Zwifting

02/09/25 20:31 Filed in: Riding

A few years ago Wahoo purchased the online trainer interface program RGT. Current subscribers to either the Wahoo system or RGT got access to both. RGT didn't have many rides, but the Stelvio Pass in Italy was a good one. Wahoo pulled the pin rather than develop it, and put all their efforts into the System. As compensation to everyone with a subscription, they offered us a free year of Zwift.
In case you don't know, System training is always over a set profile. Most have a video that typically comes from pro racing too. So entirely different to the Zwift free riding experience. With the free riding experience of RGT gone, Zwift was an excellent substitution.
I had used Zwift back when I did a massive smart trainer review article that involved me testing out around 8 different smart trainers. I subscribed to Zwift to test them all in a popular environment. When I had my account resurrected, I still had all the experience and items I left behind a few years prior. (As you ride in Zwift, you get experience points - like many games - and can qualify for upgrades like better bikes, different jerseys, socks and gloves and so on.)
I continued to pay for Wahoo's System, but rode only in Zwift. As I approached the end date of my freebie from Wahoo, I cancelled my Zwift subscription. But I was granted almost 18 months more (can't explain that). The final date was in August. And now it's gone. I will return to System - they've added many new rides and I enjoy the yoga practice offered - but I will miss Zwift.
Zwift has added the climb portal. People wanted an iconic climb, so they mapped and added Alpe d'Huez under the name Alpe du Zwift. It is guarded by a forcefield until you achieve a particular level (maybe 8 - not a high one). Even though it is set on a small island in the Pacific Ocean, it is exactly like l'Alpe d'Huez. But there is a lot of work in reproducing an iconic climb. The climb portal allows Zwift to offer lots of new climbs without that effort. Climbs in the portal and not rendered. The climb itself is an exact replica of the actual climb, but without any scenery at all. The road is coloured to indicate the slope of the road at any given moment. You can see all the other cyclists around you. But the sky is a starry night sky and there is no ground around the climbing road. During the Tour this year, there were four famous French climbs that would be tackled by the peloton this year, inside the climb portal. Riding one gets you a commemorative Tour jersey to wear in virtual life. Doing all 4 unlocks a little devil cap in honour of Didi Senft, the guy dressed like the devil while appearing roadside at the Tour for around 20 years.
My first time on Zwift there were about 3 locations to ride in. One per day was chosen by the program and you could override that choice by writing a bit of autoexec code. Now there are numerous locales to ride in and 3 are active at any one time. I don't think the code thing works any more. Pretty much everything about Zwift has gotten bigger and better in the 10 or so years since I first tried it out. More roads, more locations, running (free too), dinosaurs at the side of the road, more bikes, more challenges, more jerseys - I got a pair of S-Works shoes on my last ride. Most of all I notice the crowds. Thousands of cyclists riding around in the virtual world at any time, instead of tens.

I still want to try Zwift with a Kickr Climb device (it alters the height of the front wheel to correspond to the slope of the terrain). And I would like to achieve the Tron style bike (100,000 m of climbing might be the way to unlock that, yet I'm at 15,000 m and have a LONG way to go still).

I could run two subscriptions, and if I rode indoors more often than I do it might even make sense. With only 20 or so indoor rides per year, I don't need two options. And with the yoga option from Wahoo, I'm not ready to give up that option.

If you haven't tried Zwift and have a trainer, I suggest you try it out. It really is well done.

Michael Hanslip Coaching

If you want to go faster, you have to pedal harder

Zwifting