Loop with about a 3km 5% climb

General Discussion
#1

Spent some time looking about for routes with a bit of steady but not ridiculously steep climbing, a fast descent and a short flat back to the start. I can’t really find anything.

There’s a few gravel routes with the right sort of gradient and distance but obviously they’re slower than tarmac.

I ended up up and down the esses climbs in Watopia doing Uturns but that’s not very satisfactory. Could it be linked up though the desert?

Grand central in NYC isn’t too far off but it’s a bit of a slog.

Just want a punchy little course that gets me some elevation and miles that I can run laps on. I reckon it would be popular with everyone?

Obviously a little bit of gradient variety to keep it interesting but nothing too outrageous.

#2

It you don’t mind doing some manual turns, then (from memory) Road To Sky then u-turn immediately at the start. Turn right at the bottom to go up the Epic KOM Reverse, down the other side and then turn left onto the bypass road at the bottom and repeat. That’s a bit more than 3km and 5% though.

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#3

Rooftop Rendezvous in Makuri is probably pretty close to what you’re looking for.

Also Whole Lotta Lava in Watopia.

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#4

Volcano climb. The last couple hundred meters are a slog but most of the climb is in range of your target.

Box Hill in London…kind of a long lead in unless you do manual turns but the climb is consistent until, again, the last bit.

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#5

Hey @Dave_O1 .

I’m not sure if you’ve seen the resources Megathread but there are a few tools which may be of use to you: Link to Zwift Resources - Megathread #2 🗺

I’m specifically thinking of ZwiftMap.com and Zenturizer, which can be used to search for and examine routes. I’m rather fond of the former on account of the graphical nature - you can “scrub” through the route (desktop and tablet friendly) to see what different segments look like.

If you’re running Zwift on a PC, there’s also the RoadCaptain add-on which would let you “auto-pilot” through a route of your choice.

EDIT - while you’re at it, check this thread: What is the worst Zwift World, and why is it New York? - #65 by Paul_Rayner (tongue-in-cheek title - read on)

I wasn’t sold on NYC but several users pointed out some really good looping routes around the perimeter with the type of rolling stretches you find in Watopia’s “The Esses”. @Anna_Ronkainen had this to say:

#6

Jungle loop but take the mayan bridge and go back up to the start, try both directions, one might be less climbing than the other?

#7

London has some of the best medium length climbs in the game you’re looking for VO2 max efforts. Same with the gravel/paved climb coming out of the jungle, but that’s probably too short in duration.

The Volcano is too variable to enjoying doing consistent effort on it but it is around 6 minutes at full gas, under if you’re in a tough group. It starts off well but the flat middle and even slight downhill really breaks up an rhythm that you might have once had before it kicks up to double digits gradients for a flatish roll to the line. The painfully steep glass roads about “NYC” aren’t consistent enough for my preference either. I’ve done those stair steps in under 3 minutes, so that’s just an annoying world of hurt.

In reality, it would be just peachy to have some more steady 8-10 minute full gas climbs but I don’t expect it.

#8

box hill?