Indoor Training just got more entertaining. I received an email from the folks at Zwift, granting me an invite to be part of their Beta Program and give the Zwift software a spin. Your are probably wondering what it is. According to their website it states “Zwift is an online community of like minded athletes united in the pursuit of a better indoor training experience. Created by cyclists for cyclists, Zwift brings the things we love about outdoor cycling indoors and adds a dose of fun. Yes fun!” And yes after my first ride on the Zwift Island, was more than entertaining. 
The graphics for one are 3D and very realistic looking. The island, which is currently the only venue available, has a lot of pretty distractions to entertain you as you hammer around island. Once I had the software downloaded, pairing my power meter, heart rate monitor, speed sensor and cadence sensor to the ant+ dongle was a breeze. Within minutes I had my rider customized and was ready to roll. You have two choices to join a rider(s) or you can ride on your own. I chose to just take a spin and get the lay of the land, so to speak. There is no customs check when you arrive on the island. You start out in a small village with a nice tropical soundtrack playing in the background. As I took off, I was amazed at how accurate the information showing up on my monitor. It didn’t take long for a rider to zip by, so needless to say, that wasn’t about to happen, so I hit the gas and was pedaling at about 290 watts. I caught and immediately passed my opponent, (he didn’t know he was my opponent). Feeling pretty good about my self, I noticed on the screen display on the right there was a rider going by the name of T. Phinney quickly zipping past the list of displayed riders. Within a minute, the display indicated that he was within meters of me. Thinking to me this can’t be, the next thing I noticed was a red BMC jersey ripping past me and in a flash was gone. I looked back down at the display and noticed that he was pushing 5 w/kg, which is not normal (well not for us weekend warriors). 
After pondering what just happened, the screen started to sending an alert, and next thing you know, I am in a KOM challenge. Taken by surprise, needless to say I am not the KOM, but vowed to be ready for it on the second lap, which I was now hoping for. The software did a really nice job of calibrating the watts to really make if feel like I was climbing a hill. Nice Touch!! As I was not a bit spent, I relaxed into an easier pace and tried to recover. I was hoping I would get another crack at this. Next thing you know, there goes the screen again, but this time it was a 300 meter Sprint, just like our group rides sprinting for the town limit sign. I put the hammer down again and had a nice sprint well over 500 watts, only to find out that was only good for 10th best. Now I was really gased, but I was ready for the next challenge. The last challenge comes on the 5km lap time, which will now become a good benchmark for other laps. I continued my quest around the island vowing to get better with each lap, but had to strategize to make sure I was ready for the climbs and sprints. I put in another 4 laps on the island which turned out to be about a 22 mile ride. The time flew by and I quickly realized that this is what indoor training should be. Looking at the graphic below, yes there is drafting. I would like to say that I was drafting T. Phinney, but let’s be honest. That did not happen today. 
After finishing my ride, I ended up unlocking some new features. I felt like I was at my race team’s spring meeting, where new kits are handed out for the new season. I went to the shop and customized my kit for my next ride, which I would love to do right, now, but after that workout today, I need to recover a little before I get back to the island tomorrow. Zwift, you have done an excellent job and look forward to many more thousands of miles indoors. After putting a lot of time in the saddle last winter indoors preparing for RAAM, I never thought I would spend a lot of time training indoors again. All I can say is bring it on!!!