Posted the same topic yesterday in “General topic”, but I think it belongs here:
I tried the Repack Ridge MTB course this evening and (as a mountainbiker) I think Zwift has made a big progress by adding mountainbiking to the software. The steering is fun, but the thing I like the most is the single track experience including the shorter, steeper climbs. It really feels like mountainbiking and I think that most mountainbikers were waiting for this type of routes.
Anyway, although the steering element is fun, I want to ride specific MTB routes without the steering experience and only focus on the riding/power/heartrate etc.
Is it possible somewhere, or will it be available in the future?
Same here, I really enjoyed riding the singletrack, the steering worked well and was fun (just the once). But having to steer takes my focus away from the real reason I’m there, which is training. The steering feature works well, but it would be good if we could turn it off.
Agreed, as a mountain biker this is a welcome new feature to keep things fresh. But as a smart roller user, steering is uh… difficult. Zwift got me round and it was fun, but the option to just skip steering world be a good one for me.
I suspect an issue is that at present there’s no collision detection in Zwift: you can just ride up thru a pack and the riders move aside. Since all the roads are wide this works okay, but on single-track, it’s less clear how this would work. I guess it’s already an issue on Repack but there’s no events on it, and relatively few riders.
Agreed - the mountain bike Crr and elevation profile are awesome but I find the steering a big distraction from obtaining the desired workout. Maybe make it more like steering on the road where if you don’t, you still follow the trail.
But It’s really too bad how under represented MTBing interests are in Zwift. I think this is a huge untapped market. So for example, Roadies are far more likely to ride year round here in CO than MTBrs because paved paths are more often rideable in winter than MTB trails at 9000 feet. Zwift would offer an alternative for them. Also, I suspect that MTBrs tend to be a bit more thrill oriented, and would take to the video game like experience of virtual trail riding. I’m hoping it’s only a matter of time before Zwift or one of the competing apps focuses more on off road.
