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Updating your Tacx Vortex Smart firmware

Eric Schlange
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0

Updating your Tacx Vortex Smart firmware

Your Vortex is a computer, and sometimes the code which runs that computer needs to be updated. Keeping your Vortex’s firmware updated helps to ensure your trainer is functioning optimally.

Note: you don’t need to check for firmware updates on a regular basis–the free Tacx Utility app does this for you when you run it, so whenever you calibrate your Vortex it will also check for updates.

IMG_8034Required Update

While firmware updates are somewhat “optional,” your Vortex won’t work with Zwift until you install at least firmware version 3.1.7, which is the update that allows Zwift to talk back to the Vortex to adjust tension to simulate inclines.

Note: most Vortexes being sold now already have this firmware version installed, since it was released July 2015.

Updating Your Firmware

Updating the firmware is an easy process. The app may prompt you to update the firmware, or you can click the menu bar (3 lines) at the top-left and choose “Update”.

If an update is available the app will reboot your trainer, upload the firmware, then prompt you to unplug the power cord and plug it back in.

Once you’ve done that you should see a screen confirming that your trainer is running the latest firmware.

IMG_8037
Update finished, time to reboot
All set!
All done

Calibrating your Tacx Vortex Smart

Eric Schlange
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12

Calibrating your Tacx Vortex Smart

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IMG_8031Your Vortex must be calibrated in order to give Zwift proper power readings. Calibration is a fairly painless process using the free Tacx Utility app (available on iOS and Android).

Note: this guide below uses the iOS app. I assume the Android version is similar.

Before you begin: make sure you’ve inflated and warmed up your tire. Read why here >

Step 1: enable Bluetooth on your phone, open the app, and connect to your trainer. You will see a green checkbox at the top-right once it is connected.

Step 2: click the menu bar (3 lines) at the top-left and choose “Calibration”.

Step 3: The app will prompt you to start pedaling and speed up to 30km/hr, then stop. This “spindown test” lets the app sense how much tension is on your tire.

Step 4: if you’re anywhere between the two white lines (figure 1), you’re all set. If you are outside the white lines (figure 2) you will need to adjust the tension accordingly then calibrate again.

That’s it! Now just turn off Bluetooth (or at least disconnect from the trainer in the app) so Zwift can work properly.

IMG_8061There was an error during calibration

Note: if you receive a notice that “There was an error during calibration” there are two probable causes:

  1. Your trainer’s tension is way too loose or way too tight. Try adjusting it and re-calibrating.
  2. Your trainer’s firmware is out of date and not speaking properly to the app. Update the firmware then try again.

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Tacx Vortex Smart and Zwift – The Unofficial Guide

Eric Schlange
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1
Tacx Vortex Smart and Zwift – The Unofficial Guide

Tacx Vortex Smart and Zwift – The Unofficial Guide

1The Tacx Vortex Smart is, in my opinion, the best “budget” smart trainer for your money on the market today. Like all smart trainers, though, it has some idiosyncrasies that can make things confusing for users.

Here are posts that should answer just about any question you may have regarding using your Vortex Smart on Zwift.

Got more questions? Post them in the comments section!

Custom Workouts have arrived on Zwift

Eric Schlange
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1
Custom Workouts have arrived on Zwift

Custom Workouts have arrived on Zwift

Today Zwift rolled out a new update (v1.0.8995) which, among other things, lets Zwifters create and share custom workouts. Here’s a screenshot of me putting together a test workout:

custom-workout

Kudos to Zwift for investing the time to create an editor which is powerful, simple and intuitive: you can easily add segments for warm up, cool down, zones 1-5, intervals, free ride, and “text events” which pop up a text blurb at that segment so you can give further instruction or encouragement during the workout.

You can also enter a description and tag the workout as a Recovery, Interval, FTP, or TT workout–or do custom tags.

Currently segments use percentages, not hard numbers, so as your FTP changes your custom workouts will change with you. Or if you share your workout with someone else, it will automatically adjust itself to their fitness level. Speaking of sharing…

Sharing Workouts

At this time the only way to share these workouts is to share the files Zwift creates (your custom works are saved under Documents/Zwift/Workouts as “.zwo” files.)

Zwift will be adding the ability to search and use other Zwifter’s custom workouts through the game interface at some point in the near future.

UPDATE: WhatsOnZwift.com has the largest online library of Zwift workouts. 

I just upgraded my Zwift computer’s video card

Eric Schlange
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0
I just upgraded my Zwift computer’s video card

I just upgraded my Zwift computer’s video card

Just upgraded my Zwift computer to a [amazon_textlink asin=’B00NVODXR4′ text=’GeForce GTX 970′ template=’ProductLink’ store=’zwif-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’cd60c0d8-d6ee-11e7-a625-ddffe849ce24′] graphics card. My previous card (a GeForce GT 635) did a decent job, but only ran Zwift in medium quality. The 970 is a beast, and runs Zwift in ultra mode.

GeForce GTX 970
GeForce GTX 970

How noticeable is the difference? For me it was substantial–I immediately noticed much smoother motion (I went from 20-30 frames per second to 60) as well as increased visual detail (I can see the cogs in the rear cassettes of the bikes, and the clouds on Watopia are beautiful!)

Here’s a video from Zwift corporate. The kind of detail you see here is close to what I’m seeing now… although I would say my framerate is higher, so the motion is even smoother. And sharper!

The Friday Criterium

Eric Schlange
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0
The Friday Criterium

The Friday Criterium

tfcRob Bolt has organized “The Friday Criterium (TFC)”–a race series for C/D riders. This is a 3-month series consisting of 6 races. The The first series starts in January with two races every month. The series starts in January with two races every month.

Today I raced the TFC for the first time. (Although the series begins in January, this is the second TFC “test” race they’ve held to work out the bugs.)

Still waiting on results, but I particularly enjoyed having a large group of C riders to compete against. Most of the Zwift races I’ve participated in to date have had 20-25 C riders, and that group gets scattered pretty quickly. If you can’t hold onto the front group, it’s easy to find yourself riding alone–which is a really bad idea if you’re trying to make good time!

tfc-screenshot
Here I am hittin’ the TFC

From an organizational perspective, I have to give kudos to Rob for thinking the event thru, organizing it well, and forming a team to help keep improving the race experience. He seems to be the most “on top of it” ride organizer that I’ve encountered thus far in the Zwiftiverse.

Three Cheers for Standing Starts!

The TFC begins with a standing start, as opposed to the neutral start that most Zwift races use. I prefer the standing start method, since the neutral starts often fall apart. No approach will be perfect (until Zwift releases some race-specific features) but at this time, a standing start based on a universal countdown clock (TFC uses this one) seems like the way to go.

Learn more about The Friday Criterium at the TFC Blog and/or the TFC Facebook Group.

TeamSpeak and Zwift: speak with others while you ride

Eric Schlange
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0

TeamSpeak and Zwift: speak with others while you ride

UPDATE: TeamSpeak isn’t really used by Zwifters anymore. We’re on Discord!

teamspeak_small

Currently Zwift’s only built-in communication tool is the text chat, which allows you to send a text message from the mobile app which is sent to everyone online, or just to a particular person.

This feature is better than nothing, but it tends to lag–I’ve seen messages be delayed 10 seconds or more. Plus it’s not always easy to type a message while riding hard!

Enter TeamSpeak: a mature voice chat app used by gamers for years. This is the “de facto” tool used by Zwifters in group rides and races, although I’m surprised by how few people actually use it. Hopefully articles like this will help spread the word, because doing a group ride with folks on TeamSpeak makes it much more interactive.

Why TeamSpeak Rocks

  1. Impressive Sound Quality: voices are crystal clear, and multiple people can speak at the same time (so it’s like a phone, and not a walkie-talkie)
  2. Hands-free: I just wear my iPhone earbuds (which have a built-in mic) and I can hear everyone in my channel, and talk whenever I want to. No hands.
  3. Allows for multiple channels, and even private channels: you don’t have to share one channel with all Zwifters–you can have a dedicated channel for a particular ride, or even a password-protected channel for your team.
  4. Affordable: cost is $4.99 on iPhone, $1.99 on Android.

Getting Set Up

Here’s a very thorough article explaining how to set up TeamSpeak for Zwift. If you’re slightly tech-inclined, though, all you need to know is the Zwift server address (ts21.gameservers.com) and port (9149).

Plug those in as a new “connection” and you’ll be on the Zwift server, where you can choose a channel to join.

earbudsYou’ll want to wear earbuds with a built-in mic for the best experience.

Once you’ve joined a channel, do a hands-free test on the trainer to make sure the cutoff volume level is set properly. You don’t want everyone to have to listen to your trainer every time you wind it up! If your trainer is just too loud, you can switch to “push to talk” mode so people only hear you when you click the talk button.

 

Zwift Facebook Groups

Eric Schlange
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0

Zwift Facebook Groups

With so many members and a straightforward interface, Facebook provides an easy way for people to form groups around particular interests. Here are some Zwift groups you may want to join on Facebook.

Know of other groups? Let me know by posting them in the comments below.

“The Rules” – Zwift Style

Eric Schlange
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0
“The Rules” – Zwift Style

“The Rules” – Zwift Style

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Most of us are probably familiar with “The Rules.” (In fact, rule #9 may shame you quite often now that you’re loving Zwift so much.)

I was thinking–what are some “rules” for Zwifters? Here are some I came up with, as well as some others from the Zwift Riders FB group:

  1. Learn and live the #RideOn philosophy.
  2. Use a fan. Or fans. Otherwise you’ll sweat so much you’ll be forced to stop riding. And nobody wants that.
  3. Weather has no bearing on whether or not you will Zwift today. Only ISP or computer problems may veto your chances of Zwift joy.
  4. No racing with an unsupported trainer and no power meter. If you’re serious enough to race, you’re serious enough to invest in a setup that gives you accurate power numbers.
  5. No cheating. Pick the correct dumb trainer profile if you must use one. Enter an accurate weight.
  6. Read and follow the ride rules. Rides posted on the ride calendars include details about how to start, what to wear, etc–familiarize yourself with the rules before you join the ride to help make everyone’s experience more harmonious.
  7. No nudes. (Instead, wear a proper kit which rivals what you would wear outdoors. The better you feel, the harder you ride.)
  8. Upgrade your Zwift computer as often as possible. The more responsive the computer, the better the ride.
  9. No power-ups when racing. Race rules may allow for limited use of power ups, but we must maintain a sense of honor.
  10. Beware the draft effect. Consider yourself warned!
  11. Don’t obsess over the speed of others. Others may be faster or slower in Zwift than real life, but as long as they’re within reason the competition is still fun. (from Christian Wiedmann)
  12. Don’t allow autocorrect. It’s not Swift. (from Mark Bradley)
  13. It’s pronounced with a Z, not an S. (See rule 12.)
  14. Know thine FTP score. But do not post weekly updates about it on Facebook.
  15. Know the difference between watts and w/kg.
  16. Be generous with Ride Ons. You can never give too many.
  17. Help others join the Zwift community. When it grows, everyone benefits.

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The #RideOn Philosophy

Eric Schlange
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0
The #RideOn Philosophy

The #RideOn Philosophy

Note: this post was written by Frank Garcia and posted on the Zwift Riders Facebook group. You may view it here.

Zwift – From One Community to Many

I have watched over the past few weeks some of the various conversations occurring on Zwift Riders. There have always been certain conversations that were a bit off from the norm of the Zwift community. But lately, that feels a bit more prevalent, and the tenor seems a bit more off.

I can see some concern and some frustration. There are some people wanting to keep the great community atmosphere, other people struggling with some who are serious, and yet others trying to deal with those who are not. Some are focused just on training, others want to race. I imagine there are a whole bunch of people in the middle to whom the serious, the casual, those training, those racing, those “flying” and so on, just don’t mean that much. They just want to get on Zwift, ride and enjoy.

Are we losing the Zwift Community? No. It is just expanding from a single community into a diverse set of communities, each with its own focus, but each equally grounded in the virtual world that is Zwift.

While we are all in the same virtual world, we now live in different communities. Some of us are focused on training, some on racing, some on getting a jersey, others just on riding. Some are focused on inclusiveness, others on competitiveness. The great thing is that Zwift is big enough for all of us.

I hope we can all keep this in mind as we communicate with one another, be that messaging in the virtual world, or on social media. You don’t have to try and make everyone fit in your community and you don’t need to point out that you think their vision is not the right one. If they are not in your community just let them be. If you do reach out to them just be nice, no need to try and force them to convert to your vision. If someone tries to force a particular vision on you just ignore them.

Lastly, I used to worry about what might happen to things I was concerned with, such as, how races were conducted and how things like zPower might impact them. But I am confident in what I have seen. Each community is forming well. Each community has leaders and groups that guide it and establish its norms. It is not perfect at any given moment, but it seems to be continually improving.

The neatest thing about Zwift used to be its community, now it is its communities. Instead of criticizing a different community, try and respect them.

I tend to be a bit more serious and more focused on racing, and that is the community in which I “live.” One of my best days on Zwift, however, came from when I visited the “we don’t leave anyone behind” WSR community.

Welcome to the world of Zwift. It is my sincerest hope, that you can ‪#‎RideOn‬ through its many communities, enjoying the one where you live and the ones you choose to visit.

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