Zwift Course Calendar for January 2023

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Wondering where to go on Zwift?

Well, the January Zwift World Calendar is here as both a table and an image. There’s plenty to get stuck into.

What’s different this month? Well, there’s more of France-Paris and Yorkshire-Innsbruck. So it’s a bit more varied overall.

Of course, you can ride any course you like, but you’ll be on your own. Just follow the instructions under the table below. 

Day

Course One

Course Two

1

Makuri Islands

New York

2

Makuri Islands

New York

3

Richmond

London

4

Richmond

London

5

Richmond

London

6

Innsbruck

Richmond

7

Innsbruck

Richmond

8

France

Paris

9

France

Paris

10

France

Paris

11

Makuri Islands

New York

12

Makuri Islands

New York

13

Makuri Islands

New York

14

Yorkshire

Innsbruck

15

Yorkshire

Innsbruck

16

London

Yorkshire

17

London

Yorkshire

18

London

Yorkshire

19

Richmond

London

20

Richmond

London

21

Makuri Islands

New York

22

Makuri Islands

New York

23

Makuri Islands

New York

24

Makuri Islands

New York

25

France

Paris

26

France

Paris

27

France

Paris

28

Innsbruck

Richmond

29

Innsbruck

Richmond

30

Yorkshire

Innsbruck

31

London

Yorkshire

One question you might ask is why are we only allowed to access two at a time? The reason for this is simple enough. Basically, there are only so many Zwifters and the platform doesn’t want anyone riding around on their own.

That said, there are ways to get around this. For a start, you can launch an event in any other worlds.

Article: 100 cyclists were asked what they hated about cycling indoors this is what they said

Zwift World Hack – Launch an event in any Zwift world you choose

The other is to open your Zwift folder (usually found in the Documents folder – if not just search) and open prefs.xml with a text editor like Notepad or Wordpad (this bit is important).

If you add one of the following tags just after “” the file (before opening Zwift), the app will open with you in the appropriate world. You will have it all to yourself.

 

Alternatively, the other option is to create a Meetup via Zwift Companion. That way you can ride the world and course you want.

Watopia, add: <WORLD>1</WORLD>
Richmond, add: <WORLD>2</WORLD>
London, add:<WORLD>3</WORLD>
New York, add:<WORLD>4</WORLD>
Innsbruck, add: <WORLD>5</WORLD>
Bologna, add: <WORLD>6</WORLD>
Yorkshire, add: <WORLD>7</WORLD>

If you want a schedule to what courses are coming up this month on Zwift, here’s what’s occurring:

The Zwift courses and what they entail

Bologna

Ok, first up, this does not appear in the world schedule. But you will see it in time trial events.

It is a recreation of this year’s Giro prologue and forms two parts. First off there’s a run through the city featuring cobbles.

Then there’s the highlight, a tasty climb up to the finish hitting around 12%. 

zwift bologna course schedule
Bologna has a great climb

Richmond

This is a replica of the Worlds Course from 2015 that was won by Sagan.

The bulk of the 10.1-mile course is flat. However, there is a short sharp climb near the end. After that there is a long drag up to the finish – this is where most of the damage occurs if you’re racing.

Richmond Zwift map

Innsbruck

This is the World’s course (or at least part of it) from 2018. The one that was sadly won by Piti.

The circuit is actually just the end of the route and does not take into account the 85km to get there.

The dominant feature is a 7.8-mile climb with an average gradient of around 6%. Interestingly, the actual route featured a 25% gradient, which is outside the capability of most smart trainers.

Innsbruck Zwift course description
Innsbruck

London

Speaking personally, this is my least favourite course. Probably, the fact it goes past my work has something to do with it.

It’s quite flat although it goes out into the Surrey Hills. It does not reflect the London 2012 course – a massive chunk of South London is missing.

Leith Hill and Box Hill are also significantly easier to climb in real life.

London Zwift course description for schedule

 

New York

New York is an anomaly. I’ve been there and I don’t remember cycleways in the sky – although it’s a great idea.

The futuristic world was launched in 2018 and sports one the hardest gradients in Zwift – 19%. There are six routes with the hardest featuring a 22-mile route with 525 metres of climbing.

new-york-zwift-schedule
New York

 

Yorkshire

Another English course. This one is the scene for this year’s Worlds featuring a condensed form of the route through the Yorkshire Dales before hitting Harrogate’s town circuit.

Zwift has said the Harrogate end of the course is one of its most accurate, with the roads based on GPX data. So, it will be as near as identical to the actual route.

 

Harrogate Yorkshire Zwift map
Yorkshire

Makuri Islands

The latest Zwift Island and set up for the Toyko Olympics (although it’s not Tokyo). This course is smaller than the others – the longest course is under 20km. Although there is a nice hill in the middle.

Paris/ France

Well this one was a while coming. While Covid-19 took away the Tour de France (or at least kicked it down the road) Zwift put together it’s own version for pro riders.

As of August, normal riders have access to it. Highlights include a ride along the Champs Elysee and, best of all, a duplicate of Mont Ventoux.

France

Ride On!

This should be all you need to know to get into the world you want. We all have our favourite worlds but remember if it’s one you don’t like you can always change it. 

Also go here if you are interested in setting up a Zwift group ride. 

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