This is probably a highly debatable topic, but given that Zwift does provide a high level of accuracy around resistance, power, elevation, and speed I was wondering about the possibility of having rides in Zwift count against Strava achievements. We can obviously manually do this by changing it from a “Virtual Ride” to “Cycling”, but this is suspect and would rather this be a Zwift/Strava supported feature. Most virtual/trainer systems do not count towards achievements, but given the tight relationship here it would be nice to see.
I don’t see this happening do to zpower “dreamers” cheating the system. I am a zpower user and my virtual rides match very closely to real world ones, but there are some zpower “dreamers” out there with unrealistic stats.
Plus I don’t think you can change the rides from “Virtual” to “Cycling” in Strava, I just tried and it falls back to “Virtual”
I agree, but this crap happens on Strava regardless and you have to hope its not the norm. Plus, not sure its on Zwift to police it, the Strava community can flag the rides as BS if they look that way.
Also, note the achievements are personal. I am not talking about KOM type challenges, more like the ride a Gran Fondo this month or climb X meters this month which result in Strava badges.
Zwift rides use to count towards your Strava challenges as you could have them listed as Cycling. A Strava update over the Summer forced Zwift rides to be Virtual Rides and now they don’t count. You also can’t change your rides in Strava as they will automatically change back.
Yeah, so let’s get it switched back! The categorization element is actually part of the API POST into Strava (ActivityType). So it’s Zwift that is categorizing them as a Virtual Ride and not something Strava is doing. I just think with their paternership it would be great to see them at least count towards it.
You guys will have to let Strava know your feelings on this. We have mentioned this to them and they say the majority of their users want them to not count. Without many users letting them know otherwise I doubt it will change.
Jon, thanks very much for responding on this. I’m wondering how Strava notices these are Zwift rides and does the alternate handling with the screenshot and all that. The FIT file is pretty stripped of any of the device or sport data that should be there, so curious how they get it.
I’d like see Zwift build segments into their own game and for them to implement more achievements and challenges themselves. I understand there’s some partnership between Zwift and Strava, but that shouldn’t be to the detriment of the user experience.