Today, Zwift released details for their upcoming Zwift Unlocked tour which kicks off October 6.
Featuring double XP, XP bonuses, extra-long powerups, and a sweet urban kit, the 5-stage series comprises long and short group rides, races, and runs all held on brand-new routes. Read on for details…
Double Up
This season, Zwift Unlocked is effectively replacing the popular Tour of Watopia with its double XP. But never fear: we’re getting double XP for all Zwift Unlocked events!
Additionally, powerups are doubled in length.
New Routes
All Zwift Unlocked rides and runs are held on brand-new routes in Watopia, Makuri Islands, Scotland, and New York. (That’s 10 new routes to ride, and 5 new run-only routes. See details below.)
The most exciting new routes will be used for stages 4 and 5, when Zwift reveals their New York expansion, including the new power segments feature. Read more about the expansion >
Custom Zwift Ride Frame Giveaway
All Zwift Unlocked ride/race graduates (riders who finish all 5 stages) will be automatically entered to win one of two custom-painted Zwift Ride Smart Frames hand-painted by Fat Creations!
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Starts 9:00 p.m. PT on 10/06/25 and ends 11:59 p.m. PT on 11/16/25. The Zwift 2025 Zwift Unlocked Promotion is open to individuals who are 18 years of age or older and the age of majority in their jurisdiction of residence as of date of entry and are located in the 50 United States/District of Columbia, Canada, Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, Norway, Japan, or The United Kingdom (the “Eligibility Area”). Void outside the Eligibility Area and where prohibited. Sponsor: Zwift, Inc. For Rules, visit https://support.zwift.com/en_us/2025-zwift-unlocked-promotion-terms-and-conditions-S16D194hlg
Stage Details and Schedule
Each stage lasts for a week and includes long rides, short rides, races, and run events.
Long rides will take approximately 90 minutes to complete at 2.5 W/kg, while short rides and races will be closer to 45 minutes.
Rides and runs are scheduled hourly on the hour, and races are scheduled hourly at ten minutes past the hour. Rides can be completed on-demand whenever you’d like, but races and runs are available as scheduled events only.
Stage 1, October 6-13
- Long Ride – Tropic Rush (1 lap: 41.9km, 326m)
- Short Ride and Race – Dùn Dash (1 lap: 12.4km, 139m)
- Run – Highland Run (1 lap: 6.8km)
Stage 2, October 13-20
- Long Ride – Watts of the Wild (1 lap: 43.7km, 308m)
- Short Ride and Race – Electric Break (1 lap: 19.6km, 203m)
- Run – Track Meet (1 lap: 6.5km)
Stage 3, October 20-27
- Long Ride – London Calling (1 lap: 31.7km, 207m)
- Short Ride and Race – Scotland After Party (1 lap: 14.7km, 190m)
- Run – Yoru Run (1 lap: 8km)
Stage 4, October 27-November 3
- Long Ride – The Greenway (1 lap: 36.8km, 292m)
- Short Ride and Race – Spinfinity (1 lap: 19.5km, 155m)
- Run – Prospect Park Loop Run (1 lap: 5.5km, 37m)
Stage 5, November 3-10
- Long Ride – Stay Puft Pursuit (1 lap: 31.4km, 409m)
- Short Ride and Race – The Double Borough (1 lap: 17.9km, 144m)
- Run – Times Square Circuit Run (2 laps: 7.2km, 40m)
Make-Up Week November 10-17
Sign up at zwift.com/zwift-unlocked >
Race Categories and GC Results
Category groups for Zwift Unlocked races are structured like ZRacing events in recent months. That is, Zwift has set up three different Zwift Racing Score-based categorization schemes that rotate, so you can join events where you’re near the top of your category, or closer to the bottom:
- Advanced: 650+
- Category Range 1: 0-159 | 160-269 | 270-389 | 390-509 | 510-649
- Category Range 2: 0-209 | 210-329 | 330-449 | 450-569 | 570-724
Learn more on the ZRacing homepage >
There’s also an overall GC (general categorization) competition where riders are ranked by their best time on each stage. See results at zwift.com/zwift-unlocked/races.
Unlocked, Unlocked
Completing Zwift Unlocked stages earns you various in-game rewards. Riders will unlock the following:
- 1 Stage: Zwift Unlocked Beanie
- 3 Stages: 1,000 XP (in addition to all the double XP you’ll get!)
- All 5 Stages: Zwift Unlocked Kit
Runners will unlock the Zwift Unlocked running kit after completing just 1 stage.
Questions or Comments?
You can also find more details, as well as event signup links, at zwift.com/zwift-unlocked. Still have questions or comments? Share below!
I’m assuming you just have to complete 1 of the 4 activities (long ride, short ride, race, run) during each stage to get credit for that stage?
Yes, long or short will get stage credit.
Long, short, or race will get you stage credit as a rider. Runners just need to do the one run available…
“Category Range 2: 0-209”
The biggest Catagory Range is “D” Class. This is garbage.
Will the routes all have badges?
Since levels are pointless past 42 can you talk to ZHQ about doing double-drop events? Or even just for people at 100 already? Double XP has exactly zero appeal to me.
It would be cool if occasionally something other than Robopacers were the best way to earn drops. I get that the Robopacers work better when riders are incentivized to join them, but we need a bit more variety.
Yes, I need drops way more than I need XP. I’m aware of all the ways drops can be harvested by my god it’s a long process when you need 10 million to buy a halo.
best bet is to ride on =)
The 6 new ride routes above all have badges, yes. I’m not sure yet on the New York City routes, but I would assume they will as well.
Will the XP bonus for the badge be doubled as well?
No, only distance XP is doubled.
Definitely need a greater variety of ways to earn drops. Currently there are so many ways of getting additional XP and yet the levels have no purpose (past 42, as you say). Only drops are important, in terms of being able to pay for upgrades and buy halo bikes, etc.
Why do you say levels past 42 don’t matter? I’m on level 92 and aiming for 100 in a few months
Just because nothing good is unlocked after level 40. See https://zwiftinsider.com/shopping-guide/
For me, reaching level 100 is a huge motivating carrot. It’s not really about what I can buy with my Drop points — it’s about the journey itself. I’m currently at level 92 and still can’t afford the Halo bike I’ve been eyeing. Part of the reason is that I spent too many Drops on gear from the garage that I didn’t really need. Still, hitting level 100 remains a major goal that keeps me pushing forward!
I agree, the level 100 is my motivation, I have millions of drops and hardly ever spend any, but may be am just tight 🤣
Nice, new routes look good. Just gotta put some races on the long ones!
Any word on potential level cap updates? I was hoping for a bump to coincide with all the extra XP Zwift is handing out between this and “X of the week” missions.
It’s coming. But not in the next month.
At what point do they make the levels infinite? I started Zwift at the perfect time for me to always be getting fairly close to maxing out, only to have it extended further. It’s kinda silly. I realize there’s an appeal to being the highest possible level, but there’s gotta be a better way to do this.
There is no perfect solution IMO. Except to keep riding and having fun while doing so. I am grateful for Zwift and smart trainers – they together have been such a giant leap forward compared to the years of indoor fluid trainers during the winter while watching shows or TdF videos.
What’s your ballpark ETA for new levels? I’m 92 trying to hit 100 before they raise the cap again.
Nate, I’m the same. Level 92. I’m hoping for 100 in January, before they change anything
Does this replace ZRacing for the month?
Yes.
If you ride the long course back to back do you get double xp for both rides?
You get double XP in any Zwift Unlocked event you do. Heck, you can ride the same route 10x in an event and get double XP the whole time!
Now that’s good. 👍 👍 😁
How do you ride on demand, and also double xp?
I don’t think you do. Zwift makes it sound like double XP and double-length powerups are in the events only.
I’m getting double XP on-demand today. You can only ride the routes that are available up until that event week.
You get double XP but not double length power-ups.
Since riding the route can be done on-demand, does one have to do a certain stage in a certain week, or could someone do stage 3 next week, nothing for a few weeks, and 1, 2, 4, 5 all together at the end?
On-demand stages are time-locked, so you can’t do stage 3 during week 1, but you COULD do stage 1 during week 3 (because it’ll be unlocked at that point). Hope that make sense. So basically you can ride past stages, but you can’t ride future ones.
i tried to ride the short route for Stage 2 today (October 15). Stage 2 became active on October 13. I did not have an option to ride the short route on demand. From the banner page it only had group rides and races available on the short route, and only the long route was available on demand?
I sure hope that one of the routes includes biking through Prospect Park. Currently, I only see Prospect Park as a run.
I’m sure it will!
Will it give double XP if you ride the route on demand and do a workout.?
No, double XP is only in events.
Given that you gain XP differently when you do a workout, would you hypothetically gain more XP if you do a workout on a double XP route?
I’m getting double XP on-demand for riding the route which is concurrent through this week’s event.
I kept getting double XP after finishing the event, even when not following the route anymore.
As long as you don’t choose make a turn as soon as you do that it stops.
Any photos of the running kit? I’m as excited for new running routes as I am the cycling. Wish Zwift would show it more love.
Seems to a bit of a theme on the short, race, routes 😫
It’s just ZRacing, and ZRacing is always ~20km flat routes.
But everyone loves an undulating course with a punchy uphill finish right
Yes, I wish there was the option to race the short and the long route. Alternate them every hour.
I love the Tour of Watopia (or whatever their calling it), love to see how many km I can get done in the 6 weeks.
Would have loved more info on this major event more than 6 days in advance though. Only found out about it at all thanks to your Sep4th post. Still can’t find an official page from Zwift anywhere.
Zwift always makes me feel disconnected, they need to up their communications game, especially for major Zwift events.
Would love to see how pro riders would do on the “Surprise Tour de France”
sort of agree. where are the weekly this week on zwift emails we used to get?
They stopped those… maybe back around April? Maybe earlier. Said they were going to have a rethink on how to best do it.
I think it would be pretty simple – put things like this top center on the zwift.com main page. Also links to the zracing series and similar. Right now the official Zwift page looks like nothing more than their webstore.
That’s good to know I unsubscribed from Zwift emails as I was tired of the weekly, “You’re at level 100, here’s what’s going on in Zwift this week.” Sadly, what was going on was never new levels
Or the podcast/YouTube feature (Nathan, then that big guy,OJ Borg then back to Nathan, now nothing)
Yes loved the podcasts, kept me invested.
Does all the extra xp ad up in the background for us at level 100? Hopefully it counts towards a future level increase.
Yeah, it adds up just like the normal XP you’re earning as you ride today. And I’m sure it’ll count toward future level increases, once/if Zwift rolls those out!
Oh Eric, I wish you hadn’t said “if”.
past new levels releases have included “accelerated” level up for zwifters in that situation
Are there any short rides or are they only races?
I can see race events after the hour and long rides on the hour
The rides all have group A on the long route and group B on the short route.
lol, thanks for that! There’s a white gap below the A ride that pushed B below the fold on the ZC. I probably wouldn’t have noticed if you hadn’t said!
Is it just me who doesn’t get excited about Zwift creating new routes on existing roads. It seems kind of pointless to me on Watopia but I can see it being useful to encourage people to ride the less popular worlds.
To me it just seems like Zwift started this and all the weekly challenges to give away XP cheaply because of the mess they have made with the level progression.
It’s definitely an ultra low-cost way of giving us “new roads.” To be fair, Zwift has released some great new stuff in the last few years, but that has come at the cost of new roads/worlds. They don’t seem to have the capacity to do it all, unfortunately.
But now, you can buy 5 bikes exactly the same but in 5 different colors.
This is probably the cheaper way of letting people program their own route. It’s probably down to code that has gotten really messy.
To be clear, when you say the rides can be ridden on demand, you would just select them from the normal route selection menu?
And whilst you wouldn’t get double distance XP, you would still unlock the rewards for completing the stage?
And you could presumably stack with e.g. the Workout of the Week if you want extra XP?
To answer my own questions:
No, you can’t select from the normal route menu. Go to the Zwift Unlocked card and select the “Free ride” option from there.
Yes, still counts as completing the stage and unlocks the relevant reward.
Yep, can stack with Workout of the Week bonus XP – make sure you’ve registered for the Workout of Week by clicking on the challenge card first, then go back and start the free ride on the route (as above) and then start the workout from the in-game menu.
Bonus tip: in the in-game workout menu, you can only select workouts by going via the relevant sub-category, so check in advance which sub-category the workout is in (e.g. the current WotW, 2 by 2, is in the “Less than 30 minutes to burn” sub-category).
Will I get double workout XP in this case?
Yes, you get double the normal workout XP when you do an Unlocked route as an on demand free ride. I just did it to test!
Kind of unrelated, but the additional NY route details made me hope Zwift adds day/night cycles to New York at some point. Brooklyn bridge and prospect park at night would be🤌
For sure happening. You don’t need to register, you just join the events.
I think the URL is not right and should be this:
https://www.zwift.com/uk/zwift-unlocked
https://www.zwift.com/zwift-unlocked works for me, which is what it’s linking to…
So, you just have to complete one ride be it long, short or race qualify. Can you ride both short and long events for the route badges or are you limited to just the one event ? If you can ride both, will you receive the route badge xp for both and the double xp on the distance ? Maybe i’m being greedy but as the routes are event only, if may be a while before there’s another chance!
Yes 😀
Someone really needs firing in the Zwift kit design office
Disappointed in Zwift category, it’s hard enough racing, but when your up against Cat C in. Cat D group it’s very demoralising. Come on Zwift sort it out.
It’s a product of having a race series which attracts people who are not habitual racers.
My racing score had dropped right down as I have not done any races or group events for a long time. I entered this week’s Unlocked race and selected the recommended category (it only gave the racing score range and did not say Cat D). But as soon as the race started and there was no mad dash from the line I realised that I was in the wrong group. Within 50 yards there was one other rider with me. After a few miles, they dropped back and I then time trialled to the finish. Only at the end did I know for certain that this was a Cat D when I saw the activity title on my Strava.
I take no kudos for winning the race by a healthy margin as i should have been in the next group up for my fitness (which presumably would have been Cat C), and I almost sent an apology message to the other racers during the race, but thought better of it. The racing score system had not recognised my actual fitness from my solo rides, workouts and non-Zwift activities.
It won’t happen again as my racing score has shot right back up. Maybe Zwift needs to say Cat D, Cat C etc on race descriptions, as that might have prompted me to choose the category above the one they were recommending.
Odd that the custom frame giveaway is available to riders in Norway, when you can’t actually buy the Zwift bike in Norway.
FYI – I did the race last night and it was only 12km not 17km…. super short punchy suffer fest. maybe you calculated the lead-in wrong?
I think that might be a typo, he’s got the elevation correct and his actual route page also shows it as 12.4km, which is what I got both times I rode the short route.
Fixed. Updated lengths for others races too. (Zwift sent over the wrong info before the routes were released…)
I received double XP post race today for quite a while, but not forever as I noticed it was back down to 20 again before I finished 🙄
Can you do the unlock rides as a meetup and still get double xp?
Rode Tropic Rush this morning. Went back into Zwift this afternoon looking for the short ride. Surprised to see that I cannot access stage 1 any longer. Was advised that stage 2 unlocks Oct. 13th. No option to do both the long and short ride? Also, in Zwift companion Dun Dash shows up as a race every hour and I get the impression that you can do them as many times as you like. Why aren’t the groups rides also scheduled every hour? I am a rider, not a racer, so I am somewhat disappointed at the structure here.
Eric, never mind the above post. Just saw that I can get back into stage 1 via the stages on the left menu. Dummy me! Great job with the Insider. Lost without you buddy!
I rode stage 1 – Long yesterday and anticipated on a coffee break to fill up my bidon. Around 30 minutes I saw some riders with the coffee break sign above their head, but when I wanted to use mine (after 1 hour), the option was blocked. And yeah, I was riding in a bunch. Any thoughts?
Coffee break is restricted for the first 30 mins and also at the end of an event, 5km to go or something like that
ah, grazie.nasty…
Hoping that someone will know why I can’t see these rides in the Companion App but can register for the rides through the Zwift site…
I’m sure it’s a filter issue. Try pushing the button to reset the filters in companion.
Thanks Eric – It took a couple of attempts, but deselected and then reselected the filters in companion and it’s now showing the group rides. Thanks!
Wish they sold that frame where not able to draw, its cool frame
Numbers seem down this year. My imagination or a real thing?
Is everyone else already at level 100 and so no longer need X2 xp?
I was about to post the same thing. Ridership seems way down. My first thought is the branding for the event is silly, but maybe a bubble is bursting? Global warming?
If the weather in the US south is any indication, we’re still nowhere near indoor season. The mornings are finally starting to cool off and the afternoons are still around 90F.
Well, the free 25km/mth option is gone.
wish they’d bring it back as a $5/mth subscription or something.
Are blue/violet iridium glasses part of the kit?
Do I get double xp on an event if I’ve already completed the stage?
Yup! You can repeat the stages as many times as you you’d like. Double XP every time.
I tried to determine whether doing Dun Dash as a ride would count in the GC but couldn’t find the answer. Did the ride, and it didn’t register in the GC.
If you do it in one of the race events, it’ll count. That’s the only way.
Yep, found that out. Thanks Eric.
I made the two routes of the first stage, but didn’t receive any badge for those two routes. Same for the Baseline routes. (But received the on screen confirmation for each).
They’re currently event-only routes, which doesn’t come with a badge. It’s common for Zwift to eventually make these “normal” routes with a badge at some point in the future, though.
They are event-only routed WITH badges, actually. I just did the Dun Dash event this morning and earned the badge.
Update : today the 6 badges (4 Baseline and 2 for this first stage) appeared at once !
Thank you for the correction, Eric. I misunderstood.
If you don’t see the new route badges, look between the France and Paris badges. That seems to be where the new badges land.
Any idea when we will be able to create events on the week 1 new routes? I am trying to select Tropic Rush but it is not available.
There needs to be a special jersey for those of us that live near and ride Prospect Park, and all other locations for that matter.
There’s no special unlock for those that do all lengths and races, correct? i think we had a special unlock last year for Tour of Watopia
Can we select new routes for the group ride event? I remember that new routes could be chosen previously, but I haven’t been able to find them since yesterday.
Beanie is ugly
Is it correct to assume that you are awarded the route achievement badge only once, even though you ear double xp every time you ride the stage?
Yes, you can only earn a route badge once.
I have a question. If I do a free ride route of the unlocked series will I still get double XP when I do a second lap? I took a turn towards the climb portal today and lost the double xp. Now I wonder if it was already gone since the lap was done. Or if it stays as long as you’re on course for a second lap?
I was doing Electric Break in Makuri a couple days ago and was getting double XP after completion until I got tired of circling the Rooftop KOM and switched to the Railroad on the way down. I finished that Railroad section and got back on the Rooftop KOM and resumed getting double XP which was unexpected.
Thank you!
Hello, for the second stage there are 2 routes and I passed them but I didn’t get 1000 xp, does anyone know why I didn’t get them?
After completing 3 stages, u will get that 1000 XP.
Do I need to complete the 250km distance to unlock the next stage as well as complete the routes in each level ? Or is it one or the other ?
Not sure, what 250km u mean, but u need to complete every route at each stage.
Are you getting the Frame Level Unlocks mixed up with the Zwift Unlocked event?
Is a HR monitor required? My results arent showing up in ZwiftPower due to this. Would have been good to know!
Yes, HR monitor is required to show up on ZwiftPower results. (It says this in the event description text, although many folks don’t read that very closely…)
Zwift Unlocked inset used to say Zwift Unlocked lasts until Nov 11, but today it’s not there and replaced by New York routes. What happened?
If I schedule one of the routes as a meetup, do I get credit for it towards the challenge or do I need to start the route from within the challenge tile?
You should get credit for it. But I haven’t tested that personally.