London’s “Greatest London Flat” was released with Zwift’s February 1, 2018 update and is the longest “flat” route on the London course.
About the Start Point
If you choose this route, the game will spawn you on Constitution Hill near Buckingham Palace, riding in what is typically the reverse direction (westward). Since riders are placed at various points near Buckingham Palace on Constitution Hill, we chose to start our Strava segment at the Classique banner which is approximately 1.5km from the spawn point.
Route Details
A free ride of Greatest London Loop begins on the Classique route, but only covers a portion of it before turning onto the Greater London roads. You are then taken over the bridge, through the subway and into the “Richmond Park” countryside which was part of the January 2018 London expansion. The subway tunnels carry you back into London, over the bridge and through the start/finish banner.
Watopia’s “Mega Pretzel” was released with Zwift’s February 1, 2018 update as the longest available route for Zwift’s iconic course. At the time of its release it covered every segment of the course except the radio tower climb, and in fact covered nearly all segments in both directions. The Alpe du Zwift climb is notably absent from this route since the Alpe was released after the route was created.
The Mega Pretzel begins and ends on the land bridge connecting the volcano to the Italian village. The segments covered, in order, are:
Good news: Strava allows virtual activities to count towards (some) challenges
Strava has announced that creators of partner challenges now have the option to allow virtual rides or runs to count toward their challenges on Strava. According to their press release,
Indoor virtual activities are categorized as those that include GPS, distance, elevation, and time data from a simulated route. Strava’s own challenges will continue to count only outdoor run and ride activities towards challenge goals.
The Good News, or the Bad News?
On one hand, this is music to Zwifters’ ears. We all know our virtual activities consist of real hard work, and deserve to be counted toward challenges.
On the other hand, this announcement makes it clear that Strava’s own challenges will continue to only allow outdoor activities. Since the vast majority of Strava challenges come from Strava themselves, this rule change, in practice, does not change much. Currently Strava’s challenge page lists 11 active challenges. And although it is not always clear which challenges are “partner challenges” and which are from Strava, based on the challenge logos I would guess only 2 of the 11 are partner challenges.
Le Col is Le First
The “Le Col Season Starter” challenge is the first to allow virtual rides. Oddly enough, the challenge’s homepage says nothing about allowing virtual rides. In fact, under “Additional Info” it states, “Manual entries, private activities, and trainer rides will not count toward your challenge effort.”
But I joined the challenge and uploaded a Zwift ride, and it counted. So there you have it.
A Good First Step
Overall, I see this as a step in the right direction. Hopefully soon Strava will begin allowing virtual activities for their challenges as well.
Zwift has released its latest game update, but on a different schedule than we’ve seen previously. This time around the update arrived on Apple TV first (last night), followed by Mac this morning. Windows and iOS will arrive sometime soon (I would guess in the next few days) once Zwift verifies that “some small graphics changes we made work with the many hundreds of different computer configurations Zwift can run on.”
Here are some of the notable changes in this update:
New Routes
Watopia ‘Mega Pretzel’ covers all areas of Watopia in one route (except the bonus radio tower climb on the Epic KOM): it hurts just to read this! Curious why the radio tower climb was left out, as that’s an iconic part of the Epic KOM at this point. Perhaps some sort of routing challenge?
‘Greatest London Flat’ route added which includes the recently added ‘Richmond Park’ flat road. It will be nice to have a longer, flat race course on London. Loops of Greater London or Classique get a little boring!
We’ll post the details of this route and get a “Zwift Insider verified” segment added to our Strava segments list ASAP.
Running Features
With Zwift Run’s official beta release coming soon, the folks at Zwift have been hard at work building out the running features.
BETA: Running Pacer Bots can be turned on in some events. They will travel at the specified pace for each subgroup. Very cool! Pacer bots have been something cyclists have requested for a long time, so hopefully this upgrade will make its way over to the bike soon.
Footpod run cadence now senses if bluetooth pod is broadcasting steps or strides per minute
Fixed hologram treadmills from appearing outside of the warmup area for events
New running idle animation added
Expanded Equipment Support
Zwift continues to expand the hardware it supports, which is a key factor in the growth of Zwift as a platform for home users and gyms.
Gear shift indicator added for Wattbike Atom users
Support for Gym bikes that use the Wahoo GymConnect protocol added
Bluetooth treadmill support for BowFlex BXT116/BXT216 treadmills
Bluetooth “FTMS” treadmill protocol added
New Visuals
Graphics brightness auto-adjusts now so that caves, subways, valleys in shadow, etc are much brighter than before
Distance based events now have a 3d holographic finish line added (see image below). This allows for the 5k and 10k run events to have a visible finish, and also allows for more creative cycling events that could end anywhere on the course. Very cool–this will add a lot of flexibility and clarity to events for runners and cyclists.
Holographic finish lines allow events to end at any point on the course!
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue where iOS and Apple TV devices could get into a state where they never see other riders until app was manually killed. This was a common complaint, so I’m happy to see its been fixed.
Cyclists in London moved closer to edge of the road to avoid head on collisions with opposing traffic
Zwift + Smart LED Lighting: Jon Mayfield’s Weekend Project
Zwift game master Jon Mayfield recently shared a fun little side project with the Zwift Riders Facebook group.
Weekend* project complete: Connect my paincave smart lights to Zwift. They update 10 times a second – it’s really cool to ride under the tree canopy with sunshine coming through and have the lights go in and out as you go in and out of shadow in the game. Starts to make it feel more like an outdoor ride. I just couldn’t get a good video of that so it’s not in the clip.
(* actually this took two weekends, not one)
Here’s the short video he shared:
Want to do this in your house? Here’s more from Jon on the details of how this works, and how he may make it available to all Zwifters:
I’m thinking about exposing this info as well as live watts/cadence/gradient/etc via a UDP port on localhost so anybody can make integrations themselves. My current implementation does just that, and I have a helper program that takes the data and shuffles it over to the lights – that way the device specific stuff can stay out of Zwift’s codebase and make it easy for users to add things over the years.
And one more note from Jon about super-cool subtle details of how this works:
Also this integration has directional lighting, so since I have a radial light source above me (18 panels in a circle shape) I can actually light the right side of my body more if the sun is to my right in Zwift. As I do a U-turn the light panels change and the lighting is then on the other side. It’s subtle but cool.
This past weekend I raced outside for the first time in several months, and it struck me how very different the experience was from racing on Zwift. Since I like to debrief myself by writing some notes after a race, I thought it would make for a good blog post.
First, About Me
I’ll be the first to tell you I’m nothing special when it comes to racing. I got into cycling late (in my mid 30’s) and lack the time, inclination, and genetics to be an outstanding racer. I ride for fitness and fun, and when it comes to racing my goal is to be a competitive USAC cat 3 and Zwift B racer.
I finish in the upper 1/3 of the B’s in most Zwift races, but rarely come close to the podium unless the field is very small (see my results). And I’m just a cat 4 road racer outdoors, with no significant results to show as a 4 (see my results).
Two Races, One Rider
I’ll be comparing two races. Here are the numbers:
Zwift WBR 4 Lap Flat Race, January 11 2018: 34 racers, 18 B’s on the fairly flat London Classique course (see it on Strava and ZwiftPower)
Distance/Duration: 17.61 miles in 37:40 for an average speed of 28.1mph.
Normalized Power: 302w
Cal Aggie Elite 4 Crit Race, January 27 2018: Approximately 40 racers, with dry weather and just a touch of wind on a very flat course with a couple sharp turns (see it on Strava)
Distance/Duration: 16.17 miles in 39:41 for an average speed of 24.5mph
Normalized Power: 259w
Disclaimer: two different power meters were used in these events, since I Zwift using a dedicated bike with Garmin Vector 2 pedals as the power source. My outdoor racing bike has a dual-sided Quarq. In comparison tests I’ve found their numbers to be quite consistently close, but there is always a possibility for some variation.
The Start
I’ve never been in an outdoor race that begins like a Zwift race. In Zwift, you have to be ready for a hard effort for the first 1-3 minutes of the race as riders push to make the front group and drop the hangers-on. Outdoors, the start is often the slowest part of the race, even in a shorter crit.
Pack Positioning
This is the big one for me.
In Zwift, improving your pack position is as simple as modulating power levels to move yourself forward or backward in the group. But if you decide it’s time to move up outdoors, it takes more than just increasing your power. You have to get out from behind the rider in front of you and move forward safely, and this can be challenging in a tight pack.
In my outdoor race I was well-positioned, sitting second wheel halfway into the last lap. Then riders attacked on both sides of us, moving me from the front to the middle of the pack in just a few seconds. Had I been more alert I would have been watching for this move and ready to grab one of the attacking wheels as it came by.
Attacking
In Zwift, attacks off the front on flat courses rarely stick because the pack’s speed is so consistently high and the draft effect is strong. Consequently, you see less attacking on Zwift than outdoors. If anyone does attack in a Zwift race, they’ll usually wait until the last few minutes of the race and do it on a climb.
This was certainly the case in my races. Riders attacked on a regular basis outdoors, while the Zwift race saw very few attacks. More constant attacks means more variable power levels as you work to hold a wheel or bridge up.
Variable Power and Cadence
Comparing the cadence and power graphs of the two races makes it clear that the outdoor race was much more variable in terms of effort. One easy way to see this is comparing the variability index (VI) of my two rides, where my outdoor race was 1.07 compared to Zwift’s 1.05.
Zwift race
Outdoor race
This makes sense for three reasons:
Coasting is common outdoors: stopping or dramatically slowing your cadence is the best way to maintain your pack position outdoors (stay off the brakes). But if you stop pedaling on Zwift you’ll quickly get dropped from the pack as the auto-braking kicks in, so nobody stops pedaling in a flat Zwift race.
Slowing for turns: nobody reduces their power going into turns on Zwift, but of course everyone stops pedaling and may even use their brakes on sharp turns outdoors. My outdoor race had two particularly sharp corners which always led to braking in the pack, and the resulting “stand up and hammer” to get back up to speed.
More attacks outdoors (already discussed above.)
Different Speeds
If you’re regularly scrubbing speed on corners, it makes sense that your average speed would be lower outdoors than on Zwift. Add in a bit of wind, more chances of getting out of the draft, and the possibility of a less than perfectly aero riding position and it’s no surprise that Zwift race speeds are higher than outdoor races of a similar effort.
In my two races, my normalized power was ~40 watts higher for the Zwift race, which also helps explain the speed difference.
Similarities
Those are the big differences, but are there similarities? Absolutely! Here are a few:
Good strategy and course knowledge required: whether the world is virtual or real, it’s important to know how to best attack the race and use the course to your advantage.
The pain: while outdoor racing does afford more opportunity for major injuries, a crash-free race burns just as much whether you’re indoors or out.
That winning feeling: crossing the finish line first gives me the same euphoric rush whether its virtual or outdoors. (Of course, outdoors would be more exciting if you’ve got a good crowd cheering you on, but since I’ve only won as a cat 5 I wouldn’t know what that’s like!)
That sinking feeling: that moment when you can’t give any more, and you see the pack ride away? It sucks on Zwift and it sucks outside.
What About You?
How would you say Zwift racing compares to outdoors? Where is it the same, and where is it different? Share your thoughts below! I’m especially interested in hearing from experienced outdoor racers.
Editor’s note: Dr. Nick Green is writing a series of posts documenting his winter training progress as he works to drop weight, build power, and be ready to take Strava KOM’s when spring rolls around. Browse his past posts here.
It’s been seven weeks since I started my Zwift account. In that time I have managed to put in roughly 60 hours on the bike, travelling 1800 kilometers. I’ve had some strong days, and some days where the legs were just not there. There have been some days where a light spin is a light spin, and days when a light spin turns into a hard charging sufferfest that leaves the legs begging for a few days off. In the seven weeks there have been three successful “McCarthy Special’s” – and one utter failure. Two of the rides have been over 100 km and in total there have been 1600 metres of climbing.
Recently I’ve been struggling with the question of improvement. I’ve been training most days, with the last stretch being ten days between days off. By the tenth day my legs were flat. Reviewing the power curve at the end of each ride has been a disappointment, as I’ve been nowhere near my ‘best power.’ Yesterday life stepped in and gave me a great reason to take a day off. Specifically, I “didn’t want to ride,” and seeing that it had been ten days it seemed like a great day for a rest.
So now it’s a Friday night, and after a busy week I’ve got about an hour to put in some miles in Richmond. Shortly after getting started, I was happy to see my friend Karl on my wheel. Karl is lighter and stronger than I am, so he’s great to get the competitive juices flowing. The ride was going well, and I attacked the hills on the first lap. The Strava results speak for themselves. Every uphill segment in the hills resulted in a personal record. This also extended out to the complete “Richmond 2015 UCI Worlds Lap” segment, where my previous best fell by almost 3:30. Perhaps more exciting was the change to my Critical Power curve: while it used to be a fairly smooth down slope, today’s ride caused a plateau at the 30 second to 1 minute mark. Perhaps I’m a little crazy to get excitement from pushing up my power curve, but this has become one of the most rewarding aspects of my Zwift experience.
As a brief summary, this reinforces the value of regular training, as well as the value of rest days. I have to keep in mind that training too much, or too hard will lead to less than favorable results. Now it’s time to get ready for tomorrow, when that “Fast Friend” Karl and I are planning on doing a metric century around London.
About one second after Dereck Bowen landed in a snowdrift after an ill-advised head-first dive into it, he knew he’d made a mistake. A bad one.
Experienced bike racer Dereck, 43, said: ”There was a crunching sound from my neck. I stood up and my hand and forearm was frozen – and not from the snow.”
“I realized pretty quickly it was bad,” Dereck told me during his interview for the Zwiftcast.
The fateful dive.
And bad it was. Dereck had been out playing in the fresh snow with his kids and dogs near his home in Brantford, Ontario, Canada – and had set up to record the fateful dive on his Go Pro. “I downloaded the footage and I couldn’t believe what I’d actually done!”
The traditional cyclist’s remedy of a few beers didn’t help matters and after visits to the hospital, the docs confirmed a fracture to the C7 vertebrae in his neck.
Worse – a chunk of bone had lodged against a nerve and that was causing Dereck some pretty high levels of pain. And all of this, on Christmas Day of all days.
With some hefty pain-killing meds and “three boring weeks on the couch playing video games” behind him Dereck raised with his docs the idea of some gentle exercise and they agreed it would help his recovery.
“I was so excited,” recalls Dereck, “All I could think was – ‘great, I can get back on Zwift’.”
Dereck’s been a Zwifter since the early days. He’s a member of Team TFC and just as experienced a racer in Zwift as he is outside.
He jumped on board his turbo bike – which, thanks to a happy co-incidence, is “a bit of a Franken-bike” he’d had built specially for training indoors and is fully adjustable.
“I found a position which was kind of comfortable – it’s more lounging than sitting.” Pausing only to adjust his screen name to include the words “broken neck”, Dereck was off to Watopia.
And there he found company – and Zwift being Zwift, several people who’d suffered similar injuries and were on hand to give him advice and inspiration.
“It has saved my sanity”, Dereck told me “and provided some fantastic inspiration. There were people I chatted to in game who’d suffered similar but worse injuries and made full recoveries. That’s helped me so much.”
Watch Dereck’s dive and interview and check out his Frankenbike on the Zwiftcast video below, which part of the full Zwiftcast episode 42.
Episode 42 of Zwiftcast has been released. Here’s the full episode description:
Simon, Shane and Nathan are back with a packed episode, which kicks off with the Zwifcasters unanimously agreeing “it’s time” for Zwift to enable world switching. Zwift creator Jon Mayfield concurs, telling the podcast that be believes critical mass has now arrived as numbers on the platform grow ever larger.
The trio move on to discuss the Tour Down Under, where a duathlon race in the Zwft pop-up drew massive numbers. . . and was rated by Shane as the blue riband event – a sign of things to come perhaps as Zwift Run develops?
Graphics card giant NVidia announced its Cloud Gaming feature at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas – Simon takes a look at what this might mean for Zwift along with tech expert Mike Hanney, inventor of the Zwiftaliser tool. They conclude that whist the impact on Zwifters may not be immediate, cloud gaming could be a huge development for gaming.
Zwift is often used as a rehab tool, but for Dereck Bowen, it’s been a life saver. Dereck tells Simon how an ill-advised leap into a snowdrift cost him a broken neck – and how the platform has kept him sane as he recovers.
There’s a fascinating discussion around Jon Mayfield’s “weekend project” – a system that links Zwift to wi-fi controlled lighting – changing the ambience in your Zwift room to match the game.
The Zwiftcasters discuss the perennial problem of fliers in group rides with a thoughtful contribution from veteran Zwifter and ride leader Christian Wiedemann.
And this episode rounds up with a discussion about cheese!
Editor’s note: Dr. Nick Green is writing a series of posts documenting his winter training progress as he works to drop weight, build power, and be ready to take Strava KOM’s when spring rolls around. Browse his past posts here.
It’s the day after the double ride which included the hard group 30km effort. In fact, it’s only about 12 hours later and an invite from a friend to ride the Watopia Pretzel just couldn’t be passed up. There were nearly 1000 riders at the start line, and in the confusion I immediately lost track of my friend Karl.
It quickly became apparent that there was a technical issue with Zwift that was keeping both the mobile app and the ‘riders nearby’ display from working properly. For the majority of the ride there were only 6 riders listed as being nearby. Unfortunately Karl never made the list, which made it difficult to keep track of him. Karl was also having the same issues, so at least we were both in the same predicament. This issue also extended to the displayed place in the group. Even when I was riding in front of Karl, I was always listed as being 30 to 40 riders behind him. Even at the end of the ride I was listed as being in the top 50 for the ride, despite finishing 165 as per the official results.
The Pretzel Hurts
If you haven’t tried the Watopia Pretzel, it’s difficult. In a group that is pushing you slightly out of your comfort zone, it’s extremely difficult. The Epic KOM climb is punishing. Each and every time I have ridden to the Radio Tower I have been reminded why part of my winter quest involves losing 10 pounds. Being nearly 200 pounds and climbing just doesn’t feel good!
Power Up to Achievement
Karl climbed the mountain like a champ, leaving me about 30 seconds behind by the turn around at the tower. This was a good opportunity to experiment with the Drafting Boost that I had been saving since the start of the ride. Pushing about 200 watts, combined with the boost and the -14% grade pushed me over 100 km/h, which triggered the 100KPH! achievement and a bonus 1000 points. As a new rider, the achievements can be a great way to quickly raise your level, leading to better bikes, wheels and perhaps more importantly… socks!
Overall the ride went very well. Riding in the group is a great way to keep things interesting, while pushing you harder than you would push by yourself. The last half hour was very difficult. I’m confident that my food preparation was far from adequate. Not only did I not eat enough before the ride, but before the end of the ride I was straight up hungry. That does not help performance! I had also lost a lot of weight in water, which could also have affected late ride performance.
Today’s lessons:
Have food available when doing rides of this nature. Just like outside on the road, anything over an hour needs some quick energy foods to help from hitting the wall.
Having a friend on a hard ride tends to make it that much harder, just like in the real world!
The climb to the Radio Tower is punishing.
I can definitely see myself diving into more of these group rides in the future. Hopefully Karl will be around to drag me up the hills!
The “Le Col Season Starter” challenge is the first to allow virtual rides. Oddly enough, the challenge’s homepage says nothing about allowing virtual rides. In fact, under “Additional Info” it states, “Manual entries, private activities, and trainer rides will not count toward your challenge effort.”
Expanded Equipment Support
