I just finished my first ride on Zwift. Here are my first impressions. Trainer Road/Sufferfest it is not. That is if you’re not on a smart trainer. TR gives you Power and Cadence guidance to follow a specific workout. There is no such output from Zwift for that. I suppose that Zwift does output a signal to a smart trainer to cause it to simulate a particular part (climb, flat, sprint etc…) but there is nothing to regulate that on a dumb trainer. As far as the graphics and other aspects of Zwift; I only rode the Zwift Island 3.1 mile course so my experience is limited. There are a couple of climbs (one being Deliverance Mountain that includes passing a log cabin playing banjo music). I even saw a couple of 8 point bucks along the road; it may not be that far from West Virginia then. For me, the highlight was “riding” with other “riders” in real time. You could see others you were getting ready to pass and others that were getting ready to pass you (the display on the right shows the time difference between you and other riders. It also has little pop-ups that have the name of the rider and how far he/she is behind you. I even had a couple of “county line sprints” I participated in. I represented ACE well and won each one handily. In regard to a level playing field with other riders, those that use a dumb trainer have a big advantage. When Zwift tells the smart trainer to load up a tough stretch, dumb trainer riders can breeze right past them. I could tell I was about the only one on my ride tonight that had a dumb trainer because I was the fastest (no one passed me). I’m not bragging, I’m just saying I think I had an unfair advantage. To get a good workout, you have to be more disciplined with Zwift than with TR as it won’t give you Power and Cadence guidelines (as I mentioned earlier). Overall, it was a lot of fun. I earned another place to ride but couldnt figure out how to turn that on. Stay tuned for more. app.strava/activities/236873223
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 00:14:38 +0000
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