I tested Zwift alternatives. What did I discover?

[@pghampton]

I enjoy riding routes. Rouvy works with my equipment (MyWhoosh doesn't like my Garmin HR) and gives me routes galore. I'm enjoying the variety after many many years of Zwift.

[@burgess_and_his_bike]

That’s weird. I use Garmin HR on MyWhoosh with no issues. Funny how it can be like that. Mate, it’s what works for you. The biggest barrier to me using Rouvy is cost. For what it has I can’t justify it.

[@pghampton]

@@burgess_and_his_bike Garmin Fenix with ATV. No idea why it doesn't work with that app specifically (all others fine). Thanks for the route recommendation by the way - added to my list!

[@burgess_and_his_bike]

@@pghampton no worries mate. It’s gorgeous in real life with some tough as nails climbs.

[@Grunge_Cycling]

If you want exploration, there is a mod that literally lets you riding bikes in GTA V with your turbo trainer

[@burgess_and_his_bike]

What’s this for?

[@Grunge_Cycling]

@@burgess_and_his_bike kzbin.info/www/bejne/eJ2UaIOVotV7f5I GPLama did a tutorial a few years ago

[@burgess_and_his_bike]

Just watched it. If I owned GTA5 I’d 100% give it a go but I won’t buy it just for that. I’ll wait for the GTA 6 mod 😂

[@Augusto_Caten]

Damn id love that, where can I find it?

[@burgess_and_his_bike]

@@Augusto_Caten you’d have to look it up but it should be easy enough to find the mod if you’re familiar with that stuff. I think it was GPLlama who did a video on it if you want to look that up as a starting point.

[@danielsmith7856]

Briefly mentioned Trainer Road which i subscribed for a year. After 4 months and planning for a goal event which was a race in the hills i was dropped on the first climb. TR just didn't simulate hill climbs in their training. After going back to zwift training plans for a few months i got a PB on an outdoor climb so I'll not go back to TR. The lack of graphics also demotivated me

[@burgess_and_his_bike]

Yeah the lack of visuals didn’t grab me either. It’s also not cheap for a training platform that doesn’t provide you a direct coach. I know people that swear by it, but I’m not convinced. That being said, I’ve never tried it. Congrats on the PB!

[@eloann]

Having tried them all, I mostly agree with you - though Rouvy's duo and group plans can significantly reduce the cost. My ideal would be IndieVelo's mechanics with MyWhoosh's graphics. Zwift still strikes the better balance for now.

[@burgess_and_his_bike]

Yeah no one in my family rides (yet) so group plans are a no, but for sure if indieVelo improved the graphics it’d grab more. Not sure it’s possible on the game engine, which he uses to allow constant, speedy updates which the community prefers to crazy graphics. I thought graphics would be important to me, but found the gameplay way more important in IV

[@khaliljamarr]

One of these companies needs to create a mode with a storyline similar to NBA 2k's myCareer mode.

[@burgess_and_his_bike]

That would actually be so fun, like a single-player campaign mode where you go from being a nobody in your garage to a superstar.

[@LordPopeye]

Good stuff champ. Answered a load of questions I have about Zwift and whether it remains worth it. Cheers.

[@burgess_and_his_bike]

I’m glad it helped mate.

[@thedesigngraphik]

For racing, IV is the clear winner right now because Zwift is just fantasy land now with so many BS performances, and the wpkg heavy “physics” approach is a failure. It’s why you end up in a race with some little 50 year old lady smashing cat 1/2 level guys, and Zwift hasn’t and are not going to ever change that. I have raced A cat on Zwift since 2017, this year switched to IV. It’s got a ways to go, but the developer listens to the users in Discord, and like you said is smashing out weekly updates. Just look at his TTT launch last week, in the first version it already provides 10x more features than the TTT format on Zwift. Zwift is more like Disney, fantasy land training, IV is more realistic and to the point. Not affiliated with IV, but I love the fact the developer actually listens to his users, unlike Zwift (who typically will respond really rude or arrogant in the forums).

[@burgess_and_his_bike]

Totally agree with you on this. The new update for IV is insane.

[@rockhopper01]

Yessir. I do like Zwift for training, but it’s weird that you have to use a 3rd party website to validate results when you race. You’d think in all this time Zwift would have integrated these checks in the platform itself.

[@burgess_and_his_bike]

@@rockhopper01 you certainly would. It shows that it’s not the priority for them.

[@mocat4]

Thanks so much for doing this video series! Question (since you've tried them all): Do any of these platforms allow you to race against bots? I love pushing myself in racing but I max out at 1.8-2w/kg (and at 58 I'm not getting any stronger), which means I'm often at the back of the pack or getting dropped on Zwift in D cat. I would love a racing experience where I can race against bots (or real people) at my level.

[@burgess_and_his_bike]

Yeah IndieVelo has you covered there. Ranking system is fair too

[@SnappyWasHere]

Rouvy question. When you finish one of the routes does it show a mark or something that it is completed? I prefer to ride alone somewhere different every day but don’t want to keep a spreadsheet of the routes I’ve done. Thanks!

[@burgess_and_his_bike]

Super good question and all I can say is “not that I noticed” though that doesn’t help much.

[@jasonhurst2491]

Noice! Might see you on IV some day if I can get my lazy arse on the trainer. Need to get a bit faster though or it'll be a short hello 😂

[@burgess_and_his_bike]

Dude that’d be great. Would be happy to organise a race on there if there’s interest. Maybe a TT so no one is racing the other.

[@jasonhurst2491]

@@burgess_and_his_bike I'd give a TT a crack for funzies. FTP is in a hole so deep it'll be a diamond when I eventually dig it up, but watcha gonna do? 🤷‍♂️ Count me in.

[@burgess_and_his_bike]

@@jasonhurst2491 😂 alright stay tuned.

[@philipmarriott8619]

What have you made of fulgaz?

[@burgess_and_his_bike]

Haven’t tried it. I understand it is similar to rouvy

[@katoosh71]

IV doesn't have enough routes to keep my interest for the time being

[@burgess_and_his_bike]

Yeah fair call mate. I think it’s improving soon.

[@stickler6312]

MyWhoosh, the way to go. New update 3.7.0 out in next 24 hrs.

[@burgess_and_his_bike]

Any idea on what this will change?

[@Kelvin_c]

Man! I want to put my money on MyWoosh. On the most part I really like it, but at the core, data upload is buggy as hell. I hope the latest update will address this...fingers crossed