Well, it’s official. The “Road to the Ruins”, at least where it hits gravel, has plummeted to my least favorite Route in Zwift. This would not be such a big deal if it were not the only way to get to the Alpe.
Zwift please fix this. 7 months of metrics on the Jungle Route are now unusable, I can only imagine the frustration of those who have been riding it longer.
Instead of heading toward town at the base of the Alpe to cap off the ride at 4k’, I now turn around and head back up the mountain… it’s 3x faster.
I would also like to see a Route that begins at the base of the Alpe Du Zwift to bypass these changes.
Thanks for listening, and though frustrated, I sure love this resource & community.
When descending down into the jungle circuit, before it turns to dirt, I have noticed a spot where a turn out may be in construction on the right hand side of the road (?). Perhaps a tunnel that would offer an alternative paved route to the base of the Alpe (?). Wishful thinking perhaps, but a tunnel through the mountainside that would lead to the Alpe while avoiding the gravel would be cool.
Yeah, this unpaved “upgrade” is not cool at all; it drove me to join the forum and make my displeasure known. I’m actively researching some alternatives to Zwift atm. (Rouvy etc.) I have zero, none, zilch, nada, nein interest in anything involving “off pavement” activities, real or virtual. Roadie at heart here since the early 90’s. The pretend dirt was only semi-distracting, dust clouds etc, but with the added resistance to all those sections, it’s killing my desire to use Zwift as I almost always used those area in my rides.
All I would care to see added is a customizable UI, a “create your own route feature,” and a lot more roads in Watopia for variety’s sake. Seems like a simple request many of us have wanted for a long time right? (Shake my head in frustration.) Even failing that, Zwift was still very usable and fun until the last update.
There are a lot of unhappy paying customers right now, myself included. Zwift C.S. isn’t exactly rushing to tell us what’s going on, the motive behind the change, what they’re going to do with concern to the “lost riding area(s)” etc. People who feel ignored, generally speaking, quit paying for the product in question. I’m seriously thinking about it, so I have no idea what’s going through their minds right now. Also, if Zwift gets turned into some kind of hardcore “racing game,” I’m gone. Period. I quit doing real group rides because of the Peter Sagan wannabe’s with zero skills, but giant egos, destroying the inherent fun of simply riding a bike with like minded people.
R_Thompson - great idea. I figured that construction site would eventually lead to something, but it’s been a long time since the Jungle area was added, so we’ll just have to wait and see.
Well said, and I heartily concur with your points. For myself, an older guy that networks large automation systems, I’m always on top of the next tech, so that aspect of using Zwift and the others out there have been really cool. I’ve never been into gaming … (well at least not since I binged for 3 days and night on Nights of the Old Republic while a Butter Bar (2nd Lieutenant), and realized that video games would lead to a lifetime of poverty lol), but this aspect of combining an RPG with real world health benefit is pretty amazing. That being said, this is simply a tool for me to stay in shape here in the monstrous North Dakotan Winters. Zwift has taken on a culture of it’s own like any business or community and will go through the similar cycle of small beginnings, growth, success, arrogance, out of touch, losing customer base, decline, listening, back in touch, and again growth, which I have witnessed many times. Sometimes this circle can be very quick, if those at the helm are wise enough and open minded to the degree they can see what is happening. Apple is a perfect example. I purchased my first Tower / Pro back in 2008 for my recording studio after having done a personal time study and realizing 30% of my time was spent tweaking my software and gear to get it to work with PC, I rarely turned that computer off for 6 years and had zero problems… now I have to buy 3 year old Macs simply because the new ones have been both unreliable and lacking in various ways from what their “Pro” or Pro-sumer base really need, and after years of waiting they come out with a $6k desktop with a $1k monitor stand?! … enter the golden window for PC (just like Microsoft gave Mac back with Windows 8.0)… and Microsoft / the PC world is primed to take the opportunity. I see Zwift in a similar light. If they listen to their user base and make correct conciliations not only will it grow our loyalty and appreciation for Zwift as a company but will keep us using their product. On the other hand, there are definitely great alternatives out there if they don’t, Rouvy is one of them. I originally was going to go with Rouvy but found my trainer was working more accurately with Zwift. This update with the huge variance on the gravel areas is making my training more unrealistic on Zwift so I may take my $15/mo somewhere else. Curious to see what happens in the next 3 months.
I’ve really enjoyed this community overall, and Zwift has a better picture of who is using their services, or who might want to than either of us. If the majority paying for Zwift are the racing community it would make sense to appeal to them, if there has been a large request for MTB routes and features (makes sense) they should expand in that direction as well… just not at the expense of those who have enjoyed and based their training and metrics on existing Routes and conditions.
And I completely agree with being able to construct your own Route, this and at least knowing when a Route ends to me personally seem to be a baseline feature set which should have been there at the rollout of these updates, but as a coder, I also know at times certain things are more challenging to develop than users understand.
