Zwift has announced a 3-month fondo series with times targeting the southern hemisphere. Of course, all Zwifters are invited to participate!
Is this a Race?
Only if you want it to be! A fondo is sort of a “fun race” where riders can push as hard as they want over a challenging course. With hundreds of riders participating, you can generally find a group to ride with, whether you’re going all-in for top results or enjoying the personal challenge of completing a longer ride.
Dates and Times
Fondos will be held on June 6, July 4, and August 1 (Australia time).
Events are held at multiple times over the weekend.
Visit the event page or use Zwift Companion to see schedules in your local time >
Routes and Categories
For these events, the category you select determines your route, not your pace. Each category is open to riders of all abilities:
- A: Gran Fondo route
97.2 km (60.4 miles), 1148 m (3,766′) elevation gain - B: Medio Fondo route
72.6 km (45.1 miles), 981 m (3,219′) elevation gain - C: Bambino Fondo route
52.1 km (32.4 miles), 553 m (1,814′) elevation gain
Jersey Unlocks
All Zwifters who finish a Fondo event of any distance will unlock that month’s Zwift Fondo kit. The kits being unlocked are the same as those already unlocked in the Northern Hemisphere Fondos. Ride each month’s Fondo to collect all three!
Hahaha. Doesn’t really target the Southern Hemisphere. Only really Autralasia. Those times are mad for Africa, which is in the Southern Hemisphere if anyone was confused.
LOL, does seem odd that they’re applying latitude concept (north/south hemisphere) to a longitude-based property (time zone).
And quite impossible times for Europe (CET) unfortunately. 10 PM / mid night / 2 AM
Not just the southern part of Africa, but most of South America! A major faux pas given the current political climate!
Hi!
I’m new to Events. Can you sign up now for the July 4th Bambino Fondo?
That would be ideal as my Zwift Fondo Training plan finishes the same week!
Thanks
Awesome
I would love to do a Fondo after doing one of the training plans. But those times just don’t suit UK. Will there be Europe and other country times coming up?
I haven’t heard about anything. My guess is we won’t have a zFondo series with Euro-friendly times until around November. But who knows, it’s been a crazy year!
Are the three levels the same routes for each date? (i.e. is the Medio Fondo the same ride on June 5 and July 4?) Thanks!
Don’t know, as they haven’t posted the events for July or August. But if it’s like the last zFondo series, the categories will have the same routes every time.
Not trying to sound snarky, but I just noticed a date typo here and on the Zwift event page. The June fondo is on the 5th. Zwift has the 6th in the heading, but the scheduler is the 5th (as is the event on Zwift Companion).
Zwift companion shows the event time for your local time zone. While it’s Wednesday 06/03 in the US right now, it’s already early morning on Thursday 06/04 in Sydney, Australia.
6am Aus means 4am NZ… ouch! Doesn’t sound “friendly” from this part of the southern hemisphere!
Suspect you have the times the wrong way round, 6AM NZ is 4AM Aus.
The 6AM Aus event will be 8AM NZ, one of few countries that can fall in easily, doesn’t go well for any other countries further west on Australia
Haha, not doing fellow nz’s proud with that error Hugh. I hope you got a ride, and 6am Aussie ride was the first, there was an 8am and 10pm (midday for NZ). Plus one at 23:30 NZ time for those in South America.
YELLOW CARD!
Sorry to say but not well thought through Zwift. The Southern Hemisphere actually stretches beyond Australia. For Southern Africa these times translate to 22h00, 00h00, 02h00. Unless off course they meant to exclude us, but then just call it ZWIFT FONDO 2020 SERIES (AUSTRALIA ONLY).
Not forgetting most of the South American continent!!
Seems like this is a very embarrassing marketing mistake for Zwift! It has nothing to do with northern or southern hemisphere at all! These are just times that suit both west coast US and Australasia, or to put the other way are less suitable for most people in Europe and Africa.
So my first request would be that more care and consideration is taken when branding or naming events.
Second would simply be for more fondos! Please, more fondos, more often, more time slots!
It cost literally nothing extra to add more time slots.i don’t get it.
Actually it was fun riding in an event full of people in the aussie region. Zwift needs more region specific fondos imo.
Less spam events that start every hour is a good thing.
Nothing feels special when you can just skip it and get the next event in an hour.