Zwift explained: Your complete guide

For road cyclists, winter can be especially brutal. Most group rides are finished until spring, while icy roads and greenways can make pedaling outdoors treacherous. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to ride safely with all your friends from the comfort of your home? Luckily, there’s Zwift.  

“Zwift is a fantastic platform for training and racing,” says Canyon’s Esports Team Manager, Rhys Howell. “You can join races and get a high intensity workout trying to beat people from all over the world, join a group ride, do your own workout or even just free-ride at your own pace.” 

Zwift can be a great option if you’re coming back from an injury as well, allowing you to get your mileage in without the additional risks riding outside can bring. As an added bonus, doing a virtual Zwift ride is just fun. 

Think of Zwift as a massive multi-player video game with your bike (and you!) as the main controller. Zwift uses Bluetooth and ANT+ technology to read connected sensors (these can be anything from speed and cadence sensors all the way through to a smart turbo trainer) to power a personalized avatar through a virtual world of cycling. When you pedal, your avatar pedals and likewise when you stop, so does your virtual counterpart. Want to pedal faster in the game? You must pedal faster in the real world. 

Zwift features both real-life environments and surroundings created just for the game. You can choose based on the difficulty or beauty of the terrain, where a specific group ride will take place, or any other number of criteria. 

When you set up your profile, you’ll be asked for some basic data such as your weight and power, which will calculate your watts per kilo (w/kg) used to define the difficulty of group rides and races. Most competitive cyclists are trying to generate the most power at the lowest weight. Generally, the higher the w/kg ratio, the fitter you are. According to a huge study of amateur and professional cyclists, a rider with a 6.24/kg ratio over a 30-minute test would be in the top 10 percent of riders, while 6.02/kg would get you in the top 75 percent. 

You have a choice of riding SIM (simulator) or ERG mode. ERG mode is mostly used for workouts where you need to ride at particular wattage, eliminating the need to shift. Zwift is the perfect spot to do a Functional Threshold Power (FTP) test, because potential environmental factors, like stop signs and traffic, are eliminated. Most of your riding will likely be done in SIM mode, which uses a combination of real and virtual factors to give you a more realistic feel when riding. 

Let’s be real: road cyclists can be a bit vain at times. If you want to bling out your virtual avatar, you can, with all sorts of helmets, jerseys, and even bikes in Zwift’s Drop Shop. It can be fun to ride the same bike virtually that you do in real life, and luckily, Canyon does offer bikes in Watopia. But you’ll need to pay for the bike again – this time with sweat. Both the latest Aeroad and Speedmax CF SLX Disc will cost more than a million XP points, while the Ultimate CFR is a virtual steal at 350,700 XP points. You’re not limited to road bikes either; you can choose Canyon mountain, gravel, and cyclocross rigs as well. How will you choose? 

Here are the bikes currently offered: 

• Canyon Aeroad - our aerodynamic road bike 
• Canyon Ultimate - our dedicated climbing bike 
• Canyon Speedmax - our time trial and triathlon bike 
• Canyon Lux - our full-suspension cross-country mountain bike 
• Canyon Inflite - for fast, off-road, multi-terrain cyclo-cross riding 
• Canyon Grail - with more gravel appearing on Zwift, the Grail is the perfect tool for the job 

Zwift offers a free 7-day/25 km trial so that you can get a taste for whether the platform will work for you before committing longer term. A subscription costs $19.99 USD/ €19.99 Euro/ £17.99 per month or $199.99/€199.99/£179.99 annually (as of 2024). You can cancel or pause your membership at any time. 

Signing up is simple. Go to Zwift.com and follow the instructions. The essential equipment you need to get started is: 

• Your Canyon bike 
• A turbo trainer or set of rollers 
• A power meter or speed/cadence sensors that can connect via Bluetooth or ANT+ (a so-called smart trainer works as well) 
• A computer, smartphone, or tablet with Bluetooth or ANT+ connectivity 

It’s all pretty easy to set up, and Zwift has great community support options to provide help, if needed. 

For the most seamless virtual experience, use a Zwift compatible trainer. If you’re already sold on the idea of indoor training, your best bet is to invest in a smart turbo trainer that’ll give you a more immersive experience as you pedal through the various courses and worlds. Smart trainers automatically change their resistance depending on the gradient of the virtual hill you’re climbing, meaning you don’t have to shift gears if you don’t want to. 

Like many computer games, it’s possible to progress through the levels, upgrade your gear and grab bonuses as you pedal. You’ll begin your journey through Watopia (and the other courses) on board a default bike with fairly standard accessories. The more you ride, the more XP points you’ll earn and the more upgrades you can buy. It’s not cheap to buy frames and wheels, but if you’re willing to work for it, you’ll soon find yourself pedaling your dream Canyon bike. (More on this later.) 

The software engineers at Zwift are constantly working to expand the number of worlds available on the training platform. You’ll need to download the Zwift Companion App to your phone if you want to navigate yourself through your ride, or you can simply be at the mercy of the Zwift gods. Not all worlds are available on the same day, instead you’ll have to choose between Watopia or two others. You can see a schedule of the worlds for the next month on the right-hand side of the World Choice screen. 

• Watopia 
• The enchanting island of Watopia is a popular choice among Zwifters featuring over 50 different routes with varying elevation profiles and distances. Within Watopia, you’ll find three challenging climbs: the Epic KOM, the Volcano climb and the pinnacle Alpe du Zwift. 
• Richmond 
• Designed for the 2015 UCI Road World Championships, Richmond is a short but punchy course with three options ranging from 5km to 16km. 
• London 
• Ride some of London’s most popular climbs such as Box Hill and Leith Hill from the comfort of your own home. Don’t get too comfortable though: the most challenging route is 173km with 2600m of elevation! 
• Innsbruck 
• Another UCI Road World Championships legacy route in the Austrian city of Innsbruck that packs a punch and is certainly one for the climbs among you. 
• Yorkshire 
• Harrogate in Yorkshire was home to the 2019 UCI Road World Championships with an iconic finishing circuit in the British town. Zwift’s version of this course is 13.8km with 245m of climbing. 
• New York 
• Ever wondered what New York might look like in 100 years’ time? Zwift has used their imagination to conjure up a futuristic city complete with sky roads zipping through the many skyscrapers of the Big Apple. 
• Paris 
• The French capital that hosts the start and finish of many events throughout the WorldTour calendar is now accessible to everyone with two courses. Ride along the Champs-Elysees or the Lutece Express to test your strength all the way to the iconic finish line. 
• France 
• If you can’t get to Mont Ventoux itself, then Zwift brings it to you. Along with seven other routes, ‘Ven Top’ captures some of the magic of the Bald Mountain in its 20.75km route. It goes without saying: don’t forget your legs! 

When you log into Zwift, you’re given an option to ride solo or join a group ride or organized event. If you ride solo, you can ride as slow or fast as you want, do a structured workout, or practically anything you want. If you ride with a group, you may be expected to ride at a certain pace. For these rides, Zwift will analyze your power data from the previous 90 days, calculating your power profile. You’ll be given a range of pace groups you’re eligible to ride, depending on what you’d like to accomplish. 

Just want to ride with friends or teammates? You can set up a virtual Meetup in the game for up to 50 riders. 

Racing on Zwift is a lot like mass-start racing in real life. A group of riders start at the same time and the first one to cross the finish line wins. Believe us: you get a bigger jolt from winning a Zwift race than any Mario Kart battle. 

When you race in real life, you typically compete in a specific category with riders of similar abilities. In Watopia, you earn a Zwift Racing Score based on your fitness level and racing skill. After you’re assigned a number from 1-1000, you’ll be placed in one of five categories: 1-180, 180-350, 350-520, 520-690, 690-1000. The more you race, the stronger you become, the better you do in races, and that number will increase. The higher you finish against stronger competitors in a large field, your score can leap upward. 

If you don’t post it to Strava, did you even ride? Luckily it’s easy to automatically sync your Zwift and Strava accounts. You can even compete for KOM and QOM in the virtual worlds! From your profile, just go to Settings > Connections > Connect to Strava. Follow a few prompts and you’re done! 

Perhaps the most fun aspect of a group ride is the camaraderie. You can find your friends on Zwift, plan group rides, and more using a separate Zwift Companion app, which refers to itself as a “remote control for Zwift.” 

Zwift Companion is a great place to plan your next activity. With all the events in one place and thousands to choose from, you're sure to discover like-minded athletes who want to get fit together. You can also find and join clubs on Zwift Companion. You can find rides earmarked for you based on your preferences, fitness level, and any potential upcoming events. You can find out if any of your friends or contacts will be joining, as well as message them during the ride itself. Also during the ride, you can change the resistance of your smart trainer, turn erg mode on or off, take screenshots, and see other riders on the virtual course. (You can do many of these in the Zwift app itself as well.) 

Be sure to offer your fellow competitors some encouragement with a “ride on” thumbs up during the session. It really does make a difference when you’re in the midst of a workout.  

Good luck with your training, and enjoy the ride! Sign up for more tips and expert advice to elevate your cycling game!