The rules are simple: pick a route before you start riding, don’t deviate from that route, and continue to ride until you get the badge.
Note that the lead-in for the route is indicated by a blue line on the map on the route selection screen. The route itself is a white line.
AFAIK, all routes end at a banner.
except The Megapretzel.
(at least. I haven’t done 4 Horsemen, Überpretzel and PRL Full yet)
Right! There was at least one that ended on the way from the volcano to the Italian villas. I assume that was the megapretzel.
And technically Tempus Fugit (and I believe maybe Tick Tock as well) starts and ends at the stone arch, not a banner per se.
I’m finding it pretty erratic too. I did (nearly) three laps of the hilly route and still didn’t get the badge. I must have passed through the finish, surely? I was, for the avoidance of doubt, following the route and not navigating manually. By contrast I missed out on Muir and the Mountain because I didn’t know I hadn’t finished, which was annoying.
… and after writing that, I went out and did one lap of the hilly route and got the badge. Why, if I didn’t before?
Something is/was wrong—you shouldn’t be doing multiple laps of a route and not getting the completion banner (and badge).
Noted, but yes I did all those things, and no, the achievement banner did not appear on my three-lap ride. The one I got tonight is the first I remember seeing appear during any ride, although I have one other. With so few, they are pretty memorable 
By the way, my experience also shows that you can’t use the progress bar to check how far round a route you are. On both trips round the hilly route, the bar has progressed in such a way as to suggest that a full ride would be about five laps, but that didn’t stop tonight’s badge appearing after one lap, i.e. with the bar at about 20%.
When you say “progress bar,” you may be looking at the orange Level progress indicator line (shows how far you’ve progressed through your current level, not the particular route you’re doing) ?
Same happened to me. Did the Hilly Route as a warm-up before a group ride and actually rode 2 laps and was awarded the jersey for fastest lap but didn’t get the badge.
A day or two later did the route again and right after passing through the arch got the badge. Since it’s a small route didn’t bother me too much. Just found it funny I earned a fastest lap jersey but not the badge the 1st time. Chalked it up to zweirdness
Could be. It’s a progress bar but it doesn’t really say what it’s for. It’s appeared to be ride progress on other occasions, but it’s easy to get confused. As D Watson says, there’s lots of Zweirdness.
It’s a level progress bar, which increases every time you get XP points (every time you ride a mile or km, depending on your setup, every time you get an XP bonus, etc). It shows your progress from level (not route, but level) 1 to 2, 2 to 3, 3 to 4, etc. Nothing weird about it—it’s explained in the initial exploration ride everyone does upon beginning Zwift for the first time. You’ll see that at the lower left corner of the (orange) bar is a little bicycle icon with the number that represents your current level. When the orange bar gets all the way to the right and resets at the left, you level up.
I never did such a ride. How do I do it now?
Explanation on that first ride is brilliant if you have a photographic memory, or there’s a button to remind you what it’s for. Otherwise I think using guesswork is a predictable reaction
By Zweirdness I meant the non-obviousness of using screen space during rides for something that you’d expect to find in My Account. It’s not as if your level will even change in many rides. Maybe if you’re on the point of reaching a level, but the rest of the time it’s not an expected thing to put there. If it were, Garmin would be putting on my GPS screen how close I was to moving up a road-racing category (I wish!)
yep same here - some routes you get a time and a PB, others nothing despite going well past the route mileage.
Sometimes Zwift is weird - things you just expect a sports app to have like… err… recording your efforts - it just doesn’t have… but sometimes it does?!
Do your software developers actually use the product?
Im only echoing what’s been said here i think, but i want when i ride a route say a 16k route in Paris i want a time for how long it took me, what time everyone else does it in and what the route record is?
I agree that for me it’s not clear when the route ends. Today I did Bigger Loop (I think) and as I’d looked at quite a few,I couldn’t remember how long it was. As someone said earlier I did cross a banner but nothing said I’d completed it so I did a bit further until I knew I’d done the distance. It would be nice to get some stats like in a race, as then you could ride it again and have a time to beat…similar to Strava.
Maybe a distance countdown like in a race. If that’s not possible then at least a route completed message so my poor old legs can stop! Thanks
Hi @Nick_Jordan
If you do the route the first time you will get a banner that you got the route badge. I assume you have done it before and already have the badge.
I use this site Routes to look at the routes and see where they finish.
Most routes end at a start/finish banner.