Zwift Academy Road 2020 Begins: Learn About Workouts, Group Rides, and Races

October 1, 2020

LAST UPDATED November 7, 2023

Zwift Academy Road for men and women launched today, October 1st. Here are the details on what it takes to graduate from this year’s academy, plus more information on the workouts, group rides, and races involved.

Graduation Requirements

The following requirements must be met by November 25th in order to complete Zwift Academy Road:

Complete all eight Workouts (individually or with a group)
Complete four other events, which can be any combination of Zwift Academy group Rides, Segment Group Rides, or Races
- Competing for the pro contract? You must complete two Segment Group Rides and both races for your four additional events.

Workouts

Structured workouts form the heart of Zwift Academy, with each workout accomplishing very specific training/testing goals and lasting approximately 1 hour.

You must complete all 8 Zwift Academy 2020 workouts in order to complete the program.

These workouts can be completed individually by selecting the workout within Zwift. They can also be completed by participating in a group workout event. Lastly, if you want to do the workout with a few choice friends, you can organize a Meetup and have everyone select the same workout (more on that here).

Zwift and the Academy coaches have created helpful homepages for each of the 8 workouts. Each page includes a written description, video intro from the coach, and a place to sign up for a group workout:

Aerobic Power (men’s link, women’s link)
Sprint Profile (men’s link, women’s link)
VO2 Capacity (men’s link, women’s link)
Anaerobic Resilience (men’s link, women’s link)
Primed FTP (men’s link, women’s link)
Alternative Sprints (men’s link, women’s link)
VO2 Development (men’s link, women’s link)
Anaerobic Depletion (men’s link, women’s link)

Group Rides

Group rides are the most social events on the Zwift Academy calendar. There are two categories to choose from: men’s group rides are at (A) 2.2-2.7 w/kg and (B) 1.7-2.2 w/kg, while women’s group rides are at (A) 1.7-2.2 w/kg and (B) 1.2-1.7 w/kg. Choose the pace that suits you best, then enjoy riding with others.

The rides are led by volunteers from the Zwift community, and last 45 minutes. Groups are separated by gender, and everyone wears the Zwift Academy kit for the duration of the ride. The ride fence is used to keep riders together, and late join is allowed.

Group rides will be scheduled on the following routes and dates:

France’s R.G.V. (Oct 1-14)
Paris’ Champs-Élysées (Oct 15-28)
Watopia’s Figure 8 (Oct 29-Nov 11)
France’s Casse-Pattes (Nov 12-25)

Segment Group Rides

Segment group rides are a new event type debuting at Zwift Academy 2020. They aren’t available to ride just yet, though: it appears these will be on the calendar from Oct 22-Nov 25.

The idea behind segment rides is to go all-out on particular segments during a live group ride in order to test your power over different lengths of time. The ride descriptions explain how it works and where the segments are on course. Presumably, we’ll see some on-screen prompts as well! Click below for details:

Sprint Power & Threshold Power (men’s link, women’s link)
- Cat A: Innsbruck KOM After Party
- Cat B: Keith Hill After Party
Anaerobic Power & VO2 Max (men’s link, women’s link)
- Cat A: 3 Sisters with Volcano KOM Finish
- Cat B: Sand and Sequoias x2 Laps

If you’re competing for the pro contract, you must complete two segment group rides as part of your Zwift Academy experience.

Races

Races will run from Oct 22-Nov 25, just like the segment rides. These are non-categorized events, although the Richmond race uses categories to let Zwifters choose between longer and shorter versions.