Zwiftcast

Simon, Shane and Nathan are together - in the same place, and that place is Las Vegas! The Zwiftcasters are in the Nevada desert for the very first CVR World Champs, which is virtual bike racing as never before. Whilst the event takes top billing in this podcast, it's not the only things the boys find time to talk about. In a more chatty than usual podcast, the trio discuss Frank Garcia's ambitious staging of Zwift racing as an ESport. If you don't know what this is, after listening to this 'cast, you'll be much wiser. But there's room for more than just racing. Simon talks to Any Tough and his six year old son Daniel, about Kid Zwifting, its benefits and how the game can inspire youngsters to get involved in exercise and fitness. Simon,  Shane and Nathan also mull over the E Fondo on Zwift; the film Zwift made about Mat Hayman and the advent of more data with the Zwift Ride Report. But the birth of Zwifting as an ESport at scale does dominate this 'cast, not least because of Shane's "surprise" second pla

Simon, Shane and Nathan are back together to discuss all the latest happenings in Zwift. The trio kick off with a discussion about Nathan’s recent visit to Zwift HQ. Whilst he can’t be specific, Nathan reveals his excitement at upcoming developments by responding to Simon’s quiz questions. Next is a feature with Frank Garcia, the veteran Zwifter and architect of the Cycligent ranking system, who talks candidly about his bid to “own” e-sports on Zwift. Fresh from a test event in the USA, where top Zwifters raced each other in front of a live audience, Frank is now taking the idea of live, validated, certified racing in front of a live and online global audience, to the next level with a big event in Las Vegas. The Zwiftcast trio chew over the implications of this – and Shane talks about his hopes as a competitor in Vegas. Monica Schlange has written movingly on ZwiftBlog about her battle with depression and how her efforts to conquer the illness with cycling seem somehow tied to the Zwift Mountain and Monic

An episode which focuses on the pro riders using Zwift, taking in current pro riders, a new pro rider in the form of Leah Thorvilson, the winner of the Zwift Academy scheme which used the platform as a talent trawl and a former pro rider who’s discovering a new lease of racing life virtually. Shane and Nathan get the day off as Simon travels to Girona to spend some time with the Cannondale Drapac team. Whilst there, he caught up with Andrew Talansky and Taylor Phinney, huge stars on the World Tour circuit and enthusiastic Zwifters.  Leah Thorvilson has just completed her first UCI races with her new team Canyon SRAM, WMN Cycling. She talks frankly about the “horrifying” aspects of racing as part of the pro peloton but also how much she’s learning - and how fast.  Adrian Timmis raced the Tour de France in 1987 as part of the ill-fated Halfords ANC British team. Now he’s back racing, but on Zwift and he’s as competitive as ever. Adrian reflects on his experiences.  This episode is also packed with pro tips,

Simon, Shane and Nathan are back together for more Zwiftchat and gossip. The trio kick off discussing a heart-warming story about a Zwifter in rehab who was helped out by a younger rider. It leads on to a bit of a grumpfest about the slow pace of development in the game. The chaps wonder why voice in-game – which would no doubt lead to more social interaction – seems to be taking so long. Simon reveals that a chat with pro rider Taylor Phinney reveals him to be a big Zwifter – and a huge gamer, and that prompts a thoughtful discussion about how gaming techniques and features could develop the training tool aspect of the game, and even improve the feel of racing. Shane goes into rant mode – justifiably, many would say, after Simon’s interview with a Zwifter who cracked his frame on the trainer, and then had a long dialogue with Specialized, who, initially at least, claimed that their frames are not warrantied for use in turbo trainers. The chaps agree that this situation is a mess, with inconsistency between

A new format, Zwiftcast XL will be published quickly after big news breaks on Zwift. It will also be a place to hear our new ZwiftcastLive show, which will be first available on Nathan's ZCL channel. In ZC20XL you can hear Simon, Shane and Nathan discuss the big new developments which Zwift CEO Eric Min talked about in an email interview with the NYVelocity blog. 

Thanks for making the last two episodes the most downloaded ever! And we’re back with more Zwiftchat and features. Simon, Shane and Nathan kick off with a short discussion on whether too much Zwifting makes you rusty once you get back outside. Then it’s onto dissect the implications of the rider who slipped through a glitch in the matrix and made it onto the obviously unfinished London course extension. The chaps briefly chat through the merits of the Volcano extension then move on to analyse an intriguing statement from the boss of Tacx, Simon Tacx, on their possible plans for a Smart Bike. Is Zwift becoming less social as it grows? The trio are pretty much agreed that it is and wonder if the growth in teams on Zwift is the community’s way of countering the “big city” feel that Zwift can assume at times. Damon McKay from Team TFC talks to Simon about the community benefits that team membership can bring. Simon has the first of his features from his visit to the Tacx factory – and inevitably, given some

Simon, Shane and Nathan are back with all the latest eruptions from the land of Zwift. The trio vow NOT to talk about the imminent release of the Volcano Route, on the basis it’s bound to be released hours after the podcast is published, just like the unfortunate timing of the iOS version of the game and the podcast! But the boys do chat about whether iOS is responsible for the upsurge in Lady Zwifters, a trend confirmed by CEO Eric Min and illustrated with an interview with new Lady Zwifter, Angela Prescott. In other Zwifty news, Simon, Shane and Nathan try to put the GCN outage into perspective ; discuss the brilliant Zwift Community Live project and wonder if the relative absence of new developments in the game is an inevitable consequence of the platform’s rapid growth in subscriber numbers. Coach David Lipscomb provides an FTP 101, with some invaluable advice on how to get the best from the test that many new Zwifters undertake. Shane and Nathan have some other views . . . Frank Garcia, from Team X,

The Zwiftcast has a new theme tune! Simon, Shane and Nathan hope you like it. The Zwiftcast trio kick off by rattling through a whole series of info-bombs related to the Zwift platform, including the news that a Virtual Bike Shop will soon be open, allowing users to spend XP points; the decision to include ANT+ on the iOS platform after all and the impact of the big new January influx of users on the platform – could Zwift now be feeling a bit crowded at times?  The main feature is a substantial interview with Ed Baker, a former Facebook exec, now with Uber, who is also one of the new private investors in Zwift. Ed is hugely experienced in helping digital businesses to grow and Zwifters will find his thoughts on this subject truly fascinating. After analysing Ed’s interview (Mark Zuckerberg rides a Kickr – who knew!) Simon, Shane and Nathan knock around the idea that you may not need to own a big, expensive piece of hardware like a trainer to Zwift in future – what might it all mean? The next feature is t

Simon, Shane and Nathan wrap up the year with a look at the new stuff on Zwift.   Before the boys get going there’s an interview with Leah Thorvilson, done just a few hours after she learned she was the winner of the Zwift Academy scheme. It’s a revealing and candid reaction. With iOS finally out, and the expected influx of new users to the platform, the trio debate the one big surprise – the inclusion of running as a secret, and unsupported, feature on the app. While we welcome runners, the trio are less enthusiastic about signs of tension in the community between experienced and new users, and Simon, Shane and Nathan discuss the best way to overcome it. The new trainer from Tacx, the eagerly-awaited Flux, seems to be having a difficult birth and Simon and Shane discuss how hard it can be to get the internet to forget. Simon has two reports from Italy – and his visit to Elite’s headquarters. The trainer manufacturer has introduced new standards for accuracy, and Simon finds out how it’s done. The myst

Simon, Shane and Nathan get together to discuss the latest in the land of Zwift . . . .  A matter which caused no little controversy on Zwift was Christopher O Hearn's idea for a Trip Advisor-style ratings site to assess the quality of group rides. The notion has not gone down well with ride leaders and Christopher appears on the podcast to make his case. Simon, Shane and Nathan assess its merits, or otherwise. The Zwift Academy scheme, whereby one female rider will be recruited to pro team Canyon SRAM after a months-long talent trawl on the platform, reaches its finale in the coming week. Finalist Leah Thorvilson, one of three riders to make the grade in the last casting call, tells listeners how she's feeling about the test that awaits. Trainer Road fought back this week - with a post from their CEO pleading with people to stop copying its workouts into Zwift. It's a fair point and he's quite right - but it prompts a discussion on how effective a competitor Trainer Road can remain as Zwift's social cycli

Simon and Nathan are together, and Shane’s calling in from Long Beach, California, the home of ZHQ, for the latest edition of the podcast for Zwifters. It’s another busy episode  with lots to talk about – as always seems to be the case in Zwift. This edition starts with a good look at World Bicycle Relief day, arguably the biggest event in the Zwift calendar. Thousands of Zwifters will ride to help get people on bikes in Africa. Katie Bolling, the development director of WBR, is on the line to explain exactly what WBR does (it’s all good) and exactly how Zwifters can help the charity make an even bigger difference. Simon, Shane and Nathan talk about the recent Team Worlds event, organised by Tam Burns, and speculate whether Zwift’s prompt response when a bug caught out a few riders is a sign of a different approach to glitches – and ask whether this prompt action tempered the response of those who got caught. Nathan Stolzner has an inspiring story. Hitting the scales at almost 300lbs, Nathan is determined

Simon, Shane and Nathan are back – and the first few minutes of this edition are devoted to picking over some of the bones of the last episode’s interview with Eric Min, the CEO of Zwift. We talk about how soon Zwifters might feel the benefit of the huge new investment in Zwift from outside funders; and what Eric might have meant by a Smart Bike. The first interview on this episode is with celebrity Zwifter, the Paralympian Jody Cundy, who talks about Rio, Gold Medals, how much the kilo hurts – and getting famous from a hissy fit. You can see Jody’s exploits here Simon, Shane and Nathan follow up with a discussion about the celebrated art of bike hurling – and whether it ought to be represented in game. Nathan introduces the hilarious idea of a potential “OhioThrow”. You can see the Bradley Wiggins incident which the boys discuss here There’s a very exciting set of new rides and races coming to Zwift with the Dutch National Team. The originators discuss how it came about and what we might expect. There’s m

This episode is devoted entirely to a conversation with Zwift CEO, Eric Min. It’s wide ranging – covering the latest Zwift news, developments and plans for the Northern Hemisphere indoor season and beyond. Eric talks about the huge injection of new investment into the platform – the people behind it and the changes it’s going to bring. There’s news of course expansions, the overall health of the platform, the ambitions for incorporating running and much more.

Simon, Shane and Nathan are back to discuss the increasingly lively – and populous – Zwift platform. We start this episode with a big discussion on the major success, and minor failings, of the Tacx World Champs series of races. Zwift VP of Marketing Steve Beckett answers questions on why around 10% of users had problems during the race – with Shane, Nathan and Simon, along with KISS race organisers, seeking some perspective on the event. With Zwift becoming ever busier, is it time for the opposition to walk in fear of the Zwift indoor riding bulldozer, or are they raising their game to compete? We discuss. A French academic working at a German University reveals the results of his research into how avatars in “exer-games”, like Zwift, may actually influence the performance of the user. Zwift community stalwart Eric Schlange makes a long-overdue appearance on the podcast to discuss his painstaking tests to find out which bikes are fastest on Zwift; discuss his IRL racing career and chew the fat a bit abou

Shane, Nathan and Simon are back together for the first time in a couple of episodes to discuss all matters Zwift. The boys kick off with a discussion on how “refuseniks” now seem to be flocking into Zwift; catch up on the latest Zwift on  iOS chatter and summarise how things have been going in Australia as the end of the indoor season nears. There’s a short feature comparing the noise emitted by the new Wahoo KICKR compared to the older version and a discussion on whether noise could be the new battleground in the fiercely-competitive Smart Trainer market. After hearing from Zwifter Peter Maloney about how he’d like to find other Zwifters riding on with multiple sclerosis by changing his name to indicate he has the condition, Simon, Shane and Nathan go on to discuss the tendency for people to change their real names in the game, wondering whether anonymity is a good thing or not. One of the KISS race series organisers Glen Knight is on the Zwiftcast to discuss the upcoming Tacx World Championships and Sim

Simon and Nathan get their teeth into a possible future for Zwift – in the form of Virtual Reality. With the Oculus Rift headset becoming more available and with Zwift already VR-capable, could this deeply immersive technology catch on in the fitness arena? Shane gives his first reactions to using the headset with Zwift and Simon and Nathan discuss some of the more obvious downsides as well as looking at the possibilities of this exciting technology. Some think the superb Zwift Academy scheme  – which aims to use the platform to identify  a potential professional female rider – has been flying a little under the radar. Not the hundreds of women who’ve been taking part in the rigorous programme of training over the summer, but perhaps this scheme isn’t as well known in the wider Zwift community as it might be. The podcast has three interviews with graduates of the Academy. Leah Thorvilson, Rachel Elliot and Bel Flint have all made it through to the final 12 riders – hear how they reacted to getting the news

Simon, Shane and special guest D C Rainmaker are at the biggest bike show in the world. These are exciting times for indoor riders and the excitement is reflected at Eurobike, where trainer manufacturers are showing their wares for the coming indoor season. D C Rainmaker, otherwise known as Ray Maker, makes a special guest appearance to discuss all the news with Simon and Shane, and concludes:”There has never been a better time to buy a Smart Trainer” The Zwiftcast tours the gigantic show, stopping for interviews with Tacx, whose Flux Smart Trainer was a show stealer; Wahoo,who launched the new Kickr;  Elite, whose new Drivo is claimed to be the most accurate Smart Trainer in the world, and Cycle Ops, whose Hammer and Magnus are also promising great things. The Zwiftcast trio discuss how trainer manufacturers have responded to the new indoor riding  world Zwift has helped create and how Zwift itself may cope with competitors in the market. We also discuss the trend for manufacturers to announce new produc

Simon, Shane and Nathan discuss the incredibly active smart trainer market, with a raft of new models announced in the past couple of weeks, including an eye-catching offering from Tacx. They go on to speculate on what might be the likely effect of an expected launch of Zwift on iPad. There’s a feature on Married Zwifting, with a look at how couples balancing jobs and kids can use Zwift to maximise training, sometimes Zwifting together. Nathan’s other half, Lindsay and Shane’s partner, Von, make guest appearances – and share some of the secrets of their joint pain caves! Australian hero Mat Hayman makes a special appearance on the Zwiftcast to bring us up to date on what’s he’s been doing since that memorable win in Paris Roubaix and to let listeners know how Zwift is fitting into his training plan. There’s a feature with ZTR race organiser Christian Wiedemann who reveals the results of a fascinating experiment: He tells the Zwiftcast what happened when he went to tackle a very familiar local climb in re

Karissa Minn joins the Zwiftcast to discuss what’s been happening on the FB groups – we cover: Explaining Zwift to a non-Zwifter; How Old Are Zwifters? and Inspirational Zwift users. Pro rider and Zwift ambassador Ted King answers questions posed by the Zwift community. Ted’s site Rider Rick Wood and coach David Lipscomb discuss their race-winning Virtual Coaching tactic.  David’s coaching site Ray Brown, fast becoming a Zwift legend for his huge rides, tells us how he does it. Kevin Abt, big cheese at Wahoo, answers some questions about new trainers and explains ERG mode. Michael Giudicissi tells us how he’s getting on with the 12 Week FTP Builder programme. And Shane Miller provides a quick review of the new Zwift Workout Creator.

Simon, Shane and Nathan get together to discuss the latest Zwift news, plus a series of features on matters of interest to all Zwifters. Nathan relates how he broke his collar bone racing and how Zwift is helping his rehab. There’s a feature with Tim Searle, leader of the Australian HDR ride, which is drawing huge numbers and may now be the biggest group ride on Zwift. Charlie Issendorf, VP of Events for Zwift, tells us how the new Event Module is bedding in and forecasts how it’s going to develop in coming weeks. Simon, Shane and Nathan discus the new London course, the advent of bad weather on Zwift and speculate about the possible introduction of a velodrome.. Team Sky’s Head of Innovation, Simon Jones, a keen Zwifter, talks about how augmented reality and virtual reality may have a part to play in pro rider training in the future. In part two of our interview with Charlie, we discuss the next stage in the development of the platform towards a general fitness arena, with the testing of running in the