Comprehensive Zwift Guide
Leveling Hacks
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Since I started training on Zwift, in the quest to get to level 50 (then 60… now 100…), I’ve been interested in how I could level more quickly. Below are some tips on how to optimize leveling in Zwift.
Determine if you’re above the XP threshold
Ride in metric
Badge hunting
Finish on a downhill
Utilize your Coffee Stop
Leverage time trial bikes
Ride with a RoboPacer
XP Threshold
In Zwift, there’s one of two ways you can earn experience points (XP). You will either earn 20 XP per kilometer when free riding or 10.8 XP/min (regardless of your intensity or speed) when in a workout. Over the course of an hour, you’ll earn about 650 XP. To earn the same amount of XP free riding, you would have to ride 32.5 km. This makes 32.5 kph (20 mph) the XP threshold. Any ride below this speed, such as the climbs in the game, you’re better off conducting the ride as a workout. Anything above it, such as on the flat routes, is better off conducted as an unstructured ride.
A few notes:
Depending on how the workout is structured, you can gain more or less than 10.8 XP/min, but we’ll that as the baseline.
You have to complete the kilometer or interval to be granted XP.
You may want to build a custom workout that’s a series of 2-minute intervals at 60% of FTP that I can activate for easy hill climbing.
Manual workouts
An advanced hack is to conduct your interval workouts on a flat course without the use of Zwift’s workout mode. Here you get the benefit of the speed boost from the intervals without getting locked into the 10.8 XP/min. The downside is you cannot have Zwift control the resistance on the trainer to conduct the workout. As a coach, I actually love this as learning to dial in one’s power output is one of the most crucial skills for a cyclist. There are ways to have dual sensing, but that gets a bit more complicated.
Ride in Metric
While Zwift largely nerfed this benefit in September of 2023, it is still beneficial to ride in metric. Athletes earn 32 XP per mile or 20 XP per km (32.25 per mile converted). A new user starting today will need to earn ~600,000 XP to reach level 100. Ignoring XP bonuses, this works out to about 7 hours of saved time to reach level 100 by riding in metric.
The other reason to ride in metric is because Zwift only awards XP when you complete the kilometer. With kilometers being the shorter unit of measure, you’re more likely to tick over onto the next kilometer at the end of each ride.
Badge hunting
Each route on Zwift is associated with a completion badge. The completion badge grants XP in proportion to the distance of the route. Make it a habit of trying complete a new route for each ride.
Volcano Circuit
Some of the big badges to seek out are those on the Volcano Circuit. I recommend trying to nab them all in one ride as unlike the Alpe “Avid Climber” and “Masochist” badges, to receive these badges, you need to complete all laps (in either direction) in one ride. To do it all, plan for a 105 km ride.
Volcano Circuit - 1 loop - 80 XP
Warmed Up - 5 loops - 1000 XP
Hothead - 10 loops - 1000 XP
On Fire - 25 loops - 1000 XP
This gives you a whopping ~5,200 XP in ~3.5 hours (~25 XP/min).
Finish on a downhill
You’ve done the work to climb the hill. You never want to end a ride on the uphill slope of a hill, so trigger the U-turn button to get your rider descending before you hop off the bike.
Alpe du Zwift
Zwift’s Alpe du Zwift gives you one of the best bangs for your buck when it comes to leveling.
On Road to Sky, an intense workout can get you to the top of the Alpe in about 75 min (~810 XP).
Once you hit the top, if you’ve obtained all the collectables, you’ll get a minimum of 250 XP. If you’re lucky enough for the wheel to land on the wheels again, that will grant you 1,000 XP.
Switching to free ride at the top of the climb and allowing your rider to coast to the bottom, you’ll pick up at least 12 km for another 240 XP.
The total yield for the ride is a minimum of 1,300 XP for 75 min of work (~17 XP/min). One of the caveats here is that you want to finish your workout at the top of the climb to gain the full benefit of the free XP on the downhill. I will do a series of U-turns between Turn 1 and the finish banner (Note: this stretch is about 5 min) so that I’m crossing the finish banner just as the workout is finishing.
Additionally, you’ll receive 500 XP and 1000 XP for completing 5 (Avid Climber badge) and 25 (Masochist badge) climbs, respectively.
Utilize the Coffee Stop
Another end of ride hack: In May 2023, Zwift introduced the Coffee Stop. After 30 minutes of riding, you can enable the Coffee Stop to tether you to a nearby athlete for 3 minutes. The intent of the Coffee Stop is to allow you to hop off the bike quickly to grab a bottle, use the bathroom, etc. without losing the group you’re with. However, if you have one available at the end of your ride, feel free to trigger it to pick up an extra 1-2 km.
Time Trial bikes
Time trial bikes in Zwift are highly underappreciated! Outside of a group ride or a big climb, a TT bike is going to be significantly faster than a road bike. Additionally, for every power up location you pass through, you’ll be granted 10 XP instead of one of the other powerups. The benefit from the Aero Boost, Draft Boost or Feather isn’t significant enough to save you the ~1 min of riding.
RoboPacers
There’s always a big group riding with the RoboPacers, which means big draft benefits. The RoboPacers at the lower W/kg also tend to stick to the flatter courses. This combo will help you level quickly.
Hang with the RoboPacer long enough, and you’ll also gain a significant Drop bonus multiplier to buy better gear in the Drop Shop.
My Strategy
Ride in metric.
Complete all the routes.
Do the majority of my interval workouts on a TT bike on the climbs. This is usually on Road to Sky in Watopia to pick up the Alpe bonus or Ven Top in France. Pulling a U-turn at the end of the workout, I’ll pick up the free XP on the downhill.
Do my recovery and endurance rides on a road bike with a RoboPacer. The draft benefit is usually enough to usually keep me above the XP threshold. Maintaining focus on staying with the RoboPacer helps the time go by.
Since I’ve been using Zwift, Zwift Insider has been my go-to for information on Zwift. If you haven’t been there, check out their site. It is a wealth of information.