How to get to your dream bike in Zwift?

Everyone has a goal in their training. Be stronger, faster or simply better at climbing. But when you start riding with ZWIFT, a platform strongly designed around gamification of cycling experience, you start getting other goals. Like getting a specific nice bike, or a jersey, or a sock… yes… you’ve read correctly! A sock!

The experience point system that ZWIFT provides gives plenty of carrots and motivation while riding alongside other cyclists from around the world, even professionals, at any time. Riding in ZWIFT is exciting and fun. There are five virtual worlds to explore: Watopia, Richmond, London, Innsbruck, and New York. This allows a person like myself with limited time to get up early in the morning to get a workout in to achieve health and fitness goals and to prepare for a bike racing event.

But back to the topic. In ZWIFT you can earn “sweat points” for riding in the virtual environment. Their income is dependent on various factors, like distance, track incline, etc. The more you get, the “better” bike you can purchase in the game. And what is important, you cannot buy these points with normal currency, only by cycling in the game. This means that the better bike you see under the rider, the higher the possibility that he did a lot of kilometres in the game. The bikes do give you also some perks in terms of aero and weight capabilities. With a more aero bike, you ride faster, with a lighter bike you climb the mountains easier.

There are also special bikes you can get in ZWIFT, that are earned by achieving some special goal in the game, which you have to choose in front. Most of the people try to grab the fanciest bike of them all – the TRON bike, bo climbing really a lot. But my goal will be a bit different – to get the super climber Specialized Tarmac, earned after finishing the Ride California challenge. That means to ride around 1200km in the game.

Why exactly this one? Because it is nearly the best climbing bike in the game and I like climbing a lot. If you started the Ride California challenge at the beginning of your Zwifting, you will be very close to hitting Level 13 and unlocking the even faster Zwift Aero bike when you complete the challenge. You may have already unlocked it, depending on bonus points and other achievements received. But if you haven’t yet hit Level 13 by the time you complete the Ride California challenge and you don’t have the Trek Emonda either, the Tarmac is your fastest option. And to be honest – I just think it looks badass!

But how much time it can take to get a decent bike in ZWIFT?

Based on that information, we see you’ll need 16000 points (XP) to hit level 10. In Zwift your speed is mainly determined by your ratio of weight/power. On the higher climb gradients your ratio of weight/power is the critical factor in determining your speed. On flats your weight is not a hindrance. Just like in real cycling outdoors.

Riding the Flat Route on Watopia gets you 206 XP for the distance alone (10,3km x 20 XP). You would also receive 10 points for completing the sprint section each lap. We can estimate you’ll get the Small Bonus power-up 1/4 of the time when you ride through the sprint or start/finish line banner. That means, on average, you’ll get an extra 10 XP every other lap – or 5 XP per lap.

Add it all up and each Flat Route lap will see you receiving 221 XP on average. If you average 35km/h you will complete a Flat Route lap in around 17:39, so approximately 20 minutes if you will get more tired. 221 XP every 20 minutes equals 663 XP per hour of riding. 16000/663 = 24,13 hours needed to hit 16000 XP. So there you have it. Just ride the Flat Route at 35km/hr for 24 hours, and you’re in.

So what does it take to reach level 12 and gain unfettered access to the Alpe and the Aero Zwift Bike? If we take a look at XP, Levels and Unlocks in Zwift Ride we see you need 23000 points (XP) to hit level 12. So how do you get those points, and just how much work will it take? Here’s one way to do it, with the numbers broken down: riding one lap of the Volcano Circuit on Watopia gets you 80 XP for the distance alone (4km x 20 XP). You would also receive 10 points for crossing the start/finish banner each lap.

We’ll keep it simple again and estimate you’ll get the Small Bonus power-up 1/4 of the time when you ride through the lap banner. That means you’ll get an extra 10 XP every fourth lap–averaging 2.5 XP per lap. Add it all up and each Volcano Circuit lap will see you receiving 82,5 XP on average. If you average 35km/hr you will complete a Volcano Circuit lap in 6:51. Let’s round that to 7 minutes as you wil get tired on the way. 82,5 XP every 7 minutes equals 707 XP per hour of riding. 23000/707=32,53 hours needed to hit 23,000 XP. And that’s your answer. Ride the Volcano Circuit route for less than 33 hours at a decent pace and you’ll hit level 12.

Then you should have enough “sweat points” to buy yourself other bikes than the Tarmac. Easy! 😉

Cover image courtesy of ZwiftInsider