(morning Tripleshot) Zwift Group Rides?

[mfarnham]

Is anyone interested in doing an online group ride Tuesday morning? Regular time (6am?). If I get at least 3 yesses here by noon Monday, I'll try to set one up. I think you need to follow me on Zwift in order for me to invite you to the meetup. Might be nice to claw back a bit of our old routine.

In principle, one can do this with a dumb trainer, if you have a speedometer on your rear wheel, I believe. I realize not everyone has a trainer so not everyone can do this (do you have one in your closet that you're not using and could lend out?). But it would be nice for some to be able to ride "together" again. And I believe we can set the ride to be "no drop" so that everyone will be kept with the group, regardless of pace. And no one yelling at you to limit group size to 12 out of the parking lot!

I'm still doing most of my riding outside at this point, but I figure this is a good "break in" period for indoor riding, in case that becomes our only option.

Hang in there!
Martin

[NickLosier]

I'm (sort of) in.
I just started my 2 week isolation adventure, not sure if i'll be as keen for morning trainer rides when i'll have all day to stare at my screen.
But I have to say I miss the group rides.

[mfarnham]

Ultimately timing is negotiable. If people don't need the "early bus" anymore, we can do it later. I'm guessing, though, that people might have their hands full with kids even more than usual these days.

Martin

[Stéphane Tran]

Martin,

The Meetups function is great, but a very simple way to ride together in Zwift is to let people know which world and which route you will be riding at what time.
Then all folks have to do is log in at the right time and choose the correct world and route at the main screen.

[wonger]

Mandy - who has a Zwift account - will be there!

[mfarnham]

Hey Stéphane,

So people who did the Wheelers ride this morning just turned up in Watopia at 9am? And waited by the side of the road? And then someone clipped in and rode, and that's how people knew the ride was starting?

You mentioned that you were planning to ride the "Big Loop". How does one specify a route within Watopia?

I'm learning...but as you can see, there are gaps!

Martin

[Stéphane Tran]

Hey Stéphane,

So people who did the Wheelers ride this morning just turned up in Watopia at 9am? And waited by the side of the road? And then someone clipped in and rode, and that's how people knew the ride was starting?

You mentioned that you were planning to ride the "Big Loop". How does one specify a route within Watopia?

I'm learning...but as you can see, there are gaps!

Martin

Hi Martin,
Yes you can log in, select a world and then select a route with the blue "ROUTES" button. Then when you click the big orange "RIDE" button you will be brought to the start of the selected route. Other riders can do the same thing and once your avatars are at the same place at the same time (e.g. the start of the Big Loop route at 9am) you can ride together.

The meetup feature serves the same basic purpose, but it sounds like you have that one figured out.

Cheers,

Stéphane

[mfarnham]

Thanks Stéphane!

I've created a meetup for a Tuesday morning 6:05am ride. In order for people to be invited to the meetup they need to follow me on Zwift.

The route is in Watopia and it's called the "Watopia Flat Route". It's scheduled for 60 minutes, and set as a "no drop" ride meaning (I think) that Zwift keeps you with the group as long as you keep pedalling. So if we only have a handful of people ranging from A to C, it shouldn't matter. People can ride their ride and stay together on the screen.

Presumably people can show up at 6:05 at the start of the Watopia Flat Route and just ride with whoever is waiting there. But the "no drop" function presumably won't work for them. Also, I think if you're in a meetup, Zwift highlights the names of your group members which makes them easier to follow on the screen.

So ping me on Zwift if you want to join. If you haven't done Zwift before, go for a ride today to get a feel for how things work. It'll make it easier for you to jump in tomorrow. Again, sorry if you don't have the equipment for this. Might be obtainable online or at local shops or in friends' closets.

Martin

[mfarnham]

Ok, I'm not a gamer, so I didn't know about Discord. Fortunately, one of my retired colleagues (who, incidentally, has ridden with Tripleshot) is way hipper than me.

It's a free app that lets online gamers (and yes, Zwift is basically a game) chat by voice during their sessions. There's no way I could pedal and text at the same time, and talking's what we do in our normal ecosystem anyway.

So, let me suggest that if you're Zwifting, you add Discord to your phone or laptop (I've got it on my laptop) and we can try to chat during the ride.
My username is the same as on this forum and the number you'll need with my username is #6244 (it'll become clear how to use these when you go to send a friend request).

Or try this link, which in principle should connect you to the Tripleshot channel that (I think) I've set up. https://discord.gg/uWSkdh

Martin

[mfarnham]

This morning was a bit of a gong show, but I rode with 2-3 (?) other Tripleshotters for up to 45 minutes, and rode for an hour overall. We didn't manage to chat, though I think Nic might have been able to hear me struggling along on my trainer given that my mic was apparently live on Discord.

I'm setting up another Zwift Meetup for tomorrow 6:05am. I've sent invitations to people who are following me on Zwift. Will add people to the invite as they turn up on my Zwift follower list.

Nic and I experimented a bit with Discord after the ride. I've created a Tripleshot channel (see above for a link). One thing Nic suggested is that we should each set our Discord settings to employ "Push to Talk" rather than having all background sound (think 10 trainers going at once) piped to everyone's speaker. To set this, you need to install the Discord application on your computer (this feature won't work from the web, apparently), go into your User Settings--Voice and Video, and select "Push to Talk" under Input Mode. Then you need to record a "keybind" which basically just tells Discord which key activates Push to Talk. To record a keybind, just hit "record" and then type the key you want to use (I set mine as the spacebar) and end the recording. Now, when I want to talk to the group, I just push the spacebar and hold it while I'm talking. Presumably there's a way to do this on a phone...I'm using my laptop.

If it seems a bit overwhelming, just get yourself to the Volcano Flat route in Watopia (in Zwift) and start riding at 6:05am sharp Wednesday. This'll get smoother and easier as the kinks get worked out. I'm imagining that we could set up weekly Tripleshot rides with different flavours to them (hills somedays, flats others, maybe a race once a week, etc.) much like our regular rides used to look like (sniff...).

Martin

[mfarnham]

Next ride, Friday 6:05am, Volcano Flat (Watopia). Follow me on Zwift to receive an invite to the meetup.

Martin

[mfarnham]

Do people want an online Sunday social? I'll set one up if people want it. Otherwise I'm taking a day of rest, before self-administering an FTP test on Monday (I'm enjoying this new life with a power meter. Not the whole new life...just the part with the power meter.).

Martin

[Ddallin]

Discord link is now expired. Request refresh.

Please accept my Zwift Friend request.

Hills tomorrow?

[mfarnham]

Zwift follow accepted.

There's the new discord link: https://discord.gg/wTakY8

I'm not sure I can handle hills in the morning. But if you propose a hills route in Watopia, I can create the meetup and send invites.

Martin

[mfarnham]

I've set up a Wednesday Hills Ride and sent invites. Meetups do not allow you to join late, so rollout is at 6:05am sharp (make sure you enter the meetup before 6:05), not a second later. I recommend getting there at 6, because there can be kinks to sort out, or you might forget to turn on your fan etc. If I don't make it, the meetup still goes on.

Note also that the Wheelers have a Zwift ride tomorrow evening at 6pm. It's a Hare and Hounds Race starting at 6:30pm with optional warmup at 6.

If you want to get on Discord, the link (expires in 22 hours or so) is https://discord.gg/wTakY8

I believe it works better if you download the software, rather than working off the website. See notes above.

Ciao!
Martin

p.s. If you don't connect with me on Zwift, just go to the Watopia "Hilly Route" and be ready to start pedalling at 6:05. I believe you'll see us waiting by the side of the road.