When I first joined Zwift back in January 2019, I never thought that I would one day be at the max level in Zwift, let alone get there only 2 1/2 years after joining. I remember the days when I was so proud of riding over 70 miles of week, hitting 300 watts, setting a new FTP. Over the years my FTP has gone from under 90 watts to 132 watts. This goes to show how much I have improved, and that if you work hard at a sport, you can improve a ton. Over the years I have learned tons of new things about Zwift, most of which you can find on my website. Some of my biggest takeaways over the years are, don’t do FTP tests, do hard races like Crit City, it is a lot much easier mentally. There will also be times when you don’t feel like you are making progress, or not feeling like riding. That is completely normal. If you are starting to get bored of Zwift or losing motivation, take a break, try a race, or find an achievement do try to achieve. Being one of the first kids to reach level 50 in Zwift is a huge achievement for me. Those of you who are working at it, keep pushing and you will eventually get there. I never thought that I would soon be creating a website, creating events for kids, or be a B category Zwift racer. It is very exciting for me to be one of the first kids to be at level 50 in Zwift. My total distance was 14,000 miles with over 600,000 ft of climbing.
Many of you who are reading this probably follow me and have given me a ride on before. Ride ons are very motivating in Zwift, they keep me going. There are lots of hidden badges in Zwift that give XP. There are also lots of ways to gain XP faster. A lot of articles say to switch to the Metric system but since I am used to miles, it is way too confusing for me. I found that doing workouts up the alpe, getting nearly all of the achievements, and doing new routes are the best way for me to gain XP faster.
The pandemic and Covid definitely helped give me more time to ride and race. School was much shorter, less homework, and I couldn’t really do anything outside of the house. For me, the tron bike was probably my biggest motivation to keep riding and climbing, after that, trying to level up to get new bikes and more drops. I am a big fan of the drop shop and the most drops I ever had was just over 2 million because I was constantly buying new bikes.
My Zwift setup has also changed a ton over the past 2 years. At first I rode on my dads Wahoo Kickr, then I got my own trainer, a Tacx Vortex which we used for over 15,000 miles, for almost a year, our house was being remodeled and I rode in our grandparents garage.
For the final ride to get to level 50, I did 2 alpes, a workout up each. The first time up with a harder workout and the second just a relaxing workout. My dad joined me for the first Alpe but had to go on the second. After the first alpe my legs were dead, but I kept going to level 50. I got the Masochist badge on the 1st time up and 250XP from the spinning wheel. On the 2nd Alpe I got wheels which pushed me just over to level 50. My family was there to cheer me on and encourage me. Level 50 is the greatest cycling achievement for me so far. Thanks for reading and if you work hard, you will get to level 50 at some point. Look out for a video of how I got to level 50! Look out for an exclusive video on how I got to level 50.
