New York, New York - I'm bored

#1

Hi community,

I’m a bit frustrated because most of the time I Zwift (in Australia), I have two geographical options - Watopia and New York. Watopia is awesome, as is Innsbruck, London, Richmond and others, but I rarely see the others as available options when I ride. It’s usually just New York and Watopia.

Now… I’m completely uninspired by New York. It’s boring, and the climbs are a touch bizarre at 14% and, often a pain when you hit the trainer for an indoor session. (yes I know you can spend an extra 5 minutes picking a flat route on start up etc) Is it just me? Or are others uninspired by the Central Park ‘fantasy’ course?

#2

If i can avoid riding in new york i do,i have never liked it,much to “spacy” for me.
My new favorite is watopias new route,its really fantastic,what a great job by the developers at zwift,kudos!! maybe some day we can choose any world we like to ride.

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#3

Agree Tomas. And yes, the developers are exceptional…right down to the algorithms that manage low bandwidth performance.

2 Likes
#4

I only join races or group rides that suit my grade, time availability etc, so tend to visit all worlds equally (organised events are constrained to the World Calendar).

If you like riding on your own, then use the Word Hack to go to the other locations (you cant pick the TT course however).

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#5

I haven’t ridden New York for months; I always choose Watopia over NY and the group rides I do never use NY.
It’s just boring and claustrophobic. It’s a shame because a lot of work went into it but it’s just not for me.

4 Likes
#6

I like the Park Perimeter course and Laguardia mini-lap. It’s nice rolling terrain.
I think they put in too many courses that are simply odd and thus, unwanted. They should cull some of them.
The Highline is wild but there should be a non-climb option. The hill is an interval style climb. It’s different as expected.
Some non-city, wine vineyards in the Catskills would be a welcome relief with a tunnel (ala London course).But maybe they feel like why expand an unpopular course? Innsbruck is nice but again where is the expansion going to be?
I think right now all new courses are the main focus. So Yorkshire and Switzerland are taking most detailers. I still keep trying to get a Arenberg/Champ Elesees race course as well. We need France soon.

#7

I really like New York. The rolling terrain suits me. I spend lots of time up in the sky. Pretty empty roads up there. I just go forwards and backwards. Then hour almost done.

1 Like
#8

Yes I avoid NY too, purposely hadn’t ridden there for 6 months till the 3R Volt group ride was held there this week. Last ride I did there was around Jan-Feb when 3R Igniters group ride did a session there. First Igniters group ride I’ve ever left part-way through because NY wasn’t enjoyable - we were doing climbs on the sky roads at 60 rpm cadence with 14% gradient. My old knees don’t enjoy that.

#9

One of the Off the MAAP rides finished with one of those ascents - absolute knee killer for me too

1 Like
#10

Why don’t the bad knees people change gears on their bike to be able to spin or if you only have a 53/39 and an 11-28, then change their gears virtually by lowering the trainer difficulty setting?

#11

Because I have 1x and dont have that option, and I’m not changing my cassette just because I might ride up a steep ascent!

Trainer difficulty doesnt change the watts needed to get up an incline.

And most of all, I think pain is good and will help me fix all my age related ails (though I am probably wearing myself out out a tad quicker) :laughing:

#12

Yeah that’s right. However, the point is that lowering the difficulty level is actually like changing your gears to make it easier to climb just like having a 50/34 and 11/34 would if you physically changed them out for a lower range of gears. You still need to put out the power but you can use a more comfortable cadence. The only difference is that changing the difficulty (virtual gearing) on Zwift takes a few seconds.

#13

Deleted as derailing thread

#14

I am not misunderstanding anything. Lowering your gear whether virtually or physically changes the feel of the gradient changes - a.k.a. - makes it easier to climb at a more comfortable cadence at a given power level. Only people who don’t know that or just like to hear themselves complain about climbs on Zwift do not make adjustments. If you don’t have a kickr climb then your bike doesn’t incline indoors so the only feedback one gets is the increase in resistance going up a hill at a given cadence. To counter uncomfortable climbs and effectively lower your available gears if one has run out, then you either need a different cassette/crank or you need to lower the difficulty level to achieve the same result. Virtual gearing.

#15

Wow, seems you mis-read two people sharing thoughts on NY experiences as complaints. Chill!!

#16

@_Dean

@Fez_Rockbottom is right. The trainer difficulty setting is basically a virtual cassette. The setting name is a bit confusing and thus misleading.

courtesy of @Eric_Schlange_ZI aka ZwiftInsider:

courtesy of @Shane_Miller_GPLama:


#17

Thx but already knew. I wasnt correct when saying not impacting gears - should have said “when wanting a real experience and not playing around with difficulty setting”

#18

Totally agree, NY. central park and London is extremely boring for me.

1 Like
#19

Agree, New York is tedious. Zwift you can do better than this. Such a boring circuit.

1 Like
#20

New York is certainly not my favorite, but I also think it’s far better than Richmond. I do wonder, though, when they might build out the area behind the ‘construction barriers’ on the way up to the reverse KOM. Maybe that will add some additional excitement to this world.