For many virtual world cyclists there are enticing virtual gear and equipment to earn along the way, with one of the most popular items being the Zwift Concept bike. This recognizable part of the Zwift world is otherwise known as the ‘Tron’ bike, due to the light up wheels resemblance to the popular science fiction movie’s light cycles.
The Tron bike has real in game preformance enhancements in addition to looking cool. The virtual world stats of the bike are a healthy mix of aerodynamic and light weight making it a good option for varied terrain. Some tests show that it can be up to 30 seconds faster than similar setups on big climbs.
We have written before about how to get the Tron bike. It’s fairly simple, just ride hills. Lots of them! In total it takes riding 50,000M or 164,042 ft. When we first started the challenge we noted that it took 31 hours and 960km of riding to complete the initial climb (one time up Everest). That article was written six months ago though.
So how long did it take to complete the entire Zwift Everest Challenge and Earn the tron bike? For me it took a total of 125 hours of riding, covering a total of 4,950 km in Watopia. Collectively completing the Zwift Everest challenge of 50k M took 7.5 months of regular training. While it can be done substantially faster, it is worth noting that much of this riding was done while focused on climbing, though there were plenty of flat rides thrown in the mix.
After 7.5 months of riding and with more than 49200 meters of climbing I finally started what I planned to be the final climb. An hour an a half later on an incline I had already climbed three times that day, I was finally presented with the screen below. It was an underwhelming banner that carried with it a sense of accomplishment none the less.
Watch out for assuming that one time up Everest translates to the full challenge though. While the total challenge is sometimes referred to as 5 times the height of Mount Everest, in reality it is quite a bit more at roughly 5.6 times up the mountain.
This may not seem like much at first glance, if you just take the time it takes you to complete the initial challenge (which is accurately set at 29028 ft – the height of Everest) you can be off by upwards of 13-15 HOURS of riding.
What Is The Fastest Way to Complete the Zwift Everest Challenge
There is no way I can recommend focusing on just completing the Everest challenge without doing anything else. Zwift has a whole world of unique events, routes, and challenges to keep you motivated along the way.
Even the most advanced rider, dedicated solely to completing the Everest Challenge is still going to spend well over a day in the virtual world. Sure it would be interesting to see how fast it can be done, and no doubt someone one day will post a Youtube video showing them trying to speed run the challenge on a fresh account, but for many riders that will just be boring.
If you are looking to complete the challenge quickly the easiest thing to do is focus all of your standard riding, even workouts, on routes that contain a lot of climbing. That means the quickest completition is one of two options:
Option one: In the past that would be riding the Alpe Du Zwift via the “Road to Sky” route. This is still the best option that keeps you in the main world. There is a lead in that is fairly substainal before the climb though and the complete route will take a good chunk of time.
Option Two: These days the “Climb Portal” is likely to be the best way to get the Zwift Everest challenge done. Select whatever the steepest climb of the day is, put the challenge to 125% grade, and when you reach the top just end the ride and do it again. This also has the benefit of having a shorter lead in before the climbs, compared to the Road to Sky route, so you can knock off extra meters climbed even without doing a longer ride.