuri Islands KOM segments, you’ll want to keep your eyes open in a race. There are plenty of sneaky, draggy climbs that provide ample opportunity for attacks.
Route Basics
Length: 77.6 km (48.2 miles)
Elevation: 616m (2,021‘)
+1.1km (0.7 miles) lead-in with 5m (16‘) elevation
Map: Makuri Islands
ZIMetrics
Rating: 38.7/100 🛈
Time Estimates 🛈
lead-in + first lap
2 W/kg: 154 minutes
3 W/kg: 125 minutes
4 W/kg: 113 minutes
Start & Finish
Starts and ends at Alley Sprint arch.
Achievement Badge: 1550 XP
Strava Segments
Route Description
Route profile by ZwiftHub – the place to plan and track your route achievements!
We begin in Neokyo at the dock start pens, or just before the Alley Sprint arch if you’re free riding. Travel out of Neokyo, through the tunnel and into the Yumezi countryside, hitting the Countryside Sprint just before the road tilts upward to Village Onsen. Then continue through the Fishing Village before looping back toward the Castle area and through its marketplace.
Next, you’ll fly downhill through the lap banner and head across Yumezi’s flats to the Slot Canyon, a very scenic descent delivering you to Urukazi’s oceanside roads. Here you’ll take on two dirty corkscrews back-to-back: first the Mech Isle, second the climb up to the Shisa Sprint. These are key attack points in races, so be prepared!
From the Shisa Sprint you’ll descend back to Festival Harbor and head through Mangrove Maze. Catch a quick breath and spin those legs out, because up next you’ve got Pain Cavern: a draggy climb up to Neokyo, and our another key selection point in races.
Once you leave Pain Cavern you’ve got got a stretch of flat road ahead. First you’ll hit the Tower Sprint, then you’ll loop back toward the Alley Sprint Reverse. (We’ve just passed the halfway point of the route, and are now beginning to retrace all the roads we’ve just finished, in reverse.)
So it’s down through Pain Cavern (much less painful this way), up to the Shisa Sprint for a nice view of Urukazi, then down the two dirty corkscrews – a direction we don’t ride often in other routes. Then it’s a climb up the Slot Canyon, followed by our last climb of the day up to the Castle’s marketplace. These climbs, like others on this route, are draftable and not particularly long. But you’ll need strong VO2max power (4-6 minutes) to hold onto the front in a race!
After the last climb it’s a slack downhill through the Fishing Village and Village Onsen. Keep your speed up through the Countryside Sprint, and know that you’ve got flat roads all the way to the finish! Enter Neokyo through the tunnel, hit the Tower Sprint, then loop around the harbor before sprinting through the bustling marketplace to the finish line at the Alley Sprint arch. Nice work!
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