I would like a Chaos button, so in sections you can push your self harder to get records by hotting the button and all kinds of crazy is released… Like a big grizzly bear to chase you, or killer bees or a pack of angry meerkats… you get the point!
I know its funny and not exactly cycling culture, I am sure lots of people would hate it but it would be an option and I know I would ride faster if I had bears chasing me!
Well anyway, thats my idea. I have some others but I think this is the most unique and well I hope it gets some serious consideration.
It would need to be a bit smarted than just a bear chasing for a bit at a set speed, at a set distance and then going away, else that will only work once then be just ignored.
building on your idea…the bear (or whatever) would need to be catching up to you initially at say, 150% of your FTP, then over time, say 20 seconds, this diminishes to 85% until he dissapears back into the tree line.
Again, this would only work a few times if there were no consequences for not sprinting to keep away. Do it by Risk and Reward (you get a bonus 200 points) or do it by punishment, you get a reduction in aerodynamics for a set time because part of your bike has been chewed off by the bear. This would greatly improve the longivity of this idea.
I really like this idea - very creative and good way to freshen up a ride without just trying to collect scalps (or hang onto the coat tails of the guy in front).
I suppose Zwift at some point is going to have to differentiate between being a training tool or being a game (and should in my opinion cater to both) as gamification is going to be one of the biggest pulls from the general public rather than just ‘cycle indoors’.
I am not sure whether I would like the idea. Zwift for me is a training tool and really a way of making stationary training less boring (a good way of getting solid training with interval/cadence/HR zones to supplement real world training… Any suggestion of turning it into a ‘Mario brothers’ type of ‘game’ chasing bouncing balls and eating lollies is almost blasphemous!
id also add that you can possibly challenge someone else? So you “throw a bear” at another rider. If they accept then the bear chases them (if they do nothing the bear does nothing - invade they are serious and doing intervals etc…
Then if the challenged wins the bear off - they get something or some swag - or even take some experience from the challenger… And if they lose then they lose something.