Feature Request: Add Elevation Gain to Outdoor Activity Sync
Hi Zwift team,
I would like to suggest adding elevation gain (elevation meters) to the data that is transferred to Zwift when an outdoor ride is synced from Garmin, Wahoo or Hammerhead.
At the moment, Zwift appears to use the distance from outdoor rides for XP, but elevation gain is not included.
I think this is a significant missing part of the activity data.
100 km is not always 100 km.
Riding 100 km on a completely flat route is very different from riding 100 km with 1,000–1,500 meters of elevation gain. The elevation gain is an important indicator of how difficult and demanding the ride actually was.
For many cyclists, climbing is a major part of the challenge, and it would be great to see elevation gain reflected in Zwift’s Fitness Tracker and potentially also considered when calculating XP.
I use Garmin to record my outdoor rides, and the elevation data is already available there. It would therefore be fantastic if Zwift could simply import this data along with the distance.
I believe this would make the Fitness Tracker a much more accurate representation of the effort and difficulty of our outdoor rides.
Please consider adding elevation gain to the outdoor activity sync.
Indoor elevation counts toward the Everest Challenge, so it could be a plus for people doing that. If outdoor distance counts toward the Italy/California challenges then it would make sense for outdoor elevation to count toward Everest Challenge and outdoor power to count toward the Factory Tour. I don’t know if outdoor distance does anything for challenges or just adds to the total number on your profile. Some people like to follow those numbers and set goals around them. I don’t feel a need to advocate for any of this for myself.
There is also an argument that outdoor rides should not exist in Zwift at all.
Elevation gain outside could be nice to have counted to your totals and maybe for elevation based challenges, but I suspect it will attract outrage from indoor only riders, so I cannot see that happening.
I understand the argument about XP, but for me, it’s not really about XP. It’s about the Everest Challenge itself and the effort it takes to reach 50,000 meters of elevation.
50,000 meters of elevation is a lot, especially when you also ride outdoors. I’ve personally put a lot of hours and effort into reaching that goal, and it would feel fairer if elevation gained on outdoor rides could count as well.
It’s also worth remembering that you would still need an active Zwift account throughout the summer and continue riding on Zwift. So it’s not simply a matter of getting 50,000 meters outdoors and then coming back to Zwift to claim the achievement.
I don’t necessarily think outdoor elevation should give XP. But if the purpose of the Everest Challenge is to recognize how much elevation you’ve actually ridden, I think it would make sense for that elevation to count, regardless of whether it was gained indoors or outdoors.
For me, it’s about recognizing the total effort and making the 50,000-meter goal achievable for people who also spend a lot of time riding outdoors. And when you finally reach 50,000 meters and earn the kit, it would feel even more meaningful knowing that all those hours on the bike — both indoors and outdoors — contributed to getting there.
Outdoor distance being counted didn’t create a lot of discontent. Why do you think this would? Even a few noisy people are easily ignored in the face of widespread adoption. I doubt they would lose a single customer over it, and they encourage more people to hand over their data and maintain the subscription over the summer.
