you made a really fantastic job in developing those rowing tools…i have a lot of fun with it…dont race…for…yes…just say some specific reasons…but i do my base workouts of rowing with group rides connecting with your software…in my opinion your tools to row the avatars bike are just better than implementing rowing as it is…
1 Like
Thanks for the kind words! I have a lot of fun with it as well, and I also don’t race, for a very specific reason: I’m slow as frozen molasses flowing uphill inside of a black hole 
I would like sky rowing in Watopia please. This would be like flying an airplane but instead of airplanes they would be pterodactyls. When the cyclists and runners look up in the sky each pterodactyl they see would be a rower in real life. They could even give them a friendly “row on” for encouragement which would cheer people up in these difficult times. After rowing 1,000,000 metres, you could unlock Trondactyl. With its glowing wings it would look amazing especially at night.
Rowing Please!!!
2 Likes
Hello endurance companions. It’s been a while since I wrote a few words. It’s obvious that racing belongs to racing. A friend compared it to a competition in Zwift Fleet Academy with official races under the eyes of Mr. Spock, who makes sure that the best accuracy is achieved. On the other hand, there is the open world. Group rides or personal meetings. It’s more like pod-car racing with Annakin, just having fun. The numbers shouldn’t be insane. The cone of shame is an effective weapon. It’s about inclusion. It’s about announcing something and backing down. That’s fine. Someone wants to see something flashy because IT doesn’t want to see something flashy. It’s still okay to focus on cycling. Because nothing has changed that indoor rowing is a small niche compared to cycling. With that. The number of indoor rowers who get into mischief [like me ???] is incredibly small compared to the problems cyclists cause by sandbagging, ZPower-cheating, bot-cheating, or on-wheel-drive-iknow-its-wrong-calibrated-ilike-it-sowhat…and so on! If you row or ski a bike avatar, that’s already a kind of cheat, no matter what you do. A completely different workout. Completely different sport. The question remains what you do and how you do it. About the quote, I don’t actually know if Zwift hates rowers. Rowers are different. Like I said, a different workout. Like a different race. We as a team don’t race. We know no racing. We know to join the lower with the higher. If Zwift actually hates us rowers. That is a pity. We are indeed such a small number. A minority. As mentioned above. There are other issues to focus on. I still miss the function to withdraw from all races (that’s easy, just don’t join any), but also to withdraw from all segments - that’s impossible. A friend says that’s what makes the game so interesting for us. I try not to take jerseys. And if - at least a prompt apology. In the heat of a group ride battle, because I row my half marathon under the jurisdiction of…tata…my friend ;-)) With best wishes, have some fun everyone, take it easy and have a great day. With kind regards, your Buddy OTE !
(Sorry again for my imperfection and taking a jersey with my friend’s avatar in rare situations [e.g.last DIRT XLR, was indeed a HM])
Really easy to implement. I have thought about skiing before, specifically roller skiing, since all zwift roads are in the summer.
Rowers and ski ergs measure watts, which can be used in zwift. Just add a formula for air drag and rolling resistance of equipment and efficiency, then make an avatar that moves on the screen. For rowwing that is simple, water is flat and any water can be rowed on.
However making rollerskiing even as realistic as cycling (that is not 100% realistic) is problematic, especially when decending (you cannot brake if any). From any mountains in zwift this is definetly not realistic, riding a bike can be done praticlly on any road, hence it is easy to implement.
I would probably rollerski up the alphe du zwift, however going down is not a good idea so you need to re-calculate every route. For mountains this is simple just teleport one down or something (we ride the team car down) but for routes where there is questionable downhill it becomes problematic. Which roads are safe to go down and which aren’t is just also preference of the skier. Some go down steeper roads than others. And some steep roads are safer than other flatter roads, so it’s also not an easy thing to calculate, because also how the downhill ends. Does it end at a junction? A turn? Or does it go straight uphill again? Because if it were to be the last option, you can easily go down steep roads at fast speeds, the upcoming uphill will make you slow again instead of turns and junctions where you’ll likely crash due to high speeds.
It is probably easiest to implement skiing because you can brake there so there you can go down every slope, but since every road is asphalt that would be weird, zwift would then need to create new worlds just for skiers… In which case, trying to figure out roller skiing is easiest
2 Likes
Should realy nice and be rather easy, Concept2 SkiErg sends watt, so all thats needed is a avatar basicly, and a formula to calculate speed, no special roads or anything.
Rowing might be deleted from the code by now, but thats a “road” like those special for running.
A route around Watopia coastline under Feature Works would be so nice.
1 Like
SkiErg needs basicly a avatar and a speed calculation to work. That should inspire many to use there SkiErg, do it under FutureWorks program, then no one can complaine if it bug from time to time, as I see it insted of the game or what it is that destroyd the MTB course, must taken time to develop, that could been better spent in my opinion,
Thx for all the fun on Zwift
Might be possible to do powerups, change direction, change view, etc. with Zwift play. Can these attach to the rower handle to be near your thumbs?
Would love that. Thought of modifying the Plays accordingly, but decided against it because the added weight to the handle bar would be too much in my opinion, 500 grams is a lot. Would be nice to build a DIY handle bar with integrated Play functionality, one may have dreams …
However, I attached the AppleTV remote to the handle bar with a simple rubber band, works fine and is a good first step. Allows me to easily activate the PowerUp and access the menu.
1 Like
A rowing route around Watopia you cant do…
But put hours in repac ridge,(the most beatefull natur) turning it in to a circus!!!
I have Zwift controlls and jerky steering is not fun in any game, turning this in to a waaste of time.
Stop playing and focus om endurance sports, riding, running, rowing first…
/Thx Keep Zwifting
1 Like
It would be definitly a good idea to add the possibility of rowing on Zwift !
3 Likes
Couldn’t help but try modifying the Zwift Plays for my Concept2 rower. Nice challenge for someone who loves fiddling with electronic gadgets.
I first tried to attach them to the handle bar as they were, but that just didn’d work. First of all, they simply are too heavy. Second, they just don’t fit in any ways. The next step was to open them and have a look at the modification options. No problem - unscrew the 7 housing screws, take off the two covers and unplug the battery.
I don’t need steering (and braking of course), and virtual shifting is also no option on the rower so I decided to get rid of the entire steering/braking/shifting part. It is connected to the “main” unit via a 6 pin cable which I unplugged. It’s easy to unplug the end of the cable (left arrow) but tricky to unplug it on the other side (right arrow). To get to the right arrow side of the cable I had to disassemble the whole unit. While I was at it I took out the vibration motor too, another weight saving done.
Next step: Get my hand saw and saw off the steering/braking/shifting part. Result: After re-assembly the weight felt a lot more acceptable. But how to attach them to the handle bar? I took two velcro strips, opened the housing, put them in, closed the housing, and voila, it works just fine:
This is the final result:
(The rubber bands in the middle usually hold my Apple TV remote)
It’s not really perfect. I have to use my index fingers which means I can only press a button in the release phase of a stroke. But I didn’t manage to attach the Plays in a way that allows me to use my thumbs (this would result in the Plays knocking at my ribs with every single stroke). Another drawback: The added weight on top of the handle bar causes a disbalance; especially when rowing very hard the chain starts “fluttering” pretty badly so I have to grab the handle bar tighter than I’d prefer.
Would I recommend this? No, definitely not. It’s a nice little experiment, it works, but I could well live without. And of course I lost every warranty for the Plays, but that’s fine with me. It was fun fiddling around.
6 Likes