Support suggested I shared this here. Posted as a result of getting “bitten” by a 7.5km lead in on the new Serpentine 8 route in Watopia, would be great to see a better visual hint that a route’s got a big lead-in
I know the map shows the lead in as a blue line - but in a lot of cases a lot if it gets covered by the actual route itself and it’s easy to miss. I’ve now taken to always checking ZwiftHacks to make sure I don’t get caught out - but I really shouldn’t need to go outside the “Zwift world” to find this stuff out
What might be helpful is an obvious visual prompt where the lead-in is (say) more than 10% of the distance or climbing of the main route itself - something like the example of Highline in this attachment (where the lead-in doubles the length & more than doubles the climbing!), except done properly by someone that isn’t a graphics idiot like me
It seems to me like there is plenty of space on the right just just add the lead-in distance. This would be a huge help, and likely eliminate a load of Forum posts.
It’s a good place to start, and I’ve started a ticket to ask if this UI change would work well across Mac / Win / iOS / Apple TV / Android versions of the app.
@shooj I definitely think it would be great, and seemingly simple, to add the lead-in distance to the route selection list. There does seem to be room for it. The one additional thing I would like is ask is that this distance be denoted in blue, so that it corresponds with the blue in the map for the lead-in. Thanks!
Is it cruel of me to find it funny/ironic that my wife just got off a session annoyed with herself 'cos she did Highline and hadn’t realised the lead-in was so big or climby
I’d even mentioned this to her when I raised the suggestion on here
I’d never really paid much attention to lead-ins until I got burned on Lutscher CCW. Nowadays I use Zwift Hub for route selection so it’s all clear in my mind before I set off.
I probably wouldn’t call this silly, but the lead-ins to course loops annoy me. Especially when I’m trying to get route achievements. Even though I know dang well there’s a lead-in and that the distance I have to bike to get the achievement to pop is more than the distance that is listed when I choose the route, it still leads every time to me trying to hang on while internally screaming “How much further is it??”.
Case in point, today I was trying to get the achievement for Muir and the Mountain. When I picked the course it said 21.1 miles. My stupid brain was thinking, “Just get to 21-point-something. I’m sure somewhere in there it will end.” By the time I reached almost 24 miles I gave up because I pushed too hard on the mountain part and was exhausted. Now that I’ve looked it up, there’s a 3.2 mile lead-in on that particular course. Which means I may have stopped just before I got it…oh well. I’m not sure if that lead-in means that I have to pedal 3.2 + 21.1, or if I have to pedal 3.2 + 21.1 + 3.2. Either way, it’s more than I bargained for today. lol
I’m sure there’s some reason that lead-ins exist. Perhaps so you can get up to cruising speed before your actual loop starts? Though I don’t feel you need 3.2 miles to do that…
I’m not sure of the ‘reason’ that the lead-ins exist, but the reality of the situation is just that there are limited ‘spawn’ points in the various Zwift worlds, while a route could, theoretically, begin and end anyway. In general, though, the actual routes begin and end at a banner or arch (the one exception I know is the Mega Pretzel, which begins and ends on the land bridge near the volcano). So, when you’re trying to get a badge, always ride to the next banner/arch beyond the distance of the route itself. Sometimes this is crushing (as you discovered today, and may well find again if/when you do the Lutcher route), and sometimes it is just trivial. (When picking the route, though, always be sure to watch the route animation; the blue line is the lead-in and the white line is the route itself.)
Yeah, this one seemed like the longest one I had encountered thus far. Usually it feels like I have to ride no more than an extra mile beyond the official distance of the course. I guess the important thing is that I got a good workout in today. My Fitbit claims peak heart rate for 92 minutes!
I’ll have to make a habit of looking up the lead-in distances when I’m going for achievements. That way I’m mentally prepared for the true distance.
So frustrating to have missed the badge after all that work! My notes from that ride include “Radio Tower almost killed me” lol! After missing a route badge more than once, I found this pdf and made my own ‘badge tracker’ Excel sheet that includes the lead-ins and XPs earned. It has saved me a lot of frustration. Hope this helps you too.
