Anyone Zwifting this coming Winter?
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So the Zwift email came a few days ago announcing that the free beta period is over at the end of October. No announcement about pricing yet. The good news is that they are supposed to release a beta version of the training component this month as well. That should be a great addition.
As long as the pricing is sensible then I'll be subscribing 'what we can say is that it will run you less than a few lattes a month. And we love coffee.' which sounds promising.
As it stands I'm getting my moneys worth out of the free beta, managed to add a nice 976km on it during the last 3 weeks which is similar to what I'd do outdoors:
Really looking forward to how the software evolvesstill off the bike
Hoping to see you join us in the virtual world soon Mark.0 -
got an appointment with the Cardio Rehab guys on Thursday for a "Exercise ECG test" - 6 minutes ramp test on the treadmill AFAIK which should hopefully get me a stage further to an all-clear for beginning some form of exercise more strenuous than a hours walking around the village...
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@Jakess1971 You are racking up some seriously impressive miles on Zwift! I'm like you, if it's reasonable I'll definitely subscribe. $10 per month, yes, $15, maybe, $20.... I dunno. Looking at the various discussions about this on the forums, that's a pretty common consensus so hopefully Zwift will take that into account when they set their pricing model.
@TheBigYin Hopefully you get good news on Thursday. I know you're ready to get back to it. Fingers crossed for you!0 -
Opportunity to ride for charity on Zwift between now and Saturday:
'We’ve teamed up with “More Than Sport” to help out some great causes. For every mile ridden at our booth this week, we’ll be donating a $ to one of 5 great causes - water, food, medicine, shelter and education. Who wouldn’t want to ride for that? If you happen to be one of the lucky Zwifters who are here, stop by our booth near the start/finish line and make your miles count. If you’re at home, join our Kona112 TT challenge by riding 112 miles on Zwift. We’ll donate $112US to the More Than Sport causes for every challenge completed. To participate, simply select a TT bike from the customization screen. We highly recommend the NEW Canyon Speedmax CF SLX (Caution: This TT bike is fast!). Once you’re in the game, be sure to press “P” and enter promo code MTSKIT to unlock the slick More Than Sports kit. Our challenge ends on Saturday, Oct. 10th at midnight (Hawaiian time) so be sure to hydrate, carbo load and Ride On!'
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I "rode" the Canyon Speedmax for two laps around Richmond last night. Zwift definitely adjusts the CdA calculation based on the TT bike. Pretty cool.
I'd love to do the 112 mile challenge but it just doesn't fit into my racing and training schedule. However, I am planning to do my first trainer/Zwift century on November 7th to complete the 2015 edition of Fat Cyclist's annual 100 Miles of Nowhere event.0 -
I "rode" the Canyon Speedmax for two laps around Richmond last night. Zwift definitely adjusts the CdA calculation based on the TT bike. Pretty cool.
I'd love to do the 112 mile challenge but it just doesn't fit into my racing and training schedule. However, I am planning to do my first trainer/Zwift century on November 7th to complete the 2015 edition of Fat Cyclist's annual 100 Miles of Nowhere event.
Sounds like a cool event for Winter and a good cause, I'd like to see a similar event for the UK.
I've managed one submission so far for the Zwift charity thing:
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I'm officially Zwifting
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I'm not...
but I did have a gentle spin on the Tacx, with the "hell of the north DVD" driving the resistance on the Bushido...
just a half-hour of easy spinning (I cheated the machine, it works out the resistance setting on the rider weight - so I just said I weighed 65kg instead of nearly double that - and then dialled the resistance down to 50% for good measure - it still records my actual wattage etc, but it just allows me to push a reasonable gear, at an easy resistance, and see the DVD unfold in front of me smoothly, rather than being in the little ring, and the screen jerking along at 3fps.)
Ride here - https://www.strava.com/activities/409912093
and a "wiggly line trace" from TTS here...
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@cloggsy71 and @m1xm0d3 Great news! Hopefully I'll see you guys around Zwift soon. I did see on Strava where @cloggsy71 was on at the same time as a buddy of mine this morning.
So what are the first impressions like? (I'm just curious.)0 -
I'm not...
but I did have a gentle spin on the Tacx, with the "hell of the north DVD" driving the resistance on the Bushido...
just a half-hour of easy spinning (I cheated the machine, it works out the resistance setting on the rider weight - so I just said I weighed 65kg instead of nearly double that - and then dialled the resistance down to 50% for good measure - it still records my actual wattage etc, but it just allows me to push a reasonable gear, at an easy resistance, and see the DVD unfold in front of me smoothly, rather than being in the little ring, and the screen jerking along at 3fps.)
The phone and tablet apps for my Tacx Vortex smart actually has a HR mode, where you can apparently either set a target HR or set a ceiling (I'm not sure which) and the app will modulate the trainer resistance to hold you at your target. Not sure how well it works but that seems tailor-made for your situation. Does the older (non-smart) Bushido and associated software have that functionality?0 -
The phone and tablet apps for my Tacx Vortex smart actually has a HR mode, where you can apparently either set a target HR or set a ceiling (I'm not sure which) and the app will modulate the trainer resistance to hold you at your target. Not sure how well it works but that seems tailor-made for your situation. Does the older (non-smart) Bushido and associated software have that functionality?
At the moment I'm really quite content to select suitable rides from my extensive library of the Tacx VR DVD's, alter the resistance profile by cheating as above, and basically adjust my physical resistance in the old-school "shift the gears" kind of way - I don't really care about Speed/Distance/Ascent figures, as long as the Cadence,Power and (most importantly at the moment) Heart Rate comes out in the areas I'm looking to hit.
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Well - I thought I'd better check out what the fuss with this Zwift thing was, and gave it 10 minutes at the end of my "proper" ride.
https://www.strava.com/activities/410785563
What do I think of it...
Well - I'm sort of going to buck the trend a little to be honest.
I can certainly see the appeal for "general riding" indoors over the winter, but for my current situation
a) I'm knobbled to ride at a low heart rate, and hence just riding around at a low speed acting as a mobile chicane to everyone else
b) all the "eye candy" is actually distracting when I've basically got to keep a very tight rein on how hard I'm actually pushing my HR
and
c) it's depressing enough getting passed by everyone on the road, without getting monstered by a virtual peleton as well.
So, until I'm quite a bit further down the road towards getting fit, I think I'll be giving it a pass... Maybe if they get the actual "structured training" sessions together then I can revisit it, when I'm a bit fitter and not so all-consumingly preoccupied about having to watch the HR...
It is rather pretty though, and I'm sure that the Eye-Candy is just whats needed to get some people through a session on the trainer - for anything under a hour, I've never been too bothered - i'm normally hurting so bad if it's a short workout that I can barely focus on the screen in anycase, but for longer efforts, I do know that (for example) "virtually" riding from Sault up and over M. Ventoux was something that kept me putting in the effort far longer than I'd have done otherwise - so maybe the whole "virtual racing" aspect may work in the same way...
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When you take 'Snapshots' during your ride, what happens to them; where do they go?0
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from their help/support forumNote: All screenshots taken by Zwift are saved by default to your \user\pictures folder on your computer, no matter whether you use your computer or your phone.0
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Zwift finally announced pricing via the Facebook page a couple of days ago. $10 for all markets except the UK, where it'll be £8, no contract required. Also, the long-awaited workout feature is supposed to be released this month sometime. Looking forward to that, it's something Zwift is sorely missing.0
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Yeh it irks me a little that they are singling out the UK for an extra £1.50 but it's still within acceptable costs for what they offer and it's only going to get better, looking forward to seeing it develop with more courses.0
