Maybe im a slow learner…buttttt…I frequently miss or am unsure of where a sprint or kom or or challenge begins exactly…
and I thought that a RED Beam ( laser like transparent ruby red) across the road would be an amazingly good indicator of when to put the coals to it…to start the timer…possibly accompanied by “ding”… when you break the beam.
no ambiguity with that what so ever.And/ or a sign with
“ Timed Challenge starts in 100 meters”
would also be helpful…not just an ambiguous 300 or 200 on the side of the road…
I would LOVE to consistently get up to speed… but the START markers are not NEARLY so obvious as the FINISH markers…hence, I have missed many starts when my attention is directed somewhere other than the side of the road…
In more concise language…MAKE THE STARTS MORE OBVIOUS.
As obvious as the FINISH ARCHES would be a good place to start.
Clayton by the time you see the marker it is to late to start your sprint, we are all different and we all need to start at a different point to get to max speed before hitting the green line. The green line just show where the timer will start.
Once you see the segment leader board appear on your left you will know you are very close.
Thank You…I don’t recall seeing that tip anywhere…and I’ve read the various guides out there…I had been thinking when I saw the leader board pop up that it had already started and I’d missed the start…and would start cranking max effort too early…only to flame out too soon… I guess a little bit better lead in up to the start is what would be beneficial…of course as we all get more experience under our belts we adapt to the current interface, but I still feel it’s an area that can be improved on with a minimal overhead in code or resources …
+1 for me. It’s alright when you know the courses and are an experienced rider but for newbies like me I see no reason not to have someyhing like a green arch to start and a red arch to finish. A simple addition that would help a ton of people in my opinion.
There are currently a green line on the road and flashing indicator on the side of the road at the start of the sprint timer and a green banner at the end.
“Of course, the trick here is knowing where the sprint starts.”
What could possibly be the logic behind making the START of a sprint LESS OBVIOUS ( by orders of magnitude) than the FINISH?
Im REALLY struggling to figure out in what context that strategy makes sense… I suspect it’s just an oversight…and you ( not you in particular) are wasting energy defending a bad decision…so apply said energy to a simple fix…why not…??
I am not defending the decision but I also don’t think it is bad.
My feeling is that the start is not that important, it is a timed segment so you need to go thru the segment (± 200m) so you need to be at top speed when you go over the start line. So even with a super big flashing banner you will still need to start way in advance if you want to set a good time.
One other thing that indicate the start of the Sprint is the Timer that pop up at the top.
Clayton how is the start not important? That’s just doesn’t make any sense. When your doing a 100m or 200m sprint knowing exactly where the sprint line is is essential to getting the fastest time possible as you need to get up to top speed before you cross the line but you also dont want to get up to speed to early and waste any energy and that is exactly what keeps happening to me as I have no idea where the green line is on the road and there is no indication on the map and no warning on the screen.
What beats me is that when you do a sprint leadout workout this is exactly how it is set up. With a start banner and a finish banner and also a countdown timer and funnily enough my fastest sprint koms are on these workouts because I know EXACTLY when the sprints start because of the massive archway on the map showing me and also the countdown timer.
I don’t believe that you should have to be an experienced zwifter and know exactly where all the koms start. It should be made easier for all the new riders and making it a much easier and more enjoyable experience all round.
A simple fix in my mind. I have been zwifting for 2 to 3 months now and I still dont know where all the kom segments start and finish. Especially when your always riding a different route or course.
What I mean by “the start is not that important” is you need to find your personal point where you need to start sprinting. As you said you need to be at full speed at the start.
So you need to ride slow and find the sprint line then go back and test where you need to start ramping it up.
And there is not that many sprint points.
London has 2 at the same place (one forward and one reverse) (Red road)
Watopia 2 at the same place (one forward and one reverse) (at the Bridge)
I dont believe that I should have to practice the sprints over and over again to find my start point. I don’t have the time or energy for that and that’s not how I like to ride. I like to ride preselected routes and just do the koms as they appear.
Like I mentioned I have been riding zwift for 2-3 months now and I haven’t even done either of the Richmond sprint koms and have no idea where they are so when I get a chance to try them I will be back to the same problem again.
Like I mentioned before why is it set up so brilliantly on the sprint leadouts workout and not in the actual game. That would solve all of the problems for the beginners whilst improving the koms for the experienced riders. It’s a win win all round.
Its taken us numerous points to circle back to my original SUGGESTION…
Please Zwift designers, consider that making the starting point (line) of sprint segments LESS ambiguous, would enhance the performance and promote a more positive rewarding experience to some of your paying customers.
Which BTW, we all know will enhance the bottom line of Zwift in general.
I would venture to say that we (paying customers) LOVE what you guyz have created and encourage your designers/programmers to keep blowing our minds…and that we (collectively) being all riders are ALL stoked about this community in general… together, and are after the same thing…hence need to keep working together to make this the best it can be.
Many Thanks for the continued discussion on improvement .