Gone are the days where Zwift was simply our saving grace for riding through the winter months! Past the point of being a winter sport, more and more people are using Zwift daily as a core element of their year round training and fitness, and these upcoming features and content developments are designed with that in mind.
The Grade – summer 2024
Kickstarting with the Grade; a strategic climb that should take between 10-25 minutes to complete and provide you with a shiny new FTP. Taking the critical power curves provided by hundreds of thousands of FTP tests that have been completed to date, Zwift has designed ‘the Grade’ to determine a riders FTP as a result of the time taken to complete climb. Rolling out in June 2024, the grade will open up a window of opportunity to shorten the length of time required to suffer through the FTP test – assuming you can get up the climb in less than 20 mins, of course!
The Grade remains pretty steady, albeit rather steep (approx 10-12 per cent), throughout the main part of the climb from Ciudad de La Cumbre. It then offers a brief plateau before progressing into the switchbacks which connect Watopia’s southern coast with the backside of the Epic KOM and become steeper in turn, 9 per cent, 10 per cent, 11 per cent, etc.
The prediction is that most riders will encounter the Grade as part of a regular loop as opposed to solely using it for their FTP test. As such, the expansion will open up 10-12 new routes over the summer and Zwift has ensured the ability to ‘cruise’ up the Grade without jeopardizing your current FTP. Naturally, like myself, a lot of Zwifters will be excited by this interactive FTP test format. That said, some users will race the Grade, others will use it for training, and others won’t use it at all; That’s the beauty of Zwift.
HUD refresh – summer 2024
Zwift’s heads up display has been around for the last 7-8 years and it’s about to get more than just a new lick of paint! This sweet spot, of intentionally creating room for individual tailoring without adding too much complexity, offers Zwifters the information they need, as, when, and where they need it. As such, the HUD update will allow users to customize the display to show information that is most relevant to them; speed, average power, W/kg, cadence and heart rate.
In addition, and in response to one of the top three requests, Zwift will be introducing the new dynamic elevation ‘Climb Mode’ display. Traditionally, the…
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