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Is anyone else using Zwift?
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 2015-12-20 5:05 PM |
Master  2094  |  Subject: Is anyone else using Zwift?I started back with Beta testing a year ago but am now hooked. I ride at least an hour a day and occasionally twice. I no longer dread my trainer sessions. The workout mode is really nice. I started out with my powertap, a Mac laptop and a dumb fluid trainer. I now use a Smart trainer, gaming computer with upgraded video card and wide-screen plasma TV. The misery of winter, indoor trainer has never been this enjoyable |
| 2015-12-20 8:18 PM in reply to: pschriver |
| 20 | Subject: RE: Is anyone else using Zwift? Started with the beta testing early and got in due to having a Mac. Quarq was flaky at the time and I was using a cheap fluid trainer. Once the Quarq completely took a dump, it wasn't very fun as the fluid trainer made it difficult to have any speed with in the game. Recently replaced the Quarq and purchased a Tacx smart trainer. This makes the experience well worth it. I am not sure I would like the maps as much without the smart trainer, it is wicked cool feeling the terrain changes. Now if I could just figure out how to get air to blow in my face like outside (without the fan sound) I would be set. The Tacx is also smoother than the Nashbar fluid trainer I was using and makes the whole experience different than in the beta testing. |
| 2015-12-21 9:08 AM in reply to: shoff14 |
436 | Subject: RE: Is anyone else using Zwift? I'm also hooked. My free trial expired this weekend and I took the plunge of signing up without hesitation. My only complaint is the inability to incorporate music into my ride but so far I've just been using my iphone and not listening to the "Zwift Sounds" which has been fine. What have others been doing for music / distractions? |
| 2015-12-21 9:52 AM in reply to: pschriver |
Champion 7136  Knoxville area | Subject: RE: Is anyone else using Zwift? I do most of my indoor riding (which is also most of my riding) in Zwift. Now that workout mode allows for custom workouts it has turned me into the (mentally) laziest I can be. I just plug in a workout, turn on the computrainer (now if there was only an in-game calibration) and let them tell me how hard to pedal when. |
| 2015-12-21 10:02 AM in reply to: TXTriRook |
Master 2912 ...at home in The ATL | Subject: RE: Is anyone else using Zwift? Originally posted by TXTriRookI'm also hooked. My free trial expired this weekend and I took the plunge of signing up without hesitation. My only complaint is the inability to incorporate music into my ride but so far I've just been using my iphone and not listening to the "Zwift Sounds" which has been fine. What have others been doing for music / distractions? I use a set of Bluetooth headphones (jaybird blue buds) connected to the same computer running zwift (MacBook Pro). I hear both the audio playing on the computer (iTunes, Apple Music, podcasts, etc) overlaid with the audio from zwift. The only trick is on my setup is that I have to turn on and connect the headphones BEFORE launching and logging in to zwift. Otherwise zwift plays over the external speakers while all other audio plays through the headphones. No monkeying around in sound settings will switch zwift over to the headphones once zwift is going. |
| 2015-12-21 10:24 AM in reply to: pschriver |
Master 2912 ...at home in The ATL | Subject: RE: Is anyone else using Zwift? I got a beta invite forever ago and registered immediately, but then kinda forgot about it as my trainer workouts are normally very structured. At the moment though I am running a lot and only really using the trainer to warm up prior to my runs, so I finally got around to setting zwift up. I am honestly very surprised how much I like it. I do group rides usually twice a week, so I don't imagine adding zwift into the mix or substituting it for group rides, but I do look forward to trying out the workout mode. For the last few years I have written all of my prescribed workouts in trainer road, and then like Chris just let the trainer (KICKR) tell me what to do. The trainer road workout creator is kinda clunky, so I hope the zwift one is better. FWIW this morning I was noodling around in zwift warming up for my run, and about halfway through my time I found myself in a small little crowd and with a draft boost power-up as we rolled into one of the sprint zones. I hit the boost and jumped hard, and promptly found myself upside down on the floor with my bike and trainer on top of me. In all my years of riding the trainer I never had that happen before, so, yeah, it seems like zwift might bring out the competitor in you a little more than say, a sufferfest video. Be careful out there, and if you are going to do a few laps around Watopia make sure you wear your helmet! |
| 2015-12-21 10:55 AM in reply to: TankBoy |
Veteran 976 New Hampshire | Subject: RE: Is anyone else using Zwift? I signed up for Beta but didn't really get a chance to check it out because I just had too much going on last year but I've got back into it and it's pretty cool. They just came out with the workout editor too so you can put whatever plan you have in there and do it. Love the sprints and KOM but man do some of those KOM times seem insane. Definitely a cool new way to keep the rides interesting. If anyone is on The only thing I've noticed is that the power numbers are very jumpy in workout mode if you're not using a PM. There was a facebook thread about it and I emailed tech support a snapshot of my Garmin ride where everything is very smooth on the cadence side of things and they said "power smoothing" was something they were working on. I've seen anything from a typical 15-30W difference when just pedaling smoothly all the way up to a couple hundred sometimes just out of the blue. Didn't notice any issue with TR when using a 3 or 5 second smoothing. Hopefully it's something they can fix because it's a bummer to try to hit say 500W for 10 seconds and have it take 8 seconds before it finds its center so you "fail" the workout. You get the effort in regardless but it'd be nice to have accurate feedback. Funny thing is I don't see nearly as many issues when just free riding. |
| 2015-12-21 1:04 PM in reply to: TankBoy |
| 436 | Subject: RE: Is anyone else using Zwift? Originally posted by TankBoy Originally posted by TXTriRookI'm also hooked. My free trial expired this weekend and I took the plunge of signing up without hesitation. My only complaint is the inability to incorporate music into my ride but so far I've just been using my iphone and not listening to the "Zwift Sounds" which has been fine. What have others been doing for music / distractions? I use a set of Bluetooth headphones (jaybird blue buds) connected to the same computer running zwift (MacBook Pro). I hear both the audio playing on the computer (iTunes, Apple Music, podcasts, etc) overlaid with the audio from zwift. The only trick is on my setup is that I have to turn on and connect the headphones BEFORE launching and logging in to zwift. Otherwise zwift plays over the external speakers while all other audio plays through the headphones. No monkeying around in sound settings will switch zwift over to the headphones once zwift is going. I'm also using Jaybirds (x2's which I HIGHLY recommend). I'm glad I'm not the only one who couldn't connect to Zwift after it was up and running. It was driving me crazy! I'm a spotify user so I'll try run the music on my mac and see how Zwift overlays with it. |
| 2015-12-21 9:30 PM in reply to: TXTriRook |
| 471 | Subject: RE: Is anyone else using Zwift? Originally posted by TXTriRook I'm also hooked. My free trial expired this weekend and I took the plunge of signing up without hesitation. My only complaint is the inability to incorporate music into my ride but so far I've just been using my iphone and not listening to the "Zwift Sounds" which has been fine. What have others been doing for music / distractions? I've signed up for the trial, haven't had a chance for a proper workout yet, only a quick 5 min ride, I love the idea and I think that there is massive potential there, but I couldn't quite get excited about it. I was just riding by myself and it wasn't anything special. Are there different modes, is it more exciting to race people? |
| 2015-12-22 6:23 PM in reply to: zedzded |
Master 2094 | Subject: RE: Is anyone else using Zwift? Originally posted by zedzded Originally posted by TXTriRook I'm also hooked. My free trial expired this weekend and I took the plunge of signing up without hesitation. My only complaint is the inability to incorporate music into my ride but so far I've just been using my iphone and not listening to the "Zwift Sounds" which has been fine. What have others been doing for music / distractions? I've signed up for the trial, haven't had a chance for a proper workout yet, only a quick 5 min ride, I love the idea and I think that there is massive potential there, but I couldn't quite get excited about it. I was just riding by myself and it wasn't anything special. Are there different modes, is it more exciting to race people? I'm on week 7 of the 12 week FTP builder. I found it makes time fly during structured workouts. I tried my first virtual ride. I missed the start and never made contact with the main pack. I completed one lap and received a message that my FTP was up 9 watts. |
| 2015-12-28 7:28 AM in reply to: pschriver |
Veteran 976 New Hampshire | Subject: RE: Is anyone else using Zwift? Are there enough BT-ers that we could do a group ride? Not sure if people are close enough in speed or W/KG that it would work but just throwing it out there. |
| 2015-12-28 8:59 AM in reply to: pschriver |
Master 2802 Minnetonka, Minnesota Bronze member | Subject: RE: Is anyone else using Zwift? I had my first ride yesterday on the trial account - will probably signup for few months anyway. It was fun! 15 miles in 50 minutes. Hardest part of the setup was updating my PC video drivers. What a pain! I bought a knock-off Ant+ dongle from Amazon that worked perfectly. Just plugged it in and it worked. I have my laptop plugged into my 32" flat screen on the wall in my workout room, so nice big picture to watch. I need to work on better audio and/or play some music at the same time. |
| 2015-12-28 12:30 PM in reply to: jonD81 |
Master 2912 ...at home in The ATL | Subject: RE: Is anyone else using Zwift? Originally posted by jonD81Are there enough BT-ers that we could do a group ride? Not sure if people are close enough in speed or W/KG that it would work but just throwing it out there. Wednesday at 11am eastern is one of my normal group ride days, but the long range forecast is showing 100% chance of rain. If that is the case I will most likely jump into the SZR group Ride on Zwift at 12pm eastern. It will be a game day decision for me. Rode with the PWR group today as a warm up before my run - that was fun - nice controlled group. |
| 2015-12-28 12:38 PM in reply to: zedzded |
Master 2912 ...at home in The ATL | Subject: RE: Is anyone else using Zwift? Originally posted by zedzded Originally posted by TXTriRookI'm also hooked. My free trial expired this weekend and I took the plunge of signing up without hesitation. My only complaint is the inability to incorporate music into my ride but so far I've just been using my iphone and not listening to the "Zwift Sounds" which has been fine. What have others been doing for music / distractions? I've signed up for the trial, haven't had a chance for a proper workout yet, only a quick 5 min ride, I love the idea and I think that there is massive potential there, but I couldn't quite get excited about it. I was just riding by myself and it wasn't anything special. Are there different modes, is it more exciting to race people? Check out the zwift ride calendar (http://teamup.com/ks4861763bd63ce3d8/ and jump into a ride/race that fits your schedule, then report back? I am finding it more fun than I would have thought, but when I return to more structured training not sure how useful it would be, except maybe to replace the one or two group rides I do each week due to schedule conflicts, weather, etc. |
| 2015-12-29 7:41 AM in reply to: TankBoy |
Veteran 976 New Hampshire | Subject: RE: Is anyone else using Zwift? Wow, that's a great calendar showing everything. I've been using their Facebook page to try and find a ride that fits my schedule. I've got two other people at work on the free trial so I'm hoping to get something going in the near future. |
| 2015-12-29 2:58 PM in reply to: jonD81 |
Master 2094 | Subject: RE: Is anyone else using Zwift? I have also been going to http://www.zwiftnation.com/ Seems to be more training races than group rides but the races are a virtual blast. |
| 2015-12-31 9:17 AM in reply to: pschriver |
| 4 | Subject: RE: Is anyone else using Zwift? So how does everone like the new scenic route expansion? |
| 2015-12-31 10:06 AM in reply to: alfonso132 |
Veteran 976 New Hampshire | Subject: RE: Is anyone else using Zwift? I like the idea that they can just add something like that. No clue how long it took to design the whole thing but it's nice to see things constantly being updated. It's a nice flat drag which will be good for flying through I'm sure. I've only done one lap so far. |
| 2015-12-31 11:44 AM in reply to: jonD81 |
| 20 | Subject: RE: Is anyone else using Zwift? I love the variety of the two maps but hope that Zwift team adds a couple more. With the workout, does it use the watopia map? |
| 2015-12-31 1:30 PM in reply to: losyork |
Regular 606 Portland, Oregon | Subject: RE: Is anyone else using Zwift? Originally posted by losyork I love the variety of the two maps but hope that Zwift team adds a couple more. With the workout, does it use the watopia map? Workouts use whichever is the current map-of-the-day. For a little added spice, they just added an alternate route on watopia island. Using the arrow keys or the app, you can opt to go one way or the other. |
| 2015-12-31 4:05 PM in reply to: dfroelich |
Master 2094 | Subject: RE: Is anyone else using Zwift? I'm not sure I like the dirt road. I find myself squinting my eyes and holding my breath if the rider in front of me kicks up a dust cloud. |
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