Zwift announces Coffee Stop and more for the spring and summer

Apologies to our readers in the Southern Hemisphere, but the Northern Hemisphere is brimming with excitement as the long, dark hours of winter are left behind and spring and summer await over the horizon. As we turn our eyes towards the promise of outdoor rides in the sunshine, Zwift has rolled out their latest batch of new features designed to compliment outdoor rides with what they view as ‘focused indoor sessions to refine fitness.’ The new features will be gradually rolled out to users from April and leading into the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in July.

Recognising that many riders will be turning their attention outside once again, Zwift has brought back the annual Zwift Spring Training Series that they promise will prepare riders for a summer of ‘Outdoor Fun’. Taking place through April and May, the Spring Training Series features six workouts - Aerobic Rev Up, FTP Booster, Hairpin Wizard, Over, Under and Beyond, VO2 Blast, and Final Send - and will be complemented by the Conquer a Classic Mission.

Tasking riders to complete the distance of Paris Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift, which stands at an unprecedented 145.5km this year, the Mission started on April 3 but users will have until the end of the month to complete the challenge. For those who conquer the virtual cobbles, a celebratory Mission badge will await, and a special Watch the Femmes kit will become available to their avatars. This kit could have its first showcase during the Ride with Pride Mission, which allows users to celebrate the Pride Month of June by keeping a Monthly Mission streak rolling. Registrations open on May 22.

Zwift

Milk or sugar, anyone?

The last of the features that can be expected in the spring is possibly the most longed-for by Zwift users, with the company introducing a Coffee Stop feature to the delight of riders across Watopia. For all those who have been dropped in the virtual world whilst having a slice of cake mid-ride, or answering the door to those persistent delivery drivers, fear no more - Zwift has answered your calls.

The new Coffee Stop feature allows riders to take a break of up to three minutes without losing contact with their virtual group, with the Zwift avatar continuing to pedal at an appropriate pace in the meantime. We suspect the number of brews made and snacks eaten across Watopia may be about to increase substantially!
Moving their attention to features that will be released over the summer, Zwift has announced Rider Teleport, allowing users to hop between groups in the same virtual Zwift world, alongside a reconfigured Action Bar that aims to make interactive engagement much simpler. Zwift suggests Rider Teleport could be used to join friends who hop on their bikes mid-ride or move between RoboPacer groups to suit different speeds. The new Action Bar will introduce sub-menus that collate similar actions together and reduce the need to swipe left and right to filter through actions such as Zwift emotes, Ride Ons and u-turns.

Zwift emotes may have been commonly used in the past for riders virtually screaming “I’m Toast” at their club ride leaders as they tailed off the back of the pack, but such worries should now be a thing of the past with Zwift’s introduction of the Keep Everyone Together feature. Previously available only in select events, Keep Everyone Together will soon become enabled to administrators of any club planning an event on Zwift, which will prove particularly useful for those wanting to plan no-drop events. In turn, all ride participants will be able to cycle together on Zwift, no matter their power output.

Zwift

Time will tell whether the Player Highlight features provides a psychological boost to riders!

It is in the large group rides that spotting your avatar has been difficult in the past, but this is another issue that Zwift have targeted with their latest announcements and the Player Highlight feature. When riding in large groups, the Player Highlight feature will enshroud riders in a ‘glowing halo’ as they ride - think, Mr Burns glowing in the dark in The Simpsons - making it easier to spot your avatar and ride leaders during group rides. This halo will be of particular use in events where many riders are wearing the same jersey but will fade when riders join smaller groups or venture solo.

Group riding should also be improved with the rollout of Pack Dynamics V.4, which is live now and promises a more realistic gaming experience that will reduce excessive overtakes, prevent solo riders from being sucked into a passing peloton and more.

Both Climb Portal and Club Notification Control round out the features slated to be released in the summer, with the former bringing more real-life climbs to the Zwift platform in what the company guarantees to be a ‘completely new visual experience.’

The new Climb Portals will be available to riders in Watopia and France on the platform, offering the opportunity to ride several famous climbs from the real-world. At launch, the Col du Tourmalet and Col d’Aspin will be featured, no doubt to coincide with the Tour de France tackling these climbs on stage 6 of this year’s race. The Club Notification Control, meanwhile, effectively brings a mute button to Club Chats and Events on the Zwift platform, allowing users to turn on notifications for their favourite clubs and disable notifications from others. That’s right, no more spam, folks!

Zwift

The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift begins on Saturday 22nd July.

Zwift’s final announcement concerned the Tour de France//Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift Mission, where as part of Zwift’s ‘Watch the Femmes’ campaign in July, riders will be tasked with an on-demand mission to complete four stages in celebration of the race. These stages will have a variety of course options, all of which will be provided with the new Segment Portal, with more information promised nearer to the hotly-anticipated race.

Zwift

Zwift is a fitness technology company that allows users to interact, train and race on its virtual online cycling platform. Zwift has approximately one million subscribers and has completely changed how cyclists view training.