Zwift’s big fondo events are a seasonal tradition where thousands of riders push themselves to finish long weekend rides. The 2026/27 schedule has just been announced, with the first events happening this weekend on New York’s longest route, Fuhgeddaboudit.
This is the first route in a diverse list selected for this monthly series. And Zwift’s longest route (London’s The PRL Full) features in December during the Rapha Festive 500!
Here are all the details for this season’s ZFondo Series…
Routes and Schedule
The last weekend of each month is designated as a Fondo Weekend, and each month features a different route.
Events are scheduled every three hours during Fondo Weekends.
- September 25-27, 2026
- Route: Fuhgeddaboudit
- Length: 79km (49.1 miles)
- Elevation: 838m (2749’)
- October 23-25, 2026
- Route: Makuri Pretzel
- Length: 77.6km (48.2 miles)
- Elevation: 616m (2021’)
- November 27-29, 2026
- Route: Sacre Bleu
- Length: 71.2km (44.2 miles)
- Elevation: 396m (1299’)
- December 25-27, 2026
- January 22-24, 2027
- Route: Zwift Games 2024 Epic
- Length: 79.6km (49.5 miles)
- Elevation: 821m (2694’)
- February 26-28, 2027
- Route: The Pretzel
- Length: 72.9km (45.3 miles)
- Elevation: 1362m (4469’)
- March 26-28, 2027
- Route: TBD (probably a new Watopia route from the upcoming expansion!)
- Length: TBD
- Elevation: TBD
Categorization and RoboPacers
You must choose a category when you sign up, but the category you choose is entirely up to you, and all categories start together and are visible to each other.
The idea is that you’ll choose a category at the approximate pace you plan to ride, making it easy to see and group up with other riders targeting a similar pace. Each category will include a RoboPacer with a beacon, and you can choose to ride with that RoboPacer group or not.
Available categories:
- A: 4.2 W/kg (RoboPacer: Constance @4.2 W/kg)
- B: 3.2 W/kg (RoboPacer: Jacques @3.2 W/kg)
- C: 2.6 W/kg (RoboPacer: Coco @2.6 W/kg)
- D: 1.8 W/kg (RoboPacer: Miguel @1.8 W/kg)
- E: 1.5 W/kg (RoboPacer: D Bernie @1.5 W/kg)
Bonuses and Unlocks
Each month features either a 1000 XP or a 60,000 Drops bonus, plus an unlock of a legacy fondo kit:
- September: 1000 XP
- October: 1000 XP
- November: 1000 XP
- December: 60,000 Drops
- January: 60,000 Drops
- February: 60,000 Drops
- March: 1000 XP
We don’t know which legacy kits will be unlocked, only that they’ll be different from last year’s. We’ll share more unlock info if/when we get it!
Is this a race?
Officially, no. But hundreds (possibly thousands) of riders will turn out for each of these popular “fun race” events, and the front of each event will certainly be filled with strong riders going all out.
With so many riders participating, everyone should be able to find a group that suits their desired pace. You do you!
Questions or Comments?
Post below!
I might suffer a fondo if I get a snowman kit, a Santa kit, or better yet, a Christmas tree kit
It’s too bad that Maria is not in the gap between Miguel and Coco. Otherwise it should be fun!
Looks like you got those teeth! Thank you for the effort! Would be great if the 1k XP bonus will be rewarded again, we’ll see!
btw: I think there is a typo in that section. “We here” should be “we hear”? (not a native speaker)
Last year after completing fuhgeddaboudit solo, I told myself, “fuhgeddaboud doing that again.” but it looks I’ll be doing it again.. 😁
So they’re just giving up on the 100k distance?
Only so many routes are 100km? I don’t see why 100km is more magical than 48miles of Makuri Pretzel or whatever.
Do you get drops multiplier if you stick with the RoboPacer in these events ?
It’s been a while since I rode with a bot in an event, but as I recall, there’s no Drops Multiplier Game in the event context.
Nope. The trade off is you get XP or drops bonus (while possibly getting a route badge) and I think the ZHQ theory is this bonus offsets the multiplier. So my non-humble opinion is if you want drops you find a pacer and sit on it any time or day of the week.
can you late join?
Yes.
perfect timing with a nor’easter coming through this weekend
PRL full with Constance (4.2w/Kg) !!! 🙅🏻♂️😵
Good luck with that. I will cool it with Coco. I’d be cooked with Constance.
If you can do that you are ready for pro racing
Yes! Loving these! But very short notice for this weekend I have to say.
i do not understand though why they are only always on one weekend and not every weekend for the whole month.
Of course they want enough participants but timewise always only one weekend is limited I find.
Also I used these as nice endurance rides on bigger routes and not only doing pace bots routes all day long 😇
You and I must have missed the same announcement back in March or April or something/sometime. Im sure it would have shown up on my Plan Tab in Companion /s 🙄🥴
I wish Zwift would extend the weekend to monday… I never work on mondays … 😞
Woo hoo! Wish the early routes were longer, but fondos are my favorite.
and a chance to group ride the PRL Full at a set pace! Woohoo.
IMO I believe anyone who does the PRL Full should be awarded more than 60,000 drops. Maybe throw in the 1000 xp (or more) for the 5-7 hour ordeal.
IMO normal riders (like if you’re targeting Bernie for this) should solo PRL Full because you can stop when you need to for a “fluid exchange” or stretch or swap bibs or whatever. I did it solo and helped a group a couple weeks later and the 3-minute coffee break isn’t long enough for most folks. (Trying to be helpful so please nobody start a fight over semantics)
If you’ve never done it before you get the 3460 bonus XP, plus the 3460 xp for riding the route, plus all the drops from the ride plus the bonus 60k.
a veritable windfall.
Somewhat related, many special events are starting to award drops instead of XP. Is there an XP shortage or is there something coming up for which I’d need lots o’ drops?
You’ve got 5 weeks of double XP coming up next month …
There are new tron bikes coming where, I believe, you need three fully upgraded bikes from the same brand. You’ll need lots of drops to upgrade them too.
Can you free ride the route and still get the jersey and badge ?
Free riding the route will earn you the route badge. But not a Fondo jersey.
No robopacers showed up.
How do you forget to add the event leader? Did someone just forget to do their job? That pretty much tells me there’s no double-checking or quality control before they push things live.
It bummed me out quite a bit. I was banking on the pacer as this was my first fondo. And only 3 E’s and the rest C’s and on. Needless to say I was solo the whole time.
No robopacers and I did not get a kit awarded (but I may already have one earned from a previous zFondo). WTF is going on Zwift HQ?!? Not cool having false advertising for event details like that. There were several riders on this morning’s 8 AM who just gave up because there were no RPs. I ended up by myself for the majority of the distance after the NYC KOM blew up the group I was attempting to stay with. The same thing happened on the Gravel Mountain event, robopacers advertised but none present during the event.
From a ride management POV not having a robopacer tends to throw a wrench in the works for me, but in this case I sucked it up and finished the event because I needed the route badge, and there’s very few events if any scheduled on this course.
Yeah none for the lunchtime (UK) ride either. Luckily there were enough thoughtful riders to form pace groups but agree having no leader on a group ride can really mess it up.
Do you think they’re shipping this sort of stuff with AI now and it’s just full of errors, or has Zwift always been this hit and miss?
Human incompetence, to busy with “ influencers “ I guess.
Zwift is always like this, there were pacers missing from some of last year’s fondos as well
I repeat, Zwift is always hit or miss. I rode a fondo last year that was missing the pacers. Hopefully this time my truthful comment doesn’t get deleted.
Anyone who did this first fondo and unlocked the kit, which kit was it?
zFondo Mar 2021
Route badge available for Fuhgeddaboudit (in the September zFondo)? More specifically, the XP for completing?
I got my badge and xp for completing. And the recycled jersey. But there were no robopacers. I’d rather eat a turd sandwich than do that again alone.
Are the missing robopacers a glitch or are they absent from every ride?
They were absent from the 1pm ride too 😤