Orny's Cycling Journal

This just in, from our “Unexpected Accomplishments” department…

Like many games, Zwift – the most popular online multiuser cycling “world” for indoor trainer users – has always had user experience “levels” roughly corresponding to how far you’ve ridden. Since I joined up back in 2018, Zwift has recurrently increased the number of XP levels, from 25 to 50, then 60, and two years ago they added levels 61 thru 100.

There’s always been some cachet for being a rider at the maximum XP level, a status I first attained in April 2021, when I reached Level 50 after 2.4 years of Zwifting, which I wrote about here. But 18 months later, Zwift went and added 10 more levels, and then another 40 soon after that! So to regain my place on top of the heap, I spent the last five years “grinding” levels, as the gamer-geeks would say.

Zwift Level 100 Banner

Modeling Zwift Level 100 Kit

Zwift experience points gauge

Zwift rider profile page statistics

By default, Zwift awards riders 20 experience points (XP) per kilometer ridden. And if that were the only way to earn XP, it would take 40,000 kilometers of riding to accrue the 807,000 XP required to reach Level 100.

But here’s a kick in the teeth: that 807,000 XP only applies if you started Zwifting today, as a brand new rider. Because I spent time as a max-level rider back in 2021, Zwift penalized me, forcing me to re-earn XP I’d already accrued… at an “accelerated” rate. But they also changed it so that instead of needing 807,000 XP to reach Level 100, I needed 1,087,000 XP!

You read that right: because I am a loyal, longtime user, Zwift made it 35% harder for me to level up than a new first-time user who started riding yesterday!

Fortunately, I didn’t have to ride 54,000 KM to get there, because there are a handful of ways that all riders can accrue XP bonuses and level up faster.

The first is simply to do a Zwift ride every week. You get a bonus (typically 500 XP) after completing your first ride of each week. That can add up very nicely over time, and I’m presently on a 61-week streak.

Another is to ride new routes. In most cases, when you complete a route for the first time, you are awarded a bonus that essentially doubles that ride’s XP. Plus you get a route completion badge in your list of achievements. So a lot of people focus on completing all of Zwift’s ~275 routes. And I’ve done ‘em all.

But for the biggest benefit of all: once a year Zwift puts on a six-week-long “tour” where every ride offers double XP, and you can ride as often as you want during that time. In the past, that was their “Tour of Watopia”, which (sensibly) ran in the early spring, when most riders are ramping up their training. However, this fall they replaced it with another tour – called “Zwift Unlocked” – which counterintuitively begins in October (do not want!). Since these events offer the opportunity to level up twice as rapidly as usual, they’re extremely popular. I usually manage to do 30-50 double-XP rides.

This year I’ve made use of all those strategies and more, as I laboriously pulled myself upward from Level 80 (where I stood at the end of 2024). When I set this year’s cycling goals, I never imagined Level 100 would be achievable in 2025; but because Zwift ran both the final Tour of Watopia in the spring and the first Zwift Unlimited tour this fall, here we are!

Even with all the ways I’ve (legally) gamed the system, it still took me seven years of riding to reach Level 100. And in that time I’ve logged 1,130 hours and covered 33,500 kilometers on the indoor trainer (if I have to do the math for you, that’s nearly 21,000 miles).

I should note that it took exactly seven years, because I timed my rides such that I hit Level 100 on December 3: my seventh Zwiftiversary. As an aside… I’ve done a Zwift ride on every one of my Zwiftiversaries, and usually something a little special. Twice I completed a 100 km Zwift gran fondo; two other times I earned a badge from doing a new route for the first time; and one year it coincided with one of my PMC group rides. This year, the timing worked out just right so that I could reach Level 100 at the conclusion my seventh year.

In the lead-up to that day, I thought about how I’d capture the moment. Obviously, I’d record the achievement banner that pops up, and I also wanted a picture of my avatar wearing the hard-won “Level 100” jersey… But what would be the best setting, among the near-infinite number of views in Zwift’s dozen virtual worlds?

After brief consideration, the answer came easily: on Watopia’s 360 Bridge, of course! For more than a decade, the fictional world of “Watopia” has been Zwift’s primary virtual setting. And while it isn’t the most picturesque spot, Watopia’s arcing 360 Bridge was the obvious choice.

Why? Well, it was added to Zwift back in 2015 by co-founder John Mayfield, who grew up in Austin. It is a virtual rendering of the 1982 Pennybacker Bridge spanning Lake Austin on the Loop 360 highway that local cyclists sometimes use. Since it’s located just four kilometers from where I live, how could I not rep it in Zwift? On top of that, it was a highlight in my 3rd Zwift ride, back in 2018, as part of my first-ever FTP test. Hence it appears in the screenshots at right.

Reaching Level 100 is an immense achievement. I’ve been looking forward to this day since they piled on more levels back in 2022. It has been the primary goal I’ve worked toward for more than three years. Now I can finally take pride in once again calling myself a max-level rider.

Two years ago, when I was a Level 58 rider, just about to reach the then-max Level 60, Zwift moved the goalpost by adding 40 more XP levels. Psych! That was pretty discouraging, so I’m delighted they didn’t do that to me again, just before I reached Level 100!

And before that, in 2021 my time as a max Level 50 rider only lasted 18 months before Zwift added Levels 51-60. That leaves me wondering how soon Zwift might surprise us by adding more XP levels beyond 100. During his popular Thanksgiving Day ride, Zwift founder Eric Min even admitted that it was in the works already! TBH, I wouldn’t mind having more levels to chase… but let me enjoy being a max-level rider again for a little while, first!

In my 2021 blogpo after I reached Level 50, I wondered whether I’d continue Zwifting as much as I had before reaching its then-highest level. I wrote that Zwift would probably add more levels or other ways to incentivize riders, and that’s exactly what happened. So today I’m not worried about losing motivation just because I’ve reached the end of the XP treadmill. Zwift will keep adding more routes, more achievements, new program features, and probably additional XP levels…

And I’ll keep riding, tho for now with a little less obsessive focus on maximizing my XP tally. And hopefully – once I get past a nagging pulled hammie – I’ll be able to close out the year with more outdoor riding, now that I’ve finally conquered the highest attainment in all of Zwift…

For the time being, at least.

I was so proud when I completed all 25 of Zwift’s course achievements that I wrote about it in a December 1st blogpost.

Six days later, Zwift decided to add 42 new course badges, including ones for all their most difficult routes. Sigh.

I guess the upside of having 42 new carrots to chase was that completing them gave me enough Experience Point bonuses to rise from Level 29 to 33 over the course of December and January.

And all that riding helped me reach a new all-time record level of fitness, as measured by a Chronic Training Load score of 98.18… in January!

By February 1st, I'd earned 65 course badges, with only the two hardest routes left to do: the hellaciously hilly “Über Pretzel”, and the tedious and repetitive 11-lap “PRL Full”.

Both of those wound up being “Zenturies”: indoor Zwift rides of more than 100 miles. Since I post about each ride that surpasses that distance, here’s a little about how they went.

The Über Pretzel is beastly. It finishes at the summit of the Alpe du Zwift, an accurate copy of the real-world Alpe d’Huez. But when you hit the Alpe you’ve already got 72 miles in your legs and 4,200 feet of climbing, including the Radio Tower: the steepest climb in Zwift. And yes, I only have an 11-28 cassette and always ride with the trainer incline realism set to 100%.

Although the route finishes at the Alpe summit, there’s no reason not to coast down the descent to earn more effort-free XP. And once you reach the bottom at Mile 88, why not ride the extra 12 miles to complete a full imperial century?

I rode the Über Pretzel on Thu Feb 13. It was sheer, unadulterated torture, taking 6h52m and leaving my legs and knees shattered. The upside: I reached Level 34 and got halfway to Level 35, and completed my 17th Alpe (you get the “Masochist” badge after 25 ascents). Plus you never have to ride that brutal route ever again!

The PRL Full is Zwift’s longest and only imperial century route. It’s a stupefying eleven and a half laps of their “London Loop”, which includes a (comparatively) gentle ascent up the Box Hill climb. But after eleven laps, you’ve actually done more climbing than the Über Pretzel, albeit spread out more evenly. I undertook the PRL Full on Feb 20, a week after the Über Pretzel with a couple easy recovery rides in-between.

It started very inauspiciously. First, I forgot to consult when London was on Zwift’s calendar, so I had to use the World Hack to get in. That in turn meant an empty course, with no one to draft. Considered running a TT bike instead of my usual climbing bike, but didn’t want the climbing penalty, so opted for the Tron Bike: a rare instance where I’d consider using it. Then, about ¾ through my first lap (after my first ascent of Box Hill), I was sent off course by the “repositioning the camera with a turn coming up” bug, and rather than turn around, ride 100 miles hoping Zwift would still recognize the route, I simply quit and started over.

After that, it was just plod on, for another eleven ascents of Box Hill. Combined, the two rides took 7h45m for 116 miles. But with so few riders on course, half the ride I had the special “fastest lap” jersey, and I had both that and the KoM jersey another 25% of the time: a cheap victory, but rewarding. Along the way I also earned the Italy Challenge’s Pinerallo F8 bike.

In completing the PRL Full, I had done Zwift’s longest route, finished my second “Zentury” in two weeks, and finally completed all 67 of Zwift’s badge-earning courses: an arduous and challenging achievement. And the XP bonus bumped me up to Level 35, which means I can buy the fast Zipp 808 & rear disc wheelset.

In the larger scheme of things, I’ve done my first two centuries of the year already, but have no more in-game carrots to chase. That’s okay for now—I could use a few days’ rest!—but it puts me in the strange position of peaking in January/February, with months before the road season begins! What to do? Mind you, I’m NOT asking Zwift to add more course badges... I’ve had enough of that, thank you!

My only remaining carrot is the Masochist badge, which requires eight more trips up the Alpe du Zwift. Not very fun, and not something I will achieve before outdoor rides relegate the trainer to the closet. But I guess it couldn’t hurt to knock out a couple more ascents before then...

But first, some incredibly well-earned rest and recovery.