Zwift Offers Social Cycling in Virtual Environments

Zwift offers an immersive social experience for indoor cycling, delivering virtual environments right to users' living rooms.

Zwift is an indoor cycling platform that allows cyclists to stay in shape during the cold season. It makes indoor cardio training more interesting by turning it into a social experience with an element of gaming and competition thrown into the mix. The platform offers a “massively multiplayer online game” that lets cyclists ride together and compete against one another in 3D virtual worlds. All they need is a stationary bike trainer, wireless sensors that measure speed and cadence, and an ANT+ dongle, a small USB stick that allows the computer to communicate with ANT+ devices (Mac users with a Bluetooth sensor don't need this). The data from the sensors is sent to the computer and transferred into the virtual game, allowing users to monitor their stats and see how they compare against others.

To use the platform, cyclists can simply put their road bike, tri-bike or mountain bike on a trainer (classic or smart) supported by Zwift, or use an indoor bike that broadcasts watts via ANT+. Zwift supports a number of smart trainers, including KICKR, Tacx, CycleOps PowerBeam Pro, and Computrainer.

Zwift lets users watch virtual environments on their computer screens and control camera angles with a smartphone app while communicating with each other using headsets with a microphone. The Zwift mobile app can be used as a game controller or to check who is riding when the user is not. Zwift lets cyclists create customized workouts using an easy drag and drop editor and later to download their FIT files to software like Strava, WKO, or Training Peaks to analyze their performance and activities. The platform allows cyclists to ride with their friends or make new ones while riding in 3D landscapes and to get real time perfomance stats.

The Zwift workout mode delivers structured workouts to cyclists, who can choose from a wide range of workouts, which include full training plans, a functional threshold power test, and individual workouts based on different types of training and the time the user has available.

To get more accurate stats, cyclists can use a power meter that measures the force they apply to the pedals. The supported devices include PowerTap, Quarq, Garmin Vector, Verve InfoCrank and power2max. Zwift is also compatible with all ANT+ heart rate monitors from many popular brands, including Garmin and Wahoo, and supports all ANT+ speed and cadence sensors.

Watch the video below to see the experience with Zwift.