Published June 21, 2021 01:51PM
Zwift update offers better route badge tracking and planning
Zwift's new update makes tracking progress easier and should help eliminate any nasty surprises with route selection.
Zwift has recently rolled out a welcome new update for its virtual training platform. While Zwift is continually updating its software and introducing new features, this latest update really caught our eye. Zwift has finally made it easier to track route achievements, view route details, and understand the demands of each route.
Zwift users have eagerly awaited such features and until now had to rely on third-party apps or click through the in-game menu to check which achievements they had checked off. User will now see a checkmark beside routes already completed, making route selection quicker for those on badge hunting missions.
Furthermore, Zwift has simplified route selection with an updated route selector. The new route selector now shows the total distance and elevation for the selected route, including the lead-in. The lead-in is the distance between the spawn points where Zwifters get dropped into the game and the actual start of the selected route. This can vary from a few hundred meters to more than ten kilometres, making a significant difference to the distance you expect to ride. In fact, the Lutscher route in virtual Innsbruck features the main climb in the Innsbruck world, 427 m elevation gain, in its 10.9km of lead-in. Quite the surprise for the unaware!
This new info combined with the more detailed route profile on the route selector page means Zwifters will better understand each course.
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While third-party apps such as ZwiftHub and ZwiftInsider offer similar badge tracking and route detail features, Zwifts update means much more of this information is readily available when choosing a route.
Check your overall progress with the click of a drop down menu 
Tracking achievement badges is so much easier with Zwifthub.
Sprint points and KOM details, like those found on the ZwiftHub app, are missing from the updated route selector, and Zwifters will still need to go through the in-game menu to track other badges and achievements. Perhaps Zwift will roll these features out in future updates, it would also be nice to see these details in the Zwift Companion app for even quicker progress tracking.
While this is a welcome update from Zwift, it seems ZwiftInsider still has the edge for truly in-depth route details. With in-depth analysis of each route featuring animated maps, start/finish details, links to Strava segments, XP points details, links to upcoming events on each route, and 3D profiles courtesy of VeloViewer.