With the Rapha 100 km Challenge coming up September 5-6, what course would you select to ride 100 km?
Lately, I have been doing laps around Montmartre. It’s busy and I like doing laps. I’ve done Four Horsemen and I don’t want to repeat that or the PRL. No big climbs! Watopia Figure Eight is an old favorite. Jarvis? No. Tempus? Too boring, even when it is filled with riders.
Official Rapha Link: Rapha 100 Rides
2x The Big Ring
Since it is not limited to Zwift only, I will just do my normal 100km/1250m+ outside ride. The Rapha clubhouse here often does most of the same loop - if they are out at the same time I’ll join them for a bit. It’s on lovely wide cycleways as well.
100km on Zwift is quite boring in comparison to being on a real bike outside.
But if I had to do it on Zwift, that would be Tempus Fugit with Constance group (if possible) and with some fast folks at the front pushing the pace to 45km/h average to get it out of the way as fast as possible. That would be a last resort.
For me it’s either The Big Ring or Tempus Fugit laps. I’ve done ~170km on Tempus Fugit a couple of times.
1.5 sacrebleu on TT bike for plenty of 10XP bonuses
Maybe..the Big Ring for one lap, then reverse for the second lap. That’s about 100.
Wish we had a formal reverse option for routes.
Like classic racing video games; it may seem surface level ‘cheap’, but the reality is there are so many routes that can be enjoyed backwards as well that it’s a shame it’s not really a thing; one of those weird things you think is a gimmick, but you really miss it if you don’t have it.
We have a [very small selection of] reverse routes, but it’s a shame we can’t have a proper reverse option for all looping routes.
Seaside sprint for example is a route I use on Maple Shots sprint ride which is esses to JWB down dirty sorpresa, and into the volcano arch and back around.
I WISH we had a reverse of that route; really among just about anything else. It might seem surface level cheap to say “we’ve doubled the routes” by having a reverse option, but at the same time… we’re so limited by not having it.
And the reality is, for looping routes, there is in fact zero reason why it can’t exist.
Most routes do have a reverse. I know there are a few that don’t but I can’t remember which ones do not? I ride a lot of reverse routes.
Yeah I’ve rode this a few times and enjoyed it. Probably prefer Big Ring in reverse, actually!
Eastern Eight x2 is a good one. Only a little lumpy and easy to break into sections to pass the time e.g. desert/titan’s/tunnels/desert etc.
Less than you think. Of the 217 routes in Zwift that are looping, only 27 of them have a reverse choice.
That’s a huge discrepancy.
(Technically the 217 is wrong because we know at least one of the new Paris routes is supposed to be loopable but is set to FALSE).
There are a few that have a reverse that isn’t named reverse, but that only increases the numbers a little. The picture remains the same.
Now I am curious. Whats better on the reverse ?
The one I mention which, doesn’t have a reverse, Seaside Sprint, but would be on a technical level superior for group rides which is why I bring it up.
After the sprint it forces the sprinters uphill so groups can regroup.
Technically on a points race that would make it superior as well because it forces the sprinters to keep going, after an already decently long sprint.
Paul is correct though I only searched for routes that have reverse in the name. There’s a very small handful that don’t use reverse, like Champs and Lutece for example among a few on Yorkshire but… yeah, fact remains, that gap is huge.
Personally I feel like a reverse box would be better for code anyways, versus having a massive list of routes.
Another route CC likes to run for their 100k ride is Zwift Games 2024 route, which I think would also be a good one in reverse.
I think Big Ring in reverse would be probably worse for many more users due to the steep island climbs. However, it would be a nice changeup.
Sugar Cookie in reverse would be nice; and would probably be preferred due to the island/bridge climb and swapping that to Jungle as the climb.
Queue the people saying Road to Sky reverse would be superior 
I prefer Ven-Top
I’ve ridden a lot of them, just make a U-turn at the start for loop rides. Eric usually includes them but a few exist without links on ZI, just on Strava.
Making a U-turn doesn’t guarantee that you follow the route in reverse
There are already pens at the top, and creating a downhill route would make it so much easier for some big distance riders to “rest their legs” on the downhill instead of having to wait for their friends to ride to the top and then teleport across.
Specifically though this would be a huge expansion moment for group rides where we are forced with what we’re given.
It’s hard to say if this should be on a technical level extremely easy, because the differences between some of the routes in say France that are reverses of each other don’t totally seem to add up.
Regardless… the foresight to reverse routes early on in development would’ve been a great feature, and saved a lot of effort.
always found the Mario Kart mirror/ reverse routes the best version of a route.
just reverse the turn sort order on the route table 
(order by route_turn_ID desc) lol prob not SQL