I can confirm if you’re free-riding the route when selected from the big spin section that you do not need to ‘restart’ the route from the menu to get a second spin, you can just keep doing laps.
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It was a bit silly last year where you could get 3 spins an hour without leaving the sofa.
While that is not possible you can certainly cheat the system if you want late join will take you practically to the top of box hill then an easy 5-10k down gets you a spin.
A choice of routes would be nice though given that to stand even a 50% chance of the bmx you have to ride each route at least twice.
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Yeah, while it’s still possible someone’s going to find a way to cheat it again this year, I’m personally glad it’s not quite as silly as last year.
I understand why it’s fun to ‘game the game’, but maybe there should be an incentive to fully ride the routes. For instance, if you late join you get a spin as it is today, but if you do the full route you get a spin and it removes whatever item you get from the list to make it more likely you get something else next time etc. That way if you do the full routes you will 100% get the stuff eventually but it will take actual effort rather than just coasting down a hill for a few km.
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Stay with me.
The BIG SPIN is about user engagement and driving more users onto the platform. There is NOTHING in Zwift that is FUN ← I do mean this (I have been using it for a looong time now with no more increase in levels, limited number of routes to complete, I have my own club and have helped start lots more)
This event “WAS FUN” but, even that had to be changed because SOMEONE couldn’t get their head around the fact it was just “Gaming the game” and had to have a whinge that was loud enough for Zwift to feel compelled to make a change.
At the end of the day all it did was give a user something randomly, of ZERO value . This in game promo doesn’t help pay off your mortgage.
Keep it fun… forget the reality of this event.
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Maybe Zwift wants to encourage people to completely ride a route rather than just doing a tiny portion of it multiple times.
When we suggest new routes, especially ones with hills people immediately pour cold water on those or suggest put them in “portal”. So forget about new routes.
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Wait till next week on Jurassic Coast where they do finish in about 26 minutes. Plenty opportunity to late join there.
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They could do that by having multiple spins along the route, by unlocking the jersey from completing the ride to make the other prizes more likely, by not having repeated prizes on the wheel… All sorts of options for that.
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You must not have done the event, people were still late joining and getting short distances to finish and/or zooming along at 21.7w/kg.
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Can we have some Big Spin events that start nearer the top of the hour? It’s hard to fit things in to a nominal noon-1pm lunch break if they start at half past the hour, particularly when you add in 5-10 minutes of pre- or post-ride faffing.
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I like the current times, they work perfect for me in the early evening. Good timing to get another ride done before starting these events.
A lot of people miss the luxury of fitting any riding into a lunch hour. 
Late join the 11:30 ride at 11:59 
Sure, I get that. I’ve no doubt that half past works just fine for many people, and maybe better than 10-past for example.
Variation in start times for any given event series would be a good thing in general IMO, particularly for events that run every day and every hour.
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I love the idea that people cheating the system are actually riding.
Eric Zwift Insider joined our ride on a bot to test spin percentages … plenty of others doing the same
Should just make the bike $20 and get the income
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Let’s be frank, the prizes are cosmetics that are useless for racing in almost all events besides Zwift Games, where performance of frames/wheels is neutralised.
Why does it matter how many times someone gets to spin the wheel of fortune?
There’s probably other route examples, but why not use Sprinter’s Playground and have a wheel spin at each banner, of which there are four sprint banners and the lap banner iirc?
You then get more spins per event for joining sooner.
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No! You must suffer for your one chance to win a terrible kit you’ll never wear! 
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It matters because a product manager at zwift has a KPI about event participation and event completion. When this KPI is hit they can tell their product boss that the OKRs for “growing zwift events” are on track. Then the Product boss can tell the VC’s that they have found a sustainable path to user growth y/y which helps the CEO out at the board meeting.
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The competent CEO then asks questions such as…
How many of those participants late joined?
How many participants were using new 14-day free trial accounts that don’t even require a verification email from the email address used to activate the new account, rather than paying $$$?
The competent CEO secures continued support and funding from the VC plants on the board.
The competent VC asks those questions. The CEO job is to get funded.
No one has a KPI based on what % of the time the trees are available.
So my friend who Zwifts but doesn’t follow events etc. didn’t even know what Big Spin was, joined an event (probably the only one he’s gonna do), got the BMX first go.
I just find it funny that I’m probably going to grind for it for the next week, might or might not get it, and he didn’t even know the BMX was something people would be going for.
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Remember you can do it on-demand now.
No need to wait for anyone!
Which I do like, I’m glad they added the on-demand this time around.