“The Über Pretzel” Route Details (Watopia)
First came The Pretzel at 72km long and 1,333m of elevation. Then the Mega Pretzel arrived, 107km long with 1,642m of elevation. Now there’s a new king of the hill: “The Über Pretzel”.
Released as part of Zwift’s Fuego Flats desert expansion, this route covered every bit of tarmac available in Watopia at the time of its release – sometimes in both directions. It is most similar to the Mega Pretzel, but adds the Fuego Flats desert roads, the Radio Tower climb, and an Alpe du Zwift finish. Wow!
First came The Pretzel at 72km long and 1,333m of elevation. Then the Mega Pretzel arrived, 107km long with 1,642m of elevation. Now there’s a new king of the hill: “The Über Pretzel”.
Released as part of Zwift’s Fuego Flats desert expansion, this route covered every bit of tarmac available in Watopia at the time of its release – sometimes in both directions. It is most similar to the Mega Pretzel, but adds the Fuego Flats desert roads, the Radio Tower climb, and an Alpe du Zwift finish. Wow!
Route Basics
Length: 128.3 km (79.7 miles)
Elevation: 2335m (7,661′)
+0.5km (0.3 miles) lead-in
Map: Watopia
ZIMetrics
Rating: 85.4/100 🛈
Time Estimates 🛈
4 W/kg: 226 minutes
3 W/kg: 260 minutes
2 W/kg: 339 minutes
Start & Finish
When freeriding you will spawn just before the downtown start/finish line. Events start at the downtown start pens. Our Strava segment begins where free rides and events converge, so all rides will match the one segment.
Format: Point-to-Point
Restriction: Level 6+, Ride Only
Ride Achievement Badge: 2560 XP
Run Achievement Badge: none
Strava Segments
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!
Beginning in downtown Watopia, you head straight for the Epic KOM. Once you cross the banner you’ll hang a left for the cursed Radio Tower climb, then it’s a quick descent to a left turn onto the jungle route.
Complete one Jungle Circuit lap and head over to the Volcano for a trip to the top. Then it’s down the Volcano, over the Esses, and zig-zagging our way to Fuego Flats in a reverse direction.
We drop down from Fuego Flats onto Ocean Boulevard, then hit the Hilly KOM reverse and back onto Fuego Flats in a forward direction. Once we hit Ocean Boulevard again we head back to Watopia’s city center, then make our way out to the final section of this route: Alpe du Zwift. Enjoy!
You must be level 6+ to access The Über Pretzel in a free ride. Alternatively, you can join a group ride or Meetup held on this route–but Über Pretzel group rides are exceedingly rare.
Your Strava segment doesn’t accurately match what Zwift uses to award the badge for the Uber. If you start from the starting pens you are awarded the badge but you don’t show up on your strava segment. It would be nice if your segment included people that start in the pens as well as ones that don’t. I thought I posted this basic comment over the weekend on one of your pages but it didn’t look like this page. Are there 2 pages for the Uber? Old and new?
After posting I read the page. I see you plan on 2 segments but wouldn’t one be simpler and better? I’m not excited about having 2 different segments. Seems like you could just move the start to the point where the free ride start and the pens start come together.
This is common to many of the Watopia “events” versus selecting the route planer and riding on your own. Events spawn from starting pens, free rides spawn from slightly different locations. There’s no single Strava segment solution that would work for both modes. Zwift did recently offer some flexibility to credit your route badge and award XP if riding on your own or through an event (nice touch, AFTER I’d done several of these as events with no badge :-/). So if your goal is the official Zwift Insider Verified segment, you’ll need to be careful and look at his detailed Watopia map to see where the starting pen is in relation to the segment origin.
As a rule of thumb, anything starting downtown and going clockwise, pens are AFTER the segment origin (won’t count towards segment), counter-clockwise pens are BEFORE origin (counts towards segment), pens in jungle and the flats generally all are before segments/work fine, and just about everything in the other worlds all start before segments/work fine.
I think there is a Single Strava Segment solution. Just have to move the start point of the segment to a point where the two different entry points intersect the route. Pretty simple.
Seems a real shame at the uber segment doesn’t work for events. Can this not be edited to start at the point where the route and events meet just after the pier ramp?
This is how it’s set up now. Let’s ride!
Eric, is it a glitch that after you set a new start of the segment that is (presumably) within the original segment, it still clears out your segment time from Route Hunter? Logically, you’d think that I’ve already ridden the new segment because it is within the old segement.
I was really hoping to not have to do that route again – I’ve got the badge after all.
So Norseman is this upcoming weekend and I’m trying to figure out the best bike for this course. Lots of climbing – but also a lot of flat. It also depends on whether it’s non-drafting (doesn’t say it’ll be non-drafting, but it was in 2018 and they didn’t say anything before about that).
So – assuming there is draft, I’m thinking Cannondale Evo and 454s?
If non-draft, maybe a TT bike for most of it and then switch to light bike on Alpe?
I was thinking Tarmac Pro with either 454/Enve 3.4/lightweight
Let’s say you can average 30 kph on flat roads. Let’s say you can do steep climbs at 1000 VAM on top of the time for the equivalent flat distance. Then the distance would account for around 256 minutes = 4.3 hours. Climbing would add around 2.3 hours. Total 6.6 hours but more flat than climbing speed. So check the tables, and take 2 parts Fuego time to 1 part climbing time. So definitely not lightweights: the DT Suisse wheels would be a good option. But use the mountain bike on the jungle climb.
Does anyone know what could have happened? I finished today, chose the route, just me, not an event, did the whole thing and didn’t get the badge, it was my fifth climb to alpe so as sson as I passed the banner I received the avid climber badge but no badge for the route, just to make sure I went all around the top and crossed the banner again and no luck, so kept going and went down a few km and no, nothing happened, I have no badge for it. I did a total of 134,3km and the badge is supposed to show up once you make it to 128,8km, that’s including the extra stuff for lead in or whatever. If anyone knows I’m interested in knowing what happened. Thanks
It’s a bug. I did it yesterday. 165+ km and no badge for the route.
Thanks for your reply, I wanted to do a century ride but at 133km I was really exhausted and the no badge situation kind of killed me so I quit hehe.
me too today 161km mo badge
The same happened to me too yesterday. 142km…rolled down the Alpe afterwards.
Not sure if I want to this ride again! :O
If it is a bug – I hope they will give it to people once they check their rides…..
How do you let Zwift know?
Hello, I have no idea but I just sent a complaint through the support page to Zwift explaining the whole situation, that I didn’t get the badge and the xp points and attached 2 images proving that I did finish the route, the strava segment and the route in the zwift page. If something happens I will write here whatever the outcome is.
The unsatisfactory reply I got!
Btw – I had the latest updates and stable wifi!
Hi David,
Thank you for your message, I apologize for the late response, as you can imagine we are doing our best with the current volume of support requests.
While I would love to credit your account for the missing badges, we don’t have the technical capabilities to do so and I apologize profusely for that. What you really need to do is update your game and application – as long as all the devices you play on are on the latest version, you should be ready to hit those roads again and earn the badge this time.
When following a route to achieve a feat, there are many factors to consider at the same time. The most important one is that accomplishment and progress, especially on long routes like Mega Pretzel can be very easily disrupted, which I know is really frustrating. Disruptions such as a power outage cause the route to be cancelled, even if you have to continue afterwards. App considers this as a break or a stop and counts the route as two steps instead of a continuous journey, which is necessary to get the badge.
I wish I had better news about our ability to provide you with the badges that you should have earned in addition to the fact that they are available to be collected and earned now. I know it’s not exactly what you were hoping to hear, but I hope I was able to help you at least a little.
Julian, I just did route and didn’t get the badge either. Got the spinner at the top of the alp, but no route achievement banner across the bottom of the screen. Really don’t want to do this one again.
Yeah, this is one badge from a route I hardly doubt I’ll do it again so I think is a n no badge for me. Maybe if one day I commit myself to do the century ride without thinking about the badge.
If someone does this route and gets the badge, please post here. I would love to know if this bug gets cleared before I take my group on this route.
I just did it, no badge.
Did the full route and more yesterday, no archivement… zwift support told me that there is an lead in (YOU DONT SAY ZWIFT)…. no chance on doing this route twice…
here is the activity: https://zwift.com/activity/632981137458833424
whats “wrong” with that?
Yup, zwift answered me with exactly the same thing, the lead in, of course we know that, they simply won’t give us the badge, that excuse is lame.
No badge here 🙁
Guess what, no badge for me either last week with this route and today no badge for the four horsemen. Damn my luck.
I did this today. No badge. Gutted.
No badge after all that
Finished the Uber Pretzel earlier today – no badge at the top of the Alpe. Continued back down the Alpe, no badge. Continued following the Zwift trail around the jungle to the next check point, no badge. Gave up at 145km
I did the route today (selected as course) and got the badge. So Badge Fix confirmed 🙂 Even got the Lightweight Weels, maybe because i had to do it twice? hahaha..
Rode today and also got the badge. 180W average at 84kg took my 5hrs 30 mins which included some breaks.
I got the badge yesterday. 166W avg at 69 kg in 5:14:49
Did the course on 24th of November and got the badge. 129 km, 2388 m in 10hr 12min.
NEVER EVER will I drive this route again.
Got the badge today, Feb 23, 2021. Also the Avid Climber badge for 5 times Alpe du Zwift Climb. Finished just under 5:30 hrs. Did swap to Mountain Bike for the Jungle Route. Also took a short stop for a good meal just before the Alpe du Zwift. Good choice: a PR.
Can anyone tell me why this ride https://www.strava.com/activities/3460198342 is not showing up on the Strava segment?
It was done as a meetup, so I don’t think it should have the start pens issue. Has the segment been changed since last May or something? Bit annoyed that it isn’t showing as I have no intention of riding it again just to get it to show up on VeloViewer…
I checked the start point of my ride and it is significantly before the start of the Strava segment. I don’t see any differences either. I don’t know if I could raise it with Strava or something?
Yes, segment changed. Just change your activity type to a different one, then save it… it’ll match up to new segments.
Completed this route on 6/5/21; took me 5:11:01 to finish. Ok, so I know this intimidates a lot of people because you finish on L’Alp. The number one trick is pacing; know your limits and don’t push too hard. You do get Epic KOM and Radio Tower out of the way quickly. Switching to the mountain bike in the jungle with help with your time. You make two passes through Tempus Fugit; chat up some riders and get a draft through there if you can. A small group knew I was doing the route and gave me a draft on my second pass through; it helps. Eat a gel or a small snack before you start your climb up L’Alp; you don’t want to bonk out on the final climb. I took three short breaks for a total of 10 minutes off the bike; long enough to use the bathroom or refill bottles. Snacks were light; gels, pop tarts or Stroop waffles. I liked this one better than the Four Horsemen because you get more active recovery in this route. Post ride, you might want to ice your knees a bit to help with recovery. I hope this helps anyone. If I can do it, I know you can!
So what’s your setup recommendation? I thought about SL7 + new alpine wheels until the top of radio tower and then switch to the tron bike until I get to alpe. With a route this massive a bike-switch seems to make sense. Our how did you tackle it? Tron all the way as loosing a couple of minutes on the climbes does not matter when you’re riding this beast of a route anyway?
I don’t have the Tron so I went with Cannondale Evo/Enve uphill (Epic&AdZ) and Canyon TT/Zipp 808 downhill and flat. Switched to mtb for the jungle part.
As the scroll function was disabled I did a meet up to chose the route.
Badge confirmed at 129km/2386m.
Won the polka dot socks at the finnish line lottery or maybe the kevel up to 28.
Where are the 1000s of riders who signed up for the Z INSIDER events from Dec 2000 to April 2001?
Yesterday I rode the Uber Pretzel, wrongly thinking it was going to be easier than the PRL Full that I had completed 3 weeks ago. It’s 45 km shorter and though it ends with ADZ, its 160 m less total elevation and I love to climb anyway. Piece of cake, right? WRONG! As a disclaimer, I’m almost 58 years old and got my 4th mRNA booster 4 days prior, but felt fine. I am at level 33 and I rode it alone. I approached it as a climb (Chapter 2 TOA w/ Lightweight Meilenstein wheels), then a long flat (Canyon Speedmax CF SLX w/Zipp 808 wheels) then hard climb – ADZ. My goal was to break 6 hours. It started out fine, but as soon as I hit the Jungle Loop I felt like I was in mud, so I swapped to a Trek Supercaliber, then back to the TT set up. Many Zwifters advised to “conserve energy” for ADZ, but I think that got in my head, because I felt dreadfully slow all day. Around 65-70mkm, I thought I’d bail. My rear end and legs were screaming, but some ibuprofen, acetaminophen, Gatorade endurance, and espressos pushed me through. As ADZ approached, the pains came back and ultimately, each segment got slower and slower. My record time up ADZ was exactly a year ago at 1:06. But yesterday, after 115 km, all could muster was an embarrassing 1:35. Ultimately, I got the badge, the XP, and the spinner gave me another 1000 XP, but it hurt. Bad. I will never do it again and the 6:46 total only was 20 minutes less than I spent on the PRL Full.
Summary: The Uber Pretzel is much more grueling than the PRL full. Ending on ADZ is extremely panful and though I love to climb, it got into my head.
My recs (FWIW): (1) go in a group – it was really hard to be alone, mentally and physically (no draft); (2) swap bibs and socks part way though (helped me, a lot), (3) don’t just hydrate with water: use a sodium- and potassium-containing fluid and caffeine if you can tolerate it (trust me, I’m a cardiologist); (4) I don’t have the Tron yet, so I swapped bikes and thought it helped; (5) DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THIS RIDE! I was very disappointed in my performance but think the key factor was underestimated the challenge. Fortunately, I only have 4 more to go, and they are easier. Ride on, friends!
Just completed this route solo this morning in 5h01 (5h14 with the descent). I’m a big rider (6’4″, 97 kg) with a 3,3 W / Kg FTP. Did it all with the Tron Bike. Didn’t want to break the rythm and switch bikes in the Jungle since it only comes after 45-75 minutes, depending on the rider. I took two breaks. The first one on top of the Volcano KOM and the second one before the Epic KOM, with only 19 kms to go. I changed clothes (what a relief!), ate and filled up my bottles at each break. After the Volcano KOM, it’s pretty flat until you reach the Epic KOM so I think it was good to take a break right before it. Also, I added “(Uber Pretzel)” to my name and there were definitely people drafting me on the flats, which was VERY appreciated.
I’m trying to get all the badges (after working to get the Tron Bike last year when I started) and it was my 25th time up the Alpe so I used it as extra motivation to finish. I’ll never have to go up it again since I have ridden the Four Horsemen as well.
Is it harder than the PRL Full? Mentally yes. I did the PRL last year with a group, took just under 6 hours. The fun thing with the PRL is that you ride 11 times the same route so it’s easier to adjust mentally. Getting on the Alpe, I started having small cramps (had to stop twice to stretch for a couple of seconds). I probably didn’t drink enough. My knowledge of ADZ really helped mentally so I suggest that you do it many times before you attempt the Uber Pretzel. I can’t explain with words how proud you will feel when you’re done! Nutrition, hydration and pacing are key here! Ride on!
Just sharing my experience: I failed on my first attempt by stupidly going too hard up Epic Kom, switching to the handcycle to race people down the descent etc etc, At 60+km I was toast by the time I got to Epic Kom.Not even halfway.
Attempt 2 worked – light bike and wheels for climbing (Scott Addict) a steady pace up Epic Kom (2 – 2.2W/Kg), switch to Canyon Aeroad + disc wheels for descents and flat, Canyon Grail for Jungle Loop, and so on. Change clothes at about halfway, Youtube for entertainment, and Robert’s your proverbial Uncle.
I posted about it 2 years ago and I thought you indicated that it was fixed but my Uber Pretzel from the start pen doesn’t show up on your current strava segment and it appears to be because your segment starts before the intersection of the “Normal” spawn point and where the start pen route join together. As I said above I thought in the comments below you indicated that it had been fixed but it’s not. Any chance you can move the start of your segment forward just a little to include rides from the pen? I e-mailed you too. I included a picture of how the two differ at the beginning. It’s just a few meters looking at the map.
Interested in doing this route in REVERSE – Thinking of starting with the “Road to Sky” and then after summiting AdZ and descending, winding the rest of the route in reverse order to end Downtown.
Question: Are there “turn by turn” directions for the regular route that I can simply invert for tis purpose? I’ve tried to use the route animation above to reverse engineer it but it gets too jumbled for me to keep up with in the middle section between the KOM and AdZ. Is there a way to pause the animation?
Thanks for any input and consideration.
It doesn’t really matter that the map will be updated in the future. Long routes haven’t appeared since 2020, six years already. For many people, finishing a long route is a challenge. I love long routes; I’ve already completed Uber and PRL-F several times. I’m really looking forward to this route being officially enabled. I don’t want to drive it manually, sorry. And thanks for your work.
I think you made this comment on the wrong page…?