We wanted to share a quick update with Zwifters regarding Strava segments.
As you may already know, on January 27, 2021 Strava made some major changes to Zwift segments: they marked everyone’s segments as private (so only the creator can see them) except for those created by Zwift Insider’s account. They also removed “(Zwift Insider verified)” from all of our segments, since that wasn’t really needed anymore because only our segments were visible!
Since then, we’ve received a ton of feedback from Zwifters requesting new segments. Others have questioned Strava’s decision (which we were not involved in).
Long-Term Plan?
Give Strava’s poor ability to determine which segments to hide or show (I’ve written about this before), we think Zwift and Zwifters would be best-served by Zwift taking control of the list of segments available in-game. It’s a core part of Zwift’s product experience, after all.
This would only work, though, if Zwift is able to quickly create segments for new roads, and respond well to community input when it comes to creating “extra” segments (for long climbs without leaderboards, for instance).
We’re talking to ZwiftHQ about what this may look like, but there’s nothing close to a firm plan yet. Until a better solution arrives, we’ll do our best to create needed segments beyond the 400+ we’ve already created.
New Segments
Since Strava’s big shakeup we’ve been hard at work creating a pile of segments that don’t correspond to known routes or leaderboards in game. This includes segments like KOM descents, or key climbs with no leaderboards. Here is the complete list of what we’ve created after everyone’s segments were privatized:
- 2/3/2021: Added misc New York segments: East Side Drive Climb, East Side Sky Loop Climb, Harlem Hill Climb, NYC KOM Reverse from Ground Level, NYC KOM Descent, NYC KOM Forward Up and Down, NYC KOM Reverse Descent, NYC KOM Reverse Up and Down
- 2/2/2021: Updated Watopia Figure 8 Reverse segment. Added misc London segments: Northumberland Ave Climb, Box Hill Climb from Richmond Park side, Fox Hill Descent, Up Fox, Down Box, Box Hill Descent, Up Box, Down Fox, Up Leith, Down Keith, Up Keith, Down Leith, Leith Hill Descent, Keith Hill Descent, Leith Hill Full Climb, Whitehall Rd, Classique Final 1km.
- 2/1/2021: added a pile of misc Innsbruck segments: Innsbruckring Reverse, Innsbruck KOM Forward Descent, Innsbruck KOM Up and Down Forward, Innsbruck KOM Reverse Descent, Innsbruck KOM Up and Down Reverse. Added The Über Pretzel from Start Pens. Added misc Yorkshire segments: Otley Rd Climb, KOM Forward Descent, KOM Reverse Descent, KOM Forward Up and Down, KOM Reverse Up and Down, Cornwall Rd Climb to Sprint Banner, Kent Rd Climb to Sprint Banner, Finishing Straightaway, Pot Bank Climb, Pot Bank Descent.
- 1/28/2021: added Libby Hill After Party: Libby Hill After Party, created new segments for Watopia’s Figure 8 Reverse and Volcano Circuit Banner to Banner because they went missing in the Great Strava Cull. Added misc Richmond segments: Finishing Straightaway, Finishing Straightaway Reverse, Governor St Climb, Governor St Descent, E Main St Climb, E Main St Descent, 23rd St KOM Reverse Descent, Libby Hill KOM Descent, KOM Reverse Descent, Sagan’s Winning Move. Created Watopia WBR Climbing Series.
- 1/27/2021: Watopia Epic KOM segments: Epic KOM Reverse w/Radio Tower, Epic KOM Reverse to Top of Radio Tower, Epic KOM Forward Descent, Epic KOM Forward – Up and Down, Epic KOM Forward to Top of Radio Tower, Epic KOM Forward – Up and Over w/Radio Tower, Epic KOM Reverse – Up and Over w/Radio Tower, Epic KOM Reverse Descent, Epic KOM Reverse – Up and Down, Epic KOM Reverse – Start to Jungle Intersection, Epic KOM Bypass – Eastbound, Epic KOM Bypass – Westbound, Epic KOM – Start to Bypass Intersection
See our complete list of verified Zwift Strava segments >
More to Come
There are a lot of segments that still need to be created. This includes running route segments, misc France and Paris segments, and plenty of misc segments in Watopia and elsewhere. Please be patient, and we’ll try to get them created ASAP.
Matching New Segments to Old Rides
One question that has popped up a lot recently is how to get your old Zwift rides to match new Strava segments. The answer to this is a bit weird.
It used to be that newly-created Zwift Strava segments wouldn’t match up with older efforts unless you did the “Activity Type Hack” explained below. But we’re finding that our new segments are in fact being matched to old activities… but it doesn’t seem consistent.
Example: I created the new Watopia Figure 8 Reverse segment on 1/28/2021. It is now showing activities from back in 2017, but has yet to match a single personal activity of mine.
The only reliable, quick way we’ve found to get Strava to match new segments to your old activity is the “Activity Type Hack” which can by done in the mobile app or via a web browser. It’s an easy process, but you have to do it for every activity you want new segments on, so that’s the pain.
- Edit your activity, changing it to any other type of activity besides Virtual Cycling
- Save the change
- Go in and change it back to Virtual Cycling. All done!
Here’s a video walk-through:
(If you use Strava in your web browser it’s even easier, as it says it’s changing the activity type, but it never actually does! So it attemps to change the activity type, and in doing so picks up new segments – but you don’t have to go back in and change it back to Virtual Cycling because the change doesn’t stick.)
Segment Length Requirement
Many Zwifters have requested the creation of segments that are too short. This includes some of the newer sprint sections that launched after Strava put this limit in place.
Strava’s limit seems to be 300m, which is ludicrous given their length limit doesn’t take gradient into account. Certain Alpe du Zwift turn-to-turn segments can’t be created due to the limit, and we all know those sections aren’t short!
We’ve reached out to Zwift and Strava about the possibility of lifting that limit for the Zwift Insider account, but haven’t heard anything back. Our guess is it’s a hard-coded limit that is system-wide, and they can’t easily fix it just for us.
Open to Suggestions
We asked people for segment ideas on the original Strava update post, and so far there are 228 comments! Please post your segment suggestions there so we have them all in one place.
Feel free to comment below if you have specific questions or ideas other than segment suggestions.
Ride on!
wpDiscuz
