The humble “Ride On” is one of the unsung hero ingredients in Zwift’s magic sauce. Think for a moment what Zwifting would be without those glowing blue thumbs. Yes, we could still ride and run in our virtual paradise. But that feeling of being connected to others around us would be diminished substantially.
The Ride On helps tie Zwifters together socially. And it encourages each of us each to push forward in our journey toward fitness. Here are my top four favorite Ride Ons:
- The one from some dude I ran into free riding one day. We ended up traversing Watopian slopes together for 2+ hours, developing a bond as we suffered together.
- The ones from my DIRT teammates. Many of us have followed hundreds of other DIRT guys, so we can easily show support for one another.
- The one from my local riding buddy. We’ll see each other IRL soon enough, but in between that, he’s letting me know he supports my efforts.
- The one from Eric Min. It feels like some sort of validation/appreciation for my hard work – on Zwift, and on Zwift Insider.
With that preamble, I humbly offer three Ride On wishes – feature requests which I believe would improve the Ride On experience for everyone. Read on!
#1: Group Ride Ons In Events
UPDATE: Zwift’s September 2022 release brought Ride On bombs back to events. Hurray!
We used to be able to tap our rider arrow in Companion and give 5 Ride Ons to nearby riders while we were in an event. That feature was taken away quite a while ago. I’m not sure why, although I would guess it had to do with some group rides calling for “Thumbderstorms” where riders handed out scads of Ride Ons to others. Perhaps it caused some server or graphics performance issues?
Regardless, we need this feature back.
It’s silly, really: I can tap my arrow and give a Ride On to 5 nearby Zwifters when I’m free-riding, but I can’t do that in an event. Here’s the thing: it’s in the events that I want to do this most!
When I’m free-riding, I don’t generally hang with other riders for long – most of their names just become a blur after a while. But in an event, you get to know other riders. You message with them, you compete against them, you work together with them. Camaraderie is forged in the fires of mutual suffering! Those are the times when I want to give a Ride On. But doing so is way too much hassle right now – especially in a race or hard ride situation.
I can do it from my keyboard, clicking on a rider’s name, hitting the thumb icon, then clicking “Back to me”. Or I can do it from Companion, clicking to view nearby riders, then tapping a name, then tapping to give them a Ride On, then tapping to get out of that screen.
But I really just want to tap my arrow in Companion and give Ride Ons to those around me in an event. Easy peasy.
[adinserter block=”1″]
Rapidly Reciprocating Ride Ons
Update: Zwift’s Play Controllers have a handy button (Z) to reciprocate a Ride On.
If a nearby rider gives me a Ride On, a button shows next to their name for a few seconds for me to click and return their thumbs up.
Problem is, that button is a pain to get to, especially if I’m pushing my effort at the time. So many times I’ve tried to mouse over to that button, only to have it disappear before I could get there.
What I’d really like to have is one or both of these:
- A keyboard shortcut to return the Ride On. Anytime a nearby gives me a Ride On, I could just tap the “R” key to give them a Ride On back. Of course, not everyone has a keyboard on Zwift, so…
- A Companion button to return a Ride On
Tweaking “Your Week On Zwift” Ride On Count
The “Your Week On Zwift” email is cool, but I’d like the number for my “given” Ride Ons to include all those I give when I’m not on Zwift. The “Received” number, at least in my case, is largely made up of Ride Ons given by people who aren’t actively on Zwift when they give me the Ride On. So my “Received” number is always much higher than “Given”, even though that’s not the case in reality.
Most of my Ride Ons are given via the Companion app when I’m not Zwifting. I love hitting that button at the top-right that gives a Ride On to all my active friends – usually 40 or more, sometimes over 100!
I’d like the email summary’s “Given” number to include my offline Ride Ons because I want to see how many Ride Ons I’m really giving each week, so I can compete with myself to give even more!
Your Ride On Thoughts
Got other ideas for improvements to the Ride On system? Share below!
For me, I just wish that in the companion app, I didn’t have to go into a rider’s profile, then click the thumb to give a ride on, then exit. A button next to their name in the list of Zwifters would be great.
Or even being able to double click on their name on the screen.
The “R’ suggestion would be awesome
Would love the ability to give back a ride on. Especially on Apple tv
All good ideas Eric. How about a one-click reciprocal Ride-On when you get one from another rider? An invitation to return the greeting could hover for a few seconds requiring only a single click.
That already exists, at least on PC. An orange Ride On button pops up next to the rider’s name when a nearby rider gives you a ride on.
Unfortunately in my case I going slowly and the rider is off the PC before I can get the mouse there.
“R” would be wonderful
Spot on with your suggestions. I find that my give/receive ratio is usually something like 3:1 or 4:1. I guess I don’t have enough friends….. 🙂
It’s all about following people. They’ll follow you back, and give you ride ons when they do the group ride on thing.
Climb on!!! I think we should change the wording a little for those who are climbing mountains at the time.
Definitely need a reciprocal ride on button. Lack of it really winds me up
All good suggestions Eric. I also agree with the post below regarding having to go into a riders profile to give them a ride on – if you’re in a pack that’s moving fast with double draft enabled that loss of focus for just a few seconds can mean going from mid pack to off the back…some of the user interface aspects currently in Zwift tend to be a wee bit kludgy. Then there’s also the whole route selection/management issue(s). When I’m riding in a certain world I should be able to select any route that’s available in that world at any time, and ride it, without having to log out and log back in again.
Yes, I totally concur regarding the logout and login requirement to switch route – not really ideal. Especially after a race where you miss to switch back to the route where you joined the event. Then you are stuck in the race world. But apart from these small hiccups, swift is great! 😊
There’s a ‘your week on zwift’ email?! Have you posted about that before? After 3+ years as a frequent zwifter, still discovering features and options. Thanks for sharing your wisdom with the z community
Yes! Check https://my.zwift.com/profile/emails to see if you’ve got it enabled.
Check your email settings (https://my.zwift.com/profile/emails).
If it’s checked there, then they might be hitting your spam box?
i would like to see who gives “ride ons” given when your in the pens waiting to start an event,, or for them not to be given until you actually start riding and leave the pens….just annoying not knowing who gave them while your sat waiting to start
Agreed!
So what does the ride on button do on the companion app? I use Apple TV, so a key board is not an option. Over the course of a week, I receive a bunch of ride in’s, but even after 3 years on Zwift, I’m not sure how to give them.
The Ride On button in Companion just makes your rider exclaim “Ride On!” out loud. To give them, click a ride in Companion then click the button to give them a Ride On. Or give multiple Ride Ons: https://zwiftinsider.com/giving-multiple-ride-ons/
Fair points. I guess the removal of giving 5 thumbs up in a go is linked to the 100 ride-on badge (and might have caused issues on the server as you said).
To me, there is a 4th enhancement missing. Whilst it makes sense to say ‘ride on’ to cyclists, it sounds weird to runners. We should get a ‘run on’ instead !
Fair point!
I would also like to see my ride ons accumulate on screen. I want to know how close I am to getting that “bigger than Jensie” badge. It’s a nice boost to see how many people are supporting your efforts. As cool as it is to see them in my pockets, I can’t count them.
True. One way to do it is to fake exit your ride… it’ll show your total there, then you can hit back arrows and such to get back to your ride without actually ending it.
Don’t even have to do that. If you go the active activity in the Companion app, you can see your Ride Ons so far for the current activity.
For a social platform I just can’t understand why it is so hard to give a Ride-On. I have a KB on my handle bar so that I can chat but I cant give a Ride on with one click, does not make sense to me. I have to open the companion app just for the multi ride on option. https://forums.zwift.com/t/why-does-zwift-make-it-hard-to-give-ride-ons/145878/24
I like these ideas. First, I would just like the companion app to work during rides consistently–for me, it doesn’t.
Otherwise, I too would like to give Ride Ons during events–maybe if there was a way to only see the ones you give and receive. There still may be “thunderstorms,” but not as great.
Have you tried disconnecting your phone from the cellular service? The companion app has to be connected to the same wifi network as your trainer to work properly. I had this same issue when I first started using Zwift.
Absolutely love the reciprocation “Ride On” option! I have always liked the idea it is better to give than receive so I find it incredibly difficult to ride with the pack jumping up the power when things change and also focus on the companion app to give a ride on so I find myself sort of ignoring one or the other. I wish the ride on button at the bottom of the companion app would actually give the 5 closest riders a ride on instead of just saying “Ride On”. I am not so concerned about the ride ons given outside of Zwift but that is where many of mine are given since one again I find it hard to concentrate when in a group ride.
Ride on and ride safe when you venture out onto the open roads!
I just posted a feature request for the r button on the Zwift forum earlier this week, can has votes? https://forums.zwift.com/t/keyboard-shortcut-for-returning-ride-ons/220213/2
Good to know that clicking on yourself in the Companion app is borken by design in events, been wondering if I’m just doing it wrong. Guess you can still use it to click on individual riders near you and then press the 👍 button that shows up.
Ha! That’s crazy. Great minds think alike! I just replied to your topic, and upvoted it!
Hey Eric, nice thoughts especially the 5 rideon button.
So from Companion i hit ride on in a race but never know who receives it(does it really go to someone?)
Also, where do I find my weekly Zwift report.
I have not seen that email!
Thanks, Ride On!!
If you’re hitting the Ride On button in Companion, it’s just making your avatar say “Ride On!” It’s not giving anyone a thumbs up.
Check https://my.zwift.com/profile/emails to see if you’ve got the weekly email enabled.
I never knew that! I have been hitting my companion ride on button constantly as I ride- boy do I feel like an idiot!! I thought I have been giving hundreds of thumbs up 👍🏻
I think the biggest help would be to actually utilize the “ride on” thumb up button in the companion app to do just that, give a ride on to 5 riders near you or to reciprocate a ride on given to you by another rider. No keyboard or mouse or Apple TV remote required. Just use the app most of us are already using. Thanks for all the hard work you do on the insider page!
I agreed, would love to have an easier way to give a “Back At You” Ride On 👍🏼to friendly passer biers!
All good suggestions, along with lots of the other comment section suggestions too. My biggest wish, as a runner and a rider, is that it is super difficult to give ‘ride ons’ (run ons?) while running because, it turns out, I’m using my arms as part of the run. Grabbing the phone, tapping on another runner, then tapping the thumbs up…really? Clearly the developers have never actually run on zwift because they have realized this is just stupid to ask runners to do it. Heck, it’s tough enough on the bike when I’m trying to work my way up a hill and struggling.
Just friggin’ make it easier to give ride/run ons, and then give them back when you get one. That would make me a happy rider/runner.
I wish the orange “thumbs up” icon could stay by the persons name longer. Also, why not just be able to tap at the top of the screen (where it displays the name of someone who gave you a thumbs up) to reciprocate? When their name pops up you just click on their name and it reciprocates (for those that are not on the screen with the orange thumbs up). Also, give us 1 XP for every thumbs up we give? That would spur people on to be more social!!
Runners should not get ride on but stride on
I know this isn’t remotely ride on related, but if I don’t get this thought out, I may never remember. I’d love to see a power up wallet or quiver so that as long as you’re logged in for that day, you get to accumulate power ups to use later. I hate that I have to use one to get another one, and that’s a roll of the dice getting another one. Anyway, I thought that would be a cool way to keep the game side of this fun.
Please just give me a simple button on my iPad (the device on which I run Zwift) that’s always on a corner of the screen—something like the Powerups—that I can use to give Ride-Ons. The current process is way too clunky for someone who is simultaneously trying to ride a bike.
So glad I am not the only one thinking all of the above. This piece beautifully says all my thoughts on Ride On’s.
Great minds think alike! 😉
In events…as the special sauce…the delivery system needs to preserve sincerity IMO. Universal thumbs don’t even require you to know who is in the event…otherwise that’s not sauce on your cycling shoe…and it’s not pee-sy either. Ditching the dynamic re-sorting of the “Close to You” list and standardising where it lands relative to you on refresh would help the companion…also deal with the unintended links away from clumsy sweaty finger-taps. Forget any strategy that involves change from first person view- nauseating.
Agree, the “Backatcha” needs to be more enduring but also capture mates starting to ride other routes or in groups zinging by and thumbs received while under starters orders or in situations like the Ridge, KOM or Titans…maybe for your/their whole ride on a separate tab. I don’t agree there is any value in counting home screen auto thumbs…it is a metric that is not related to your behaviour but theirs. Counts of off-line log-ins where RideOns are given rather than the number they produce.
:^)
This is a bit off topic but in companion once I scroll around to find and give a “back at ya'” thumbs up I have to scroll around to find myself for the rest of the ride. Moderately irritating!
I’d like to know how many ride-ons I’ve given and record while in-game. Finding out you were a few short of attaining the “Jensie” until you exit is devastating.
Entirely agree… I use Apple and after pushing the relevant button the rider list takes some time to ‘update’. When one is on the limit ,yet wanting to thanks/ give kudos , it’s difficult to achieve.
i wanna see my RPM on the screen?
Huh? Zwift shows your RPM already. As long as you have a cadence sensor paired..
Being able to give one Ride On” during a ride sucks….. Maybe one an hour. Now, in a four hour group ride you can only give one….
I agree with Eric. Us crazies on smart rollers would love to have a voice command.
I would counter the first point where you can give a big group ride on because then there’s no work / give back for it. I guess quality over quantity would be my stance there. Pushing the button and giving everyone a ride on takes away from the meaning of giving one to the small gruppetto you might be riding with where everyone took turns pulling. But I would be in favor of the other two points.
I agree we need a longer reciprocal would be good. I ride Zwift on my phone and can’t have the companion up at the same time.
Need the ability to give more than one Ride on” in a group ride. If I do an 100 mile ride I only can give one Ride On” in 4 plus hour….
Sorry but I thinks that a Ride On has lost it’s Mojo. They should mean something, like when someone passes you on a sprint trying for a PB, or pushing some big distance, or the group you have been racing with. And I can see giving them to friends you follow, like a Strava Kudo. But the need to give a total stranger a RO just because they are riding, so that they will give you one back ? And why the need to reciprocate, if I give a RO to someone, it’s because I think they deserve one, and I don’t want or expect one back. More is not alway better?
I’ve always wished they’d change the button in the ride summary screen (PC) under the “riders you rode with” section from add as a friend to give ride on. Does anyone actually want to add random people they rode with as friends? I’d gladly throw out a few ride ons at the end of a ride to people that were around me if I could just click the thumbs up a few times on that screen.
I’d like it so that when there is a rider nearby with a potential ride on button next to their name, there is also a button on screen you can press to give a ride on to all riders with the button. This button would stay in one place and not jump around as riders swap positions
After reading…
Agree “Ride Ons” for cyclists should have meaning
Agree it should be easier to give “Ride Ons” if you want (some people say it to everyone during a race, especially triathlons)
Agree Reciprocal “Ride Ons” should be easier too
Agree not having to press a button or screen while riding/running would be cool
I think that Zwift has avoided voice commands for a reason. I am not sure what that reason is. It may be many reasons. One of which is multiple platforms and not everyone has a microphone on their device unless they are using the phone app. It may also be a privacy issue. They may not want to worry about requesting access to the microphone. Having a Siri/Alexa/ect. system listening during your ride/run may be a privacy issue. Also do you really want to have to say “Ride On” or “Run/Stride On”, then someone’s screen name, especially in a public place … while Running on a treadmill?
All good suggestions and I agree, during a IRL ride the other day we were discussing the merits of having a setting that just gave a reciprocal ride on’s automatically, meaning we didn’t need to take any action… while it sounds like a good idea – I feel it misses the point because I know there are rides where I’d prefer to be a ghost, not communicate, not give ride ons etc and then there are the social rides where all kind of things happen, including discord.
Agreed!
.
REALLY want to see who’s dropping me ride-ons while I’m still in the holding pen before an event! I can see them falling, and I can hear them on my screen, but I can’t see who’s showing the love!
Giving back a ride on might be complicated by the fact that ride ons can be given without the giver being on a ride concurrently with the receiver – where would it go? I would love that feature as well. Clicking the thumb, hot key keyboard, companion app shortcuts are all good ideas. My reciprocol ride ons are about 10% returned to those given by me according to the weekly email summary. I think it could be higher with an easy way to give them back.
Eric – I use an AppleTV, but I really don’t understand how to select a rider and give them a Ride On. Is that possible with the AppleTV app? I see the icon for it if I press Menu on the remote – but I have no idea to whom the RideOn goes (maybe it’s just a shout out?)
It’s also frustrating when you’re in a meetup where you only see your fellow meetup riders and you get a ride on from someone outside your meetup but have no way to reciprocate.
Yes, let’s have something like Ctrl-R or a “Return Ride On” button in the heads-up display next to the ride on notification you just received.
Good article Eric! Lately I have been unable to give ride ons period. I am free riding and still nothing, even when I am running. I have removed and reloaded my Companion app twice but still not able to give ride ons. Any suggestions? Thanks so much for all you do.
Just keep rebooting Companion. That’s what worked for me at least! Seems like a new bug…
Please please please can they just put a running total of individual Ride Ons received during an event/ride? At the moment it only shows after the ride and so you’ve no idea how close you’re getting to making those RO achievements. Other than that love Zwift!
the possibility to give nearby zwifters a ride via my Companion. And a shortcut to give a Ride on (back) via the same Companion. Also a button to change the camera angle via companion. THX and RIDE ON