Home Blog Page 507

Z-Wheeler 100 Mission announced

Eric Schlange
-
1
Z-Wheeler 100 Mission announced

Z-Wheeler 100 Mission announced

z-wheeler-missionZwift has just rolled out a new mission for the month of November–the Z-Wheeler 100!

Choose the mission on your start screen and you will find yourself riding a 3-wheeled “big wheel” in game, complete with wobbly back wheels.

You must complete the ride by 23:59 (UTC) November 30th to be eligible for the prize drawing which will occur on December 5.

Remember, if you finish the ride you will also unlock the “100 clicks” achievement for completing a metric century!

How Fast is the Z-Wheeler?

We just tested the Z-Wheeler as part of our equipment testing and found its speeds match the Zwift carbon frame with classic wheels (which also matches the Buffalo Fahrrad with 32mm carbon wheels). So fairly slow compared to other in-game setups, but not too bad.

Check out that sprint technique!
Check out that sprint technique!

Prize

spark-of-loveOne lucky winner will receive a trip to Zwift HQ in Long Beach, CA that includes a round trip economy class ticket, ground transport and 2 nights hotel accommodations.

This trip will be in December, and the winner will get to help Zwift HQ deliver 100 big wheels to the Long Beach Fire Department. As part of the “Spark of Love” toy drive fund.

The Spark of Love Toy Drive Fund was created at the California Community Foundation to provide toys or sports equipment for underserved children during the holiday season.

z-wheeler2

Zwift version 1.0.14797 released

Eric Schlange
-
0
Zwift version 1.0.14797 released

Zwift version 1.0.14797 released

ZwiftHQ has pushed out version 1.0.14797, a 50MB update which includes:

  • Zwift Academy Semi-Finals 2nd month of workouts added: congrats to the semi-finalists! 
  • Slight improvements to reduce jerkiness of riders in a pack: I’ve seen several complaints from members who have said they have “flown” off-course since this update. It may be related to this tweak.
  • Added ability to disable powerups on select group rides/events: a much-need feature which will allow race organizers to decide whether or not powerups are allowed. This will eliminate confusion on the part of racers who don’t always read the details to find out what is allowed.
  • It's Halloween!
    It’s Halloween!

    Halloween mode reduced from 3 days to 1 day (Oct 31): get out there and enjoy being a skeleton today!

This release also includes two updates to improve efficiency, which is something we always appreciate:

  • Reduced sizes of many data files to make future updates smaller/faster: always a good thing! Nothing worse than showing up almost late for a race or group ride, then having to install an update first.
  • Reduction of network requests to help load ‘Riders Nearby’ faster, especially during times when lots of group ride events are scheduled.

Read the release details >

November 2016 Zwift course schedule

Eric Schlange
-
0
November 2016 Zwift course schedule

November 2016 Zwift course schedule

november-2016-course-schedule2November’s schedule is now available in-game.

This schedule is very different from the past couple months, swapping London and Watopia’s places in the week.

London moves to Thursday-Saturday, and Watopia is Sunday through Wednesday, with the exception of Wednesdays the 9th and 23rd, which will be in Richmond.

Zwift for iOS coming in 4-6 weeks

Eric Schlange
-
0
Zwift for iOS coming in 4-6 weeks

Zwift for iOS coming in 4-6 weeks

zwift-iosZwiftHQ has posted a notice that 1) they will be sending out many more iOS beta invites this week and 2) Zwift for iOS will be publicly available in the App Store in the next 4-6 weeks.

As of October 14th ZwiftHQ had sent out 700 iOS beta invitations, which was a drop in the bucket compared to the… wait for it… 10,000 beta tester signups they had received.

So it appears at least another 2,800 beta testers will be invited in the next week.

I’m looking forward to the launch of Zwift for iOS–it will greatly expand the Zwift community and bring the amazing Zwift experience to many new riders! #RideOn!

 

ODZ SkillZ and DrillZ Ride – summary for October 26

Ian Murray
-
0
ODZ SkillZ and DrillZ Ride – summary for October 26

ODZ SkillZ and DrillZ Ride – summary for October 26

Note from Zwift Insider editor Eric Schlange:

Team ODZ’s weekly “SkillZ and DrillZ” is an effective way to build the fitness and skills needed to race well on Zwift. Of course, the fitness transfers to real-life riding, as will your improved understanding of paceline riding, initiating and covering attacks, how to bridge, sprinting and climbing techniques, and more.

The rides happen each Wednesday at 6:30PM EST, and uses Discord to enhance the experience. Learn more >

Ride leader and coach Ian Murray has agreed to post a follow-up summary each week for the edification of Zwift Insidergers. Enjoy!

odz-logoFor those who couldn’t make it and those that weren’t on Discord, we had a fun SkillZ and DrillZ Ride with about 25 or so riders. Today’s lesson was on attacking, one of my favorite things to do.

After a brief warm-up, Frank Soltiz demonstrated a short, but fierce attack. The purpose behind the demonstration was to show two things. First, Zwift gives us a visual cue of an attack (the w/kg going orange), and second, what happens if you don’t respond quickly. Franks’s 20-second attack gave him a 10-second advantage, leaving the chasers a lot of work to do to pull him back. Despite his dropping the effort after the attack, we still had to go harder for longer because we didn’t respond right away.

We repeated the exercise a few times with different attackers until everyone was starting to identify and cover the attacks quickly. We then transitioned to covering the attack and counterattack, stressing the importance of always keeping alert. As part of the counterattack drill, we discussed how to time the counterattack, or “going over the top.” We identified two prime times:

  • immediately upon reaching the original attacker and covering the first move or
  • waiting for the brief lull in the action, and hitting the group right then, taking advantage of others trying to catch a breath.

We finished off the hour by covering multiple attacks from one rider. During the last lap, I took the role of attacker and launched a handful of attacks from various positions in our peloton, sometimes multiple attacks in a row. By the end, everyone seemed to grasp the need for attentiveness and how to cover an attack.

One of our focus areas that we still need to practice is keeping the attacker on the front once he/she is caught unless you plan to counterattack immediately. Remember, if someone attacks, and you cover the move without counterattacking, keep the original attacker on the front to keep them from recovering and attacking again before you can recover from covering the attack. The last thing you want is to go right back into the red if you don’t have to do so. Just think of it as punishing the original attacker for his/her insolent behavior.

That’s all from this week. Thanks to those who participated. See you next week, and don’t forget to check out www.teamodz.com for information on how to get on discord for SDR.

skillz-drillz-odz

Zwift Cellular Data Usage Stats

Eric Schlange
-
2
Zwift Cellular Data Usage Stats

Zwift Cellular Data Usage Stats

Australian Zwifter Stephen Jackson uses 4G data for his home Internet connection and is therefore quite wary of using too much data. He has been tracking Zwift’s data usage for the past few months and recently shared the numbers with me.

Methodology

Stephen used utilities to get the exact time length of his Zwift sessions and track the data usage of zwiftapp.exe (Zwift’s core computer software). The zwiftlauncher startup software doesn’t use much at all, so it was excluded from the results.

Results

Over 64 hours across 45 rides, the average data usage was 1.14 megabytes (MB) per minute. Watopia was the lowest at 1.10, London close at 1.14, and Richmond the high water mark of 1.37. Solo or group or racing didn’t affect data numbers, nor did the overall number of riders on Zwift. 

If you extrapolate this data to four one-hour rides per week, you’re looking at ~1150MB of Zwift data usage per month, not including any app updates.

UPDATE: received this from Stephen on 11/16/16: 
Eric, the Zwiftapp.exe has increased its data usage in the past 10 days. Prior to 4 Nov it was 1.14MB per minute, and since then it has jumped to 2.30MB per minute. Only difference I can see is the numbers of riders has been climbing over 1,000 regularly.

UPDATE: received this from Stephen on 2/8/17: 
Updated stats, since the northern hemisphere has kicked in and popularity has climbed, the usage has held steady across all the courses at about 2MB per minute. I am seeing typically 2 to 3,000 riders and it doesn’t seem to vary too much now.

Stephen has two tips for the Zwifters looking to conserve data:

Tips for the data poor

Stephen has two tips for the Zwifters looking to conserve data:

  • Zwift app updates can eat a lot of data quickly, so be careful – don’t have auto update selected.
  • To really save data, ride alone. Start your ride, disconnect from the Internet, ride for as long as you want, then reconnect to “end ride” and upload your ride file. Your usage will be about 10MB in total. It’s lonely, but a data cheap way to ride!

Thanks for the numbers and tips, Stephen!

Ride On for Qhubeka with Zwift

Eric Schlange
-
0
Ride On for Qhubeka with Zwift

Ride On for Qhubeka with Zwift

Editor’s note: this post is now outdated. See more current info here.

Zwifters worldwide can pitch in to support Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka’s goal of putting 5,000 on bikes to mobilize the rural communities of Africa. In return for your donation you unlock exclusive Qhubeka-branded goods in Zwift!

  • Donate $25 (USD) and unlock a Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka virtual jersey
  • Donate $183 (USD) to pay for the assembly and delivery of a Qhubeka Buffalo bike and unlock a special yellow Cervelo

Learn more and make your donation here >

Bikes in Africa.. what’s the big deal?

Here’s how bicycles change lives in Africa:

  • For every 16km travelled, a bicycle saves a school child 3 hours of valuable time
  • A bicycle increases a person’s carrying capacity by 5 times
  • Healthcare workers can visit more than double the amount of patients per day with a bicycle

buffalo-bike2

Zwiftcast Episode 12

Simon Schofield
-
0
Zwiftcast Episode 12

Zwiftcast Episode 12

Episode 12 of the Zwiftcast has been released, and includes an interview with Zwift Insider editor Eric Schlange! Here’s the full episode description:

Simon, Shane and Nathan are back to discuss the increasingly lively – and populous – Zwift platform.

We start this episode with a big discussion on the major success, and minor failings, of the Tacx World Champs series of races. Zwift VP of Marketing Steve Beckett answers questions on why around 10% of users had problems during the race – with Shane, Nathan and Simon, along with KISS race organisers, seeking some perspective on the event.

With Zwift becoming ever busier, is it time for the opposition to walk in fear of the Zwift indoor riding bulldozer, or are they raising their game to compete? We discuss.

A French academic working at a German University reveals the results of his research into how avatars in “exer-games”, like Zwift, may actually influence the performance of the user.

Zwift community stalwart Eric Schlange makes a long-overdue appearance on the podcast to discuss his painstaking tests to find out which bikes are fastest on Zwift; discuss his IRL racing career and chew the fat a bit about expensive trainers.

Zwifter Paul Stokes has been co-opted onto the Zwiftcast to review the new Elite Rampa trainer. What does an “ordinary Zwifter”, someone who doesn’t ride a whole lot of trainers, make of the rival to the Vortex and the SNAP?

And we talk to Tam Burns, the man who’s coming back for a second bite at the cherry. After organising a massively popular mass participation race last year, when the lack of an event module made that an arduous task, Tam is again devoting time and energy to staging a big race. Why does he do it?

Plus lots more Zwift-related chat on a whole lot of subjects that all Zwifters should find of interest.

Which computer runs Zwift best? Ask Zwiftalizer Benchmarks.

Eric Schlange
-
0
Which computer runs Zwift best? Ask Zwiftalizer Benchmarks.

Which computer runs Zwift best? Ask Zwiftalizer Benchmarks.

Mike Hanney has launched a new feature on his excellent Zwiftalizer log analyzer site which consolidates the results of the many log files Zwifters have shared and reports on the performance of various hardware setups in an easy-to-read format.

See the results at zwiftalizer.com/benchmarks >

According to Mike’s FAQ, he put these benchmarks together “To know when enough is enough… to make informed purchasing decisions…” Zwifters often ask questions like, “If I buy this computer, will it run Zwift at a high resolution and framerate?” These benchmarks tell us that answer.

Results are grouped by resolution (from 2160 Ultra down to 576 basic), then within each of those groups displayed by their unique OS/CPU/GPU “signature.” This allows Zwiftalizer to consolidate results from multiple users who are running the same hardware into one benchmark.

As of today there are a total of 182 different system signatures benchmarked. Got a spare minute? Help expand these benchmarks by uploading your Zwift log to Zwiftalizer.

Nice work, Mike!

DC Rainmaker releases annual winter trainer recommendations

Eric Schlange
-
0
DC Rainmaker releases annual winter trainer recommendations

DC Rainmaker releases annual winter trainer recommendations

I’m a big fan of Ray Maker of DC Rainmaker fame. His product reviews are consistently thorough and non-biased. On top of that, I’ve put them to good use numerous times when researching smart trainers: his reviews are arguably the number one resource for smart trainer shoppers.

Ray has just posted his big annual trainer recommendation post–you can read it here >

Ray divides trainers into three groups:

  • Budget – Sub-$400
  • Mid-Range $400-$1,000
  • High-End $1,000+

If you’re looking to purchase a smart trainer this season, I highly recommend heading over to DCRainmaker.com to do your research.

1...506507508...526Page 507 of 526