Once again, I found myself in the peculiar situation of being invited to a real-world bucket-list riding destination by a virtual cycling platform. This time, Zwift was hosting us out in Moab, UT. I didn’t know what to expect, other than we were told to bring road cycling gear.
So I headed off to the desert, only to be met with a deluge of rain. The same storm system that forced the cancellation of the men’s Red Bull Rampage and the Moab 240 Trail Race was still dumping rain in and around Moab. No matter, this was for Zwift, right? The indoor virtual cycling program?
Yes. But there was a reason we were in Moab – to ride a new route, both virtually and in real life.
Zwift Video
You see, Zwift has an all-new premium tier they’re calling Zwift+. And one of the two main features of Zwift+ is Zwift Video. These are real-life videos of legendary rides turned into virtual riding courses. If you’re thinking this sounds an awful lot like Rouvy, you’d be right. That’s also one of the reasons Zwift recently bought Rouvy.
Don’t worry Rouvy fans. Zwift promises that the Rouvy platform isn’t going anywhere. They also claim that they had started the Zwift Video project as a hackathon project internally before even considering the acquisition. But through the development process, it just seemed to make sense, so now Rouvy is owned by Zwift but operates independently.
What’s interesting here is that according to Zwift, there is currently just a 2% overlap between Rouvy users and Zwift users. Because of that, they still don’t see a lot of crossover between the two platforms, and Zwift wanted to make their video platform unique.
It still uses high-quality video of extraordinary rides to offer an immersive riding experience, but they added all of the Zwift features you expect out of the animated world for a workout that rides and plays like Zwift, but looks like Rouvy.
Zwifters are always asking for more tarmac (and gravel), so at launch, Zwift Video will deliver 21 new routes from six destinations. In total, there are 385km of new pavement, broken pavement, and gravel, in all season from sunrise to sunset. The routes range from short 6.2km bursts to 29km rides with 38-1055m elevation gains.
The complete list of Zwift Video destinations and routes available at launch:
- The French Alps: Col du Galibier (Lautaret), Cime de la Bonette, Upper Bonette
- Mallorca: Sa Calobra, Coll de Femenia
- Tenerife: Teide Plateau
- Western Cape: Chapmans Peak, Clarence Drive, Bain’s Kloof Pass, Du Toitskloof Pass
- Lofoten Islands: The Midnight Sun Road, Eggum Coastal, Nappvang Glow
- Southern Utah: The Hogsback, Arches National Park, Glen Canyon, Colorado River Sunrise
- Colorado: Dolores Dirt
- The Scottish Highlands: Glen Etive, Quinag Highlands, Glen Garry Wilds
Each video was filmed specifically for Zwift, and filmed in high definition, with a high frame rate, and vehicle speed to make it all look flawless at cycling speeds. When the Zwift team came to Utah in March, they drove thousands of kilometers to find the best roads, and settled on four routes. Lest you think it was as simple as just driving along and filming each route, one of Zwift’s employees even had to write an app to tell the driver how fast to drive in order to film at the best frame rate for cycling. They also had to contend with other vehicles and people on the routes, all while trying to film with the best lighting conditions. The results speak for themselves, but it’s clear that Zwift put a lot of effort into this.
The purpose of this trip was to ride the Colorado River Sunrise route in Zwift, and then ride it in real life the next day. Unfortunately, the weather had other plans for us, so I’ll just have to go back to Moab sometime to check it off the list. Darn.
I can also ride that route at home, albeit a shorter 15.2-mile version of it one way. Once you get to the end of that route (or any Zwift Video route), you hit a transfer portal that takes you back to the start so you can lap it as many times as you want. Just like regular Zwift worlds, you can do any prescribed workouts in the Zwift Video routes. You’ll also be sharing the routes with anyone who happens to be on that route at the same time, just like the rest of Zwift. Organized rides and MeetUps won’t be available at launch, but will be introduced in the coming months.
New Roads and destinations will be added regularly, and if you’re up for the Globetrotter Challenge, riding 10 different routes between now and February will gain you the Globetrotter kit and bonus XP.
Want to ride Zwift Video routes? They will only be available to those who pay for the new premium Zwift+ tier.
Zwift Coach
The other thing you’ll get in that premium Zwift+ tier is access to the new Zwift Coach.
At this point, Zwift has mountains of indoor training data with 88 million indoor activities in just the past year. Zwift is apparently often people’s first interaction with cycling, and their fastest-growing category is beginner and recreational cyclists. Along those lines, cycling coaching can be intimidating – many riders think they’re not serious enough, can’t afford it, etc.
Zwift doesn’t see Zwift Coach replacing traditional cycling coaches, but sees it as another tool that cyclists can use along their journey with approachable training advice. After all, the most effective workout is the one you actually do – again, Zwift has the data to back it up. Riders on a Zwift plan gained roughly twice the FTP of riders with no plan, and those who ride at least twice per week are 2.8x fitter than those who ride once every two weeks. And Zwifters with a 12-week streak see 6-12% gains in FTP.
Clearly, structure pays off, but a lot of riders don’t know what that structure should be. That’s where Coach comes in. Stating that training should adapt to your life, not the other way around, you simply set a goal, and Coach does the rest. With all the hype around AI, you may be expecting this to just be Zwift-ified ChatGPT, but Zwift states that the program uses a science-based training model using their collection of indoor ride data (claimed to be the largest in the world) to build a mathematical training guide.
That’s not to say that Zwift Coach doesn’t use AI. Instead of using AI to build the plan, they use AI to take the mathematically built plan and then explain it to you and present it in a way that’s easy to understand.
To start using Coach, you’ll create a training plan on the Zwift Companion App and answer a number of questions to determine what you want to focus on, how long you want the plan to be (2 weeks – 6 months max), what days you can work out, and other details to personalize the training program. Once you create the plan, Zwift Coach will sit right on the home screen to give you daily guidance with today’s activities and your week ahead.
As soon as you finish a ride, you’ll be given post-ride feedback on how you performed, the duration, focus, and cumulative stress score, what comes next, and you’ll gain XP and Drops for the effort to help keep you motivated.
If you miss a day, decide it’s too hard, etc., the training program will adapt – though currently you have to physically press a button to tell it to Adapt Plan.
The plan will (soon) also take into account rides done outside and runs, though Zwift was quick to point out that this is not a running coach. We’ve been given early access to Zwift+ and Zwift Coach, but since we’re using it in a walled-off version of the Companion app in TestFlight and a downloaded offline version of Zwift, it didn’t get leaked early; it’s hard to say what functionality is lacking because of that or what’s just not ready yet. I have the option of adding outdoor workouts, but once added, it doesn’t seem to show up anywhere unless you schedule it for the future. Eventually, you should be able to add outdoor workouts that you completed in the past and have that impact your training program.
Along those lines, expect Coach to improve along with your cycling performance. Zwift is already planning to add alternative workouts, more personalization, and a Coach Chat feature that will allow you to ask what you need to do and why to do it.
Zwift gave two examples of external testers who used Zwift Coach, and their results were pretty impressive. One century rider was training for a specific event and used it for a 4.5-week Coach plan that saw their fitness (CTL) increase by 18%, while their FTP went up from 246W to 259W on event day, and continued up to 275W for the full plan. Another rider hoped to level up to group B with an FTP increase, and used a 15-week Coach plan to see their FTP increase from 178W to 210W, an increase of 18%.
Obviously, you have to put in the work. But Zwift Coach seems like a great way to turn your goal into actionable workouts. It’s important to note that Zwift has pledged to remain a fully open platform, even with Zwift Coach – all existing and new coaching products that integrate with Zwift will continue to do so.
Zwift+ / Zwift Pricing, and How to Access Video & Coach
There’s a lot that went into the development of Zwift Video and Zwift Coach. In fact, they had to create an entirely new team at Zwift to devote to Zwift+, now with 300 people working on various aspects of the program. So, to make it all work financially, you’ve gotta pay. Currently, Zwift Video and Zwift Coach are only available in the new Zwift+ premium tier. Zwift+ is $29.99 per month, and includes everything you get out of normal Zwift plus the Video and Coach features.
For those who aren’t interested in Video or Coach and still want to use Zwift, the standard Zwift tier will still be available for $19.99 per month. At launch, existing Zwift users can opt into a limited-time one-month free trial of Zwift+, while completely new users can get a 14-day free trial before having to purchase.
There are no plans for any dual Zwift/Rouvy memberships, mostly because it doesn’t sound like Zwift expects there to be demand. So if that’s something you’d be into, speak up.
Regular Zwift Updates
But wait, there’s more! In addition to Zwift+, the standard Zwift world is receiving a number of updates, including a refreshed home screen with a cleaner, simpler layout, a new progress widget, a Zwift Companion home screen update, Oura ring integration, deeper Whoop integration, and a Watt Lock feature to allow you to stick to a specific wattage during freeride mode.
For the route hunters, Zwift is adding another Watopia expansion with a three-island archipelago inspired by California’s coast and Catalina Island. The update adds about 17km of flat, fast roads with ocean views and new wildlife. Two of the islands are built with crit racing in mind, and the new roads provide a bypass around the Mayan Jungle to create a longer, flatter route. At launch, there will be 9 new cycling routes and 3 running routes, including Caldera Coaster, Seafoam Circuit, and Pacific Pursuit, all live from day one along with Stage 4 of The Tour of Watopia.
