The Indoor Cyclist's support thread

1speed said:
I disagree. But it's probably fair to say that what I am buying is very different than what you are buying here. I'm not looking for a rich online experience or anything like that. You may be right from a tech point of view in all the things you say they should be doing. But those aren't things I care about, and they're certainly not what I'm paying for. I'm paying for the fact that it's a way to use a trainer that doesn't suck and gives me a good workout. And I'd argue that there are a lot more people using Zwift who think like I do on this one than think like you do. And if it's fair to say that our two different perspectives on what we should get for our money define distinct groups of users, me representing one and you the other, I'd probably say that Zwift isn't made for you - it's made for me.

So, like I said, if you think this is inadequate for what you are looking for, develop your own. And don't get me wrong - I'm not trying to be antagonistic in saying that. You may be recognizing an under-served part of the market here. Personally, I doubt it -- I think the expense to create what you are talking about is unnecessary given your audience (it's still cyclists we're talking about here - we want to suffer first and foremost. Whether that suffering takes place in a limited virtual universe or one so richly developed that it becomes almost indistinguishable from reality, it's still the suffering part we are after.) But who knows? There may be an audience. I'll bet when the guys first started developing Zwift as it is, there were many purists who didn't understand why it was better than just reaching down and turning the knob on their fluid trainer to make it harder. I think to reach a level that you are talking about would be prohibitively expensive and would require a charge a lot higher than $15/month given the upper limit on how many users you could draw in - at least initially. But if you could do all that development and convince enough users to abandon what they have now for the step up you are offering without going broke, your idea would probably eventually put Zwift on the trash heap of history. But that seems to me like a really long road to hoe and for most of us, Zwift is good enough now that we wouldn't feel any need to jump ship to help your bridge to solvency on an idea like that. The best bet for anyone thinking like you are would probably be to develop just the additional functionality and try selling it to Zwift to tack on to their existing platform.
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I just have a fundamental problem with the business model.
If my computer is doing ALL the processing, what am I paying zwift for? The software. Okay, can I buy the software? No, you have to lease it. At the end of the year, it's $180 just for that year.
Grand Theft Auto 5 was the most successful product EVER sold. EVER. In the history of EVER. They earned a BILLION dollars in profits off one product. For $50 for the software and you can play it online on the PSN network for $40 a YEAR including software updates.
It is a thousand times more complex than zwift and the infrastructure to link the hundreds of thousands of people playing is far more intense.
And it supports audio.
 
MadisonDan said:
@gtluke try The Sufferfest. if you can, on Windows. You get a 1 week free trial. Have a bucket near by.

Something @1speed touched on, is that the gaming ecosystems have the numbers to make pricing lower. How many XBox live accounts are there, vs, Zwift. Also, Zwift is/was a start up. Microsoft is the definition of the Evil Fucking Empire. (I know zero about what it takes to program anything) Economies of scale....

Seriously though...... The Sufferfest. Do it.

I may have an old 10sp 12-27 cassette lying around FWIW.
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You missed the major problem being that I don't have a windows laptop. That's the actual hurdle here. I assume Rouvy will work on my old junk work laptop and I'll give that to my wife to use and I'll use Rouvy on my phone. Okay so I do have a laptop but my hurdle is not wanting to use it, and that it can't run zwift.
 
UtahJoe said:
I did this once....Roller blade wheels on my cycleops rollers, then I built a frame out of wood. I think it worked good, not great...I could stand a little easier, etc. But in the end, I dont use the trainer enough to have a dedicated spot in my house for it and riding out in my garage wasnt motivating me. If you do have a good spot where you can just lever everything set up and you really prefer rollers over a trainer, id say its a worthwhile project. Now I just set the trainer up in my living room when I use it
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I was expecting more carnage.
 
Huh. This thread is dovetailing nicely with the new DCRainmaker post about VirtuGO. Zwift is so dominant right now that it's been verb'd. Gonna check Rouvy out, as well as VirtuGO.
Very seriously thinking about going back to a smart trainer. I love my Cycleops The Silencer, but with everything in my stable gradually going thru axle, it's gonna be a paperweight soon. Which is a shame, but whatchoogonnado?
 
I'm grandfathered in at the $10/mo rate for Zwift for now but the value I get out of it is multiples of $10/month. The cost of a SINGLE drop in class at a lot of spin studios is something like $30. It's not for everybody but Zwift gives me the extra motivation I need to make indoor training really friggin' hard.

We get it. Zwift < GTA. Move one and lose the negativity. @jShort said make this a happy place.
 
MadisonDan said:
ummm... Feedback Sports Omnium? Oh, wait....
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SUPER TIPPY if you're 6'8". For real people, it makes perfect sense. I rode off that thing more'n a coupla times. Total bummer.
The Silencer is great. Rock solid. I took that silly remote control off and found a good neutral setting that covers all the bases for me, whether warming up at a race or doing dumb things in the garage, so it takes up very little space w/zero annoying dangly bits.
I'll be going back to Zwift. I'm also grandfathered in at $10 (Level 25!), so that's not horrible. Also, they've added a "geocaching" feature I'm told? Haven't explored it yet, but...
Oh, and @gtluke, the ODZ club (stop laughing) has been using Discord for a while. It works well. And yeah, it's a long-overdue feature. Typing while riding is a PITA.
 
I do have to agree with @1speed and @Delish...while I tried zwift and its definitely not for me...however if you are really going to do "workouts" indoors, you need to find whatever weirdo thing it is that will get you to suffer. Usually by the time im training, I can do my workouts outside, but last year I had to do a few 3x20 sets inside on the trainer.....god that was miserable.....whatever you can put on your screen to get thru it that will for you, go for it.
 
I obviously don't have a problem with the idea of zwift, it's why I spent 4 hours banging my head into the wall trying to make it work.
The implementation is what's raging me out.
I wanted to participate.
 
While I do ride indoors to some extent this time of year, I hate it so much that I can't see throwing any money toward enhancing the experience. Perhaps a bit short-sighted, I know. In any case, I have my road bike on a Performance house-brand trainer that is probably 17-18 years old. Up until a couple of years ago I was riding along to some old Spinervals VHS tapes (for real) that were from like the late 90s if I had to guess, but more recently found some videos on YouTube (CTXC Training) that I follow. There are several workouts ranging in duration from around 30 minutes to 90 minutes or so and are basically different interval variations. As far as I can tell, the videos are essentially some dude on a group ride with a Go-Pro riding around what appears to be an Australian beach community. I usually try to match my cadence with one of the riders on screen, changing gears to increase/decrease resistance and effort. Speed and mileage are tracked through a Garmin speed sensor linked up to an Edge 510. There is a music track, but I normally mute that and play something more to my liking through a Sonos speaker. Low tech, but it beats doing nothing.
 
Always was curious how Jeremy maintains his fitness level with so low miles on Strava.
Now I am going to join the club.
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while this thread isn't motivating me to ride inside more, it is reminded me of days long past of being really fast...
 
The price of Zwift is not based on their background costs, it's based on the price people are willing to pay. I haven't used Zwift but I do use TrainerRoad. It's worth $100 a year to me to have to option for a good interface right there ready to go.

If I was to do Zwift, I'd go with the Apple TV. It's like $100 and just plugs in and you're done. I'm paying for the service.

One thing I have to say about trainer riding is the amount of TV I can plow through is insane. Before it got cold out I think the only thing I watched this past year was Game of Thrones.
 
Santapez said:
The price of Zwift is not based on their background costs, it's based on the price people are willing to pay. I haven't used Zwift but I do use TrainerRoad. It's worth $100 a year to me to have to option for a good interface right there ready to go.

If I was to do Zwift, I'd go with the Apple TV. It's like $100 and just plugs in and you're done. I'm paying for the service.

One thing I have to say about trainer riding is the amount of TV I can plow through is insane. Before it got cold out I think the only thing I watched this past year was Game of Thrones.
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How fast are you now? Cause I upgraded to Cat 4 and got gears.
 
One of the most motivating parts of indoor training is thinking that your competition is not doing it. In my head, they're all sitting on the couch eating Doritos and ice cream... Looking at the weather like "hm, maybe tomorrow".
 
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