Watts Up in Watopia: Another Two Routes

Zwift’s most recent update (1.21.0) includes two flat routes in Makuri Islands.

Castle to Castle begins in Neokyo, loops out around Yumezi Castle, and then returns to Neokyo. The route is 22.4 km (13.9 miles) long and features 139 m (456‘) of climbing with no lead in. The route badge will give you 460 bonus XP.

Twlight Harbor is a short loop with Neokyo that will make a nice race course for Meetups and Club Events (once we all have access to Clubs). The route has two sprint banners (Tower & Alley Sprint) making it ideal for a points race format. The route is 6.9 km (4.3 miles) long and features only 33 m (108‘) of elevation with no lead in. The route badge will give you 135 bonus XP.

Add these two routes to your badge hunting to do list.

If you are already at level 50, you may be wondering what happens to this bonus XP and should you maybe wait until the level cap is raised again before hunting more badges. I haven’t come across anything official from Zwift about whether or not XP is stored beyond level 50. However, this was true when the level cap was raised from 25 to 50. So, it’s a pretty safe bet that your accumulated XP beyond level 50 will be applied after the cap is raised. It would be a pretty dirty trick if this isn’t the case.

Guest World Schedule


Here’s this week’s guest worlds, so you can plan to earn some of the route badges you are missing:

Monday: France & Paris
Tuesday: Makuri Islands & New York
Wednesday: Makuri Islands & New York
Thursday: Makuri Islands & New York
Friday: Innsbruck & Richmond

Slowtwich Indoors Event Preview (All Times Eastern)


Go to Zwift Events to sign up for these rides and runs.

Monday 100/100 Group Run, 7:00 AM & 7:00 PM
Join us for a group run on the virtual track of May Field that will kick start your week. Join others who are working on the Slowtwitch challenge of 100 runs of 3 miles or 30 minutes in 100 days. Don’t forget that each of the five ride workouts and five run workouts have a short and long option. Rather than canceling a workout when you are crunched for time, you can complete the short version and still reap the benefits of the program.

Tuesday Ride of the Valkryies Workout (Women Only), 6:00 AM
This event is by and for women. It’s an almost no-drop, rubber-banded Structured Training workout, featuring a warm-up, set of intervals, and a cool-down. This week’s workout is Fast Legs / Slow Legs.

Tuesday Structured Training, 7:00 PM
Our Tuesday ride features triathlon-focused cycling workouts written by coaches and pro athletes affiliated with Slowtwitch. The workouts last 60 minutes and will help add variety and interest to your weekly training schedule. This week’s workout is Peaks & Valleys.

Wednesday Group Run, 7:00 AM & 7:00 PM
A more scenic group run on the Quatch Quest course. This is another opportunity to join others who are working on the Slowtwitch challenge of 100 runs of 3 miles or 30 minutes in 100 days.

Thursday Rise & Grind, 5:35 AM
This workout is an early morning bracer for the East Coast crowd. This week’s workout is Going Up Or Going Down?

Thursday SWIFT Ride, 6:55 PM
The newest ride to the Slowtwitch Indoors family, Slowtwitch SWIFT (Strong Women, It's Fun Together!) is here to bring another women's only ride to a slightly friendlier time slot. This ride will focus slightly more on strength-based work so bring those climbing legs. But even if you're feeling more like Mark Cavendish in the mountains of the Tour de France, so long as you keep the pedals moving, you'll stay with our group. This week’s workout is Minutes of Power.

Friday Festina Lente, 9:00 AM
This structured training workout is designed to get you geared up for the weekend. Roughly translated as “make haste, slowly,” Festina Lente features a workout that will get your engine running but still leave some in the tank for the big rides and races you have planned for the weekend. This ride is led by members of the Kanberra Cycling Team as lead beacon. This week’s workout is Threshold Intervals.