THE TOUR DE ZWIFT IS HERE—THE BIG TOUR TO EXPLORE IT ALL!

 

Welcome to the biggest Tour of the year! The Tour de Zwift is an eight-stage event that gives riders everywhere the opportunity to explore the worlds of Zwift together! Complete each stage once, or ride every route within each stage!

This post will help you get ready to have a fun and smooth experience.

New to Zwift? Welcome! Check out the sections below to make sure you’re ready to get started!

DOWNLOAD ZWIFT COMPANION APP

Like a remote control for your run or ride, Zwift Companion makes training more efficient and fun. The free app makes it easy to schedule your next ride, message others, send Ride Ons, use Power-Ups, view your Tour progress, and more.

Download here

SCHEDULE YOUR JOURNEY

Schedule your next ride on the Zwift Companion app. Or from the Tour de Zwift homepage, you can click into each stage’s individual page. Here you’ll see a description of the stage (and its multiple routes) and the scheduler feature for upcoming events.

CHOOSE YOUR ROUTE

Each Tour de Zwift stage carries a distinct theme. From flats to mountains to after party climbs and beyond! Every stage has four categories. Group events for the Tour de Zwift are organized by the amount of time needed to complete each event. The A Category will always take the longest amount of time to complete. The C Category will always take the least amount of time to complete. And finally, the B Category falls somewhere in between. All genders can join categories A, B, and C. The D category is for women only and follows the same route as Category B.

PREPARE FOR TAKE-OFF

Give yourself at least 15 minutes to warm up before any stage. Since most rides go hard out of the gate, this is a great time to make sure all your connections—heart rate monitor (optional), cadence tracker, and trainer—are calibrated and working properly. You will get an in-game notification when your event is about to start, so don’t worry about losing track of time during your warm-up.

Make sure you’ve got a towel nearby, your water bottles are full, and nutrition is within reach (at least for longer events). And don’t forget to start your fan!

JOIN A PACER GROUP

This year, multiple pacer groups will be available during each event. Join the one that suits you the most and complete each stage at your preferred pace. Robopacers will be at the starting line when you join an event and can be identified by the beacon next to their name on the leaderboard. Only one Robopacer will have a beacon on top of the avatar and can be located on the route map that appears on the top right corner of the screen.

FAST STARTS

Just like in real life, everyone is excited and fresh at the beginning of any ride. Be ready to push hard from the get-go. You may have to throw down watts above your category level for a bit as the pack settles in. This initial burst should only last for the first mile or less, as Zwifters begin to find riders at similar levels to stay with.

READING THE HEADS-UP DISPLAY

Zwift’s Heads-Up Display (HUD) includes a lot of information to help you understand your data while in free-ride or free-run mode. For more information about what each of the on-screen items mean, visit our support page.

THE DRAFT EFFECT

To better mimic real world riding, take full advantage of drafting. Simply put, if you are on someone’s wheel, you can put out less power and still stay with them. This allows you to “rest” while someone else does the work. It’s a great tactic to use when you can, but don’t expect someone to let you sit on their wheel for an entire ride. Catch your breath and take a pull.

INTERACTING WITH OTHERS

Check out the image below and visit our support page to learn how to chat with friends or share a Ride On. These work for both run and ride events!

USING POWERUPS

Zwift PowerUps are like super powers! They give you a temporary edge in the game. Pop a PowerUp to set a new PR or surge ahead of the pack. To activate the PowerUp, click the spacebar on your Mac or PC or click the button at the bottom of the screen on your Zwift Companion app. For more information on PowerUps, click here.

HOW RIDE ONS WORK AND HOW TO GIVE RIDE ON BOMBS

While you’re riding on Zwift, you might see a big blue thumb over your avatar every now and then. No, you’re not delirious—that’s called a “Ride On,” and it’s how the community encourages each other. You can send a Ride On in the Zwift Companion app. Once you’re in-game, just go to the “Nearby” tab, tap a name in the list, then hit the blue Ride On button.

Ride-on bombs are new for Tour de Zwift for this year – In Zwift Companion, when riding or running, if you press and hold onto the white ring around your avatar’s position you will give a special ride-on to the 5 nearest Zwifters. 

 

Ride On.