"Y Stands on his own"- Slowman


Yeah- he's sponsored by nobody ;)

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"There are two ways to slide easily through life- to believe everything and to doubt everything- both ways save us from thinking "- Korzbyski

//they gotta make up their damn mind about requiring power meters for racing.//

+1 for sure. Or at least allow race organizers to set requirements - power meter or smart trainer, HR monitor. Similar to power ups allowed or not, TT bike or not. I know its all fun and games but seeing zPower/no HR podium finishers is a bridge too far.

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tinman

Their plans aren't a match for the TR plans. But if they get that right....

Thanks, very useful. I guess it all comes down to what value an individual gives to the graphics and social interaction. Personally, I'd never care to chat or message during a workout.

As for the graphics, I think that part is fairly cool. But if I'm doing a workout in erg mode, in my 39x25 to keep the Kickr quiet, I get to see other free riders blow past me on the screen b/c I'm estimated to be going 12mph despite doing 300w?

Yes but they are free riding or doing a workout of their own. The map in front of you to show you are doing a workout looks like this

Why does it matter if people are flying by you? You can end the workout and chase them if you want. Zwift is made up of people doing workouts, free riding, and running. It's really cool to see teams riding together in a pack or doing a group workout together.

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Make Inside Out Sports your next online tri shop! http://www.insideoutsports.com/

this is because too many people think gravel means gravel. i acknowledge the assumption that gravel bikes must be made with gravel roads in mind. but that's really not the case. a lot of folks, like gerard vroomen, think AllRoad is the better name.

the bike is an SUV. it's designed as a go-anywhere, do-anything bike, but built around a road motif so that it still goes fast on the road. just like an SUV.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I still think even if Zwift matches TrainerRoad's training plan offerings, TR has some differentiating features that will keep it alive and doing well. It is a simpler, cleaner, less "videogamy" interface, it is quicker to get going and more stable on lower end computers plus it is purposely set up to make it easy to "bring your own entertainment" which a lot of people are always going to want to do. The video game aspect of Zwift is super cool and very useful in the group ride and race context but it is not the be all end all of indoor training. There is a huge segment of the indoor training tool market which is not actually interested in replicating the outdoor ride experience but rather is focused primarily on getting on the trainer, getting specified work done, and then getting off. For those people, it is a workout, not a ride. Not everyone's cup of tea for sure but that "just get the work done" group is not an insignificant market and one that TR addresses really well.

Zwift can be used on iPhone or iPads too. Considering how many people own an iPhone, you can very easily run Zwift.

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Make Inside Out Sports your next online tri shop! http://www.insideoutsports.com/

It doesn't matter per se. I was commenting on the fact that you're not really riding with anybody else when doing a custom workout. The fact that I can see a cyclist avatar and other online riders just doesn't have any real appeal to me. I'd rather be watching a sporting event on TV, when I'm not staring at my power number.

But assuming Zwift occasionally hands out free one-month memberships like TR, I'll give it a try one day. Maybe I'm just missing the appeal and I'll see the light after trying it, like GMAN. Thanks for all the info and screen shots.

I highly suggest you give it a try. I used Trainer Road for 2-3 years and just left for Zwift. I had played with Zwift in the past but stayed with Trainer Road to watch Zwift grow. With all of the features it has now, I can't go back to Trainer Road.

I don't really watch Zwift while using it in workout mode. I watch Netflix on my laptop while my Zwift runs on my iPad. Occasionally I will glance at it before intervals pop up but other than that, I'm doing the exact same thing on Trainer Road but in an immersive environment with other people. It's awesome.

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Make Inside Out Sports your next online tri shop! http://www.insideoutsports.com/

Your speed in Zwift is determined by your power, your rider profile, and the Zwift terrain you're riding on. It has nothing to do with which gear you decide to use on the trainer. If you're doing 300W, you'll get the speed you deserve for 300W.

I think Zwift does a fairly decent job of taking your height and weight and deciding how fast you should be going on any given gradient. I would say it's a little optimistic in that my real world speed on the road bike is probably 5-10% lower than Zwift gives me for a given amount of power (when riding solo in both cases). But I don't see that as being terribly important.

If I'm not mistaken, the only case where you'll be going slower than your power deserves, is if you're doing a group workout where the speed is the same for everyone and I think it's dictated by the slowest in the group in order that no-one accidentally sets false personal best times during a workout.

 



At the risk of sounding like a complete TrainerRoad fanboy, TR has a great IOS app too (and Android as well which Zwift still is developing). In terms of what you need to get going and what device you can access the program on, there is basically no differences between TR and Zwift (other than Zwift runs better on a higher end computer whereas TR will run on almost any computer). As you point out, it is the nature of the manner in which you engage with the program that is the main difference between the two.

FWIW - I subscribe to both Zwift and TR and each has its place in my indoor training. Personally, I mainly use TR but I do see the value of Zwift and fully understand why so many people are so into it.

I used trainer road for several years and now completely switched to zwift. The workout mode does everything trainer road does. it is easier to create a custom workout in zwift and they are getting a better workout library.

If Zwift can add in workout plans comparable to trainer road, add more customizability, and release more content they will stay on top.

Yet I can't run it on my laptop because it doesn't meet graphics requirements...wtf

How old is your laptop? It's no different than buying PC games. If you don't have the minimum you can't play!

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Make Inside Out Sports your next online tri shop! http://www.insideoutsports.com/

Some people choose not to participate in the planned obsolescence model of our current consumer economy.

that's definitely part of my problem - eight+ hours a day of vanishing into a screen to earn my daily crust, another screen for recreation isn't very appealing..

--
Well, the elbows of his jacket
Are blue and shiny
He's drunk and gone to seed
He's drunk and gone to seed
.. you might as well have a good time..

So I'm definitely a Zwift fanboy, for many of the reasons already mentioned. But one thing I haven't seen mention, which I think is a big draw of Zwift, is the ability to free-ride. I understand the value of doing structured workouts, but I don't want to do high-intensity intervals (or Sweet-Spot, or whatever) everyday. I do, however, try to ride most every day. So on lighter days, I like to just free ride in zwift. If I plan on going about an hour, and want to hit say 40-50 tss, then I know I can do 3 laps around Watopia Volcano flat course doing 1 lap easy, 2nd lap high zone 2ish, 3rd lap easy and I'll get that. And that's much more enjoyable to me then just getting on the trainer and pedaling for an hour. (again, referring to free-riding). I can also do things like Hill-repeats, where I ride out to the Watopia hill, do a hard go up it, coast down, turn around and go up it again. Do a couple of those, then finish the lap and I have a decent, semi-structured workout.

Ain't singin' for Pepsi, Ain't singin' for Coke
I don't sing for nobody, Makes me look like a joke
This note's for you..

the music video that MTV refused to play..

I'm not sure this is the most applicable target for that comment. I don't think Zwift's minimum hardware requirements are especially demanding. It's not like you need anything particularly recent or high end. It would be rather silly to suggest software developers make everything scaleable to an 1983 Acorn Electron. There has to be a cutoff. The question is how far back does it go. State of the art video games, when I last played them (which isn't recently), were sold largely on the quality of the graphics. That meant they had to be run on a pretty current machine. It was a computing power constraint, not just a marketing ploy. Were some of the games producers in bed with hardware companies and trying to obsolete older hardware? Doubtful without a very complex and far reaching conspiracy I would think. It would be completely against the interests of software producers to restrict their market like that.
Zwift however, is not restricted to state of the art hardware. It will run on a wide range of pretty cheap hardware.

The order is actually inverted from what you - understandably - perceive in every case mentioned. Dan did a deal with Diamondback for advertising and some other stuff and, pursuant to that, my name came up and then I signed with them. And, in the case of Zwift, it was likewise a case of Dan's interest in the platform preceding my being hired. Were it not for Slowtwitch, I would not be working at Zwift. And even if I were not working at Zwift, Dan's interest in and enthusiasm for the platform would be undiminished.

Now, in fairness, you all only see the end result. And it takes longer to put together a collaborative plan to work with Slowtwitch than it does to announce a new athlete signing or hiring decision. But throughout my career, it has repeatedly been the case that Dan has been willing to go to bat for me with companies that have an interest in working on Slowtwitch. I have been the beneficiary of Dan's long history in the sport and his ability to forge partnerships. I doubt very much that I've given even 1% back to Slowtwitch of what it is has given to me.

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp

Fair enough. I used to work for a major computer company and I get the need to draw a line in terms of minimum hardware/software requirements. My comment was intended more as a response to the 'just buy a the latest widget (without thinking about it)' mentality that I often see with bike-associated purchases, especially on this forum.

Exactly . At that, DVD movies play fine on it...

Ah yes, well that I somewhat agree with!