Zwift version 1.67 begins its phased rollout today. This much-anticipated update brings a Watopia expansion that adds two new major road sections off the southern coast road, including The Grade which functions as an in-game FTP test!
Get all the details below…
Watopia Expansion: New Roads
Two new sections of road have been added, climbing up from Watopia’s southern coast road toward the Epic KOM’s snowy heights. One section, known as “The Grade”, begins in Ciudad La Cumbre (“Summit City”) and heads straight up the mountain, joining the Epic KOM forward climb road just after the tunnel section.
The other new road section section branches off of The Grade halfway up its climb, traveling to the left and descending down to the southern coast road just before it connects to the Mayan Jungle loop.
Along with those major road additions, Zwift has also added a new set of start pens on the beach at Ciudad La Cumbre, and a turnaround near the Sasquatch Sprint.
Watopia Expansion: New Routes
This expansion includes 8 new free-ridable routes and 3 event-only routes. We’ll add details to our route pages for these routes in the coming days.
Coastal Crown Loop
Length: 15km (9.3 miles)
Elevation: 186m (610‘)
Elevation Evaluation
Length: 24.6km (15.3 miles)
Elevation: 396m (1,299‘)
Glyph Heights
Length: 25.4km (15.8 miles)
Elevation: 537m (1,762‘)
Mayan Mash
Length: 34.6km (21.5 miles)
Elevation: 755m (2,477‘)
Oh Hill No
Length: 7.9km (4.9 miles)
Elevation: 306m (1,004‘)
Peak Performance
Length: 45.9km (28.5 miles)
Elevation: 726m (2,382‘)
Snowman
Length: 44km (27.3 miles)
Elevation: 578m (1,896‘)
Tides and Temples
Length: 36.5km (22.7 miles)
Elevation: 460m (1,509‘)
The three event-only routes included in this expansion are Itza Climb Finish, Itza Party, and Mayan San Remo.
Watopia Expansion: New Badges
All 11 new routes include route achievement badges with XP bonuses attached the first time you complete the route:
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Watopia Expansion: New KOM Segments
Four new timed climb segments are included in this expansion. Three are on the new routes, but the fourth is on the Radio Tower KOM atop the Epic KOM… a long-awaited official segment!
- The Grade KOM: 3.52km, 305m, 8.6%
- Mayan Mountainside KOM: 2km, 62m, 3.1%
- Itza KOM: 3.75km, 95m, 2%
- Radio Tower KOM: 1.16km, 150m, 12.8%
Watopia Expansion: New FTP Test
The new “The Grade” KOM segment functions as a brand-new way to do an FTP test on Zwift. It may be, as one Zwift employee told us, “The easiest way to do the hardest thing on Zwift.”
Instead of your FTP test being a structured workout, or letting Zwift detect your FTP based on your 20-minute power, you can hammer your way up The Grade and Zwift will detect FTP based on your time and average power over the segment.
Curious how exactly it works? Read our recent review of “The Grade” FTP test, and check out our segment detail page for The Grade.
Watopia Expansion: New Epic KOM Scenery
Zwift didn’t mention this in their update notes, but today’s update includes a refresh to the Epic KOM biome. This includes new ice elements, rocks, various frozen assets, and refreshed terrain work.
If you’re chasing a PR on the Epic KOM forward or reverse, be warned: Zwift changed the road surface from tarmac to ice/snow on the upper portion of the climb, which increases the Crr thus reducing your speed. We tested to confirm: at 4 W/kg, our test bot climbed the Epic KOM forward 28 seconds slower on the updated roads, while the Epic KOM Reverse was 27 seconds slower.
June 12, 2024 update on the text above: Zwift has informed us that they’ll be removing the new ice/snow surfaces that were added to the upper portions of the Epic KOM in the next update (around June 25).
More Release Notes
Zwift provided notes on additional tweaks and bug fixes in this update:
- We simplified the choice of FTP Tests by only featuring the most popular and relevant FTP Tests and updating their names to be more descriptive.
- Fixed an issue that could prevent exiting the Workout detail screen when using Play controllers or keyboard.
- Fixed an issue that could cause the Join Event button to be partially covered by the HUD in Climb Portal.
- Fixed an issue that could potentially display the incorrect cycling level on the Streaks screen.
- Fixed an issue that could prevent the Rolling Highlands route in Scotland from being completed in an event if scheduled for multiple laps.
- Fixed missing display names in the Garage for the ZRL Winner’s helmet and Lazer Vento helmet.
- Corrected the name of the route completion badge for Watopia’s Waistband.
- Fixed an issue that could cause some trees to render incorrectly on mobile devices.
- Fixed an issue where some campaigns on the home screen could be missing localized text for Korean and Chinese languages.
- Windows:
- Windows/Mac:
Discuss this release on Zwift’s forum >
Questions or Comments?
If you spotted any other changes or bugs in the update, please comment below!
YES ! – Timed Radio Tower KOM 👍😀
And it’s slower? because of ice?
I think it always had the ice and snow. It’s the top portion of Epic from both sides that it’s new on.
Plus three new event route badges. Mayan San Remo (in current z monthly series), itza party, and itza climb finish. One the last two used for wtrl summer show down then a possible after party route. Only took 5-6 years to make radio tower snow slide an official segment.
That’s an Alpaca not a Llama
Nobody’s guanaco know the difference
James did, so did I
Love the new roads, but the ongoing constant changing of road surfaces and Crr values is a bit annoying, as it invalidates all previous efforts on the affected segments, which makes it difficult/impossible to measure performance on a segment over time.
I’ve started to think the road surfaces are a bit of a pain if I’m honest. They don’t add anything to the experience at all and would be better to simply have a single crr and just change the visuals.
If you race and the steamroller powerup is an option, they provide an interesting strategic angle. Also in mixed terrain racing where bike choice becomes a consideration. But if you don’t race, then it’s just annoying.
I liked the Mayan Jungle when it first launched. The dirt dust cloud, the visuals, but it ran fast in the beginning. All riders go the same speed, and sure it opens up interesting race strategic thoughts, but for just riding around, I agree there should just be one Crr value.
Just compare the wattage output. Times may differ if you did one effort alone and the other one in a fondo with a lot of draft.
Apparently Zwift has heard the complaints! See note I just added above. “June 12, 2024 update on the text above: Zwift has informed us that they’ll be removing the new ice/snow surfaces that were added to the upper portions of the Epic KOM in the next update (around June 25).”
Next goal: radio tower KOM jersey. (Assuming there’s one)
Agreed that it’s pretty annoying if they change the surface on a popular segment like Epic KOM that a lot of people use to compare their performance to from previous rides.
See note I just added above: “June 12, 2024 update on the text above: Zwift has informed us that they’ll be removing the new ice/snow surfaces that were added to the upper portions of the Epic KOM in the next update (around June 25).”
Fixed!
Similar for radio tower. Think it should be 150m elevation gain. Cheers!
Well done Zwift and Eric for your great work, i for one appreciate it and think the extra cost is still worth it. Amazing anything got built up there with all that snow still lying around 🙂
When does the new HUD get released, i thought it was coming out with this release Eric?
HUD is coming “this summer” according to Zwift.
Itza Party looks like a great route 👌
New routes means new rebel routes!
The new turnarounds and new pens does open up some interesting new opportunities.
Is this what Zwift was building the hype over in that video?
Also, a full pretzel loop would be a nightmare now 😅
No, that is something else due to come today. Probably hardware related
The hype was for Zwift Ride: https://zwiftinsider.com/zwift-ride-announced/
How about some damn data functionality. Lap power, NP, Lap NP, Etc. All these gimmicks and no extra functionality.
With the split/paired climb segments, I wonder if Zwift (and Eric if he gets time for some extra strava segments!) could trigger “multi-banner segments”. By that I mean, if you start at the bottom of the Mayan Mountainside KOM and go to the top of the Epic KOM, you’d go through four climb banners (MM, Itza, Grade, Epic), but only the MM and Itza would be timed (as separate entities). It would be nice to have four timed segments triggered from the bottom of MM 1) MM-MM banner, 2) MM-Itza banner, 3) MM-Grade banner, 4) MM-Epic banner (you could even do MM-Radio banner), as these give lots of different lengths of total climbing to test against. You could also do this going up the grade (ie keeping a clock going past the official Grade segment itself to be able to do Grade bottom – Epic banner and/or Grade bottom – Radio tower).
That’s a fun idea… but also a complex one that may confuse users! Hmmm…
So it was released today? When will it actually appear for download?
Updated just a few minutes ago! Ready to give it a go tomorrow!
Thanks for letting us know Kirk
Do you know when we can expect to see the two other event only routes (Itza Climb Finish, Itza Party) in events?
Rode the new roads this morning! Did Elevation Evaluation, then once the lap was done did Tides and Temples reverse (no route badge but just manually) to try the other climb. Then when I hit the bottom of the Epic KOM, went towards Downtown and did the Volcano Flat route! 40 miles and 2781 ft of gain. Great work, Zwift!
Did they remove ‘Join a Zwifter’ from home screen? Can’t see it since the update.
You mean “The online stalker” option?
Seems to be a glitch on Temples and Tidepools route.
I rode this yesterday and was awarded a KOM jersey after climbing the Epic KOM and passing through the barrier at the top of The Grade before descending down the switchbacks.
I wondered if there was a new KOM from start of Epic to the barrier, but looking at companion app, it’s logged me as completing The Grade KOM in 7.03 seconds.
I had the same thing happen on Mayan Mash.
Still no pedals on the bikes?
Confirmed. 😜
There are 7 new event only routes of which 3 have route badges. Looking at this article and the Master List the following are missing: Mayan8, Navig8, Power To The Tower, Radio Rendezvous…..
Huh? I don’t know what routes you’re talking about…
https://whatsonzwift.com/world/watopia
they are in here….
I rode Peak Performance the other day and completed the route. I have the photo to show that it was completed and that I was awarded the bonus. But looking on the Companion app it is showing an uncompleted.
Maybe i have the badge and the app is wrong, or maybe I get to earn it a second time. Will need to check my badges next time I go into the game.
It’s a known bug. Zwift looking in to it. You will have the route badge in the game but not on companion. Hopefully they will fix it soon
Can you please add more flat routes