The Zwift effect

Although it might seem like it has been around for ages, the virtual training platform Zwift is still a relatively new addition in the cyclist’s training armoury. First launched in 2014, the programme has revolutionised indoor cycling, creating an immersive and engaging experience that makes slogging it out on a turbo trainer fun. It has expanded wildly in its short seven-year story, and now caters to all levels of cyclists – from those starting out at level one to professional athletes competing to become the Cycling esports World Champion. But where did the idea for Zwift come from?A eureka moment

The Korean-born, New York-raised entrepreneur Eric Min was living in London. A keen cyclist who had made it to an Olympic camp and had a successful amateur career, his passion for all things two-wheeled had taken a back seat as he progressed in the world of business, although he still enjoyed going for a spin when he could. The problem was that the chaingangs of Richmond and Regent’s Park – two of UK capital’s most iconic cycling spots – were a 30 minute ride away. Add in the responsibilities that come with having two small children and Min was restricted to riding inside on a turbo trainer.

Although he had trained on rollers and static bikes since he was a teenager, he realised that the technology hadn’t moved on since then. Everything else in road cycling had changed a lot since his youth, so why hadn’t indoor training come into the 21st century?

With a background in software, Min and his Zwift co-founders realised that there was a potential market for a gamified experience where your efforts on the turbo trainer powered an avatar in a virtual world. After finding a video game developer in Los Angeles who had been working on virtual reality software for indoor cyclists in his spare time, the key components were in place. All they needed to do was create an experience that would get the cycling community hooked.

Beginnings of a Beta

Zwift – a name chosen because it embodied motion and fun – was released to 1,000 lucky guinea pigs on 30 September 2014. Its first virtual world, Jarvis Island, was a threemile loop that featured windmills, an Italian village and 41m of elevation. Named after an uninhabited island between Hawaii and Samoa, it was chosen because Zwift used the GPS coordinates of the real island for Strava uploads – beginning a partnership with the third-party app that continues to this day.

Eight months later, the programme was open to all, meaning that any cyclists with a turbo trainer and the correct hardware could explore Jarvis Island for themselves. Less than a year after it launched its beta, a virtual version of the Richmond 2015 UCI Road World Championships course was added to Zwift, while in October 2015, it became a paid-for programme.

A new world(s)

Anyone familiar with Zwift will know that it’s no longer possible to ride the original Jarvis Island map. In its place lies Watopia – a bigger, better world that’s home to literally 100s of kilometers of routes to explore. As well as madeup locations such as the gravel-leaning Mayan Jungle and Tt-focused Fuego Flats, Watopia is also home to a mm-accurate recreations of the iconic spots, including the Alpe d’huez and its 21 twisting and turning bends.

In addition to Watopia, Zwift is home to a rotating cast of 10 other maps – both real and fabricated – including a recreation of the 2019 UCI Road World Championships finishing circuit in Harrogate, Yorkshire, and a space-age reimagination of Central Park, New York. Each has its own unique offering, and some (Bologna and Crit City) are restricted to racing events.

The evolution of Esports

It didn’t take long for the first community-run Zwift race to take place. On 3 March 2015, when the programme was still invite-only, a group of cyclists dotted across the world added some competition to their virtual spin, spawning a new discipline in the process. Leagues followed, opening up an accessible form of racing for those who wanted to see how they fared against their fellow Zwifters.

Quick to see racing’s growing popularity, Zwift encouraged the community-led events – advertising them on its Zwift Companion app and making it easy for users to sign up – as well as putting on series of its own. This all culminated in the first ever UCI Cycling Esports World Championships in December 2020, which included professional cyclists such as Victor Campenaerts and Tom Pidcock, and was won by the German rower Jason Osborne.

Finding the stars of tomorrow

Zwift’s impact on the professional peloton isn’t limited to esports. In fact, it has helped unearth some future gems of cycling too.

In 2016, it launched the Zwift Academy – an eight-week programme where amateur riders are put through their paces in a mixture of training sessions and races, with the best of the bunch offered a professional contract at the end of it.

To date, winners have competed at Grand Tours (Jay Vine, 2020 Zwift Academy winner), won national championships (Ella Harris,

2018 Zwift Academy winner) and even placed 4th in the inaugural UCI Cycling Esports

World Championships (Ollie Jones, 2017 Zwift Academy winner).

An indoor riding revolution

In less than a decade, Zwift has gone from an idea in Eric Min’s head while slogging it out on his turbo trainer to being an indoor training platform used by amateurs and professionals around the world. And if it has already managed to transform cycling (both IRL and online) in its relatively short life, imagine what the future could hold for the pioneering tech.