Hopefully by now, most of you are spending time on the trainer because you want to, not because the weather outside means you have to. Of course, if you have a trainer hooked up to Zwift, spending hours pedaling in place isn’t so bad any more. We’ve already spent a good amount of time this winter riding through Zwift’s virtual environment with a CycleOps Powersync trainer and can vouch for its ability to kill trainer induced boredom. Sure, nothing will replace the real thing, but Zwift makes you focus on the numbers and the riders in the environment around you rather than the clock so it makes training sessions much more enjoyable, and likely more beneficial.
Now for those of you who have already ridden 100’s of laps around the Richmond circuit, Zwift is introducing their newest track. Set to take you high into the mountains, the latest expansion will give you about 24 miles of new scenery to play with…
Tip: You may find that even when you select the new routes that your Zwift rider won’t make the right turns so you never get to the mountains. Zwift is working on fixing the bug, but in the mean time you can manually turn the rider following the route instructions for the Mountain 8 or Pretzel on the Zwift blog through the links provided. If you’re not familiar with how to turn on Zwift, each time you approach a turn option, two small boxes will appear at the bottom of your screen. Using the arrows on your laptop, you can select left or right to choose your adventure.
The mountain route is definitely the most punishing course on Zwift to date with steady grades up a mountain side that tops out at 14% if you opt for the bonus climb up top. Plus, it’s the first time we’ve seen snow in the game… where’s the fat bike option?
Zwift Mountain Expansion Details:
- it’s about 24 miles
- in one direction, it’s steady grades of about 6-8% with 3100 feet of climbing
- opt for the “pretzel” route and grab the radio tower climb with grades up to 14%
- the other direction is punchier, with steeper grades that vary a lot more
- descents are faster and windier
- views of the island and “old” game environment are gorgeous
- combined with the rest of the Watopia options, you can get almost 50 miles of riding in one loop
- it’s really more of a whole new course than an expansion—just a ton of new miles and new terrain
