Zwift Gravel Mountain: New Map, Race Chaos, Summer Plans
On 6 April 2026 Zwift shipped something the gravel crowd had been waiting years for, Gravel Mountain, the platform’s first map built exclusively for gravel bikes. No tarmac. No road sections. Just gravel, canyons and red rock.
The route is a 2.1 km loop set in a desert landscape inspired by American red rock country. Wide roads, banked corners and rocky medians finally give gravel its own identity on Zwift, instead of treating it as road cycling’s odd cousin.
Gravel Mountain is a standalone Zwift world, built from scratch and not tied to any existing map. It is event-only, meaning you cannot ride it in free ride mode. Riding it needs nothing beyond an active Zwift subscription, no extra fees.
A launch with fanfare, and bugs
The map launched alongside the PAS Racing Series, a four-stage gravel race series run with the Danish brand Pas Normal Studios, scheduled from 6 April to 3 May. Races ran hourly, around the clock, split into groups by Zwift Racing Score. The series used routes on Gravel Mountain plus an additional new gravel route in the separate Makuri Islands world.
The problem: day one turned into a mess.
Riders were seen on stream with avatars flying at over 60 km/h on gravel. Cyclists clipped through rocks, barriers and a parked van at the finish line. Zwift was logging distances wildly out of line with Strava. Speeds were multiples of what they should have been.
Some users reported nausea, the camera swung so violently that riding it induced motion sickness. The Zwift forums lit up within minutes. The community was united in demanding the route be pulled from the series.
Zwift responds: route pulled
Zwift made an unprecedented call and pulled Red Rock Loop from the PAS Racing Series after just one day. Stage 1 was replaced with the Jungle Circuit route in Watopia. Stage 4, which was due to use Red Rock Loop Reverse, was also swapped, for Serpentine 8, also in Watopia.
Gravel Mountain remains available for events, but it is out of the PAS series. The map is still event-only and not available in free ride. Zwift promised fixes but gave no firm date for the route’s return to competition.
Paris grows: Sacré-Cœur and cobbles
The better news is about the Paris map. On 26 June 2026 Zwift is adding 13 km of new tarmac and cobbles, including the iconic climb under Sacré-Cœur, the same one that featured at the 2025 Tour de France and the 2024 Paris Olympics. Riders get a cobbled climb with a KOM finish by the basilica, 3 new sprint segments and more than 10 additional routes.
New gear: 18 frames and 13 wheelsets
The Drop Shop is getting a solid injection of gravel kit. A total of 18 new framesets (gravel, road, TT) and 13 wheelsets (in 700c and 650b) are landing on the platform through spring and summer. The first batches are already out, focused on gravel, with road and TT variants to follow.
Beyond Level 100: the cap is gone
If you have been stuck at level 100 for months, collecting XP that went nowhere, that is over. As of April, the cycling level cap has been removed, and hundreds more levels are now there to unlock. Riders who had already passed level 100 get an orange stripe next to their name, a new Zwift veteran badge. Running got a bump too, from 30 to 50 levels.
Training moves outdoors
Zwift is finally acknowledging that summer means riding outside, and building that into the platform. Zwift Camp: Breakthrough is a set of five workouts (available from 6 April to 17 May) that prepares riders for the outdoor season, covering fitness, technique, stability and bike handling.
From late April, the Companion App gets weekly planning, letting you schedule routes, workouts, events and challenges for the coming seven days. Over summer, hybrid indoor-outdoor challenges launch, requiring a connected Wahoo, Garmin or Hammerhead account.
For autumn 2026, Zwift is also planning Garmin Index scale syncing, automatic body weight updates straight from the scale.
What does this mean for triathletes?
Gravel Mountain by itself does not change the training picture for triathletes, it is a niche event-only map. But the whole spring and summer package shows a clear direction: Zwift wants to be the bridge between the trainer and the road. Weekly planning, hybrid challenges and outdoor data import are tools that genuinely help during the shift from winter training to race season.
Removing the level 100 cap gives a fresh motivation boost to anyone who has logged thousands of kilometres on the trainer. And the expanded Paris map makes for a beautiful backdrop for sweet spot and tempo rides.
It is a shame that the Gravel Mountain launch, instead of a celebration for the gravel community, turned into a lesson in software testing. Zwift has promised fixes.
The next piece of the same puzzle is Zwift’s $1,195 Watch That Measures Nothing. When the training is ready for a start line, Racelify lists cycling events.