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All, Just invested in the new Tacx Flux Smart Trainer and now want to use the capabilities of the smart trainer. I have been using TTS4 for quite some time (I have a Tacx Genius) but want explore Zwift. I have been reading up on it but I cannot seem to find answers on my questions. Zwift seems to evolve around online riding with other Zwift riders around the globe. Does that mean I can only ride at predetermined rides/events? If I come home and decide to ride, will I be able to? If so, will there be other riders? Will I be on my own if I do not join pre-scheduled events? In essence I want more info on how the rides are initiated. How are the routes determined? There seems to be only two worlds (Watopia and Richmond) but seems to be VERY short. I generally do rides between 40km-70km. Are such routes available? Is there enough climbing on these routes if I want to do some good hill training? How steep are the hills? Is Zwift vs TTS4 Real Life Videos worth it? Some feedback will be REALLY appreciated.

There is no garmin sync on MW, only Trainingpeaks and Strava Just dual record with your garmin on indoor workout mode. Life is much easier. I use MW, IndieVelo and Zwift and always record the ride with my garmin head unit. Firstly should the software crash, I have all the data on my garmin. Secondly, garmin data for Discovery points. MW, IndieVelo and Zwift data is saved but I do not sync it to TP, then I don't have delete double recording. The only sync I have is with TP set up to pull in structured workouts of the day to MW, IndiVelo and Zwift

So with the latest price increase on ZWIFT and the fact that i pay for TR as well, it was time to look at alternatives to ZWIFT - I normally use it to free ride and also run it while in TR to have something to watch instead of the TR blu graph. I fired up Mywhoosh and was pleasently surprised. the graphics are nowhere near ZWIFT but other than that I reeeellly laaaik it and its free! I also think the HUD info is better than ZWIFT - Cannot understadn why a platform like ZWIFT still doenst have Ave spd All MyWhoosh needs is now Ave HR then it would be perfect. This is my laptop spec

And just when we got excited by the latest upgrades they nock us for an additional $5 / month TR / ZWIFT - TR / ZWIFT - TR / ZWIFT One wil def need to go !

Yesterday was my 2nd session on MW, here some things i found while messing about. 1. I messed around with the graphic settings and changed Render Scale from Ultra to High which improved the graphics, especially my avatar. I have Post processing set to high and texture quality set to medium - Don't see much of a difference when i change these and i have no clue what these settings actually change. 2. The app crashed while i was messing about - gave a crash report which i have no clue what it was saying - but sent it off and rebooted the app. 3. During my training session where i was controlling through TR and riding a route in MW it froze. But so did TR so i would put that down to the wireless connection to the TV. Once i re-did the connection this time using HDMI cable it worked fine - But then MW crashed and I had to reboot it - No biggie as my session was in TR which carried on working, but i can imagine the irritation if i was doing a MW session only. 4. Had issue connecting the ANT+ or getting ANT+ to stay on in the settings. I switch it on and go back to devices and it would be switched off. I closed TR and went back to MW ANT+ which then seemed to connect. so clearly MW will not auto pick up a free ANT+ channel of which i have 2 on my laptop, both TR and ZWIFT will automatically connect with which channel is free. So the work around is to first fire up MW and connect and them fire up TR and connect.

indieVelo wasn't picking up any of my sensors yesterday, so I reverted to the 25Km of free time on Zwift. Then I noticed I had a free trial for 14 days, so activated it. Can't say I missed much, except that the integration from Intervals.icu -> TP2Intervals -> TP -> Zwift works seamlessly. https://forum.intervals.icu/t/tp2intervals-copy-trainingpeaks-and-trainerroad-workouts-plans-to-intervals/63375

I’m running it on a 10year Dell Inspiron 3500 series with 8GB Ram and i7 dual core processor. Graphics card is nVidia GeForce 2Gb card. Works ok but doesn’t render graphics as sharp as a newer machine might. My whoosh did import TodaysPlan workouts but since they closed shop this has fallen away. They are in discussions with Training Peaks so wel have to wait and see how that plays out. Zwift and rouvy are still easier platforms to run with Tacx Training App the next level up in terms of hardware requirements. one of the packages that’s great bang for your buck is Performance Pro. $99 for a three user license once off and there’s plenty of workouts to choose from

Thats why for structured workout plans i only use TR - My free rides would all be in MW or ZWIFT

I cast my laptop screen wireless to a smart TV which is fairly large and this is the quality i get So some of the surrounds are a bit pixualated, but the worst is when you riding on a tar road - thats really bad. I also run 2 ANT+ dongles, one connects TR and the other connects MW to the smart trainer with "Controllable" switched off. The connection really works well and jsut as good as Zwift , but i havnt done a normal ride in MW yet The only thing that sucks is when you put MW in windows mode so i can reduce the size to get TR in the bottom screen - MW resizes as aspect ratio so when you drag the bottom up it rezise the sides as well - Not a big deal though

For me - Training in TR with a colpased screen while i'm riding around in ZWIFT at the same time is the only thing that keeps me riding on an IDT - I think the perfect platform is ZWIFT with TR fully intergrated or visa versa - Sadly we won't see that anytime in the near future The double subscription is hurting the wallet though

It's pricey to be sure. More than rouvy .... But indomlove zwift. I import my structured training into it and also love the races which have got better bd better as they've sorted out the pack dynamics algorithm. I'll stay but it hurts. Looks like a shade over 4k a year

Well, after my TrainerRoad workout last night (an easy endurance workout mind you), I went to IndieVelo to check something, and decided to join a 2-lap velodrome race. A minute and 14 at over 7w/kg is not my definition of a game 🤢 During 2020 I joined a quite a few races on Zwift, but it was rarely anything but flat out all the way. Since then I've stuck almost exclusively with TrainerRoad - no burnout and actual progress. Only been using IndieVelo for a few months and I haven't done a lot of races, but so far I've had a few that were actually fun (even races that were just me against the rather clever/sneaky bots). As much as I like TrainerRoad, for the real crit series later in the year I am considering creating my own event(s) on IndieVelo, maybe on the South Lake loop, to prep myself for the torture of dealing with attacks for 30-40 minutes. Edit - Not really much of a point to my rambling, and I'm sure you are not looking down on those who just ride or race on Zwift/Rouvy/etc and aren't into structured training. As long as we enjoy racing/riding/training/all of the above

Lots of noise online about the Zwift increase. First increase in a number of years during which so much has been added to the platform, but everyone has their own financial situation and priorities to consider when making a decision.

This is going to be like the DSTV conundrum, so many 'potential' cheaper alternatives yet in reality so few simple alternatives that have the same offering. I'll stick to Zwift for now, its not cheap but I've tried others and keep going back because its the most complete as far as I'm concerned.

I will give MyWhoosh a try, hopefully i can run TR at the same time like in Zwift

I guess you can nearly negate the price increase if you do a yearly subscription instead? I think Zwift is great and does offer a lot; but if it is just your distraction while using TR that costs the same, it is quite a bit of money. I'm not sure if you can do the same with IndieVelo, to have TR control the trainer. But eventually IV will have to cost something as well.

Potentially coming soon with the Zwift Training API https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2024/04/structured-training-interesting.html

never thought of it like this. (with good reason...) So, people on Zwift only for the "game" "to control the avatar" They might even have an electric drill connected to the bb that all their focus can be to control the avatar/ steering and sight scenery. (even an e bike ?🤷‍♂️) There might even be ways to "ride" just sitting on the couch 😀 I am a Zwifter since it was in Beta phase and always thought of it as a training tool. (Free ride ; group rides , work outs; group work outs; races meet ups etc.) all to gain some sort of fitness gain - any time you want and in all weather conditions. Today is Monday Frosty not Friday!!🙃

I have also tried Indievelo (along with pretty much ALL the other virtual sims, none of the other ones got close to grabbing my attention). It is a direct competitor to zwift but worse in many ways - far less people, routes, gamification, training plans, worse graphical design, etc. Zwift racing also has no peer in my opinion. However, it has some KEY advantages: 1. Zwift is amazing but justifying 17 USD per month is hard when there is a similar option for free (for now) 2. Indievelo allows for offsetting of your gears. Not the "trainer difficulty" setting that just changes the slope simulation (although they have that too) - with Indievelo I can actually do fast speeds on the flat without spinning out on my gravel bike, which I can't in Zwift. Potentially fixed with virtual gearing, but only limited trainer supported for now. 3. Indievelo has a functioning gradient / profile map (this is more an annoyance that Zwift just can't get this right for some reason) I've cancelled zwift and it will remain cancelled until indievelo starts charging, after which I'll have to re-evaluate.

New season started. Maddie le Roux from South Africa is a finalist.

For me, the Edge 530 (and newer) works seamlessly with navigation as well as integration with most 3rd party applications: Garmin Strava Intervals.icu TrainingPeaks Discovery Vitality Watt Bike at the gym indieVelo/Zwift My Kickr RidewithGPS Not forgetting some custom apps/widgets.

Smalls? You shopping for your imaginary friend? Or just your Zwift persona 😉

I haven't really done much over 6 hours - maybe a couple of rides in total. I am planning some later in the year (let's see if gravel is as fun as it looks), but most of my training has only been to try and look as cool as possible going up chappies every weekend. I suspect I'm not fitting a gravel 100miler in under 6 hours though. Weekday sessions are usually indoor ~1 hour with a single bottle of mix (I try and do a bit of zone 2, but I also need some joy in my life so often do more fun things like races or alpe du zwift PB attempts), and weekend rides are typically 4 hours with two bottles and one gel per hour (160g from extra strong mix and 22g per gel). I also have some whey protein after a ride (PSN LIfestyle on takealot). I tried using a variety of "real" foods but it just didn't work for me. I aim for 8-9 hours per week, the most I can fit into my schedule. Since I got this sorted, I recover much faster and no longer have headaches the rest of the day after a long ride. I am however not advocating that this is the best or even a good approach - it just works for me and my particular situation. It's also really cheap I can imagine getting to longer durations will need a different approach - I just don't like stopping mid-ride.

Aleix espargaro placed really well in elites at Epic a few years ago as well ! also beat me in a couple of zwift races during covid (not that it's an accomplishement 🤣)

Or the outlier talent on Zwift in SA during covid that never crossed over outdoors once the racing started. So odd that one to me......