Ride The Grade: 5 Things to Know About Zwift's The Grade Expansion

In this video, I'll cover the top 5 things you need to know about Zwift’s latest expansion, The Grade.

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[mathewrose]

Totally happy to have new routes. I only got the update today, but I rode the Snowman route and really enjoyed seeing it was a vey doable 75 minutes as a solo rider. With the FTP section of the Grade, though, it would be nice in a future update to have a “I’m not testing” button for those just free riding one of the new routes that includes the grade

[Andi_ch]

people clearly can't have any normal joy anymore...
just be happy Zwift is evolving, adding routes and getting better and better (although more expensive...)

if you don't like it, don't ride it... stop complaining

[JanMoog]

Great advice to set trainer settings on Zwift to 50% thank you for this 🙂

[patrickflanagan]

So many negative comments . I for one are happy to test my FTP standing and then seated, I'll bet it's a massive difference. Go Zwift !!

[MattSwain]

(Having not ridden it yet) I suppose my observation would be that the flatter sections seem like an unnecessary complication during a max effort ride - you could end up with a worse result due a lapse in concentration rather than bad legs (and noticeable that it’s still got the terrible upcoming gradient graphic which doesn’t help any). Will try it for sure but think I prefer the idea of the ramp test where I don’t need to think and pedal!

[WowRixter]

Similar to AdZ, do the switchbacks level out a bit or is the gradient constant throughout?

[aerowilly]

Thanks for the video. Done the Grade climb twice now and I honestly think it overestimates your FTP..The usual FTP test protocol is a full 20 minute max effort but this is preceded by a five minute max effort to take the edge off your anaerobic power. At the end of the 20 minutes, you then take 95% of your average power as your ftp.. The grade FTP based on my numbers today is giving exactly 95% of my average power on the climb. But since the Grade climb will for some riders be much less than 20 minutes and doesn’t include any 5 minute max effort before the climb, I just don’t see how still using 95% of that power as your FTP can be a valid equivalent to the normal FTP test protocol.

[cyclo]

25 km a month on zwift is enough for me for now been using IV for racing and MW for training

[dna]

The flat bit looks a bot annoying. My bike is a bit knackered and struggles to shift the front ring which I'll need for the flat bit. Shame they are locking virtual shifting to the new Kickr firmwares (even though IndieVelo has it for any smart trainer - I guess the Wahoo-Zwift partnership has some

[donwinston]

Trainer difficulty? No! Don't be a wimp. I assume there is a proper warm up before the climb starts and the evaluation begins? Can I find it in the Watopia list of routes as "The Grade"?

[ricardorusso]

it's a shame they opted to make it so obviously fake/videogame like. I preffer when zwift looks and feels closer to real world roads, but sadly for me this just looks like nothing in real life

[Roy-uddb]

Who does ftp tests? it's 2024, not 1994. 33% increase, no more.