I’ve been messing around with lots of different Watopia Rebel Route ideas lately, but this may be my favorite. It uses Watopia’s most classic roads in a combination that would work well for an easy short ride, a warmup + lap-jersey-grabbing ride, or (hopefully some day) an official Zwift race with a flatter start and a punchy and strategic second half.

This route is simply a combination of two well-known Watopia circuits: Volcano Circuit and Hilly Route. We begin with the Volcano Circuit – the “big ring” that is flat and fast. Then we hit the inner “little ring” of the Hilly Route with its namesake KOM.

One other tidbit: this is the first time I’ve created a “reverse” version of a Rebel Route, because I think the Big Ring/Little Ring Reverse makes a great course as well. The Strava segment is linked at the bottom of this post, and I’ll be including the reverse version in the Veloviewer Leaderboards.

About Rebel Routes

“Rebel Routes” are Zwift rides not available on Zwift’s routes list, thus requiring manual navigation.

See all Rebel Routes >

The reward for your rebel ride? Exploring a new route, knowing you’ve gone where few Zwifters have gone before. And a Strava segment rank in the tens or hundreds instead of the thousands! Rebel Routes are also included as a separate category on our Veloviewer Route Hunter leaderboard.

Route Description

You can set yourself up for an easy first 11km of navigating by selecting the Volcano Flat route to begin your ride.

A note about the Strava segment’s start point: it begins at the white line on Ocean Boulevard which acts as the official start line for some newer Watopia routes. This allows future events as well as free rides to match the Strava segment.

The first loop of this route – the “Big Ring” portion – is the Volcano Flat route. That means you’ll travel through the Ocean Blvd tunnel, the marina, down the Dirty Sorpressa and across the land bridge to the Volcano, then back into downtown Watopia. That’s the “Big Ring” done.

Next, instead of turning onto Ocean Blvd again, we go straight to head up the Hilly KOM for the spicy “Little Ring” portion. This is Watopia’s classic “Hilly Route” which takes you over the KOM, down through the Italian Villas, onto the JWB Sprint, then up the ramp and into The Esses before a fast finish at the downtown lap arch.

Turn By Turn Directions

Begin by choosing the Volcano Flat route, which starts you in downtown Watopia and routes you correctly until you need to turn right to hit the KOM after completing the Volcano Flat route (turn #12 below).

1. Left to Ocean Blvd
2. Straight (Right) to Italian Villas
3. Straight (Right) to Italian Villas
4. Left to Italian Villas
5. Left to Volcano Circuit
6. Straight (Left) to Volcano Circuit
7. Straight (Right) to Volcano KOM
8. Left to Volcano Circuit
9. Straight (Right) to Volcano
10. Left to Downtown
11. Left to Downtown
12. Straight (Right) to KOM
13. Straight (Left) to KOM
14. Straight (Left) to Bridge
15. Straight (Left) to Islands
16. Straight (Right) to Italian Villas
17. Right to Sprint
18. Straight (Left) to Sprint
19. Right to Downtown

Route details:
Distance: 20.6km (12.8 miles)
Elevation Gain: 143m (469′)
Strava Segment
Reverse Strava Segment
See on ZwiftMap.com

Rebel Route Suggestions

Got an idea for a great Rebel Route? Share it below and maybe we’ll publish a post about it!

Giant Bicycles founder King Liu “passed away peacefully” on Monday at the age of 93.

“To Giant Group, Mr. Liu was not only our Founder, but a leader who consistently guided the organization forward while remaining attentive to the people around him,” Giant said in a statement released yesterday. 

“Through a strong commitment to quality and a clear long-term vision, he led the company onto the global stage and helped the world recognize the strength and capability of Taiwan’s bicycle industry,” the statement continued. 

Liu founded Giant Group in 1972 in his hometown of Taichung, Taiwan, making bikes for overseas brands such as Schwinn. 

Liu graduated from a technical high school before working in several professions, across transportation, chemicals, food imports and hardware. After the loss of his previous venture, an eel farm, Liu decided to build a bicycle factory in 1972 when he was 38. 

Giant initially made bicycles for overseas brands, before beginning production of its own bicycles in 1981. It is now the largest bicycle manufacturer in the world, producing an estimated 6.6 million bikes annually. 

In 2013, Liu told the New York Times that he had a “mission” to make Taiwan the “capital of cycling”. 

Liu took to cycling seriously in his 70s. He reignited his passion for cycling in 2007 by riding 575 miles through Taiwan in 17 days. Two years later, he rode more than 1,000 miles from Taiwan to China to promote the positive benefits of the bicycle. 

“Throughout his life, Mr. Liu devoted himself to bicycles, believing they represented not merely a business, but a meaningful way of life. He was widely respected as a lifelong advocate for cycling culture and remained a deeply influential figure to colleagues, partners, and riders across generations,” Giant said.

The London Cycling Campaign (LCC) has launched a new report, titled Broken Locks, Broken Promises. It excoriates the Metropolitan Police for its lack of action on stolen bicycles in London. 

LCC surveyed 1,924 London cyclists, to gauge their experience and attitudes to bike theft. It estimates that a total of 40,000 bikes are stolen annually in London, with 74% of respondents to its latest survey reporting that a member of their family had had a bike stolen. 51% of thefts occurred on-street.

79% of those reporting loss of a bike said the Met Police had taken no action and 69% considered the police response inadequate. Only 2% of stolen bikes are recovered, according to the LCC, one of the lowest percentages of any UK police force.

Earlier this year, we reported that the British Transport Police had reversed its policy in which it stated that it would not investigate theft of cycles left outside a train station for more than two hours. There’s been a call from the Liberal Democrats for the setting of “bait bikes” fitted with a concealed tracker to help identify bike thieves and bring them to justice.

The new report quotes one respondent to the LCC’s survey, who said: “Reported, have the person on CCTV, yet the police did nothing. Not important to them, but it meant the world to me.”

Another respondent reported: “I received a letter from the police that was dated the same day as the theft saying they were closing the investigation due to a lack of evidence. They hadn’t even requested CCTV.”

Then there was the respondent who told the LCC: “I found someone riding my stolen bike, followed them, watched them lock up the bike and leave. Called the police. Two policemen came. 

“I had frame number and photo of the bike with distinctive customisations. Even when standing next to my stolen bike they would do nothing. They said we should leave a note for the guy who was riding it to contact the police when he came back.”

LCC claims that many cycle thefts aren’t reported because the police’s response is so poor. Perversely, this enables the police to claim rates of cycle theft are falling in the capital.

Another effect cited by LCC is that victims of theft reduce or abandon their cycling, potentially adding to traffic, pollution and the risk of road traffic accidents.

What to do?

Rather than just hand-wringing and finger-pointing, LCC makes a range of recommendations for action by the Met Police and the Mayor of London.

Its top three recommendations are:

• That the mayor reinstates the cycle theft task force and commits to a 10% annual reduction in cycle theft.
• That the Met Police tracks bicycle theft properly and enforces effectively both on the street and online.
• That the government makes bike marking and logging with a bike register mandatory, as it is in France.

Other recommendations from the LCC’s report are:

• That councils, TfL and Network Rail install secure cycle parking at stations and elsewhere.
• That bike retailers and online marketplaces teach people about bike security via online and in-shop campaigns.

A petition has been launched to accompany the new report, which calls on the deputy major for policing and crime, and the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police to implement its recommendations. You can sign the petition here. 

Continental has added a 35mm width to its Grand Prix 5000 S TR tyre range, riding the trend for ever-wider tyres for road use.

The new tyre joins the existing range, which offered 25mm, 28mm, 30mm and 32mm widths with black or transparent sidewalls.

Conti isn’t the only tyre brand to go wider. In 2024, Pirelli launched a 40mm width for its P Zero Race TLR range, which also includes a 35mm option. It is pitching the increased widths at cobbled races such as Paris-Roubaix, as well as the burgeoning all-road market.

Switch to Pirelli’s Cinturato tyre and there is a 40mm, 50mm and even a 55mm width.

Other brands with extra-wide road-oriented tyres include WTB, which sells the Exposure tyre in 38mm width and René Herse, whose semi-slick tyres span the all-road/gravel boundary with widths up to 55mm.

Tyres continue to get wider

As Simon von Bromley discussed in his post-Roubaix wrap-up on tyre widths last year, road tyres will continue to expand in width for the foreseeable future, both for the pros and for general users.

Mathieu van der Poel won Paris-Roubaix on 32mm tyres in 2024 and 2025, while Tadej Pogačar, who was runner-up in last year’s race, also on 32mm rubber, regularly rides 30mm-width tyres in non-cobbled races.

Simon reckons most amateurs should be riding wider tyres. The issue isn’t the availability of wide tyres, though, as the examples above show. It’s bikes’ tyre clearance. Although this has increased significantly with the switch from rim to disc brakes, it still lags behind the capability of tyre makers to produce ever-wider tyres. 

This is particularly true for road race bikes, where the extra length to the chainstays needed to accommodate wider/taller tyres and the associated increased wheelbase can potentially dull the bike’s handling. 

Nevertheless, when we asked Glen Leven, team support manager at  Lidl-Trek if the team wanted more clearance, he told us space for tyres up to 38mm or 40mm was on its wish list from Trek for the next-generation Madone. 

The appetite for wider tyres was more mixed among 13 pros we polled at last year’s Paris-Roubaix, with many reckoning around 32mm was the sweetspot and one team even switching from 32s to 30s. Many suggested they’d go narrower for non-cobbled races.

The UCI also gets in on the act, with its wheel-plus-tyre diameter regulations, which would be contravened by a 40mm tyre on a 700c rim.

Plus, there’s the additional weight of a wider tyre, which is often beefed up by the tyre maker, with a thicker tread adding to the extra material from the additional width. The increased frontal profile potentially affects the bike’s aerodynamics as well.

Plus new 30mm Continental time trial tyre width

In addition, Continental has added a 30mm width to its lightweight Grand Prix 5000 TT TR tyre range, which was previously offered only in 25mm and 28mm widths. Again, that’s likely to be a response to the increased clearance offered by the latest generation of time trial/triathlon bike frames. 

But pros including Pogačar have used time trial tyres in road races, rather than the slightly heavier road tyres, so the increased width for the TT TR offers a lighter-weight alternative for road racing too, helping to offset the added weight of a wider tyre.