Zwift Camp: Baseline events end this week, and many riders have already wrapped up all six stages. So what comes next?

Three new challenges have been released today, each targeting one of the areas of fitness which Zwift Camp: Baseline was evaluating (Sprinting, Attacking, and Endurance). You may take on whatever challenge(s) you’d like, but the performance report email sent at the end of Zwift Camp: Baseline points you to a particular challenge to help strengthen your limiter.

Each of the challenges contains 4-5 workouts which you must complete in order to finish the challenge and get the 1000XP bonus. You can see a list of each challenge’s workouts by clicking the challenge in your “Challenges” carousel on the homescreen:

Below, you’ll find the details of each challenge’s workouts. But first, let’s talk about the new route-based workouts!

Route-Based Workouts

For years now, Zwift has talked about bringing route-based workouts into the game. What exactly is a route-based workout, you ask? Think of it like this: have you ever ridden outdoors and used the physical layout of your route to determine/inspire your workout? Maybe you did hill repeats on a short loop that contained a climb, or put in a steady endurance effort on a long, flat road.

Route-based workouts in Zwift are meant to provide a somewhat looser, more organic alternative to structured ERG sessions. Instead of specific timed intervals at precise wattages, Zwift places you on a particular route and gives you on-screen instructions so you know what sort of effort level to target on particular locations on the course:

For these route-based workouts, the goal is to turn in a maximal effort on each timed segment (KQOM or sprint). So you can expect the workouts to feature:

• Longer endurance intervals on flat or rolling sections
• Sweet spot to threshold-level intervals on longer climbs
• VO2-level intervals on short climbs
• Sprint intervals on in-game sprint segments

Looking for Feedback

While the benchmarking events Zwift used in Zwift Academy Road 2021-2022 were basic route-based workouts, today’s release is Zwift’s most ambitious route-based workouts rollout to date. It’s still early days for this concept, but internal contacts within Zwift tell me they’re hoping the community will embrace the idea and deliver feedback to help direct the continued development of the route-based workout idea. (Share your feedback on this post – Zwift says they’ll be watching it!)

I’m stoked about the route-based workout concept, as I think it could be a “Zwifty” feature that creates a new kind of training experience. One that sort of mirrors what you can do outside, but with some improvements to the experience.

While I received early access to these challenges so I could publish this post when they went live, I haven’t had a chance to complete any of the workouts quite yet. My plan is to complete some or all of the route-based workouts so I can write a follow-up post detailing my experience, recommendations for improvements, etc. As you complete these workouts, please share your experience in the comments below for other Zwifters and Zwift HQ to see!

Endurance Challenge

Route-Based Workout: The Big Ring

“Challenge your speed and endurance with a long flat route and a few short sprint segments to turn up your heart rate and boost your endurance.”

51.2km, 275m elevation – read more about this route >

Sprint & KQOM Segments
Woodland Sprint Reverse (0.5km, -1.6%)
Sasquatch Sprint Reverse (0.35km, 0.1%)
Acropolis Sprint Reverse (0.45km, -1.1%)
Stoneway Sprint Reverse (0.4km, 0.75%)
Fuego Flats Sprint (0.5km, 0.2%)

Structured Workout: Aerobic Sustainability

This 50-minute basic endurance workout consists of 3 identical blocks, each containing 3x repeats of 30 seconds at 95% followed by 3:30 at 80% of FTP.

Route-Based Workout: Itza Climb Finish

“Challenge your muscular strength and endurance with 4 powerful sprints and 2 consecutive endurance-building climbs for the climb finish.”

30km, 294m elevation – read more about this route >

Sprint & KQOM Segments
Woodland Sprint Reverse (0.5km, -1.6%)
Sasquatch Sprint Reverse (0.35km, 0.1%)
Acropolis Sprint Reverse (0.45km, -1.1%)
Stoneway Sprint Reverse (0.4km, 0.75%)
Mayan Mountainside KOM (1.99km, 3.1%)
Itza KOM (3.75km, 2%
Woodland Sprint Reverse (0.5km, -1.6%)

Structured Workout: Long Climbs

This 57-minute workout focuses on strength endurance work by having you complete steady, low-cadence intervals like you would encounter on long climbs.

Route-Based Workout: Peak Performance

“The most challenging workout of this Challenge with a mix of long, steady climbs (including The Grade) and short intense sprints to boost your muscular strength and endurance. You might even get a new FTP at the top of The Grade!”

46.6km, 729m elevation – read more about this route >

Sprints and KQOM Segments
Titans Grove KOM Reverse (0.89km, 4.4%)
Woodland Sprint Reverse (0.5km, -1.6%)
Sasquatch Sprint Reverse (0.35km, 0.1%)
The Grade KOM (3.52km, 8.6%)

Attacking Challenge

Route-Based Workout: The Muckle Yin

“Challenge your attacking power with 3 punchy climbs, 2 slightly longer climbs, and one sprint finish. Your goal is to attack each segment with maximum effort, while recovering smartly between segments.”

23.6km, 282m elevation – read more about this route >

Sprint & KQOM Segments
Breakaway Brae Reverse (0.4km, 2%)
Sgurr Summit North (1.6km, 3.7%)
Breakaway Brae (0.62km, 2.4%)
Sgurr Summit South (1km, 3.3%)
The Clyde Kicker (0.3km, 3.6%)
Champion’s Sprint (0.2km, -0.4%)

Structured Workout: Hill Attacks

This 45-minute workout has you complete 8x 1-minute intervals at 140% of FTP, simulating repeated attacks up a short hill in a race.

Route-Based Workout: Figure 8

“Challenge your strength and attacking power with a mix of 2 short sprints and 2 climbs. Focus on giving a strong and controlled effort in each segment.”

29.7km, 254m elevation – read more about this route >

Sprint & KQOM Segments
Hilly KOM Reverse (2.4km, 2%)
JWB Sprint Reverse (0.2km, 0%)
Hilly KOM (0.9km, 5.5%)
JWB Sprint (0.36km, -0.1%)

Structured Workout: Surge to the Max

This 46-minute workout contains 4x ramp repeats to train your ability to put in a big effort even when you’re already tired. Each ramp builds from 70%-105% of FTP over 3 minutes, then finishes with a 1-minute max effort. (Be sure to catch your breath during the 3 minutes of recovery between each ramp… you’re gonna need it!)

Sprinting Challenge

Route-Based Workout: Neokyo All-Nighter

“The shorter route of these Challenges with 4 short intense sprints and one short climb to challenge your sprinting power.”

24.5km, 168m elevation – read more about this route >

Sprints and KQOM Segments
Castle Park Sprint Reverse (0.21km, 0.3%)
Alley Sprint Reverse (0.38km, -1.2%)
Castle Park Sprint (0.22km, -0.7%)
Tower Sprint (0.32km, 0.4%)
Rooftop KOM (1.9km, 2.7%)

Structured Workout: Fun is Going Full Gas

Inspired by Mathieu van der Poel, this 45-minute workout trains your explosive power. The key intervals here are 8x 30-second efforts at 165% of FTP.

Route-Based Workout: Coast Crusher

“Challenge your sprinting power with a longer flat route with 8 short sprint segments spread out over the entirety of the route. Focus on maximum effort in each sprint and recover smartly in between segment. This one is going to challenge your mental and physical strength. Try to finish with a max effort for the finishing sprint!”

42.8km, 211m elevation – read more about this route >

Sprints and KQOM Segments
Stoneway Sprint (0.4km, 0.75%)
Acropolis Sprint (0.45km, 0.67%)
Sasquatch Sprint (0.35km, 0.2%)
Woodland Sprint (0.5km, -2%)
Woodland Sprint Reverse (0.5km, -1.6%)
Sasquatch Sprint Reverse (0.35km, 0.1%)
Acropolis Sprint Reverse (0.45km, -1.1%)
Stoneway Sprint Reverse (0.4km, 0.75%)

Structured Workout: Nelson Vails – Sprint

Nelson Vails, the first and only African American cyclist to win an Olympic medal, was known for going from zero to 40mph+ in the blink of an eye. this 38-minute work begins with 3x 15-second sprints at 150% of FTP, then you’ll complete 3s 2.5-minute ramp sections where the final 30 seconds is an all-out sprint effort.

Questions or Comments?

Let me know if you have questions about these three new challenges. And I’m especially interested in you sharing your experience as you take on the route-based workouts above. As mentioned above, Zwift HQ is watching the comments on this post as they look to iterate on the route-based workout concept, so please do share your thoughts below!

Last week Best Bike Split and Zwift announced a new level of integration via Zwift’s new Training API, making it easier than ever to execute Best Bike Split-created workouts directly in Zwift.

About Best Bike Split

Trusted by some of the top pro teams in the world, Best Bike Split’s proprietary math and physics engine uses your power data, course info, and race day conditions to predict your race performance and create the perfect power plan so you can hit your best bike split ever.

It’s super-popular with TT specialists and triathletes, for obvious reasons.

Best Bike Split doesn’t have a training calendar tool like some of Zwift’s other Training API partners (see list at bottom of post). Rather, Best Bike Split helps you create powerful and accurate workouts based on real course info, so you can train to do your best on race day. Once the workouts have been created, this new Training API integration lets Best Bike Split premium subscribers click to send workouts straight to Zwift.

There are three types of workouts Best Bike Split can create and send to Zwift:

• Race Plans: create a structured workout that mimics the power requirements of your personalized race plan for a particular course on race day. Great for training for specific time trials!
• Analytics: upload your ride activity to Best Bike Split, which then creates a structured workout that replicates those efforts.
• AI Workout Builder: an innovative tool that lets cyclists and coaches create highly personalized, structured workouts tailored to specific race scenarios and individual training goals.

Pricing

You’ll need to pay for Best Bike Split Premium in order to access most of its useful features, including Zwift integration. Cost is $19/month, or get a big discount by paying annually ($119/year works out to $9.92/month).

Connecting Best Bike Split + Zwift

All of your interaction with Best Bike Split is done via the website (bestbikesplit.com). Visit the site, create your account, then connect it to Zwift under My Account/Connect Zwift:

Exporting to Zwift

Pull up any Race Plan, Analytics, or AI Workout on Best Bike Split, and you’ll see a “Zwift Uploads” section at the bottom-right. Click the button to send it to your Zwift “For You” carousel.

You can also go to Workouts → Custom and select “Best Bike Split” to see workouts you’ve exported.

It should be noted that Best Bike Split has allowed you to export their workouts to .zwo files for years, but this new integration just makes the process smoother by sending the workout directly to your Zwift profile so you don’t need to bother with moving files into the proper folders.

Complete List of Training API Partners

Best Bike Split is just the latest to be added to the growing list of Training API partners at Zwift. Here’s the complete list, which will be updated as new partners are added:

Questions or Comments?

Have you raced using a race plan from Best Bike Split? Share any related comments or questions below…

I’m one of those Zwifters, and have been sharing my experience in this three-part series (one for each section of the program):

1. Sprinting (read post)
2. Attacking (read post)
3. Endurance

As you may or may not know, each of these sections consists of two activities: first a workout, then a test. I cover the endurance workout and test below.

Endurance Elevator Workout

The Endurance Elevator workout has you tackle multiple longer intervals at or near your FTP. The full workout is 59 minutes long with 3 hard intervals, while the lite version is 33 minutes long with 2 intervals. Here’s what the workouts look like with my FTP set at 310W:

I went with the full 59-minute workout and did it as an on-demand workout because that was the only way to get it done early. I chose to ride the workout on Watopia’s Road to Sky route because I prefer the visuals of a steady climb when doing longer, steady work at sweet spot or threshold.

Watch me ride this workout:

I went into this workout figuring it would involve some steady suffering. But it turned out to be significantly harder than anticipated. The toughest workout so far in this program, in fact!

After a warmup with three 30-second efforts to get your blood pumping, riders are tasked with completing 3 intervals at or near FTP. Here are my intervals:

• 10 minutes at 310W (100% FTP) and 90rpm
• 9-minute ramp from 280-340W (90-110% of FTP) broken into 3 cadence-based blocks
  • 3 minutes at 85rpm
  • 3 minutes at 80rpm
  • 3 minutes at 75rpm
• 10 minutes at 310W (100% FTP) broken into 5 cadence-based blocks
  • 2 minutes at 90rpm
  • 1 minute standing at 70rpm
  • 2 minutes at 90rpm
  • 1 minute standing at 70rpm
  • 4 minutes at 100rpm

Each of these big blocks was significantly harder than the previous one, and I felt like the cadence targets made them significantly more difficult. Some people say “you can ignore the cadence targets” but that’s not always true… cadence affects a workout, and coaches set particular targets for good reason. So I tried to hit those targets, even though it put me further outside my comfort zone.

For the first 10-minute interval, I spun up to a comfortable cadence around 100rpm, then realized the workout was calling for 90rpm. So I dropped it, and finished the interval right on target. I was pedaling slower than I would naturally, but it didn’t feel like I was mashing the pedals.

The second interval, a 9-minute ramp, dropped the cadence even further. Gah! As the power ramped from 90% of FTP to 110%, it told me to drop my cadence from 85rpm to 80rpm to 75rpm. That hurt. Holding power over threshold at 75rpm feels like it really sapped the strength in my legs.

Then I had one more 10-minute section at FTP left. This one surprised me with its difficulty. The first two minutes at 90rpm weren’t terrible, but I could already feel that the previous 9-minute ramp at low cadence had noticeably drained my strength.

Then I stood up for the 1-minute interval as instructed, and tried to hold the 70rpm target… and I couldn’t! It was a weird feeling, like I didn’t have the body weight to stomp on the pedals at a high enough cadence. It would have taken me really engaging my core and arms so I could force my pedal strokes down in order to hit the cadence target – but I just didn’t have the strength.

So I mashed through that interval at 55-60rpm, then sat down and tried to get my cadence up to the 90rpm target. At this point, my heart rate was at its highest point thus far in the workout (175bpm).

Soon enough, it was time to stand for another minute. This block was even worse, with me only able to hold around 50rpm. I was on the edge of the ERG spiral of death, and it was all I could do to keep those pedals turning over.

When I finished slogging through that block, it was time for the final 4 minutes at FTP. And the workout called for 100rpm cadence! Grrr… I would have happily down 100rpm early in the workout, but now my legs were so dead I couldn’t get my legs over 75rpm. So I just gutted out the final 4 minutes, even though everything in me wanted to hit that left button to drop the FTP bias by a few percent. My heart rate was pegged at 180, a few beats over threshold, and there it sat until I finished my last FTP interval.

Takeaways from the Endurance Elevator Workout

This was the first Zwift Camp: Baseline stage I had completed where I didn’t get an email from Zwift immediately after finishing. It makes sense – I hadn’t unlocked any new virtual goodies, and there weren’t any test results to display. But I’m not ashamed to admit that after all that hard work, I wish Zwift had sent me some sort of attaboy.

My first takeaway from this workout was that low cadence work really saps my legs, but I probably need to do more of it if I want to climb well. On Zwift, a combination of lower trainer difficulty and lots of virtual gears lets me spin at a higher cadence no matter how steep the climbs may be. But that’s now how it works outdoors.

The other takeaway is a reminder that my body can go further than I might think. When we get pushed to the edge, whether or not we continue pushing becomes a question of mental strength. I’ll be honest: knowing I would be writing this post and sharing my video helped motivate me not to throw in the towel!

Endurance Test

The test for the endurance portion of Zwift Camp: Baseline isn’t like the Sprint or Attacking tests, which were structured workouts. Instead, Zwift has you ride the Elevation Evaluation route:

Using this route as an endurance test began as a good idea from Zwift, and it could have been a really cool experience for everyone if done right. Unfortunately, the way it actually unfolds in game for the everyday Zwifter leaves a lot to be desired. I’ll unpack this more below, but first I want to make say two things clearly that aren’t spelled out by Zwift for this final stage:

1. The whole goal of this final workout is to put in your best 10-minute power effort at some point during the route. I recommend beginning this effort at the bottom of The Grade KOM, because that lets you make use of the timer in game as your 10-minute timer, plus you’ll see an average power readout as well.
2. You have to complete the full Elevation Evaluation route for your effort to count as a stage 6 completion. There’s a fair amount of riding to be done even after you climb to the top of The Grade. Just use it to spin your legs out, and make sure you ride through the finish at the Sasquatch Sprint before ending your ride.

Watch me complete the Elevation Evaluation Route/Test:

I started my endurance test with a separate ride, actually. I knew that the Elevation Evaluation route only has a ~3km lead-in when ridden as a free ride, and I wanted a longer warmup. So I jumped in with some robopacers for 30 minutes to break a sweat, spin up the legs, and get the heart rate up.

Hot Tip #1: knowing this is a 10-minute test should help you set your power target quite precisely. There are various ways of doing this. I did two things: I looked at my 2024 power curve in Strava, which showed my best 10-minute power was 344W this year. I also looked at the new way Zwift computes FTP (see chart on this post) and did the math to see I would need to hold 359W (my FTP of 310/0.862) in order for Zwift’s computed FTP to match what I have on my profile.

359W seemed way too high for me to hold for 10 minutes, but 340W seemed doable. So I decided I would target 340W, then increase the power later in the test if I was able.

After my warmup, I saved my activity, then picked the Elevation Evaluation route from stage 6 of the Zwift Camp: Baseline section of my homepage. (I was doing this ride as an on-demand free ride of the route, not an event, because the events won’t be scheduled until next week.)

Recommendation to ZHQ: this page should include text explaining the goal of the ride. Right now it says nothing about what I’m supposed to do. Is this a maximal effort across the entire route? Should I do my best for the full The Grade FTP test? (The fact that it’s a 10-minute test isn’t just well-hidden, it’s not communicated anywhere.)

Hot Tip #2: As I neared the base of the KOM, I reduced my trainer difficulty to 0. This is because I knew there was that flat spot partly up the KOM, and I didn’t want to worry about shifting to keep the resistance (and my power) up during what would be a very suffery portion of the 10-minute effort. Setting trainer difficulty to 0 meant I wouldn’t feel any resistance changes due to gradient at all, so I could control the resistance completely by my shifting.

Hot Tip #3: Even though you can do your maximal 10-minute effort at any time during your Elevation Evaluation ride, plan to begin it right at the start line of The Grade KOM. This is the smart move because it gives you an on-screen timer so you know when you’ve hit 10 minutes, plus it shows your power average on screen, so you’ll know how you’re tracking against your target.

I was feeling good as I started out, and at the 2:30 mark (25% in) I was averaging 355W. But I knew it couldn’t stay that high, so I tried to drop my power closer to 340W so I could sustain the effort.

Just past the 5-minute mark, I hit the flat spot on The Grade. But with trainer difficulty at 0, I didn’t need to shift to keep my power up! #winning My power average was 352W at the halfway mark.

The span from 5-8 minutes was probably the hardest for me, because that was the time when my legs were burning and my mind was asking, “Can I sustain this effort for several more minutes?” At the 7:30 mark (75% done) my power average was 350W, and I was suffering.

Once I hit 2 minutes to go, I knew I could hold close to my 340W target through to the end. (You can do anything for 2 minutes, right?) As I neared 1 minute to go, I tried to up my power and empty the tank. When the clock hit 10 minutes, my on-screen power average was 349W, and as the timer ticked over, my avatar almost came to a stop as I finished my effort with hardly anything left. Whew!

Takeaways from the Endurance Test

My 350W average for 10 minutes was a personal best for 2024, so I was stoked with that result. Here’s my endurance performance report, showing my new PB plus my previous 90-day best:

I’m not sure if I could have paced it any better than I did, or pushed any harder, so I don’t have any personal takeaways from the test. I do, however, have some takeaways for Zwift based on my experience with this final Zwift Camp: Baseline stage.

Takeaways for Zwift

First, as already mentioned above, Zwift needs to communicate what they’re looking for in this final endurance test. I reached out and it sounds like they’ll be at least talking about the 10-minute power goal in the event description text, but that doesn’t even come close to solving the problem. Because we know lots of people don’t read that text, plus many folks will complete the tests as an on-demand workout outside of an event!

Zwift’s original intent was to use Elevation Evaluation as a “route-based workout”, where riders would ride the route together in an event, with popup text instructing them on how to execute the test. But for some reason, that ended up not happening, which means riders are sort of left to figure it out for themselves.

At this point in Zwift Camp: Baseline, I’m not sure there’s an easy fix for the 200,000+ people who have joined and will soon be completing the final workout.

Recommendation to ZHQ: maybe Zwift could send an email to everyone after they complete stage 5, detailing what to do for stage 6?

I didn’t receive a performance report email after my endurance test like I did with the Attack and Sprint tests, which seems odd. In talking to internal contacts within Zwift, it looks like there was some sort of bug where a trigger didn’t fire after I finished the route. Zwift needs to be really sure that this sort of triggering is working in a rock-solid fashion, because it’s really important for people to see the reports they’re expecting after giving it their all.

Recommendation to ZHQ: riders should get their endurance performance report emailed over as soon as they save their Zwift activity.

Perhaps even more oddly, I didn’t get my “Zwift Camp: Baseline Performance Report” until almost 24 hours after I completed this final test. That’s way too long to wait for the big final report that everyone wants at the conclusion of the Camp. Why not send it right away? Zwift has their tech-based reasons, but again, I think they need to look at user experience and try to maximize it.

Recommendation to ZHQ: riders should get their Zwift Camp: Baseline Performance Report emailed over as soon as they save their Zwift activity.

The performance report said my “Rider Strength” is versatility. That is, I’m not a sprinter, attacker, or endurance-focused rider… I’m sort of equally good at all three. Or equally bad? Regardless, here’s the full Zwift Camp: Baseline Performance Report email I received:

As you can see, the email contains the following:

• Rider Strength: this section will tell you whether your strength is sprinting, attacking, endurance, or if you’re rather balanced like me. Zwift figures this out by comparing your power numbers to the universe of Zwifters.
• Rider Limiter: basically, your lowest percentile ranking against the universe of active Zwifters.
• Looking to improve? Zwift points me to the upcoming Endurance Challenge (workouts to help me boost my endurance) which will be available December 23rd. The email also points me to the “Fondo” training plan.
• Zwift Baseline wheels blurb: the bottom of the email has a blurb about the wheels you unlock by finishing Zwift Camp: Baseline. It calls them “performance wheels,” but this a more hype than they deserve, since they’re nothing special.

Recommendations to ZHQ: this email could be improved in lots of ways, but at the same time, I get it: Zwift Camp: Baseline was sort of a “proof of concept”, a first go at something Zwift will undoubtedly do again, and in a bigger way. A few improvements I’d love to see:

• Under “Looking to Improve?”, I want to be able to click and see the details for the Endurance Challenge or the recommended Training Plan(s).
• More details: keep the email simple, but let me click and see my numbers again plus my percentile rank for each of the three tests (sprint, attack, endurance) somewhere under my Zwift.com profile.
• Don’t pitch the wheel unlock like it’s something special. Either give me some really unique-looking wheels that I’d want to roll in casual riding just because of their appearance, or give me some wheels that perform really well. The Baseline wheels are just… not super cool looking, and not fast.

Concluding Thoughts

As I’ve already said, I love where Zwift is going with Zwift Camp: Baseline. There’s so much potential for this idea of assessing rider abilities, then recommending next steps.

The Zwift Camp: Baseline program felt a little bit thrown together in places, particularly on stage 6. And you know what? I’m OK with that, as long as Zwift takes feedback on board and iterates to improve the product. Because that’s how development works! I’ve done my best to detail my feedback in my series of walkthrough posts, and I know for a fact Zwift has been reading these articles, and everyone’s comments, to make tweaks to the program on the fly and also improve future versions of it. So that’s all good.

Overall, in going through Zwift Camp: Baseline myself, as well as conversing with folks within ZHQ about it, I really think this is just the start of bigger and better things to come in this space from Zwift. So I’m looking forward to what comes next.

Watch this space for details on the Sprinting, Attacking, and Endurance Challenges releasing on December 23rd as a followup to Zwift Camp: Baseline.

Questions or Comments?

That’s a wrap on Zwift Camp: Baseline for me. How’s it going for you? Share your thoughts or questions below!

We’ve also selected videos about the recent updates to the FTP algorithm, a DIY upgrade for the Wahoo KICKR Core, an all-out Alpe du Zwift ascent, and a pre-season fitness test.

Got a Great Zwift Video?

Share the link below and we may feature it in an upcoming post!

Read about Zwift integration on the Intervals.icu forum >

About Intervals.icu

“Easy to use analytics and planning for athletes and coaches.” That’s how Intervals.icu describes itself. Although the service has been around for 6+ years (launched in mid-2018), it’s not as well-known as the bigger services because it’s been a part-time project of London-based founder David Tinker.

But David has built something very powerful in Intervals.icu, turning it into perhaps the best-kept secret in the world of cycling data analysis. And when I sat down to chat with David a couple of weeks ago, I learned that he went full-time with Intervals.icu back in September, which means we’ll be seeing even more cool feature releases soon!

I’ve actually been a paying Intervals.icu supporter for a few years, because 1) it’s cheap (free, actually, although I support the site for $4/month) and 2) fellow racers on my DIRT squad love to compare power charts and talk about how our “weebles” (W’) got used up in a race. But as David walked me through his platform’s capabilities during our call, I realized I really hadn’t spent much time exploring all it could do!

I won’t detail all of Intervals.icu’s features here, but here are some favorites that relate to this Zwift integration:

• Easy Workout Builder: create workouts in seconds using a simple text-based editor (see how it works), or drag an existing ride into your workout library to create an interval-based workout based on that ride’s power chart.
• Workout Library: organize your own workout library and access the community’s workout library with piles of free workouts and training plans available.
• Planner: plan your upcoming workouts, or give your coach access to put workouts on your calendar.
• Charts, charts, and more charts: Intervals.icu lets you graph just about anything, and this is probably what most riders love about it! It’s not quite as powerful as the WKO software used by many coaches, but it’s easy to use and much more affordable.

Pricing and Signup

Intervals.icu is the first service integrated with Zwift’s Training API that is free to use, so that’s worth mentioning! But also, you can support the project with a $4/month subscription (billed every 3 months to keep processing costs down) if you choose.

The service hosts accounts for over 100,000 athletes who have used it to analyze over 111 million activities since launch, so there are some real ongoing costs in terms of storage and data processing. That’s why I and others choose to support David’s work.

Connecting Intervals.icu + Zwift

All of your interaction with Intervals.icu is done via the website. Visit the site, create your account, then connect it to Zwift via the Settings page:

Choosing Your Training Plan/Workout

Any workouts you put into the Intervals.icu planner will be automatically uploaded to Zwift. In fact, the next week’s worth of workouts are automatically loaded to Zwift, and you’ll see your workout for today on the home page:

You can also go to Workouts → Custom and select “Intervals.icu” to see what is coming up:

Complete List of Training API Partners

Intervals.icu is just the latest to be added to the growing list of Training API partners at Zwift. Here’s the complete list, which will be updated as new partners are added:

Questions or Comments?

Have you trained using workouts from Intervals.icu app? Use their amazing charts or workout builder? Share any related comments or questions below…

I’m one of those Zwifters, and plan to share my experience in three posts – one for each section of the program:

1. Sprinting (read post)
2. Attacking
3. Endurance

As you may or may not know, each of these sections consists of two activities: first a workout, then a test. I cover the attacking workout and test below.

Attack the Bunch Workout

The Attack the Bunch workout has you tackle multiple high-intensity intervals ranging from 45 seconds to 3 minutes in length. The full workout is 53 minutes long with 8 hard intervals, while the lite version is 34 minutes long with 6 intervals. Here’s what the workouts look like with my FTP set at 310W:

I went with the full 53-minute workout, and did it as a group workout event. (You can do these as on-demand workouts by yourself as well, but I wanted to try the group workout experience.)

Watch me ride this workout:

I went into the workout with a bit more fear and trepidation than I had with the Sprint Workout because I’d heard others say it was a tough one, and looking at its details confirmed this. My strengths are probably in efforts of 60 seconds or less, so I knew the later intervals in this workout would be the toughest.

After a warmup with three 30-second efforts to get your blood pumping, riders are tasked with completing 4 pairs of intervals. As the workout progresses, each pair of intervals gets longer, but the power target also drops. Here are my intervals:

• 2×45 seconds at 512W (165% FTP)
• 2×1 minute at 434W (140% of FTP)
• 2×2 minutes at 388W (125% of FTP)
• 2×3 minutes at 357W (115% of FTP)

There were 60 riders in my group, and after the first hard interval, one rider asked about how to avoid the situation where your cadence slows, forcing the trainer to ramp up resistance, which just causes your cadence to slow more, which causes resistance to increase… the ERG spiral of death.

It’s always worth mentioning, for workouts that include high-intensity work, that it’s helpful to spin up your cadence going into the hard interval so your legs don’t grind to a halt when the resistance hits. Zwift’s prompts in the workout help get this idea across nicely.

Cadence is a personal thing, on some levels, but I find for myself that a cadence of 100+ is helpful on hard intervals. I perform better when my cadence is high enough that it doesn’t feel like I’m mashing the pedals.

Each pair of intervals felt harder than the one before, but just barely. And my heart rate peaked slightly higher at each and every interval. Check out this progression:

1. 165 bpm
2. 169 bpm
3. 170 bpm
4. 172 bpm
5. 179 bpm
6. 182 bpm
7. 183 bpm
8. 185 bpm

I thought I might end up standing for part of the longer intervals toward the end of the workout, but once I got to 60 seconds left on the final interval, I decided I would do it seated because standing felt like a bit of a cop-out.

The group workout used the Turf N Surf route, which was another great choice for the event because many of the key intervals were done on climb sections where we would be attacking in races.

Takeaways from the Attack the Bunch Workout

I received an email from Zwift immediately after finishing the sprint workout, telling me I’d unlocked the Oakley Katos and inviting me to visit zwift.com/zwift-camp and sign up for more events.

My only takeaway from this workout was that I would benefit from doing more workouts featuring intervals in the 1-5 minute range. As we age, in fact, doing this sort of high-intensity work becomes even more important, because if we don’t use it… we’ll lose it.

Attacking Test

The Attacking Test has you complete two all-out 60-second efforts. Your goal is to get your best possible 60-second power in these segments so Zwift can accurately assess your attacking abilities. Here’s what it looks like with my FTP set at 310W (the power requirements will change depending on your personal FTP):

Two days after my Attack the Bunch workout, I started my Saturday morning with the Attacking Test.

This a simple workout in terms of layout: a standard warmup followed by two 60-second all-out efforts. The efforts are separated by 9 minutes of easy spinning to give your legs time to recharge.

Watch me complete the Attack Test:

My first attack started pretty strong, but I really faded in the last 20 seconds. (Part of the challenge in these sorts of tests is proper pacing. It’s something you get better at the more you do it, unsurprisingly…)

My screen said I averaged 598W for the interval as I crossed the line. But Strava and Zwift said my 60-second best for the workout was 605W. How does that work? Well, what showed on my screen was my average wattage for the interval, while Zwift is actually taking your 60-second best across the entire workout, wherever it occurs. I hit my power a bit early, before the workout began, so there’s a bit of disparity between the numbers. No big deal.

Peak heart rate, hit just after this first segment ended: 181 bpm.

I could still feel the first 1-minute effort in my legs when I began the second one, even though I’d had 9 minutes of easy riding in between. For the second interval, I tried to start a bit lighter so I wouldn’t blow up early. My power chart was indeed a bit more consistent, but still, those final 10 seconds felt like an eternity, with the legs burning and feeling heavy and about to burst! I averaged 589W average for the interval.

Peak heart rate, hit just after this second segment ended: 186 bpm.

Virtual Shifting + ERG Mode Tip

If you use Zwift’s virtual shifting and ERG mode in this workout, here’s an important tip which I also shared for the Sprint Test: be sure to turn off ERG mode well before you hit each of the 1-minute efforts, so you can get your gearing correct before the effort begins!

With virtual shifting, Zwift will place you in the default gear (8) as soon as you enter a free-ride segment of an ERG workout. That’s not a big deal if the free ride section is a longer one and/or you’re not going for max power during the segment. But if you’re supposed to be holding maximal power for a short free-ride segment, this is a big problem because you’ll end up spending the first several seconds of the interval shifting from 8th gear to whatever gear works best for your target effort.

So you’ll see in my video above that I simply toggled ERG mode off around 30-60 seconds before the maximal efforts began, giving me time I get into a better gear. Then I completed the efforts and re-enabled ERG mode for the recovery block.

(I’ve shared this feedback with Zwift, and they’ve acknowledged that it’s a problem. Sounds like they’re working on a fix…)

Takeaways from the Attack Test

A few minutes after finishing the Attack Test, I received an email from Zwift:

That 1-minute power number of 605 is 1 watt lower than my PR for 2024, so… at least I’m consistent. The previous best of 557 is my 90-day PR, which matches what my ZwiftPower phenotype chart shows. Always nice when data is consistent!

I don’t have any big takeaways from this test, as my performance was right in line with what I’d expected.

Questions or Comments?

Four down, two to go. How is your Zwift Camp: Baseline experience going? I see over 175k people are signed up as of today. Share your thoughts or questions below!

We’ve also selected videos about tough Zwift races, the hardest Zwift workouts, Zwift racing tips for heavy riders, and Zwift Camp: Baseline.

Got a Great Zwift Video?

Share the link below and we may feature it in an upcoming post!

Read about CoachCat + Zwift integration >

Manual Push… For Now

For now, CoachCat’s training calendar is not auto-syncing to Zwift. This is a temporary situation, much like when TriDot launched the first iteration of their Training API integration. FasCat tells me they’re shooting for auto-sync to be live by the end of the year.

This is worth mentioning up front since auto-sync is a big part of what makes these Training API integrations so handy. If I can just boot up Zwift and see my workout for the day, right on the homescreen, that’s a win. The fewer steps, the better.

So while your Zwift activities will automatically pop over to CoachCat once saved, allowing CoachCat to adapt your training based on what you just did in Zwift, getting your CoachCat workout into Zwift currently requires a simple button tap. I’ll cover that below, but first…

About FasCat Coaching

Frank Overton founded FasCat Coaching in 2002, and it’s been his full-time gig since 2004. A former pro-level cyclist, Frank was working with Andy Coggan and other sports scientists in 2003, back before Training Peaks or WKO existed. This group was looking for better ways to set optimal training targets and quantify training stress, and it was in this environment, while training for the Colorado State Time Trial, that Frank invented and formalized the concept of sweet spot training.

(He and this group of scientists would go on to create mainstays of cycling training like TSS, the Performance Management Chart, and normalized power. So if you’re looking for an impressive sports science palmarès, Frank’s got one.)

I sat down with Frank to learn more about his story, and what makes FasCat special. There’s a lot we could talk about here, but in the interest of keeping this post short, I’ll just say that Frank says people want three simple things from their coach:

1. Tell me what to do
2. Tell me if I’m improving
3. Tell me what to do next

Frank and his team have been doing this for over 20 years, but things got really interesting when they built the AI-powered CoachCat app, which launched in March 2024. This app was trained on a proprietary data set made up of over 1 million hand-written power file analyses FasCat has performed over the years, as well as FasCat’s blog posts and YouTube videos. Because of this, Franks says, “CoachCat does what human coaches do, but faster, smarter, cheaper.”

Your CoachCat subscription gets you access to tons of training tools, including a library of training plans and workouts which can be easily customized using the natural-language text chat with CoachCat in the app. If you have questions or want to change an upcoming workout, just chat with CoachCat via the app:

If you are worried that the human touch is being lost with all this AI stuff, FasCat also seems to do a really good job of providing human interaction where needed. You can chat with a coach online via their website, anyone who creates an account also gets a 30-minute consultation with a real coach, and you can sign up for 1:1 coaching plans if you’d like.

Pricing and Signup

You can sign up for a 30-day free trial here, no credit card required. Ongoing subscriptions are $34.99/mo, discounted to $240 if paying annually. Or you can get access to the stripped-down “CoachCat Basic” plan for just $3.99/mo.

Connecting CoachCat + Zwift

All of your interaction with CoachCat is done via the CoachCat app (in Apple or Play stores). Install the app, create your account, then connect it to Zwift via Profile>Connected Devices:

Choosing Your Training Plan/Workout

Once you’re signed up and connected, you just need to get some workouts on your calendar! Tap “Library” to browse CoachCat’s huge list of training plans and workouts. You can have the app suggest a plan based on some minimal input from you. There are also two Zwift-specific plans on the list: “Zwift Training with Outdoor Rides” and “Zwift Racing Plan”.

Sending Workouts to Zwift

Once your calendar has some workouts on it, just tap a workout and tap “Send to Zwift” to send it over to your Zwift account:

Your workout will be available on your homescreen, and also under Workouts>Custom>CoachCat:

(Again, this manual step will be removed soon, so your scheduled workouts will automatically pop into Zwift each day.)

Complete List of Training API Partners

FasCat is just the latest service to be added to the list of Training API partners at Zwift. Here’s the complete list, which will be updated as new partners are added:

Questions or Comments?

Have you trained using FasCat’s CoachCat app? If so, what did you think? Share any related comments or questions below…

I’m one of those Zwifters, and plan to share my experience in three posts – one for each section of the program:

1. Sprinting
2. Attacking
3. Endurance

As you may or may not know, each of these sections consists of two activities: first a workout, then a test. I cover the sprinting workout and test below.

Sprint Booster Workout

The Sprint Booster workout has you tackle several high-intensity 20-second sprint intervals, with recovery sections in between. The full workout is 55 minutes long with 10 sprint segments, while the lite version is 29 minutes with 6 sprints. Here’s what the workouts look like with my FTP set at 310W:

I went with the full 55-minute workout, and did it as a group workout event. (You can do these as on-demand workouts by yourself as well, but I wanted to try the group workout experience.)

Watch me ride this workout:

Going into the event, I could tell it wouldn’t be terribly hard for me. (That’s not a brag. It’s just that, as an experienced cyclist, I know that sprinting and sub-1-minute efforts are where I’m strongest. My educated guess is that this section of Zwift Camp: Baseline will be the easiest of the three for me.)

After a warmup with three 30-second efforts to get your blood pumping, this workout has you complete 2 matching sets of 5×20-second sprints. The efforts increase each time throughout the set of 5, so for me with my FTP set at 310 each set of 5 was:

• 560W (180% FTP)
• 590W (190% of FTP)
• 620W (200% of FTP)
• 650W (210% of FTP)
• 680W (220% of FTP)

The text popups for the workout did a good job of warning me to increase my cadence before beginning the sprint. This is a crucial tip for ERG workouts, because if your cadence is low (let’s say below 85RPM) heading into a high-powered interval, when that resistance ramps up on your trainer, you may not have the torque in your legs to turn the pedals over, and you’ll enter the dreaded ERG spiral of death.

Power (watts) on a bike are a function of torque (how hard you’re pushing on the pedals, measured in Newton-meters, Nm) and cadence (how quickly you’re spinning the pedals, measured in rotations per minute, RPM). So if you’re trying to hold a particular power number, and you decrease your cadence, you’ll have to increase your torque to compensate. Or if you decrease your torque, you’ll need to increase your cadence to compensate.

Ramping up your cadence to 100+RPM heading into the sprint intervals helps ease the torque requirements, so when the resistance ramps up your legs will still be able to turn the pedals over.

I mixed seated and standing efforts during this sprint workout, because it’s good to be able to do both, and I wanted to compare how they felt. I found the standing efforts to be easier than anticipated, and I found I was comfortable sprinting out of the saddle at 93-100 RPM, while seated was closer to 105-112 RPM.

Overall I found the text instructions to be helpful/inspiring. But I would tweak them a bit, especially the one at the end of the very first sprint that says, “Final push! Empty the tank!” (Because if you’re emptying the tank on the first of 10 sprints, you’re in trouble.)

The group workout used the Tides and Temples route, which was actually a great choice for the event because the workout ended with us near the top of the climb portion. I just had to ride a few more minutes, then it turned me left onto The Grade descent for an easy cooldown.

Takeaways from the Sprint Booster Workout

I received an email from Zwift immediately after finishing the sprint workout, telling me I’d unlocked the Zwift Camp: Baseline kit and inviting me to visit zwift.com/zwift-camp and sign up for more events.

My only takeaway from this workout was that I need to keep working on higher cadence standing sprints. For whatever reason, indoors, I tend to do out-of-the-saddle sprints at a lower cadence than outdoors. But I think if I can get my standing sprint cadence up above 95 I’ll see higher sprint power numbers out of the saddle.

Sprint Test

The sprint test has you complete three all-out 15-second sprint efforts. Your goal is to get your best possible 10-second power in these segments so Zwift can accurately assess your sprinting abilities. Here’s what it looks like with my FTP set at 310W (the power requirements will change depending on your personal FTP):

Two days after my sprint booster workout, I started my Saturday long ride with the sprint test.

This a simple workout in terms of layout: a standard warmup followed by three 15-second all-out efforts. The efforts are separated by 7-minute rest intervals to give your legs time to recharge.

Watch me complete the sprint test:

My first sprint was a standing sprint, but I felt like I was in too hard of a gear (22), sitting right at 80RPM. Strava shows a 1026W peak, 978W 10s average, at 80RPM.

So I went with gear 20 the next time. This was my best interval, with Strava showing a 1055W peak, 1006W 10s average at 92RPM.

I still felt like I was still mashing a bit in gear 20, but I only had one more sprint interval left, and wanted to try it seated. So that’s what I did! But the results weren’t great: 993W peak, 885W average, 117RPM.

Virtual Shifting + ERG Mode Tip

If you use Zwift’s virtual shifting and ERG mode in this workout, here’s an important tip: be sure to turn off ERG mode well before you hit each of the 15s sprints, so you can get your gearing correct before the sprint begins!

UPDATE Dec 12, 2024: Zwift updated the sprint test (see below) by adding 30-second free ride blocks before the 15-second test blocks, allowing you to get into the best gear for your sprints.

Takeaways from the Sprint Test

Immediately after finishing the Sprint Test, I received an email from Zwift:

That 10s power number of 1028 is a new PR for me, at least compared to anything I did in the last two years. But I think if I dialed in my gearing for a fresh out of the saddle effort I could do slightly better! So my big takeaway here is… the same as my takeaway from the sprint workout. (Apparently I’m a slow learner). I need to keep working on higher cadence standing sprints.

One important callout that I want to mention a second time is that Zwift is evaluating your 10-second power in this test… not your 15-second power! This is the right move by Zwift, because they rightly realize that it can take riders a few seconds to ramp up power in a 15-second interval.

Questions or Comments?

I’m really excited about the direction Zwift is going in with Zwift Camp: Baseline, and I hope you are too. Are you taking part in this program? Share your thoughts or questions below!

Read about JOIN + Zwift integration >

For now, JOIN’s training calendar is not auto-syncing to Zwift. This is a temporary situation, much like when TriDot launched the first iteration of their Training API integration. JOIN tells me they’re shooting for auto-sync to be live by December 1st.

UPDATE December 5, 2024: JOIN now automatically syncs its training calendar to Zwift, so your workout for the day shows on your homepage.

About JOIN

JOIN bills itself as “The #1 AI Cycling Training App.” Those are big words, but JOIN has created something special: a clean app that creates personalized, adaptive training plans for cyclists based on fitness level, goals, and availability. JOIN says, “The app continuously adjusts your plan to keep you on track, offering structured workouts and insights to help you improve.”

To get started, the app helps you set a training goal and then builds your plan around that goal. You can select a specific event, or you can choose from one of three goal types and go from there:

• Build: boost your fitness and lay the foundation for future goals
• Improve: improve specific aspects, like sprinting or climbing
• Peak: achieve peak fitness for optimal performance

Once you’ve set up your plan, JOIN will schedule workouts and rest days for you. You can simply follow their schedule, or if you do some sort of ride other than the scheduled workout, it’ll pop into JOIN and their system will immediately make changes to your planned training based on your activity.

It seems like all training apps these days include “AI” in their marketing. But what is the AI actually doing in each app? JOIN includes a fun little 5-question “What is AI about JOIN?” quiz that will help you see how they leverage AI to make the app more powerful than a human coach. I highly recommend it if you’re “AI-curious”.

Pricing and Signup

You can sign up for a 14-day free trial here. (Some places on the JOIN site refer to a 7-day trial, so just be sure to pay attention to what you’re signing up for.) Ongoing subscriptions are $8.49/month or $77.99 per year USD.

JOIN Events on Zwift

I should also note that JOIN has a Club in Zwift, and they’re doing weekly Thursday Cycling Classes on Zwift to build up to a Zwift Gran Fondo on December 21st. Read more >

More About Join

For more on JOIN, you may want to read this interview from Road.cc with creator Jim van den Berg, or this post from BikeRadar.

Connecting JOIN + Zwift

All of your interaction with JOIN is done via the JOIN app (in Apple or Play stores). Create your account, then connect it to Zwift by tapping the gear icon for Settings, then Connected Accounts. Enable the Zwift toggle, and go through the process to sign into your Zwift account and grant access privileges to JOIN:

Starting Your Free Trial

Once that is connected, you’ll need to enable your free trial to get going. One little gotcha here: by default, it enables the annual subscription mode. But if you’re just trying out the app, you may want to enable monthly subscription mode. Do this by tapping “View All Subscriptions” on the second screen, then change to monthly.

You’ll need to approve your subscription through your app store of choice. You get 14 days of free usage, then the subscription charge will occur.

Sending Workouts to Zwift

JOIN includes a training calendar which is automatically synced to Zwift. You can find your day’s scheduled workout on your homepage under “For You”, or go to Workouts>Custom>JOIN to access synced workouts.

You can also manually send workouts to Zwift by tapping “Export Workout” on the workout’s detail page, then select Zwift. It will be visible within Zwift under Workouts>Custom>JOIN.

The FTP Setting Question

Workouts typically set your interval targets based on a percentage of your FTP – for example, a VO2 workout interval may include 4 minutes at 110% of FTP.

Some Zwifters have asked how the target power numbers for workouts are determined when using Zwift’s Training API. That is, which FTP is used when the workout creation app (JOIN) has its own FTP setting, separate from Zwift’s?

It’s a sensible question because while you may have your FTP set the same in both apps, it’s also possible you don’t.

In JOIN’s case, they use Zwift’s FTP setting if you execute the workout in Zwift.

Complete List of Training API Partners

JOIN is just the latest service to be added to the list of Training API partners at Zwift. Here’s the complete list, which will be updated as new partners are added:

Questions or Comments?

Have you trained using the JOIN app? If so, what did you think? Share any related comments or questions below…