Zwift just released their latest “This Season on Zwift” announcement detailing key new game features and events arriving in the next few months. We’ve posted the complete press release below, and in the coming days will be diving into some of the announcements in more detail.
Watopia Expansion: New roads launching during Tour of Watopia – November
November brings an expansion to Zwift’s most-loved virtual world: Watopia. Zwifters may notice something unusual appearing from the ocean, just off Watopia’s coast – could they be ancient structures? Zwifters will need to wait until November for Stage 5 of the Tour of Watopia to explore this new land.
Stage 5 isn’t all that Zwifters have to look forward to during the Tour of Watopia this year. Celebrating a decade of cycling and running on Zwift, Zwifters will take in five stages of Watopia expansions, starting with some of the earliest routes. Zwifters will have the option of three distance options and double XP when completed live during Events, or 1.5x XP when ridden On Demand.
Revamped Heads Up Display (HUD) for a Customized Experience – Available Now
In response to community feedback, a refreshed Heads-Up Display (HUD) ensures the most critical information is right where users need it. With seven customizable metrics—including cadence, heart rate, average watts and watts per kilogram, among others—users can tailor their experience like never before.
Runners also receive an update to the HUD, featuring a fixed display of a heart rate zone distribution bar, heart rate and steps per minute. Wahoo KICKR Run owners will also see the new Dynamic Elevation display when utilizing Incline Control.
Zwift Ride Smart Frame Available Now
Available to purchase today, the Zwift Ride Smart Frame retails for $799.99/€799.99/£749.99 and is available in the US, EU, and UK from Zwift.com. The Zwift Ride Smart Frame is exclusively compatible with Zwift Ready smart trainers.
Unlock New Challenges and Earn Rewards – From September 9
Introducing a range of new challenges, which can all be accessed via the Challenges section on the Home Screen and can be completed alongside one additional ‘main’ challenge – Everest, Italy or California.
Cardio Crusher – Sept 9
Catering to a wide range of fitness goals and for time-crunched athletes, the Cardio Crusher Challenge offers five new workouts, all under an hour. Zwifters who complete all five workouts will unlock 250 XP.
Route Chaser: The Grade – Oct 3
Ideal for users looking for a Challenge to earn new badges. Zwifters must complete five routes to complete the challenge, three of which are new – Mayan 8 (23.1km with 241m elevation gain), Radio Rendezvous (20.5km with 736m elevation gain), and Power to the Tower (44.7km with 1492m elevation gain).
More Challenges will be added in the coming months.
Enhanced Racing Experience with Zwift Racing Score – October
Zwift Racing Score is set to revolutionize racing on Zwift. This update will ensure that racers are placed in the right category from the beginning of their racing journey, making races more competitive and enjoyable. The score dynamically adjusts based on your current fitness and also your performance in races. With improved matchmaking and rewards for strategic racecraft, Zwift Racing Score is designed to elevate the competitive experience.
Zwift Racing Calendar:
Zwift Racing has come a long way since the community first began to self-organize races on Jarvis Island. Today there are over 100 community event organizers organizing races on the platform, helping to create a competitive space for Zwifters globally.
Complementing Zwift Community events is the Zwift Racing Calendar. Split into four key pillars:
- zRacing Monthly – Year-round racing with new racing routes landing each month.
- Zwift Racing League – The largest team event in cycling with 2,610 teams participating in the 23/24 Season, the league brings Zwifters together offering 3 rounds consisting of 6 races each between Sept and Feb.
- Zwift World Series – Five races spanning from September to January, the tailor-made courses offer three tiers of monthly monument racing challenges.
- Zwift Games – Launching in March, the Zwift Championships will return for a second year, offering Zwifters the chance to race for Community and Elite levels with more to be revealed in the coming months.
More information about racing on Zwift can be found at zwift.com/racing
Garage Upgrades: Customize Your Ride – Q4 2024
The Zwift Garage is getting an overhaul for 2024. For the first time, Zwifters can look forward to upgrading their virtual bikes. Zwifters will be able to upgrade their bikes by completing Upgrade Challenges to unlock the ability to purchase the next Upgrade Stage using well-earned Drops. All bikes will have five stages of upgrades, offering enhancements such as weight reductions, improved aerodynamics, and lower rolling resistance.
For Zwifters with Drops burning a hole in their virtual jersey pockets, Zwift will also be introducing Halo Bikes. Halo Bikes like the Pinarello Espada will offer high performance and huge street cred. Only the most brand-loyal Drop Shop customers will be invited to purchase Halo Bikes. More details coming soon.
Fall Training Content
Zwift Academy returns: Aug 5-Nov 3
Zwift Academy is back and ready to challenge all cyclists to improve their fitness while competing for a chance to join a professional cycling team. This year offers an extended window for riders to compete, spanning from Aug 5 until Nov 3, which aims to make it easier for riders in both the North and South hemispheres.
2024 has a sharper focus on talent ID with the workouts really focused on testing physiological capabilities. Riders who complete the program can earn the in-game Zwift Academy kit, an in-game Zwift Academy Canyon Aeroad paint job, and a chance to earn a pro contract with CANYON//SRAM Generation or Alpecin-Deceuninck Development for the top-performing female and male respectively.
Zwift Camp: Baseline: Nov 18-Jan 5
Introducing a new Workout Program designed to help Zwifters learn more about themselves with six workouts with long and short versions to suit all athletes. Upon completion, Zwifters will receive a report helping identify their strengths and weaknesses based on their rider type. After the program, there will be new Challenges available for riders to take the next step with their fitness goals.
Celebrating 10 Years on Zwift – September-December
This season, Zwift is celebrating a decade of helping make more people more active, more often. In that time, the Zwift community has logged a collective 8.72 billion kilometres, climbing 81.56 billion metres. Zwift is a collective experience, so many of those kilometres have been earned riding alongside other Zwifters from all corners of the world in group events. Community event organizers are the backbone of Zwift events and have organized an eye-watering 4,034,556 events over the last ten years. To all those community organizers, we thank you!
To find out more about This Season on Zwift visit zwift.com/this-season-on-zwift
Your Thoughts
What do you think of Zwift’s plans for the next few months? Share below!
The levels of upgrade for each frame is an interesting idea, but I do feel for poor Eric as all his database of speed tests for frames may become obsolete… 😯
Or alternatively: Sounds like Eric is in for some statistical fun doing speed tests on stage 2,3,4,5 of every bike frame to go with the current stage-1 speed values 😀
#GlassHalfFull lol
Yeah, it’s about to get really interesting over here!
VERY interesting but hard to handle for you IMO. I love your spped tests to have a clear ranking since many years !!!
I’m curious if there is a linear or a percentage OR a complete individual upgrade available for every frame. If linear, then the best frames should stay the best frames. Or do they plan individual upgrades ? … for example that the upgraded Trek Madone could be so light to climb as fast as the Aethos ?
What do you know/think/expect Eric ?
I expect it’ll be a sort of predictable upgrade that gives the same performance boost to each frame. So maybe a level 1 aero upgrade trims 5 seconds off our 1-hour time, a level 2 weight upgrade trims 6 seconds off an Alpe test, etc.
But we’ll have to wait and see, of course.
ok … sounds good … I will stay tuned 😎 … and your test bots will have a hard time in the near future 🙈🤣
Hope to see garage function substantially overhauled at the same time! (Favorites, hidden, etc.) New bike levels sound fun, but if they’re just sort of thrown on top of the current hard-to-access pile in my garage, it’ll only make for a bigger mess.
Very excited for Tour of Watopia. I’ve been impatiently waiting 🤣
Nothing yet about the open workout API?
i want my tr workouts to sync to zwift 🙂
TriDot rolled it out a month ago, and just enabled auto-sync in the last week or two (https://zwiftinsider.com/tridot-integration/)
Others are coming pretty soon, from what I hear. Not sure why that wasn’t included in TSOZ.
We are just leaving room for the partners to announce when they’re ready. We are working with several and as a Zwifter and a TriDot user I’m super pumped that TriDot now autosyncs your workout of the day to the For You carosel!
Bike upgrades are interesting I’m sure a lot will like the challenge of upgrades. Hopefully it comes with an updated organiser toolset to allow customisation of events as i can see that will be needed.
New roads always nice. i wonder if we will get the road around the alp…why not tag a velodrome on it as well 🙂
There is a track in Zwift for runners, so there should be a Velodrome for bikers, eh?
😎
Feels like a shame that there’s been no further expansion to Makuri. I always thought they saw it as a future Watopia equivalent but not sure much has changed in the last couple of years?
I think a Mt Fuji expansion is still going to happen. Not sure when.
2028 😉
Maybe in Julember…;)
That’s probably better than bringing back Jarvis Island.
Are there old Jarvis Strava segments?
https://www.strava.com/segments/17422827
https://www.strava.com/segments/16674719
I wish they would just merge them together.
that would be a nice solution….but personally I like watopia better by far. might just be familiarity
Does anyone know when will we have a kickr core with the cog v2 selling?
Looks to me that if you buy the core and the ride separately you get the old cog on trainer and the new one with the ride!?
Any chance the garage upgrade will enable the disposal of kit/bikes etc you no longer require?
I wouldn’t hold your breath on that one. It’s been a highly requested thing for years, but they seem to be ignoring it, or simply unable to do it. There will be cheers around the world if it finally gets the go ahead.
Looks like there’s sorting tho!
“And with Garage Sorting saves your current and most recent ride setup so they’re always ready to roll”
🥳
I posted about this very thing before reading the rest of the comments. I very strongly agree with you. The plethora of sheit in the garage makes changes a pain in the arse. It’s simply stupid it’s been ignored for so long. At least they’re getting ZRS straightened out…
ZRS has considerable shortcomings, and it is likely that we will witness an outburst of discontent in October as it fully unfolds, unless there are substantial improvements in the areas of sprinting and endurance.
There could be something matching the 3 Rs of Reduce, Re-use, and Re-cycle.
As for Re-use, we should be able to give the frame away to someone else or to a common pool for use by other riders for free. There could also be a way to take parts from bikes and put them on other bikes, or options to paint old bikes new colors? There could be races with prizes for best paint job as nominated by other Zwifters? This would be at times of celebration like Halowe’en and New Years?
As for Reduce it sounds like the new rating system will make it easier to compare bikes so we’ll be able to get the one we want faster and buy less trash along the way to getting it, and hence, in the end have a smaller personal garage of old, trashy frames that we tried out and threw out.
Re-cycle is the last option where bikes are melted down. This should include Removing bikes from from Zwift’s list of bikes available when they are seen as so bad and are not found to be satisfactory by any users.
Dont know about these bike upgrades. That is if it is for racing also. It will for sure make the gap between heavy users and more relaxed or new riders much bigger.
And opens the gap for bot users to quickly run it on all their frames within a few days.
I guess it adds a bit more depth to the favourite frames, but if you end up putting a lot of effort in to fully upgrading and then they bring a better frame out it’ll just be frustrating.
Hi Eric,
Would it be possible to add a bullet about the reorganization and reorganization of Zwift’s Women Only Racing via FCC to the racing section along with a link to more info on it? It’s a pretty big change and it would be great to ensure those returning from outdoors this fall know to look out for it.
——
I just realized you posted this straight from Zwift’s press release so it just not have been included there. Alas.
The new race score algorithm is working well for me. Be good to bin the w/kg categorization soonest.
Said it before, saying it again: Zwift should make it possible to spend drops on real money donations to non-profit organizations. Maybe sponsored by bike tech companies. With over 20 million drops I’d be happy to donate most of them instead of buying more virtual equipment.
This. I’ve been saying the same for years!
…and it hasn’t been a very good idea for years. Significant manpower/development effort to implement and a cost to “bike tech companies” in addition to what they are already spending for how much benefit?
Good idea in theory, but once you’ve assigned a real world monetary value to drops, you’ve now opened the door for abuse e.g. bots riding 24/7 to accumulate drops to create a revenue stream for the non-profits. Right now there are still bots riding, but at least the drops they accumulate don’t mean anything so there’s no real incentive to do it.
I have noticed that Zwift community was disappointed and irritated with the lack of updates with most wanted features or enhancements. Now Zwift has made much more work within months than in last years and the community is still disappointed and irritated. On the one hand I’m a bit surprised that literally any change can start a shitstorm but on the other hand I can’t get my head over how the heck ZHQ just doesn’t do what community aka subscribers really want and ask for years? It’s a pretty heavy dissonance.
This is due to a combination of factors. Some people complain about any change…maybe they are desperate for attention?
The people that complain about feature x not being delivered, don’t represent “the community”. Zwift has 1 million subscribers and the folks who do not complain and keep subscribing are probably okay with the way Zwift prioritizes changes. Also, what if some of the ideas are just plain dumb? Would it really matter if it’s been requested “for years”?
The demand for a fully configurable HUD has persisted for a decade. This feature has been a fundamental component of every cycling application since their inception, with the exception of Zwift. If there has been a lack of chatter, it could mean people are tired of asking for these essential features over and over while Zwift seems more interested in hardware sales than software updates.
I agree, Zwift has a road map and they are sticking to it. Just because 10 people post moaning that they want feature X doesn’t make it a priority even if it’s important to those 10 people.
These 10 people think because they have an idea it’s representative of the whole community when in reality it’s possibly not and they aren’t taking into account the bigger picture.
I even have lots of ideas I’d like implemented or changes to how some things are implemented but I’m realistic and understand that my view isn’t necessarily the view of everyone.
No sign of the Zwift Camp Baseline on zwift.com tsoz, can we expect more details soon? This sounds really interesting with the strengths and weaknesses report 🧐
Well, it doesn’t start until Nov 18, so it may be a bit before we get details. But I like where it’s heading! Not sure if they were inspired by this post of mine or not (https://zwiftinsider.com/pondering-zwift-academy/), but I’d like to think so.
Yes, we were 🙂
Really surprised you didn’t go with my snappy Community College branding…😋
any more info on what this quote means?:
“with Garage Sorting saves your current and most recent ride setup so they’re always ready to roll!
My guess is you’ll have your most frequently-used frames and wheels at the top of the list. Maybe even a full bike (frame+wheels) somehow saved at the top so it’s easy to swap between a couple-few setups…
It means that they will give you ONE option to save your frame + wheels as a racing combo. And they will tell you that this is just the beginning and there will be expansion to this feature coming in 2027, so that you can save one more combo.
Wonder if they are going to upgrade wheels as well in the near future.
I’m pleased that Zwift are working hard and I say a big thank you for that.
You can’t please all the people all off the time.
Can’t wait to see what you are doing next. 👍👍👍
I understood this as an irony and I really smiled.
Route based workouts from like 2 ‘this season on zwift’s ago ?!
I’m guessing maybe Watopia is getting land rising from under the ocean in a new island or something?
Or is there a hidden city underwater that will connect to the tunnels? 🤔
Kind of like Atlantis
Well, we know that there is volcanic activity in Watopia so it’s entirely feasible that new islands arise.
Does anyone else suspect the touted optimisation for Apple TV is dead and buried?
No update yet on last year’s “This Season on Zwift” improved integration for Apple Watch and Apple Health?
https://news.zwift.com/en-WW/232499-earn-more-rewards-than-ever-before-with-new-zwift-features
Great. Some pretty good content upgrades and still no word about The Storage Shed. All the garage update means here is more “hardware” to pollute the garage. We need a place to store the stuff we N.E.V.E.R. use. Like the Zwift bikes other than the Tron and the Atomic Cruiser. Or the Zwift wheels except for the Tri-spoke (which I always use with the Atomic) from the Zwift Big Spin. I rode lotsa spin races for that “hardware”. And I want to put it in the shed out back. Please.
Geez, I dedicated some time to read this and it hit me that there is no innovation in sight. Zwift is just rehashing the same tired ideas again and again. ZRS would have been a nice shake-up, but it seems like they really messed it up (just see how many people are venting about it here and on the Zwift forums). HUD is just another classic Zwift creation. After ten years of ideas from users, we have handed you something that is not quite up to par. And the floodgate of complaints on Zwift forums have opened. We are not dealing with random issues here. It is a clear sign of incompetence running from the top to the bottom in ZHQ.
Is the new expansion Jarvis island in Watopia? 🤔
Still waiting for Wahoo to release a firmware update for the v5 Kickr to enable virtual shifting. Feels like it’s never gonna happen.
All I want to say is THANK YOU ZWIFT, you did change my life. You made cycling safer for me. I train indoors (90% of my miles) and only ride in the real world in organised events for safety reasons.
Looking at the shape of the ‘rocks’ coming out of the ocean, could it be a velodrome?
I had the same thought! Or maybe I’m overly hopeful for a velodrome with track racing functionality.
Wow – garage upgrades just gave Eric a whole lot of work to do for fastest frames, etc! How exciting for the weight weenies!!
Dear Eric & others,
Great news, look forward to the winter indoor Zwift season.
Perhaps a suggestion to collect also badges for all the climbs in the climb portal. Already a nice collection. Would be a great update for badge collectors and climb lovers.
thanks Henk
This would be if you had an opportunity to ride all the climbs. Some we may never see again and all badges should be achievable to people.
I’m happy for all this news, especially for new watopia roads. The main world has been forgotten for years and i think this is the right pace that watopia deserves.
Not sure we need double xp events (or1.5x). Levels are so easy to increase right now and there will be a lot of new badges with the Atlantis expansion comin
The double XP events are very popular. I would assume Zwift will keep doing them as long as that is the case.
THanks Eric, nice. Any possibility for a roller or something under teh Zwift bike so it’ll go for and aft on Tacx Neo Motion Plates?
Just curious, when you do a ride/race, then look at the numbers on zwift/garmin/strava, there all different? Does each one compute the data differently so you end up with different data on each one. Shouldn’t it be what zwift says and garmin and strava get that data from one database, I always wondered about that. On side note, does zwift ever plan to do age group races? Do you know if there are any plans to fix zwiftpower so you can sort by age group, or maybe there is and I don’t know how to do. Just curious, I’m not even close to winning any races, but its still fun to ride till I get dropped, usually about five minutes, then get with a group I can barely hang with and have fun. Anyways, it’s still fun to ride. Joe
Does the new HUD system have draft % like zwift sauce? Also what about the grouping feature sauce has? Both of those are cool for racing
It currently has neither. There’s rumours that they want to display draft, but think they can do it better than just showing the number.
Hopefully the sauce grouping feature can be bought in too. And many more display options that everyone can choose whether or not they want to use.
When will the bike upgrade be commercialized??
Eric in your revamped HUD, how did you get the gear display. Can’t seem to find it.
Is there any way to make this elevation map that pops up go away?
No hacks that I know of. And no setting in the menu either.
I think this is a great addition and would like it to always be visible as it doesn’t take up much space. Maybe they need an option so everyone is happy, always on, never on and when approaching climbs.
I do find its not very “intelligent” though as you could be following a route and it will pop up but the uphill that its highlighting isn’t on your route so disappears once you go past the junction.
Hi, I’m just curious: are we getting an in depth post about the new road like we did some of the other features? That said: looking forward to it! Thanks!
Not at this time, since Zwift hasn’t released any further details.
I would like to see the speed in km/h or miles/h of the riders in the riders’ nearby list. Watt/kg is pretty meaningless because we don’t know their age, weight, or gender.
“Only the most brand-loyal Drop Shop customers will be invited to purchase Halo Bikes …”
Taking a page from Ferrari, eh? 😉 But in this case, I hope that doesn’t mean having to first buy ALL the brand’s bikes. We’re trying to declutter, not add even more bikes we’ll never ride.
Sorry I just read the update in a later article — upgrading three bikes is a much more sensical requirement! 🙂