This morning I took part in Zwift’s L’Etape du Tour Stage 2 – Open, on the 11am GMT ride. This one was very well attended, with over 2000 riders present. I saw yesterday the first available ride (I think!) had well over 4000 registered riders at the time I looked. Impressive.
This ride took place on a brand new Zwift France map.
I’ve been waiting a good long while now for Zwift to do something new. After stage 1’s underwhelming Watopia France rebrand, I was hoping for a bit of a “wow” factor today.
Did I get it? Let’s ride on, and see.
There are some similarities between the ride feel of Zwift’s France map and their Yorkshire and Bologna maps. It’s hard to put my finger on exactly why, but I’m guessing it’s because these routes are all European, and are all based on the real world rather than the made up computer land of Watopia.
In places the France map did feel like Yorkshire, but it was only a feeling. There were very few re-used graphics that I could see here.
On that front, most everything on this route was new, or so modified that it was hard to see “stuff” I’d seen before. The only two bits of scenery that I recognised were sunflowers (from the Alpe), and bright purple rhododendrons (from Yorkshire).
Cars? New.
Buildings? New.
Trains? New.
It was pretty much all new across the board. Very encouraging, and great to see.
Now, I’ve only very brief encounters with France. I’ve been skiing there, and I passed through it once on a coach trip to Germany with high school. So I’m not super well placed to say “yes, this felt like France.”
But what I can say is it felt unlike any other location I’ve ridden on Zwift. The look and feel was unique to this world.
And I have done video rides on French routes and the buildings did have that French country vibe to them.
There was also tons of detail when in the towns and villages. More so than any other route I’ve done, with the exception of Bologna, maybe. Certainly this felt more detailed than 95% of Zwift so far.
This route started off very flat. Within the first 5km or so I think we’d only done a single meter of climb.
With two laps to go, and 300m in total climb, it was evident that some climbing lay ahead.
I’d decided to take the first lap for sight seeing / screen shots, and then knuckle down and do a more concerted effort on the second pass.
Various sections of this route used the Tacx Real Feel Road Feel tech. That meant the Neo 2 was vibrating away merrily to itself as we passed over bridges and cobbled areas. I’m not sure how this works, but it was a nice touch to have in there. And again, added more to the realism of the map.
There seemed a constant stream of “stuff” to see, stare at, and generally take your mind off the effort. Really nice. A Chateaux here, a castle there, then beautiful countryside, shortly followed by another interesting village or town to pass through.
Plenty of variation en-route.
About 5km in we got the first glimpse of the new Zwift mountain: Mont Ventoux.
This will be 19km, with 1500m+ of climb to enjoy.
Fortunately we weren’t heading that way today. I’m not sure my legs could handle that without a prior rest day. But it was a really nice focal point for at least a third of the map. Looking forward to having a stab at that. I believe that’s in store next weekend. Lucky us.
It’s a shame that Zwift still haven’t resolved some of their core UX issues.
An example can be seen in the top down map overview in each of the surrounding images. It really looks like a giant climb is coming up on this route. And as above, that wasn’t the case today.
Another confusing thing was why this ride took place on the Reverse route for Casse Patte? I would have expected us to follow the forward route for a first time around. That may seem like a small point, but it did mean the sprint and KOM markers were largely hidden until we were upon them. A banner or two to signify the start / finish lines of these things would certainly be helpful.
Actually though, that said, is that even the case on the forward routes? I genuinely can’t remember at this point.
I particularly liked this little stream section. For me, as nice as the Oasis is on Fuego Flats, this kind of thing is much more appealing. Sure, it’s all computer generated nonsense at the end of the day, but I see this kind of thing outdoor and it just makes me feel more immersed somehow.
After this little countryside sojourn we were back in a town. I think a few place names wouldn’t go amiss. Maybe these little towns and villages do have names, or represent some real French locations. If so, it’s not prominent enough.
In particular this second town section was amazingly well detailed. I picked up on several little details in the screenshots that I clearly missed when whizzing by on the bike.
I wonder how well this kind of thing holds up on some of the older tech that Zwift supports?
On my PC with 4k, it all looked really slick and cool. Very nice work.
Whilst it didn’t affect me on my first lap, I did go for the Pave Sprint Reverse on the second lap. Times listed below.
I mention this because I’d barely got my breath back when boom, we were into the Acueduc KOM Reverse.
This is a very small KOM, kinda like you might find in Richmond. A sprinting climb. Though different to Richmond in that only the first half is up hill, and then it levels out. A true gear grinder.
If you muck around with the camera angles, some of these key focal points have special camera shots to enjoy. Unlike say Zwift’s Box Hill, this didn’t automatically display – I had to manually change camera positions. But maybe that’s different if riding this route outside an event.
From the Aqueduc KOM Reverse there’s a short descent into what is probably the most visually uninteresting towns of the map. These white fronted flat blocks are exactly the kind of thing you see the world over (I imagine), and they are a bit of an eye sore.
However, again, this does add to the realism of the route. Something very different. If everything was like the previous quaint towns and villages, this contrast would be missing.
So again, a very nice touch. Variety is the spice of cycling.
And then to bring in the closing phase of the lap, the route takes us through the front gates and around a winding path of a lovely Chateaux, flower fields and tractors dotted here and there. All very endearing.
What lies ahead if a touch less cheerful.
If you’ve been giving it the beans for the previous 15km, hitting this final KOM is where you make up the meters.
It’s only 2.7km at 4%, but in particular, on my second lap it really took it out of me.
One of the best bits about this KOM though is that it’s a visual trick.
The finish line is between two towers. Fairly easily visible throughout the climb.
It’s only when you get near to what you think is the end that it switches back again and you end up with a bunch of extra meters ascent and distance to enjoy. Love it.
From the end of the KOM it’s a long and shallow descent back down to the starting pens.
That’s not actually where the lap ends, however. The start / finish line appears to be about a kilometre on from there.
OK, so that’s the lap. Or most of it. There are a few bits I didn’t cover as to leave something of a surprise for you. Though most of the big stuff is there.
How did I find it?
Honestly: I loved it.
That was exactly what I was hoping for from Zwift.
If anything they probably exceeded my expectations.
Visually, technically, and most of all, enjoyably, the Zwift France map – so far – was a total winner.
On my second lap I went for it on the three timed elements.
I may be missing one. I honestly can’t remember, and frankly I’m a bit knackered from a fairly intensive week’s riding.
I only really went for it on these timed elements as the Garmin keeps telling me I have “low anerobic shortage” or something. So I figured smashing myself was what it was after.
And that was the lap. And the event of the event.
I carried on to hit 50km, all good.
And then from the read out at the end it turned out I had only 1km left to hit the 100km weekly Zwift riding goal.
However I was all wet and horrible, and I wanted a cup of tea. So I had to bid au revoir to France for the time being.
At this point I feel even after a rest day I ought to take my next ride as a recovery effort.
Somewhat frustrating is the beautiful weather that mother nature has bestowed upon the North West of England today, and yet I did an indoor ride instead.
Still, the workout is what matters the most. And in terms of a solid effort, this was there or there abouts. No complaints today.
Have you ridden Zwift’s France map yet?
What did you think of it?
Looking forward to the climb ahead? Suddenly the Alpe doesn’t look that menacing.
