In their first ever media only event (aka Zoom call), Zwift showcased some of the things they are working on and gave us some insights into how Zwifters use Zwift, such as when users log into Zwift and who is more dedicated — the AM crowd or PM crowd? See below for some of these tidbits.
The new changes include:
- A new map called Neokyo. The map is slotted to launch in November and it’s supposed to be flat, fast, and full of neons.
- Clubs: This feature will move out of Futureworks (their beta development program). You will be able to create your own club and invite others to join your club.
- New User Interface: An overhaul to the home page aimed to improve navigation across all platforms, including more emphasis on social events and ride/route recommendations.
- Rollout of these features is not clear as of now other than the new Neokyo map in November.
NEOKYO
The Neokyo, a city living, neon inspired map is Zwift’s second map in the Makuri Islands. This is the first expansion to the Makuri Island which Zwift is priming to make into a second hub, possibly even rivaling Watopia.
Neokyo reminds me a lot of the New York map sans all the climbing. The map should be connected to Yumezi so you will be able to go from the rural roads of Yumezi to the urban, neon life of Neokyo in one ride without the need to switch worlds. Excited to see this soon!
CLUBS
Zwift has been working on making Zwift social for many years. They introduced the event calendar back in 2015. Three years later, they introduced Meetup, which gave you the ability to invite a few friends to ride with you. In 2019, as part of FutureWorks and available to a limited number of people, they introduced Clubs.
Later this year and going into 2022, Zwift plans on rolling out Clubs to all users; however, club creation will be limited to Level 20 cyclists or Level 10 runners. This feature will give you the ability to create your own club, your own private rides and events, and invite anyone to join your club. Club creators will even have a link to their event, which up until now has not been possible with Meetups.
NEW USER INTERFACE
Zwift also gave some details on the new user interface they have been working on. The new home page screen has been overhauled to improve navigation across all platforms, particularly Apple TV. Zwift wanted to achieve two main goals with the new home screen: 1) Reduce time to start and 2) make social content more accessible to help foster community and group events.
Top Menu:
The top menu will give you a quick access to the event calendar, route selection, and workouts. On the top right of the menu, you will see the pairing screen, badges, garage, and profile.
Activity Screen:
On the home page, you will find events you’ve signed up for over the next couple of weeks, group rides you’ve been invited to, along with other events. Below that, you will see some route suggestions and new routes to explore.
Event Calendar
Under the event calendar menu, you will see all events starting in the next 30-minutes. You will be able to apply certain filters on event type, groups, or specific events Zwift is running.
Clicking on an event will bring up the event details page and the option to join the event.
Routes
The route selection menu has been redesigned. Routes will be assigned a difficulty level based on distance and elevation and expected completion time. You will also be able to sort the routes by name, duration, elevation, or difficulty.
Clicking on a route will bring up the route page with the route map, XP points you will earn if you complete the route, difficulty level, duration for most riders to complete the route, and lead-in distance before route starts.
ROLLOUT
Zwift plans on rolling out the UI changes towards the end of the year and early 2022. Also, keep in mind this is not a full UI redesign. Many things will remain the same.
Overall, this is a welcome change and I am looking forward to seeing how this is all going to work particularly on Apple TV.
INTERESTING TIDBITS
- 50% of active Zwifters ride on Tuesday.
- Afternoons and evenings are 2x more popular than mornings.
- 5am riders are 20% more habitual than 5pm crew.
- 5am is the most social hour.
- Social activities are 15% to 30% longer in duration than solo rides.
- Around 45% of Zwifters have scheduled a meetup with an average of 3.2 members in Zwift meetups.
- 50,000 community events have taken place on Zwift in the past 12 months.
Thanks for reading!
Great, finally I will be able to make invitations to a group ride via a link. The current meetup and invitations to participate are tiring.
Let them turn it on. They linger too long. Probably they were afraid of losing riders in public events.