“Watopia has been continuously built out with many routes to become a main hub world (and, spoiler alert, it has a mostly flat expansion coming this winter).”
Although “mostly flat” doesn’t fill me with confidence that it’s not going to have a climb in it.
But “mostly flat” could also just mean “not absolutely flat”. Apart from the much asked for, but poo-pooed by Zwift Velodrome idea, does anyone actually want a long route that 0% the whole time? Even you said “nothing steeper than 2%”, which to me would come under mostly flat.
I don’t see why so a vocal few are so against Zwift implementing a flat route. We are not asking for any climbs to be eliminated, just a long flat route added. I am sure it would be one of the most popular routes on Zwift given how busy all the other “flattish” routes are.
I’m not against it in principle. I just think there are pretty credible alternatives and I’d like to see some of the more fundamental issues addressed first.
Make sure you vote those up in any existing request.
Making a long flat route will make Zwift much more inclusive to all fitness levels and could assist in expanding the user base.
Seems this request has hit a nerve within you.
Again, this is a request for a flat route (there are a few on these forums), if you would like other issues addressed make sure you vote those up and/or create a new request.
Paul: Your suggestion is a good one. Another reason why an extended ‘Flat route’ makes sense, is that for group-rides, it is a lot easier to keep a large number of riders with the leader on a flat course (as even minor hills tend to split the pack). This is the reason that even the strongest group leaders (like Tim Bacon, etc.) choose the existing flat courses. Let’s hope the new flat section coming to Watopia soon will be just what you have been describing (and not just another short 5 - 6 mile loop)!
I think I meant more like 2000 ft over 100 miles, not perfectly flat. I don’t see perfectly flat as a requirement, especially with the gradient difficulty slider. And you could still go pretty fast up gentle grades (e.g., up to 3-4%).