A bit of a niche deal, and feel free to post if there are better alternatives (code or another cycling app).
Was looking to get back into indoor riding but I was put off by the cost of Zwift. Tried out Rouvy and really liked it for the choice of maps & real video footage w. AR.
With the 20% code it comes down to $157AUD a year and the subscription allows 3 family members (in total) to share the subscription making it as cheap as $4 per user per month.
I just looked at the Sydney one and it was a bit… uncomfortable? It's a bicycling app, but they use a car to film it, and ignore the cycling paths. And it starts off by breaking an obvious road rule (not stopping at a stop sign). Other spots some of the lane changes/driving was a bit erratic and a number of times it just unnaturally sped up.
Just feels very unnatural as a cyclist.
I'm still trialling it out playing with both city and country routes. I know what you mean, but I suppose it is hard to film a real, continuous city scene. I was riding Paris and see it coming up to a red light, and they take care of that scenario by cutting to an overhead camera angle cut-scene from a still image.
I tried an Alps scene and that was filmed by a cyclist. I think some of those are user uploaded content.
Yeah, it's not about red lights themselves as they have many of those and the editing is normally smooth; they slow down on approach, do a cut and restart when it's changed to green as they accelerate off. There weren't any other angles used, so they keep it non-stop, which is understandable.
This was just other stuff, as it's routes I'm familiar with but just wouldn't be done as a cyclist (ignoring the obvious one at the end when they go over the Harbour bridge on the main road, which is illegal as it's 70km/h, and you need to use the cycleway). Thinking of it as a car driver, the moves weren't so out of place (aside from the weird speed ups and that drive through a stop sign, which was /worse/ as a car driver). Anyway, this is just my experiences with the Sydney one, others sound likely different, and depends on what people are looking from the experience as well i.e. whether just scenery, or realism.
ignore the cycling paths. And it starts off by breaking an obvious road rule
So, just like real cyclists.
Except it was a real driver and not a cyclist.
Well also like real drivers - some of them. There are many bad cyclists just like there are many bad drivers but people only notice the ones breaking the rules.
Put off by the cost of Zwift? Huh? $22 a month is a very good price. Less than $1 a day.
Zwift pricing is fine for heavy users, and terrible for infrequent users. I'm not interested in any of the social/gamification or racing elements of zwift, I just want something to run simple intervals as the official kurt kinetic app is a dogs breakfast.
I personally just use the zwift 25km per month free, can usually sneak in 2 workouts in 24 km, and then I have 1 km left to start either a 3rd workout or a longer ride that month (it doesn't boot you off when your 25km limit finishes so as long as you start the ride you can continue).
For just clocking over the kms I jump on RGT Cycling - unlimited time but limited content free account. I'll often do things like jump on for some slow kms on the completely flat airport course during meetings or while watching youtube, and occasionally hit their workouts (which are not anywhere near as good zwift). A lot of people must have been doing this as in the latest update they have removed the airport course from the free selection, the next closest is Borrego.
nice tips
What trainer?
Kurt Kinetic Rock and Roll Control. Got it on ebay for a steal with minimal research. Hardware is great, the Kinetic Fit app is atrocious though, at least on android. I honestly can't believe they attempt to sell a subscription through the app. Unfortunately I have to keep it installed as it's the only way to calibrate.
Oh one other option I forgot to mention for others who just want a workout is Golden Cheetah. Unfortunately the Kinetic doesn't appear to be supported here too.
Depends on where you extract value from the product. For me indoors is something that I'd be at most doing a few times a week to complement outdoor riding. I'm not too keen on the in-game events, so the main value is logging stats and providing some kind of entertainment whilst doing so. (I don't have a smart trainer, just sensors so I don't even get the variable resistance). For that purpose, Zwift is overpriced for $22 for its lower-end graphics & limit of worlds/routes, when I can share Rouvy with 2 friends, do a group ride through the French Alps and pay $4 a month each.
does Zwift have different pricing for different countries?
Can you upload .zwo files containing custom workouts into Rouvy?
Terrific app, so much better than zwift in my opinion