Zwift Chat

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JuhaL

Guru

bridgy

Legendary Member
Location
Cheddar
Well King Alfred's Way was fantastic and brutal in equal measure! If anyone's ever thinking of doing it feel free to reach out and pick my brains!

My main advice would be to either make sure you go after some kind of prolonged drought! Many of the trails were extremely wet and muddy still and that really slows you up. Doing it in 3 days in those conditions was quite tough with long days in the saddle each day.

Overall though, great fun and really glad we did it - I might be able to sit back on a bike saddle some time tomorrow I hope ^_^

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Mud glorious mud


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Devil's Punchbowl (big climb up to here!)


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Butser Hill - steeper than it looks!


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King Alfred himself


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We went round this one!


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Basingstoke Canal


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Finish at Stonehenge in the early evening sun


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Pub stop in Avebury (with umbrella up for rain rather than sun protection!)
 
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CXRAndy

CXRAndy

Guru
Location
Lincs
Looks amazing Paul, similar conditions I did the Viking sportive.

The wife is nattering me to get her new bike ready so we can do this.

We have a slot in summer available to do it in a week- which would be going some for her. Just need to get her bike delivered, setup and adapted for more offroad.
 

bridgy

Legendary Member
Location
Cheddar
Looks amazing Paul, similar conditions I did the Viking sportive.

The wife is nattering me to get her new bike ready so we can do this.

We have a slot in summer available to do it in a week- which would be going some for her. Just need to get her bike delivered, setup and adapted for more offroad.

Ah fantastic! Yeah parts of it are VERY off-road and I was glad to be on a full suspension MTB - but the condition of the trails will make a huge difference. For our trip there were quite large sections I wouldn't have wanted to be on a gravel bike that's for sure!

And don't underestimate how hilly it is (very!)
 

mjd1988

Guru
I just put child 1 to bed; within 3 minutes I was in a race having a horrible/fun time. 30 minutes of exercise that I had that I otherwise wouldn't have. Outside is obviously better (at it's best) but for a guaranteed workout in my garage, often with folks I know better than my local club, impossible to beat, and it means my wife can go for a run if she wants as well

There's obviously a limit to how much I'd pay, and if a cheaper alternative gets the numbers then I'd move quickly on, but at the minute it's still the one to beat. I'm not keen on mywhoosh so indievelo would be preferred, must read up on the price locking thing if it's still there when my annual renewal comes up.

Edit; I can also workout on call which is a huge plus
 
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Peter Salt

Bittersweet
Location
Yorkshire, UK
Avoiding stuff made in China is neigh impossible, unless you check every single item in your household. For instance we have 2 different brands of toothpaste, the "expensive" Colgate one was made in China and the private label one (REMA 1000) was made in India. Finding a (carbon) bike frame made in Europe is not any easier I guess?
Yes, hard. But not impossible. And yes, it boils down to checking everything you buy. Just to be clear: I don't care if someone else is OK with UAE, I'm not being judgemental. It's just not something that I do, even if the platform was 10x better :smile:
 

Brusgaard

Über Guru
Location
Skive, Denmark
Yes, hard. But not impossible. And yes, it boils down to checking everything you buy. Just to be clear: I don't care if someone else is OK with UAE, I'm not being judgemental. It's just not something that I do, even if the platform was 10x better :smile:

Team UAE gets to ride the World Tour, so… Do you know who the investors behind Zwift are, if you follow the money trail? For all I know, they could be sheiks from the UAE (or others in that region / line of business) or Russian oligarks.
 
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CXRAndy

CXRAndy

Guru
Location
Lincs
Team UAE gets to ride the World Tour, so… Do you know who the investors behind Zwift are, if you follow the money trail? For all I know, they could be sheiks from the UAE (or others in that region / line of business) or Russian oligarks.

Zwift is private owned company with a number of large investors, Amazon etc. It raised $620 million for investment last year. As of last year it hadn't been in profit. which is surprising given its the most popular online cycling platform. Just shows the tough environment out there for indoor training.
 

Peter Salt

Bittersweet
Location
Yorkshire, UK
Team UAE gets to ride the World Tour, so… Do you know who the investors behind Zwift are, if you follow the money trail? For all I know, they could be sheiks from the UAE (or others in that region / line of business) or Russian oligarks.
I feel we're well onto our way into the silly zone here... I can be about as sure about what you say as I can be sure about the 7th cousin of my local shop owner not being a member of ISIS :laugh: But there's a difference between this and that shop owner himself starting each day with salutes and AK-47 rounds and personally beheading every white guy that steps through the door :laugh:

As Andy said above: The number of equity firms, venture capital entities, pension funds that are invested in Zwift is rather large. To say that there's no bad cookie on any board of any of those organisations would be naïve. Me, you, others, can infer it, say that's it's almost a statistical certainty but there are no clear and direct links to anything dodgy.

The primary investor behind GoWoosh is the government of the UAE - that's it - full stop. People with a stake in it are in charge and directly responsible for human rights violations - suppressing freedom of expression, assembly and association; incarcerating activists, academics, lawyers following unfair trials on vague charges - continuing to incarcerate individuals that completed their sentences - keeping some individuals in isolated cells for 6 years because they were critical of the government; deploying advanced surveillance technologies to monitor public spaces, Internet activity, and individuals' phones and computers; committing enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, torture and sexual violence in neighbouring countries; executing journalists.

Not trying to virtue signal, or criticise someone else, just saying I'm not OK with that and therefore won't be using that specific platform. Thank you.

The financial argument itself - I'm definitely in the 'it's still a great price' boat. You seem upset about it - fair enough. Unlike in UAE, we all have a choice :whistle:
 

Whorty

Gets free watts from the Atom ;)
Location
Wiltshire
Was anyone planning to race Friday smash this week?
I haven't set it up yet, but can if people want it.
I haven't raced for a week and enjoying being outside. Considering maybe having a break for a while.

I need to request the race probably today though if it's going ahead.

No, sorry. Will be gym then out walking with a friend in the sun
 

Norry1

Legendary Member
Location
Warwick
Personally, on the indoor vs outdoor debate, I am in the Both camp. I love riding outside and so far this year 2,600 of my 4,000 total miles have been outdoors. However Indoor riding is also enjoyable especially when the alternative is howling wind, heavy rain or freezing conditions. Also some training is better done on a turbo.

I will probably stay with Zwift. I took out an annual subscription and will probably have forgotten about the increase by the time it comes up for renewal - but may try out some of the other platforms in the meantime just to see how they stack up.
 

Brusgaard

Über Guru
Location
Skive, Denmark
I feel we're well onto our way into the silly zone here... I can be about as sure about what you say as I can be sure about the 7th cousin of my local shop owner not being a member of ISIS :laugh: But there's a difference between this and that shop owner himself starting each day with salutes and AK-47 rounds and personally beheading every white guy that steps through the door :laugh:

As Andy said above: The number of equity firms, venture capital entities, pension funds that are invested in Zwift is rather large. To say that there's no bad cookie on any board of any of those organisations would be naïve. Me, you, others, can infer it, say that's it's almost a statistical certainty but there are no clear and direct links to anything dodgy.

The primary investor behind GoWoosh is the government of the UAE - that's it - full stop. People with a stake in it are in charge and directly responsible for human rights violations - suppressing freedom of expression, assembly and association; incarcerating activists, academics, lawyers following unfair trials on vague charges - continuing to incarcerate individuals that completed their sentences - keeping some individuals in isolated cells for 6 years because they were critical of the government; deploying advanced surveillance technologies to monitor public spaces, Internet activity, and individuals' phones and computers; committing enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, torture and sexual violence in neighbouring countries; executing journalists.

Not trying to virtue signal, or criticise someone else, just saying I'm not OK with that and therefore won't be using that specific platform. Thank you.

The financial argument itself - I'm definitely in the 'it's still a great price' boat. You seem upset about it - fair enough. Unlike in UAE, we all have a choice :whistle:

All I'm trying to say is, that we have no way of knowing who has money in any cycling platform (or most other products in the world), and whether it is dirty (oil/drugs/gas) money or from some AI-billionaires.

Like you say, we are free to use whatever we want and don't want, and thank God for that!

I choose not to sponsor an American coorporation who lays off staff and raises prices, while at the same time sponsoring high profile races and doing TV-commercials. A 50%+ price hike in less than 2 years is just too much in my book, and therefore I cancelled my renewal.
I also didn't renew my Strava sub earlier this year, as they also raised their price too much, and I see no real development on that platform either. There is plenty of free alternatives out there, if you really want to dissect your ride data - which I don't.
 
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