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    Achievements & UnlocksFeatured

    Level Up Faster On Zwift: GPLama’s XP Farming Alpe Workout

    Eric Schlange
    By Eric Schlange
    December 18, 2022
    LAST UPDATED December 16, 2022
    41

    Many Zwifters want to level up faster in Zwift, because higher levels give you access to faster bikes, wheels, and sweet kit unlocks like fire socks.

    Here at Zwift Insider, we’ve published several posts over the years detailing how XP works, and how to earn XP faster. A few we’d recommend:

    • XP, Levels, and Unlocks for Zwift Cyclists
    • How Zwift Calculates XP for Cycling Workouts
    • 8 Ways to Earn More XP and Level Up Faster on Zwift
    • How to Get Over 40XP Per Mile On Zwift

    Recently I chatted with our favorite Lama from down under, Shane Miller. Inspired by a recent Reddit post, we discussed ways to earn more XP. With a rough plan in place, Shane retreated to his pain cave to work his magic… and here’s the result, put together with Shane’s trademark precision and attention to detail:

    Video Summary

    Shane dives into the basics of how XP works, then unpacks his plan for ultimate XP farming: a workout up Alpe du Zwift!

    He creates the workout, then takes it for a test ride. The results?

    • Free-ride first 5km to base of Alpe +100XP
    • 70 mins @ 12XP/min +840XP
    • Free-ride last km to arch +20XP
    • Arch crossing +10XP
    • Won the wheels +1000XP
    • Ride the 1km top loop +20XP
    • Coast the 12km to the base of the Alpe +240XP
    • Other randomness +20XP
    • Total gain: 2250XP in 96 minutes, or 1406XP per hour.

    As a comparison, you can expect around 820XP/hour riding with the Coco RoboPacer, and 720XP/hour doing just a standard workout with similar blocks as Shane used.

    Keep in mind, if you’re earning double XP like Shane and many other level 50+ riders, all the numbers above will be doubled.

    Questions or Comments

    Is Shane’s method the most time-effective way to earn XP on Zwift? Share your questions and comments below!

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      Eric Schlange
      Eric Schlangehttp://www.zwiftinsider.com
      Eric runs Zwift Insider in his spare time when he isn't on the bike or managing various business interests. He lives in Northern California with his beautiful wife, two kids and dog. Follow on Strava

      41 COMMENTS

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      41 Comments
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      Ken
      Ken
      5 months ago

      Won the wheels +1000XP is doing a lot of work in that calculation!

      14
      Reply
      Eric Schlange
      Author
      Top Member
      Eric Schlange(@eschlange)
      5 months ago
      Reply to  Ken

      Well, even if you don’t hit the wheels, you get +250XP if you land on some other prize you’ve already got. Which will be the case for most. And that’ll still put you above other farming methods, especially if you’re a weaker rider.

      2
      Reply
      Trev
      Trev
      5 months ago
      Reply to  Eric Schlange

      But if you are a weaker rider then getting to the top of the alpe is going to take significantly longer, so that XP per hour is going to go down also.

      5
      Reply
      AADM
      AADM
      5 months ago
      Reply to  Trev

      A weaker rider would make the workout longer. The goal is to be in workout mode for most of the climb.

      2
      Reply
      Trev
      Trev
      5 months ago
      Reply to  AADM

      Right yes, that is the assumption we’ve all been working under. The point was that a weaker rider would also decrease the xp per hour too.

      0
      Reply
      macias
      macias
      4 months ago
      Reply to  Eric Schlange

      Probably there is no longer the same frequency of getting wheels on top. Last two weeks I did it 8 times and even one wheels :-((( Before it was more like 2/4 times wheels.

      0
      Reply
      Eddie Wetbeak
      Eddie Wetbeak(@ed_hump)
      5 months ago
      Reply to  Ken

      It would be 937p/hour if you only get +250 rather than +1000 at the top of the Alpe. So more than the figure stated for the robocops.

      but does that figure for the robocops include any banners you might go through and get xp from? I imagine you’d go through a few banners in an hour and a half of riding with a robocop.

      0
      Reply
      Pete Lancaster
      Pete Lancaster
      5 months ago

      if you don’t get the 1000XP on the spinner then the rate is very similar to riding with a robopacer isn’t it?

      0
      Reply
      Eric Schlange
      Author
      Top Member
      Eric Schlange(@eschlange)
      5 months ago
      Reply to  Pete Lancaster

      See my comment above…

      0
      Reply
      Chan Stevens
      Chan Stevens(@chanstevens)
      5 months ago

      Alpe in workout mode has always been one of.my favorite “exploits”. Not only do you get XP much more quickly per.watt/minute/etc but you also get coin drop boost during that workout because of the road grade. So best of both worlds. To go even further, I believe there’s an article somewhere in here explaining how XP is determined within workout segments and that by tweaking integer minutes into a couple seconds over or.under a minute you get even more XP.

      1
      Reply
      James Eastwood
      James Eastwood(@jeastwood)
      5 months ago
      Reply to  Chan Stevens

      It’s really bad for your Strava year distance stats though.

      5
      Reply
      Thorsten
      Thorsten
      5 months ago
      Reply to  Chan Stevens

      And the whole thing on the free 25 km that Zwift gives you during your Abo Pause. If you stop your First Ride on km 24, you Even can do it twice.

      1
      Reply
      Cody
      Cody
      5 months ago
      Reply to  Chan Stevens

      I just ran a test on a bunch of different interval block durations to see exactly which one yields the most XP per minute. I just posted a comment with the results!

      1
      Reply
      François Trout
      François Trout
      5 months ago
      Reply to  Chan Stevens

      Any one has the link on how to build those optimal workouts?

      0
      Reply
      Alex
      Alex
      5 months ago

      Workouts up Alpe have been my standard workout for years. Back when my w/kg was significantly >5 w/kg I could conveniently pack the full Road to Sky route in a 60min Z2 workout. These days just the climb takes me an hour in Z2 which is less than ideal but something I still do frequently.

      To maximize points it’s also important not to have a long warm-up/cool-down because they yield less points.

      1
      Reply
      r koorevaar
      r koorevaar
      5 months ago

      I figured that out 3 years ago.

      2
      Reply
      r koorevaar
      r koorevaar
      5 months ago
      Reply to  r koorevaar

      Same with the 25x alpe climb

      0
      Reply
      Darryl Jenks
      Darryl Jenks
      5 months ago
      Reply to  r koorevaar

      I figured it out 4 years ago.

      6
      Reply
      Phil
      Phil
      5 months ago

      Btw, did Zwift change algorithm for getting 1,000 xp bonus on spinning wheel? I used to get it about one-third of the time, now I haven’t received it my last nine times up the Alpe.

      0
      Reply
      Christopher Beattie
      Christopher Beattie
      5 months ago

      Are we sure that workout XP is also doubled for people on double XP?

      0
      Reply
      Alex
      Alex
      5 months ago
      Reply to  Christopher Beattie

      For the level 50 -> 60 crowd? Yes it is.

      0
      Reply
      Christopher Beattie
      Christopher Beattie
      5 months ago
      Reply to  Alex

      Oh yeah my bad. I got my wires crossed as for how much XP you got per minute. Or per 1min 2secs for maximum XP lol.

      0
      Reply
      Nate
      Nate(@nlipke)
      5 months ago

      Go right at the bottom and get 2 more km + 10 for the arch. It’s mostly downhill

      1
      Reply
      Mike Hunt
      Mike Hunt
      5 months ago

      I thought you’d have learned to not post scenario based articles. Every nerd on the internet will use their hyper specific case to disprove the generalized theme.

      5
      Reply
      Marko
      Marko
      5 months ago

      I tried this yesterday but only got 53XP for each 5min workout segment, except 54XP for the first segment. That comes out to 10.6XP/min. Not sure why not the full 12XP/min. Still, it’s a worthwhile way to increase your XP and get some elevation.

      1
      Reply
      Christopher Beattie
      Christopher Beattie
      5 months ago
      Reply to  Marko

      Make your segments in decimals of 1min 2 seconds. So 5min 8 secs. You’ll get 1 extra XP per 1min2 sec vs just 1 min (11 vs 10).

      3
      Reply
      XP Hunter
      XP Hunter
      5 months ago

      Which route currently has the best ratio of banners per km to elevation? I suspect using a TT bike on some of the newly added routes may be the most efficient way to gain XP.

      0
      Reply
      Brandon
      Brandon
      5 months ago
      Reply to  XP Hunter

      Italian Villas Sprint Loop has one sprint every 1.9km lap Neokyo Crit Course Has two sprints every 3.9km lap Both of the above do require manual steering though For standard routes, the two 3km Yorkshire routes have one sprint every 3km. in London you can do the Classique loop but do a manual left turn at Trafalgar Square roundabout. Not sure of the loop distance but it cuts about 1km off of the Classique loop. You could also do the Volcano Circuits. They are about 4km with one sprint. The Alpe is a good one though as the 1000 or… Read more »

      2
      Reply
      Cody
      Cody
      5 months ago
      Reply to  Brandon

      I’ve been using two different routes on a TT bike for the last year or so during my TrainerRoad workouts to try and maximize XP. I use the Italian Villas sprint loop you mentioned, as well as a loop I get to by riding the Twilight Harbor route. Both require manual steering, but I average between 780-850 XP per hour, depending on the workout obviously. You can earn more riding with Coco, but the whole point is I’m doing a workout and can’t ride at a steady pace with the RoboPacer.

      1
      Reply
      Brandon
      Brandon
      5 months ago

      When free rolling down the Alpe you should switch to the TT as there at least one (can’t remember how many) places you get a power up – there extra XP when on the TT bike.

      0
      Reply
      Bernie
      Bernie
      5 months ago

      I missed this business about double XP points once you reach level 50. Is that for everyone? What’s the point? How is that any different than just changing the intervals between levels?

      (Or does this have to do with people who have already been at level 50 for a while when 50-60 was introduced?)

      0
      Reply
      Sanders
      Sanders
      5 months ago
      Reply to  Bernie

      Correct with your last comment. The double XP is for those that had aquired XP beyond level 50. Essentially if you were 30,000xp past level 50, you will get double XP with it draining that sum until it is empty.

      1
      Reply
      dan
      dan
      5 months ago

      i think people worried about this should just buy an e-bike and set it to auto ride, and leave it until it runs out of battery and repeat. that way you can come back here to complain while earning XP

      -7
      Reply
      Cody
      Cody
      5 months ago
      Reply to  dan

      Who’s complaining here, other than you? Like any activity in life, people ride Zwift for different reasons. The gamification factor is a huge draw for a lot of riders, including myself. You’re free to use Zwift however you please.

      11
      Reply
      Cody
      Cody
      5 months ago

      I’ve heard a lot of conflicting numbers over the years on how much XP per minute an interval block truly yields, so I ran my own experiment to try and debunk all the conflicting info for myself and thought you might find the results interesting. I built nine different workouts using the smallest interval block possible (4 sets) that were comprised of the following durations: 0:58 x4, 0:59 x4, 1:00 x4, 1:00/1:01 alternating x2, 1:01 x4, 1:52 x4, 1:56 x4, 1:58×4, and 1:59 x4. I had heard somewhere that 1:52 blocks yield the same as 2:00 so I thought I’d… Read more »

      7
      Reply
      Marco
      Marco
      4 months ago
      Reply to  Cody

      Hey! Love the work in this comment. I think I even saw you comment on a YouTube video.

      What do you think of this video?

      https://youtu.be/Wa7tKDexPH8

      At 2:00 the guy did 270xp for 22 min and 30 sec. So a big 12xp/minute.

      Maybe that’s the best xp/h ?

      What do you think?

      0
      Reply
      Tony Lane
      Tony Lane
      5 months ago

      I have to say that as a level 28 Zwifter I now couldn’t give a monkey’s about XP, or drops for that matter. The level unlocks are nothing to get excited about, and the novelty of buying more gear wore off a long time ago once I got a few half decent bikes and wheelsets. I am a long way off being able to buy anything which will make a noticeable performance difference. I do understand why many get motivated by the game aspect, but for me Zwift will be a long journey and I’m in no rush to get… Read more »

      2
      Reply
      Manic Miner
      Manic Miner
      5 months ago

      It is a pity that Zwift offers rubbish gifts for collecting points. Glasses, hats, jerseys, socks… boring and demotivating. The only exception are fire socks that indicate someone is sprinting at 600W+. There should be some factor of practicability behind every gift won.

      5
      Reply
      Letour
      Letour(@maillotjaune99)
      1 month ago
      Reply to  Manic Miner

      They should let us get tattoos for our riders as level up options 🌟

      0
      Reply
      Wayne Biever
      Wayne Biever
      3 months ago

      I have a mind numbing XP farming theory you and Shane might want to test out for comparison. Grab a TT bike hit the Flatland Loop route on Makuri. Now flip an immediate u-turn and climb to the Village Sprint Reverse. After riding past the Village Sprint start marker flip another u-turn at the cross walk and ride back down. The idea is that you can get +10XP for each sprint and there is one every 300m. If you crank about 83 to 116 u-turns in a hour I estimate that if you are a 75kg rider you should accumulate… Read more »

      0
      Reply
      Tim
      Tim
      3 months ago
      Reply to  Wayne Biever

      Zwift does put some limit on getting powerups under arches, ie you can just go under an arch, get a power up, pull a u turn and get another power up, so you should see if your idea works or not.

      0
      Reply
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