This episode kicks off with a sequence looking at the community reaction to HQ’s latest changes to the XP system and, in turn, Zwifters’ levels. It’s fair to say the latest changes were not universally welcomed, and Simon, Shane and Eric pick apart the reasons. HQ acknowledged that the changes were not well signalled and HQ’s head of product Mark Cote explains what happened.
Even the most casual cycling fan must be aware that Women’s Cycling is on the up – fresh, exciting and growing fast. Simon talks to HQ’s Kate Veronneau about the absolutely pivotal part Zwift has played in this, much of it down to the company’s critically important sponsorship of the re-born Tour de Frances Femmes, avec Zwift. Kate discloses that she’s been known to message journalists and broadcasters who forget to mention the “avec Zwift” part!
When a listener asked Simon to chase down some stats on how many Zwifters sit at each Level, he thought it might make an interesting feature. In fact, the data that came back from Zwift was absolutely gob-smacking. The Level 100 Club is uber-exclusive, with only 0.06% of Zwifters getting past the velvet ropes to the inner sanctum of achievement. At the other end, the percentage of Zwifters just starting their journey, and on Levels 1-10, is, if anything, even more staggering. Listen to the Ep to find out more.
Zwift staffer James Bailey provides a shedload of interesting insight into the new Zwift Racing Score system which should, before too long, replace the crude A, B, C and D racing categories.
And Kate returns at the end of the episode to give a preview of the exciting events on the platform to mark the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. We hope you enjoy listening.
Zwiftcast is available on Podbean, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Amazon Music, and Spotify.
I am super excited to see the Tour de France Femmes. The ‘avec Zwift’ part gets a bit annoying. Sorry, but true. It’s a mouthful and gets redundant after the second time.
While I don’t disagree that adding the “avec Zwift” can be cumbersome, I think it’s really important to do. I think the folks at Zwift are generally good folks, but they don’t sponsor the TDF Femme out of the goodness of their heart. They do it for the advertising and the association it creates between the two brands. If people don’t make that connection, Zwift will find something better to do with their money. I for one really hope they continue to sponsor the TDF Femme avec Zwift, considering how much good it has already done for women’s cycling. So if you want to see Zwift continue to help grow women’s cycling, do you part and always add the “Avec Zwift”.
Zwift executives are allowed to get butthurt about how their sponsorship money is not giving them as much bang for their buck as they intended and we the people/journalists are completely free to ignore them and call the event what we like. This is bordering on that scene from Idiocracy, brought to you by Carl’s Jr.
I think my fear is that it sets a worrying precedent and that in the future we might end up not being able to say Paris-Roubaix without mentioning some big corporate or the same for other big races in the same way that all of our sporting arenas no longer have historic names, they’ve all been awarded to the highest bidder.
Once the Zwift sponsorship ends presumably the next sponsor of the race will demand equal recognition that Zwift got because I don’t think Women’s pro cycling is yet in a position where it can dictate terms to potential sponsors. That’s not a slur against women’s racing just reflects that while coverage has improved, it’s where men’s coverage was 10+ years ago where often only the final 60-90 minutes is televised
I have played a few games over the years, if the level cap increases then those at it level up the same as those who only just got there. X points per level is just simple.
I regards to rider level, I suspect there is a reasonable amount of people who get on and use Zwift but don’t really make much connection with the community and eventually move on. I am also suprised that the avg lvl is so low but not suprised that Zwift is focusing on more avg everyday riders as I have always suspected they represent a far greater number of users than the more hardcore racers. It’s not a bad thing for zwift to give these users something new to do, alot of us racers appreciate that too.
Racer score looks good if it is anything like ZRapp rider score. I am all for it as I have definitely seen some ludicrous numbers of riders participating in races (notably ZRL C grade) that defy typical human physiology. Will be good to see such riders struggle. I also hope the new cats create a better split between grades, especially up to the highest grade. I have known a few riders to just touch on those nunbers and get promoted only to get destroyed cause they don’t really fit in A.
Up till last mid July I was equal racing and prizes or both women and men. Would watch cycling regardless men or women. Not anymore after the UCI transgender, intersex, non binary ban after 20 years of inclusion. Do not care for UCI racing anymore till situation fixed. Now advocate for equal rights for all in cycling and that includes TNBI+ and para cycling as well. Zwift needs to do something about this not just host pride month rides and call it good, but push for equality for all in cycling.
I suspect the new XP system is probably about right. I think the original system was too harsh – I do a decent amount of riding on Zwift but the levels had go so far apart that the XP system was no longer of interest to me. I’d got to level 30+, done most of the route bonuses (as there was then) and the levels had almost stopped accumulating. They then switched it to being too easy with a lot of hardcore riders maxing the levels in fairly short time, so as I say it’s probably about right now (even though I do lose out as it’s raised the ceiling for me!). All that said, it’s only for some virtual clothing for your avatar… people really do need to get some perspective and chill out!
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I did an unofficial survey of levels using sauce for zwift. I was sitting near the start in the desert in Watopia. Most riders were 20+. Number of level 100s (3) was about the same as the number of riders less than 5 (4).
Regarding the average/median/mode level of the Zwift user base, it would be informative to know the churn rate for these levels. If most people are in levels 1 – 10, it implies that there is a pretty constant flow of new users coming to Zwift, but they don’t stick with it long enough to progress to higher levels. Reaching level 10 happens pretty quick.
I hope there is a constant stream of new cyclists, but the numbers I’ve seen in the Zwift have been pretty consistent over the last few years.
Does this data also include level 100 riders who have started over on a new account to get the feedback of level progression and badge hunts?
Maybe there are a bunch of people who hop on zwift maybe once a week in the winter and do 20 km. If their winter is 4 months, that’s about 16 rides, it would take two full winters to reach level 10 (assuming 650km to get to level 10).
Just saw that that these numbers are totally wrong. People here were trying to come up with some scenario where the wrong numbers added up.
New numbers make much more sense.
Yes. We’ll be clarifying and explaining on the next Episode. They failed our sniff test for sure.