Zwift Academy Road 2022 officially began yesterday, with Baseline Rides as well as Workout #1 available as group events.
This is the second year Zwift has used Baseline and Finish Line rides to help Zwifters determine their phenotype and measure improvements made during the ZA program. Last year’s introduction of Baseline and Finish Line rides was a welcome one, but the experience was fairly basic.
This year Zwift promised a much-improved UI as well as magical bike switches to ensure riders knew when segments were coming, and segment times were measured consistently.
So what is the 2022 Baseline ride experience like? I was going to participate in the first Baseline ride of the year yesterday, then realized that was a terrible idea given I was racing the next day in the first Zwift Race League event of the season. So instead, I observed and recorded the ride via Zwift Insider’s test bot.
Turns out, it’s a good thing I did…
Intro to Baseline and Finish Line Rides

This year’s ZA program includes a required Baseline and Finish Line ride. The idea here is to test your fitness over three different intervals:
- Sprint
- VO2
- Threshold
Riders will do that by hitting particular timed segments during the ride at maximum effort. In between those segments you can ride at whatever pace you’d like, but the idea is to recover and ride fairly easy so you’re ready to go full gas on the next segment.
These rides are held on Watopia’s Legends and Lava route, which means your efforts come in this order and map to these segments:
- Titans Grove KOM Reverse: VO2
- JWB Sprint: Sprint
- Volcano KOM: Threshold
Baseline Rides are only available as group rides, and they are scheduled hourly through the end of Zwift Academy (October 10).
A Rough Start

The first Baseline ride of ZA 2022 kicked off at 9am PST (4pm UTC) Monday. I wasn’t riding, just watching, so I was able to closely observe the messaging and other changes Zwift had made to the Baseline ride experience.
We had 743 riders in the A group (more on category selection below), and as we left the start pens everyone’s bikes switched to a ZA-themed Canyon Aeroad frame. Slick!

All riders had workout screens in front of their handlebars, which was different from last year. And I immediately noticed that the pack was very slow. Clearly “keep together” mode (aka “rubberbanding”) was enabled, which seemed a bit strange, but I thought perhaps Zwift wanted it that way between the segments so groups would stay together.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. The rubberbanding was an event configuration bug, and it stayed enabled even as riders put in max efforts over the three key segments! This was bad, bad, bad, because rubberbanding artificially slows the group, which meant segment times wouldn’t be accurate.
I messaged my contacts at ZwiftHQ as soon as I confirmed what was going on. To their credit they were already on it, working to find the cause of the problem and get it fixed. Here’s my full video recording of the event:
The terrible slowness of the rubberbanded groups meant the ride crawled along, which frustrated some riders. But the real frustrations would come later when riders realized that this was a throwaway event because none of their segment times were valid.
Zwift compounded the problem by automatically sending out emails to tell riders their phenotypes once the event finished. But all of those emails had a blank space for phenotype – another bug.
The Fix Is In
Two more messed up Baseline ride events (10am and 11am PST) happened before Zwift applied a temporary fix by removing rubberbanding and the entire workout UI from the 12pm and 1pm PST events. (Unfortunately this meant they effectively operated like last year’s Baseline rides, which means times for these events won’t compare well with times for the Finish line events, because riders weren’t switched to TT bikes during the segments.)
Then Zwift fixed the events for good, starting at 2pm PST (9pm UTC) Monday. I used Boone as my guinea pig and he completed the event to make sure everything was good. And it worked great! Here’s the video of his ride (he set personal bests in the 30s – 3:30 range, incidentally):
Let’s talk about the fully-functional Baseline experience now that the events are working properly.
Categories
When signing up for your Baseline ride, you have to select a category. Your selected category simply determines the language used throughout the ride:
- A: English
- B: French
- C: German
- D: Spanish
- E: Japanese
Bike Swap
When you hit the start arch of each of your three segments Zwift will automatically swap you onto a Canyon TT bike (the Speedmax) and keep you on that frame for the duration of your effort. This is done to disable drafting, so your effort can be compared with your finish line ride without draft effects affecting your segment times.
Once you cross the finish arch, you are placed back on your Canyon Aeroad road bike, and you will be drafting other riders until the next segment. It worked flawlessly in our event.

Text Instructions
One big upgrade from last year’s Baseline ride experience is the on-screen messaging throughout the event. It explains what the ride is for, tells you when a segment is coming up, cheers you on during the segments, and virtually pats you on the back when you’re done.

Results
The “results” of your ride are communicated in two different ways:
- The Companion app shows your times for the three segments and shows that you completed the Baseline ride requirement
- You will receive an email telling you what your phenotype is, with links to more info. Note: these emails were paused yesterday due to the bug mentioned above, but they will go out by noon Wednesday, Sept 14th, according to Zwift.
Suggested Improvements
Now that Zwift has fixed the initial event bugs, the Baseline ride experience is much improved over last year’s. Still, there are three improvements I would recommend Zwift make.
1: Wheel Bad Timing
The one hitch in this fancy bike swapping is the wheels. When switching bikes, Zwift keeps whatever wheels began your ride with. This can potentially cause a problem, because remember the entire goal here is to set a max effort segment time which you can compare to your Finish Line ride’s max effort time.
If the times aren’t accurate, the comparison is useless. And if you begin your Baseline ride with a different set of wheels than your Finish line ride, your segment times could be drastically impacted!
On top of that, Tron riders (who don’t have a selected wheelset) are placed on the stock Zwift 32mm carbon wheels, which just looks silly.
The takeaway here is: if you want your segment times to be comparable, make sure you start your Baseline and Finish line rides on the same wheelset.
2: How Much Longer?
There is no indication of the length of the Baseline ride once it begins. I assume this is because the ride is sort of an experimental format – it’s a workout that behaves sort of like a group ride. Workouts show your time to go in the left-hand interval bar, while group rides show the distance or time left in the middle window.
These events are 26km long, which means they end just a few hundred meters after the Volcano KOM (which is where Legends and Lava actually ends). Having a distance meter in that top middle bar seems sensible.
3: Am I Winning Yet?
Your current overall placing shows at the top of the right-hand rider list bar, like you would see in a race. This goes against the purpose of the ride, which has nothing to do with finishing higher or lower. This should be turned off, to encourage riders to take it easy between the segments and reduce confusion.
Do I need to redo my Baseline ride?
I’m seeing this question a lot, and around 9am Pacific on Tuesday Zwift sent an email to (presumably) all affected riders which said “We know that you’re excited to see the data associated with your baseline ride, so if you would like the most accurate data, we encourage you to complete the baseline ride again.”
The banding messed up segment times, so the answer is: if you want your Baseline ride to accomplish its goals (setting proper segment times and determining your phenotype) then yes, you will need to redo your ride if you participated in any of the first 5 Baseline rides yesterday. These would be the rides that began at 4pm, 5pm, 6pm, 7pm, or 8pm UTC.
If you’re on the Pro Contender track you are required to complete the Baseline ride a second time, to ensure data is accurate.
If, however, you just wanted to get the Baseline ride crossed off the list so you can graduate from Zwift Academy Road 2022, you don’t need to redo the event.
Questions or Comments?
Share below!
The bike-swapping is a bit confusing. I started on a s-works venge. At the first segment the bike was switched to TT as I expected. At the end of the segment, I got the standard zwift-bike. I kept this (except for the other two segments) till the end of the baseline ride. At the end, I got my venge back.
It is difficult to understand the Spanish text in group D, but maybe it is because those from Spain must have an advantage? Is it possible to get English text in group D? I cycled baseline today and got nothing out of the text.
Group D is the Spanish group. Join A if you want to English. The categories determine the language, and that’s all they do.
As someone that’s done fair few group rides that was apparent to me, but it’s easy to see how it would be confusing. Maybe they should look at getting some other icons to use when a, b, c, d don’t mean cat a, b, c, d
I decided to do the baseline ride at the last minutes before an event and humbly joined the E group… I had no idea it was about the language otherwise I would have picked A, lol! And I didn’t know it until now. Probably because I don’t have a Japanese font installed, there were no on-screen messages except by a sporadic “:-D” or “Zwift Academy” or “Go go go!” or something like that, very sparse and disconnected… I thought it was bugged or poorly made. Now I’m glad it was not a category group because I felt so weak close… Read more »
Did mine at 7 AM (CST) today but no email yet. The rubberband effect was definitely off during the segments but occasionally turned on during the free ride sections.
Yeah I did 6am & no email either
UPDATE: Just received the email but it doesn’t show any data. “We measured your Baseline Ride and crunched the numbers. You’re a !”
Same here! don’t know whether need to reride it or not, Very frustrating
Ditto. Did the Baseline yesterday ( Thursday 15 Sept 17: 00 GMT). Thought the experience overall was pretty good… but email came through this afternoon ( Fri 16th ) and no data. Message as noted by others ‘ You’re a…..’ Something clearly wrong here! I had already vowed to have another go now that I know the ‘ feel’ for each segment and the overall distance. Agree with the suggestion that Zwift remove your position against other riders too e.g. 120/ 450. Hoping Zwift can get this sorted. PS. The ride confirmed in many ways what I already know…. That… Read more »
Same issue with my ride yesterday 😓
Did it yesterday also no email yet
Did it yesterday 18:00 CET and no e-mail yet
Do I need to wear a heart monitor?
Only if you’re doing the Pro Contender program.
In theory, I like the idea of rubber banding everyone between the segments. Regardless of whether or not there is a draft, I get the most out of my segment efforts (especially in a hill climb) when I have people in front of me to chase. While I get that each group workout will have a different group composition, but, with groups of the size that seem to be doing these workouts, if we’re all kept together between segments, there will likely always be someone just enough faster than me (and someone who started out too fast and is blowing… Read more »
My bike did not switch when I redid this.
Also it didnt even register that I rode again in results or anything… what is happening!
Have the problems with the results been fixed yet?
Could could you link to the article mentioned in your screenshot? I did the baseline on Tuesday (13th) and got a blank summary email yesterday (14th)
I’m aware that this could come across as a cynical question but it’s not and I’m genuinely interested,
Does anyone know to what extent Zwift tests things before they release them?
The answer appears to be no, they don’t test…
It’s still flawed. If you want to neutrally compare segment times, just switching to TT bike at the arch is problematic because you’ll have different speed going into each segment depending on the group draft you’re in. Sometimes you might enter segment alone and slowish, sometimes with a big group and fast. That makes a difference so that you can’t compare times 1:1. Also the “different wheel set bug” you mentioned leaves me wondering if Zwift uses their own product. These things should come to mind immediately if you’re into Zwift and bike racing. But why do I even comment…?… Read more »
Additionally even going into each segment alone can’t be compared among multiple rides since you’ll not enter with exactly same speed each time. Guess you should be setup (slowed or accelerated) to enter each segment with a given fix default speed.
I was just about to make the same observation about speed into the segment…seems a major oversight. Surely the only sensible way to run this is without draft for the whole race?
Thank you, you saved me from making the same comment! The goals somewhat contradict each other- to strictly “go easy” between the segments but then optimize your segment times. Anyone that has done ZRL or other FTS races knows that entering segments at speed, especially sprints, is key to quick times.
My understanding is that they do the phenotype based on power (w/kg) which raises the question of why even bothering with draft and TT bikes. Also, it looks like there is no draft anymore, even between segments…
Great info; Wheel recommendations? I am running the ZIPP 808. Thanks!
I was on the first baseline ride at noon EST, and I got the email that did not give me a phenotype. My work/sleep schedule is weird, to say the least, as I do 12 hour overnight shifts and I have to sleep in the day and have an hour commute each way. So the next chance I will have to complete the baseline ride will be Friday morning; To say I’m annoyed would be an understatement. If I don’t repeat the baseline ride, I will have no way of knowing if the 4 week program made a difference….. sigh
And did you get your email after the second ride? I did two BLR and no response
So far I haven’t gotten any email from Zwift about doing the Baseline Ride over again. The first one I did I got the email right after the ride but the data was incomplete. Email sent to Zwift they said it was a problem and they are working on it!
I don’t understand why they waste so much effort focusing on time results. The only relevant metric is your W/kg during the segment, and how it compares to the final stage. TT bike, draft/no draft, wheel set, lead-in speed to segment…really irrelevant to whether this academy/training program has improved your fitness.
Hi Kang, I completely agree, the time is too variable if you are looking for precise data. For me, I treated the Mid section test as one to view my 1 minute power, the Sprint was to view my 15 second power and the short climb was to test my 5 minute power. For my 20 minute power, I check that by racing my Mountain Massif TT events, as that is no draft. I think the time can be used with caution if you have the same bike and picked points on the ride to “wind up” your sprint /… Read more »
This is an important clarification Kang and Tim. The exact time is not really important, it’s how much average power at your current weight you can manage to hold over 3 different time periods. If you are making more power on each test at the same or less weight at the end of the ZA program you are faster IRL regardless of the segment time. I was confused how I missed my PR by a few seconds on the Volcano climb yesterday even though I averaged 35W more and I weigh a few pounds less when I set my best… Read more »
I feel like their response in the forum thread could’ve been better. They could’ve acknowledged there was a problem and warned people, as well as being quicker to admit the data would be useless and would need to be redone. I think that was pretty obvious once the problem was known
That email riders in the dud races got doesn’t go into enough detail.
There’s plenty of users in fixed taxes chasing their email, they could’ve sent one out in the interim to advise the data/phenotype will be coming later
I completed the ZA Baseline ride over 24 hours ago. I haven’t received any email from Zwift regarding the ride. This morning the Companion App shows only 2 segments with times – my V02 and Sprint segments. The Threshold segment does not appear any where. During my ride I did have a few disconnects with screen freezes but after a few seconds my avatar speed up and caught up and continued on. Do I need to do the ride again?
Another rider here that HAS received the post baseline ride email only to find it’s missing any rider data on segments or phenotype. Hopefully, team Zwift get this fixed.
Do I have to do the workouts on the official event dates or can I start them from the workout list and start at any individual time?
Just found the answer:
Q: Can I do both group workouts and individual workouts?
A: Yes. All six workouts will be available at your convenience to do individually from the workout menu. You can find these in the “Zwift Academy 2022” folder or by joining a scheduled Zwift Academy group workout. Remember, Zwift Academy Baseline Rides and Finish Line Rides must be completed in a group event.
i did the baseline ride this evening but had no bike swaps no text on screen from ZA and everyone looked to be on their own bikes any idea about this?
First I’ve heard of that happening. Best contact Zwift support.
thanks will do
This happened to me on my second attempt of the baseline ride. It shows in my activities list (as a group ride, not a workout), but doesn’t register for ZA or appear on zwift power.
If anyone starts the session and doesn’t see the prompts / get switched to the Aeroad, I’d recommend quitting the activity
I had the same experience – My 1st effort froze before the first sprint point so I gave up. Second had no text or bike swap as you describe. Third time worked like a charm.
But so far I’ve had one email with blank fields, either from my 1st or 2nd effort. So still had no email with my phenotype… and I’m not doing a fourth!!!
Does anyone know if the buggy base line ride would only have made segments slower rather than faster? If rubber banding made the times artificially faster, is it possible to have the times scrubbed from the ZA part of companion app (as that would be showing a false ‘best’). Thanks
You would need to contact Zwift support to get anything scrubbed.
Thanks Eric!
These bikes in this post are totally different coloring than what they say we will unlock. Which color scheme will we get? I love this one on the baseline ride in this post
I have a two questions about the percentile rankings:
1) are they based on the W/kg figure that precedes them, or are they (in my opinion more sensibly) based on your time over the segment?
2) are they gender split or is the percentile across all riders?
Zwift tells me the percentile figures are based on the entire cohort of ZA Baseline ride finishers. A male/female gender split is also applied.
Thank you Eric! Just got my results and they do make more sense as female only. In a way its good the results took awhile: more time for the cohort to build up and thus better statistics.
On part 1) of my question: are the percentiles by time or W/kg or W? Specifically if I am 68 percentile, does that mean my time (10min10s) is 68th percentile or my W/kg (3.1) is 68th percentile or my W (183) is 68th percentile?
It’s your W/kg, apparently.
Thanks for the information. So kind-of the inherent physiology of you, rather than what you are actually best at given also your height and weight.
How long does it take for the email to arrive?
I done it today the second time but no phenotype in companion app 🥹
Companion app doesn’t display phenotype. Just tells you your segment times.
Ok thx eric and were can i see the phenotype?
Ok i read the text above a second time im waiting for the email. Thx eric 🤟🏾
This year, the ZA experience is REALLY bad. I missed the rubberband, but I had to do the baselineride on the basic zwift bike (not the segments, the whole ride) and now I did the first group workout and didn’t get credit for it. It is annoying!
I like how his heart rate never went above 107 bpm does that even count then??
His TICKR was malfunctioning. But it doesn’t matter, HRM isn’t required to complete ZA unless you’re on the Pro Contender track.
Thanks for the info. I’ll redo m baseline ride. Do you know if the percentiles are sex specific?
Yes, they are.
What is the data that is supposed to be reported in the email? Just some swift power rider types or something more useful like 4dp type physiological data?
I did baseline ride at 0:00 AM(JPN) Wednesday and I received e-mail today.
But this e-mail didn’t write my phenotype. My phenotype and my three segments w/kg ware blank. Do I need one more baseline ride?
You shouldn’t need to. Maybe ask Zwift support to send you a corrected email. Segment times should show in Companion.
Thanks Eric! I try asking
The language thing was a real confuser for me! I didn’t read the instructions carefully (like many others no doubt) and selected B as that’s my normal w/kg category… Was then surprised to see the messages in French once it started and spent a long time whilst riding trying to go into settings and amend to English (unsuccessfully of course), all whilst worrying I was missing something important such as the start of a segment
Yeah, I think a fair number of riders will pick the wrong category because it’s not super obvious how they work.
I read my email but they fail to describe the 3 different type not whether a high or low percentage is good. They really need to fix that ASAP in a way that we understand the measured results.
What’s the JWB Sprint known as on Strava? Would be useful to have the links to the Strava segments so we can check PRs ahead of the ride
“Legends and Lava” Route Details (Watopia) | Zwift Insider It’s called Sprint Forward on Strava.
Sprint Forward
Yeah, did my ride Tue Sep 13 and just got my email Thu Sep 15 ~20 hours later with a blank phenotype. It seems like no one has successfully gotten a phenotype to this point yet! Will Zwift resend when this is fixed (or will there be any other way to see it given companion does not show it)?
same here. started a chat w/ support – known issue & e-mails will be resend when fixed.
@Eric Schlange just curious – do you know if the Zwift moderators who are looking at pro contender workout and baseline results are able to see what trainers people are using? a friend and i were talking last night about this given the large disparity in power readings… as you prob know the Kickr Core can easily read 20-25w higher than the Kickr v5. Elite Diretos are another trainer known to provide 10w + free watts… now im certain this is not an issue for most of us, but i do wonder whether this sort of thing is taken into… Read more »
Did my baseline today at 18:00 EST today. No swap to TT bikes and on screen messages stopped after the Titans Grove segment. I thought there was going to be an update when starting Zwift but there wasn’t one. Does their “fix” require an update or was it server side?
Do the judges for the Zwift contenders only look at one baseline ride? Or do they look at our best segment attempt from multiple rides if we were to do it a second/third time (not related to the rubber-banding issue)?
For pro contenders, I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t look at any avail data
I rode the baseline ride without issue while I did see one person say they got no instructions and didn’t get any erg effect for their ride either. I haven’t received my email yet but I figure it’s coming soon. However, when I rode the 1st training ride long, yesterday, everything looked okay but then as soon as the ride started I got not instructions and there was no erg mode, which is pretty important for trying to get the power Zwift wants. So, I had to manually calculate the time for each subsegment of the ride and hit the… Read more »
I only see my segment times in Companion App for the two segments where I set PR’s. I did not set a new PR on the Volcano Climb and I do not see it listed anywhere. They do all show in the Sprints and KOM’s in my profile ( a little messed up but I can figure them out)
Hello,
my result shows me that I am a sprinter. What can I do now for the rest of the Zwift Academy?
how can you evaluate the results in general? I can’t tell if that’s good or bad?
thanks in advance
Click on the READ MORE link in the email. It gives you more insight on the different phenotypes. That being said ZA Road is not tailored to improve any one specific area, it will help with all systems if you keep up structured training over an extended period of time (more than 6 workouts for sure!). What you decide to improve will really depend on your fitness goals. Do you want improve climbing, do fast long distance riding, win sprints on the track, not get dropped on a group ride? It’s really up to you. Just looking your numbers I’d… Read more »
Baseline ride done yesterday (15/9/22). Well today I recieved email with BLANK spaces. So this bug is not fixed yet. :/
same here, email is blank and did the ride 7 hours ago
I did my Baseline Ride on Tuesday at 6pm PST that seemed normal other than they put me on 32mm wheels with the TT bike. Got an email about 25 hours later that was blank, and just received a 2nd email this morning that has my results. Looks like it’s slowly getting worked out. Workout 1 from the library worked as expected yesterday also.
Add me to the people that completed their baseline rides yesterday only to receive a blank email today.
Did my baseline ride today. No instructions on screen, no swap to the TT bike, no indication of the finish line if there even was one… on my Zwift profile I see that participated in the Baseline ride, but my name does not show up in the results on Zwiftpower, so I’m guessing I won’t get credit and will need to redo?
Paul: what version of Zwift were you running when you did the ride? Can you look it up and post here?
Just checked: 1.29.0 (105233) on Mac OS.
I got my data back today which I found useful but wonder how the percentile was calculated. Is it just for my ride, against my age group or against all the data Zwift has accumulated over the years from all riders.
I did my baseline today. All went well (except for my sloth abilities these days). My baseline ride finishes before the KOM. Is that normal? I thought it was supposed to end right after the KOM finish line.
Also, my companion app only shows 2 segment results but I completed the whole baseline ride.
Also, it’s been 5 hours and still no email…
Last whine, are we supposed to connect to Today’s Plan or not?
Whining done. Thanks 😊
Hi, i did my Base ride Tuesday and received the mail with Phenotype Sprinter. Fine, but last Friday I received a second mail, now I was a Pursuiter, based on the same ride results! So I expect a mail tommorow that I am a Time Trialist? Or do they recalculate the percentolles based on more roders data??
Just to add to he previous comment! Regards Fransbert Schermer a 62 year old Zwifter from The Netherlands.
If Zwift is comparing w/kg, why all this tralala about swapping to TT bikes and no drafting? Anyway, Z could have eliminated drafting or just have a TT bike for all from the start.
I guess all this was to show Zwift technological prowess.
The only think it shows to me is that we could all swap bikes mid-ride without the need to stop and lose a few minutes rummaging in two different closets of our garage…
Zwift could compare w/kg and still enable drafting, so we could get some PRs…
I have not received any data from my base line ride. Friends who rode after me have not received anything either. Base line was the 15th and others on the 16th. The rubber band effect was there, no bike exchange that I noted.
Zwift did send me an email but no data provided.
At 80 years old probably not going to worry too much or do a repeat.
Did the baseline ride yesterday. Everything was smooth and as expected. No drafting or rubberbanding on the whole event. Bike swap was always at segment start, at segment end it changed back to the bike I had selected before the event. I see all segment results in the app but no email yet. Please be patient with those guys, a client server application on this scale is very hard to handle. 🤙
UPDATE: I checked my notification settings amd saw that I had ticked of the Zwift Academy. Is it possible I didn’t receive an email because of this?
So, I have the same issue. I just went in and checked the Zwift Academy ‘notification’ check box. Is there a way to still get the email?
I still have not received an email on my baseline and I did it 2 days ago. Just say “You’re a ! …. nothing and no follow up. What’s up with it, I do not want to do it again