There seems to be a swell of of anti-Zwift sentiment out there at the moment, with many nay-sayers labelling Zwifters as “pretend cyclists” and that true hard men just hit the road. They see Zwift as a gimmick rather than true training.
Zwift was good enough for Matt Hayman to recover and win Paris Roubaix, now many other pro cyclists are on the platform too. I’m sure if it were old school 2×20’s in the pain cave the haters wouldn’t bat an eyelid, but throw in the “game” of Zwift and suddenly it’s just not cycling. Maybe they’re secretly scared of anything new? Or are jealous of the gains seen by those who spend a lot of time on Zwift?
Who knows. Who cares? What I do know is that I enjoy hammering away in the virtual world and enjoy even more seeing the real world improvements on the road:
Happy New Year! :-)
Tempo Cyclist - Tasmania 
I’m with you on this. Everyone I know who has tried this has loved it.
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There could be all sorts of reasons for the pooh pooh’ing, I’ve seen a lot TrainerRoad and Sufferfest users who have a very negative view of Zwift and the probability it is going to put the rest out of business.
Some of it seems to be the view that if your not in a freezing cold garage on a very loud fluid trainer getting power reading from the crank then it’s just not ‘proper’ training, you’re just not paying your dues!
Some seems to be the same kind of negativity directed at Apple or Microsoft or Samsung or any ‘brand’ that seems to have nailed the product and taken it to the next level.
Either way I am personally pro-Zwift and a subscriber enjoying both workouts and racing, as well as liking the company approach and what they are trying to achieve, especially for riders based in more remote locations around the world.
And in terms of improvements I have seen an FTP increase from 287w to 320w in the last 3 1/2 months and managed some pretty high intensity training/racing which to be honest is hard to find on our busy London streets, on top of which I have for the first time been able to maintain a high level of (non-commuter) riding through the crappy UK cold and dark winter months, thanks Zwift.
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Good insight. Thanks for your comment. I can see Zwift taking away from TR and Sufferfest (I used to do some Sufferfest videos) but hopefully they’ll still stay in business. May force them to change their tactic a bit though.
There’s no way I could get the quality training I do on Zwift out on the road in the same time frame and no way I could indoor train any other way and keep the same motivation levels. Zwift is quite frankly a game changer – and that’s coming from a former nay-sayer! Good work on increasing your FTP over the last few months.
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Though I haven’t tried it yet, I think Zwift is cool. Better yet, it is only going to get better.
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Agreed, and I’m a newb not only to cycling but to Zwift. It’s been great and I’ve been sampling many of the various workouts. Certainly way easier than just staring straight ahead at nothing, or little bars for hours on end during the winter.
Congrats on the KOM too!
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Yep! I’ve done my time in an ice cold pain shed staring blankly at the wall. Enjoy your journey! :-) I’ve just completed my first race on Zwift, good fun!
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I’ve never tried indoor training but I think something like Zwift would be necessary to keep my attention for a decent length of time. Might have a go next winter and buy a smart trainer.
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Before Zwift, half an hour on the trainer felt like two hours…
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