The Zwift Big Spin [March 2025]

It would definitely be a nice idea to increase the probability of seeing the yeti, and Sasquatch. I’ve never seen either. Of course, if the sighting frequency is increased, they’ll also need to do a variety of things, because just walking around would get boring. Jumping out from behind a tree/rock/snow bank might be good. :scream:

I don’t think the difference would be made by adding one thing. There’s a stark difference in visuals between the Alpe and VenTop, and that wouldn’t change if you got a 5 second yeti sighting on VenTop.

For me it’s the same with Yorkshire, London, and Richmond–three of the least visually interesting worlds. Compare them with Scotland (even without the 5 seconds of Nessy), far more interesting. That makes a big difference for me.

The thing that make ADZ much more interesting than Ven-top for me is the way it’s broken down into numbered segments. So it kinda gamifies the ascent for me by letting me target the numbered hairpins one-by-one and gives me small senses of achievement as I progress. In contrast, Ven-top is just one long seemingly-endless slog.

That’s much more important to me personally than the prize spinner or a tiny chance to see the Yeti.

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That’s definitely a part of it too. Even if you took those out, it would still be better. But if you put segments into VenTop, that would help a lot for sure.

My Zwift Games race prime time tommorrow…4 people.
Big Spin at the same time…512.

I hate ‘tiny’ races. Short is great. Solo racing…blah. I may skip it altogether.

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The usual thing with Ventop is “it’s too hard” - no rest. That’s what I most hear. Yes it’s difficult, but so is the real thing as well.

If there were a few climbs in between that and ADZ, ie, Galibier and Sarenne (both linked to ADZ) they could be a way for people to build up to Ventop.

I like Ventop but don’t always have time to do it - it’s between 69-80min going up the climb and then a lengthy descent if I choose to do that. Most of my rides tend to be shorter these days.

I hear that too. But the difficulty is about more than just the grade, all kinds of psychological factors come into play too. The very reason why Zwift is more popular than staring at the bare wall of your trainer room :slight_smile: If I’m bored out of my mind, the same grade will be harder to manage than if I’m not. I’ll be more energetic, and the time will seem to go by faster.

I’m not rejecting anyone else’s reasons for liking or not liking it. I’m just saying that the biggest factor for me is the visual boredom. Same reason I avoid Yorkshire, London, and Richmond.

I’ve seen the Sasquatch twice. Haven’t seen the Yeti.

You have to ride ADZ nearly every day in order to see Yeti. There are usually three spots in shows up.

I’ve also heard people saying it sometimes runs across the road but I’ve never seen that happen.

If you only ride ADZ a few times a month, or per year then it’s unlikely you’ll see it.

The milestones on Ven-Top still read a` instead of à, right? I think that alone is enough reason to avoid it, but really it’s the total lack of variation in the gradient that is even worse than the visuals.

Miles? Are you sure? Only 11? I think there are 19.
I thought they were tombstones of riders who died on the climb.

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So that would be 11am EST in the US, but the first event on the companion today is at 12:30, which is 1730 UTC… or am I converting the time wrong. Pretty sure UTC to EST is just subtract 5 hours.

Or perhaps thats when the “on demand” routes will work and give you a prize wheel?

You’re right, the first event showing in Companion is 1730 UTC (GMT).

Which is a shame as I wanted to do one at lunchtime. I “had” to do a Zwift Games race instead. :laughing:

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Of course they are kilometre stones but “milestone” can be used for other units as well and sounds less awkward.

This is exactly it for me. Not only are there the turns to break things up on AdZ, but the constant, prolonged 10-12% or higher gradient on Ven Top is just brutal. At least on AdZ, the hairpins flatten out for a few seconds to let you get your legs under you again.

While we’re on the topic of climbs to add to the game, there’s one in Southern Oregon that would be pretty interesting. 16.2 miles and nearly 4500’ elevation gain. Not quite into the Ven Top league of difficulty, but a few miles longer and nearly the elevation gain.

I just rode it on-demand got no spinner.

added via my list should that work?

BIG SPIN '25

SO here we go “again”… the team at ZWIFT were onto a winner and they changed it up!!

The reason it went SO WELL last year was the fact that people could cheat the system if they chose too. This time around there is ONE course/route and guess what it’s long enough to take the rejoin out of the equation, SURPRISE!

Introduced at the same time as the ZWIFT GAMES - “they don’t go head to head” because one is held 30min after the other…LOL. Once again the Zwift programming destroys it… but who monitors the results right?

Why not make the original - two big spin routes? Having one that takes less than 30min to complete as well as the longer one. That might encourage Zwift Games riders to warm up in the Big Spin as well as other riders not wanting to do 40 min plus to unlock a set of virtual sunglasses.
Surely the Zwift team thought about this and discussed it at a development meeting.

ZWIFT HQ → *** If it ain’t broke don’t fix it! ***

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Not sure, I selected the route via the “Big Spin” section and did a workout, I did the route twice and got 2 spins, so it worked for me. Maybe you have to choose the route from the Big Spin section?

Got the headphones on first spin, shirt on second spin, gonna keep trying for wheels and bike.

that will be where i went wrong then.

I assumed it was like previous on-demand events like Tours in that you just need to ride the route yourself.

Probably worth adding to the FAQ and main post above as this behaviour is different from previous @manda_F