Zwift moves outdoors - Latest updates increase fitness tracking and bring outdoor and indoor riding together

This year marks Zwift’s 10th anniversary. The indoor training platform that changed the game for cyclists worldwide has been around for a decade now and to celebrate, it is holding its inaugural Zwift Community Live event in Majorca. 

While the platform is famous for bringing cyclists from all over the world together virtually, Zwift Community Live marks the first time Zwifters have come together in real life to celebrate the platform and connect out on the road. 

To kick off the event, Zwift has today announced a range of new in-game and app updates that look set to provide users with more fitness and training metrics than ever before, as well as linking outdoor and indoor riding for users. 

It's no secret that some Zwift users pause their subscriptions when summer rolls around and leave the pain cave behind for (hopefully) dry summer roads. 

Some of these updates look like they are aimed at building out the Zwift offering to make it a more all-encompassing fitness tracking and training tool that can link indoor and outdoor riding year-round. 

The first of the new updates concerns the Zwift Companion app, which has received an update that builds in more fitness-tracking features for users. 

Up to this point, Zwift users have been able to search for and join events as well as interact with clubs and other users via the app. An updated dashboard will now allow users to set weekly goals, such as kilojoules, stress points, calories, distance or ride time, and to track activities and progress.

A user's Zwift activities will then be tracked over the course of a week, a training score will be created, and a fitness status displayed. The training score averages training load over time. 

Zwift says it will "combine workout volume and time into a single, easy-to-understand daily number." 

After logging activity, the companion app will display a rider's training status by comparing long-term fitness over 42 days and short-term fatigue over seven days. 

Training statuses will range from ‘ready’ and run through 'fresh,' 'productive,' 'overreaching,' and 'detraining.' 

It seems this update, as well as primarily just being the addition of a useful tool for users, will encourage Zwifters to head to the companion app for general fitness tracking, perhaps rather than switch to a competitor platform such as TrainerRoad for training-specific data. 

• Zwift partners with TrainerRoad to merge training and virtual cycling 

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Outdoor training in a virtual world 

Another update means that users' outdoor rides in real life can now be uploaded to the Zwift Companion app. In short, outdoor rides now count! 

Users will need to head to the settings tab in the Companion app and give permission for a Strava link for their outdoor riders to show up in the app and contribute to the training score and training status metrics. 

Users will then be able to view their weekly training records and all of their activities in one place.  

Garmin and Wahoo computer users will be able to do this right away, and Hammerhead computer users will be able to get involved later on in the summer. Other computer brands such as Coros are assumed to come later too, but the specifics are less clear. 

According to Zwift, another update will be coming later on in the summer that will allow Zwifters to track their fitness trends. An additional data screen in the companion app will allow users to analyse metrics in even more detail and look at historical records for training score, training status and weekly streak.

Zwift is still a game, however, and so users will now be able to earn additional XP points for their outdoor rides at a rate of 5XP per kilometre. Zwift streaks can now also be kept alive by riding outdoors. Ride streaks were launched on the platform in 2023, and the brand claims that 53% of active Zwifters have a four-week activity streak or greater. 

The platform has introduced a fun way of celebrating a ride streak with a nod to Scotty the Squirrel, the brand's official mascot. 

The new Zwift ‘Streak Flair’ will let subscribers celebrate ride streaks by unlocking a Scotty medallion once a four-week streak is reached, and a 12-week streak will unlock a Scotty keychain. A 24-week streak, meanwhile, will unlock a waving animated Scotty in a user avatar jersey pocket. This can be toggled off though, Zwifting can be a serious business! 

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Updated HUD new power breakdowns and in-game metrics 

The Zwift Head Up Display (HUD), which is the display users see in the game, will also receive an update. 

The amount of training metrics the HUD can display has been increased. Zwifters can choose from metrics like left/right power balance, average w/kg, average speed and weighted power. 

Zwifters will be able to toggle on a critical power display in the game, which will display 5-second, 60-second, 5-minute and 20-minute power.

Zwift has also built-in Core Temperature Sensor integration. Heat training is gaining in popularity, and more riders than ever are aware of its benefits. Zwifters with a Core sensor will now be able to monitor core body temperature and Heat Strain Index numbers in-game from the HUD. 

Zwift has also now implemented splits, which they say is one of the most regularly requested features. Splits in-game can be enabled using the live-action bar at the bottom of the screen. Split laps can display distance, average power and average heart rate, which should suit manual training efforts well. 

New roads to explore and shorter cranks 

Zwift is the title sponsor of Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift and has given the in-game France map an update in the run-up to the Hell of the North. 

Eight new connecting roads will be rolled out in the France map from the 7th of April, to include multiple cobbled sectors. A route chaser challenge will provide an opportunity to earn bonus XP (experience) points.

The Ven Top climb in the France world, which is Zwift’s GPS-accurate homage to the Mont Ventoux, has received an update and gains timed segments in the HUD which Zwift claims will help users split their efforts up into chunks. 

The spinning Zwift reward wheel has also been implemented at the top of the climb to reward riders who conquer the virtual Giant of Provence.  

The last of the updates takes the place of a hardware change. Zwift will now offer an adjustable length crankset for the Zwift Ride smart trainer as an additional upgrade. This will cost $99.99 / €99.99 / £99.99. 

The crankset, which is a square taper fitting, gives users the ability to select 160/165/170/172.5/175mm crank arm lengths. 

Though some users may wish this came as standard on all bikes, it does on the Wahoo Kickr Shift for instance, the fact it is now an option should help more users find the right fit for them. The multi-length crankset will be available to purchase from the 16th of April.