Smart trainers and software

[Arbuckle23]

It will only be 1080p on my appletv box. Does that mean less data hungry?

They vary, The Stelvio from Bormio in Rouvy was about 7gb when I downloaded. Others in both vary from 1.5 to 3 gb

[warthog1]

It will only be 1080p on my appletv box. Does that mean less data hungry?

They vary, The Stelvio from Bormio in Rouvy was about 7gb when I downloaded. Others in both vary from 1.5 to 3 gb

Yikes. That ain't going to work. I just need to stream it as I can with zwift.

[warthog1]

I just did a speed test at home, as Fulgaz streamed ok here. Not very fast. 33.8Mbps. The 4g at work is not a lot slower I dont think.
5g at home is 104.8Mbps. Apparently we are getting fibre run past the front of our house shortly so maybe our "nbn" will get a bit faster.

[Arbuckle23]

My old FTTN 50 mbps was fine when I last tried Fulgaz, bit faster now with FTTP.
I have a powerline wifi adaptor out in the shed, it struggles with streaming 1080 p.
I could hook the laptop to a cable from the adaptor which would fix the speed issue for that, but that doesn't sort using an iPad.
For now I am downloading rides that I fancy and doing it that way.

My Fulgaz trial has 11 days left. so will concentrate on that for a few days.
I managed to get 30 days (I think) on Rouvy with an old code I found on the internet. It tells me zero $ due when the initial 14 days runs out, we shall see!

I should be outside more at the moment, but want to get this sorted before winter makes me soft(er)

Edit, just checked: Rouvy will last until June 19, when they will want 14.99 Euro ($25.54 AUD). That makes Fulgaz the clear winner for me!

[warthog1]

Thanks Arbuckle.
I am an IT numpty. Just running fibre past tge front of the house. I wont bother spending the money to go from outside the front of the house to inside. It is already fast enough for our needs.

I need to be able to jump on the thing when I get time when away on call. Can't be wasting time downloading rides. Don't know that I even can using an appletv box. It wont be happening if that is required.

[Arbuckle23]

Thanks Arbuckle.
I am an IT numpty. Just running fibre past tge front of the house. I wont bother spending the money to go from outside the front of the house to inside. It is already fast enough for our needs.

I need to be able to jump on the thing when I get time when away on call. Can't be wasting time downloading rides. Don't know that I even can using an appletv box. It wont be happening if that is required.

Check with your ISP. The NBN is out offering free FTTP upgrades, via your ISP. I got mine for for free, in case later they charge for it.
You should be able to download to your Apple TV, if it has enough storage that is.
If you can watch HD movies on your connection then streaming shouldn't be an issue. You can get 14 days on trial without giving credit card details to Fulgaz. That's what I am doing at the moment.
If it doesn't work out, easy enough to grumble and go back to Zwift.

[warthog1]

Thanks Arbuckle.
I am an IT numpty. Just running fibre past tge front of the house. I wont bother spending the money to go from outside the front of the house to inside. It is already fast enough for our needs.

I need to be able to jump on the thing when I get time when away on call. Can't be wasting time downloading rides. Don't know that I even can using an appletv box. It wont be happening if that is required.

Check with your ISP. The NBN is out offering free FTTP upgrades, via your ISP. I got mine for for free, in case later they charge for it.
You should be able to download to your Apple TV, if it has enough storage that is.
If you can watch HD movies on your connection then streaming shouldn't be an issue. You can get 14 days on trial without giving credit card details to Fulgaz. That's what I am doing at the moment.
If it doesn't work out, easy enough to grumble and go back to Zwift.

Thanks Arbuckle
I've had my 14day free trial at home. Should have waited. I don't stream and HD stuff. Just Zwift and motogp races at 1080. 1080 is fine.
Will ask about the fttp upgrade, cheers.

[Arbuckle23]

I've had my 14day free trial at home. Should have waited.

Just create a new gmail account to get a new trial. I may have done the same

[warthog1]

I've had my 14day free trial at home. Should have waited.

Just create a new gmail account to get a new trial. I may have done the same

thanks again!

[jasonc]

Pfft. Spam gourmet is your friend

[Arbuckle23]

Pfft. Spam gourmet is your friend

Nah, flick it when done

[Arbuckle23]

Double post

[jasonc]

Pfft. Spam gourmet is your friend

Nah, flick it when done

I encourage you to look up how spam gourmet works

[g-boaf]

Zpower trainers are out of certain Zwift races, that’s a good change.

[g-boaf]

New routes coming very shortly on Zwift:

https://forums.zwift.com/t/future-cours ... u=chris_d9

Complaints galore because they have hills, lots of them! No, we didn't ask for that, etc.

Now imagine if they put the robopacer groups on these new routes for a good two weeks.

[jasonc]

New routes coming very shortly on Zwift:

https://forums.zwift.com/t/future-cours ... u=chris_d9

Complaints galore because they have hills, lots of them! No, we didn't ask for that, etc.

Now imagine if they put the robopacer groups on these new routes for a good two weeks.

excellent. hope the pacers are on the new routes

[g-boaf]

New routes coming very shortly on Zwift:

https://forums.zwift.com/t/future-cours ... u=chris_d9

Complaints galore because they have hills, lots of them! No, we didn't ask for that, etc.

Now imagine if they put the robopacer groups on these new routes for a good two weeks.

excellent. hope the pacers are on the new routes

The current routes are a bit blah. But they tend to avoid any hilly routes because a lot of users complain when anything ramps up more than Col du Tempus Fugit.

[Arbuckle23]

I seem to have settled on Fulgaz.
The routes uploaded are better and more prolific than Rouvy, along with some Rouvy routes don't give a download option.
Rouvy is $25.99AUD per month. Fulgaz is $21.99 monthly, down to $15 p/m if you sign up for a year.
The bad thing I have found with Fulgaz is Ant+ connection on the laptop, the experience has not been good. Connects fine but data transfer between my trainer and the app is very poor. As soon as the hills appear, power required to climb is nowhere near what is really needed and going downhill requires more than it should. Along with the minimal power required, speed drops off. And I am on 100% setting. Heart rate sensor reading locks up after a while as well, no matter what effort I put in.
My computer can 't connect to the trainer or heart monitor via Bluetooth, can see them but won't connect.

But on the iPad, all is fine. The same rides work properly, correct power is needed for the grade, heart rate is correct. The ride feel is excellent. When I tried Fulgaz before I found the power feel "lumpy" on slow cadence with a big effort, that seems good now.
I will continue on iPad as really enjoying the real roads. My only problem is that need for some more storage, or get better wi-fi in the shed. But I can manage that for the moment.

[jasonc]

The bad thing I have found with Fulgaz is Ant+ connection on the laptop, the experience has not been good. Connects fine but data transfer between my trainer and the app is very poor. As soon as the hills appear, power required to climb is nowhere near what is really needed and going downhill requires more than it should. Along with the minimal power required, speed drops off. And I am on 100% setting. Heart rate sensor reading locks up after a while as well, no matter what effort I put in.
My computer can 't connect to the trainer or heart monitor via Bluetooth, can see them but won't connect.

I have my ant+ dongle on a decent USB extension cable that puts it JUST that little bit closer to the trainer

[Arbuckle23]

I have my ant+ dongle on a decent USB extension cable that puts it JUST that little bit closer to the trainer

It's on an extension, sits right next to the trainer.
Works fine with Zwift & Rouvy, so I would guess it is working fine, but just not on Fulgaz.

[SpudGun]

The price hike of Zwift has me looking at alternatives for indoor cycling. A $9 increase dropped with no notice so customers couldn’t get an annual subscription at the old price is pretty low. What does everyone else use? Rouvy seems like a strong contender. I have a Wahoo Kickr Core and it seems to integrate well with that. MyWhoosh seems good too, and is free with in game roadside ads opposed to banner type ads. What recommendations are there for a Zwift type replacement without the a Zwift like price?

[g-boaf]

I use Fulgaz and Zwift and PerfPro Studio.

Rolla is free but it is really not up to scratch just yet. Indievelo has very accurate physics of riding but looks a bit ugly.

PerfPro Studio is a one-off license cost and then no further payments, ever.

https://perfprostudio.com/Studio.aspx
https://perfprostudio.com/StudioFeatureSheet.aspx

That's a proper training software - no fancy 3D graphics, just back to basics.

[Arbuckle23]

The price hike of Zwift has me looking at alternatives for indoor cycling.

Check out my posts above.
A Zwift refugee who has settled on Fulgaz.
Rouvy is not bad, but the cost is in Euro. Yesterday that meant $26.08 per month. You would want to watch the exchange rate and buy a year for that.
Fulgaz is $21.00 month to month or $15 each month for a yearly membership.

[g-boaf]

Something new on the way:

https://zwiftinsider.com/what-is-coming-june-12th/

Those shifters are NOT the current Zwift Play controllers (which I have).

[Mr Purple]

Just as a word of warning - if you're considering the Fulgaz events they're all a bit trash.

Following the virtual Tour de Brisbane because I was involved in it on the day and the leaderboards are dominated by real jokers. I'm talking 40km/hr+ average speeds by ladies in the 60-69 age group without linked Strava accounts. Also the guy currently leading the full 110km distance is at least 14kg heavier than me and I couldn't achieve his hillclimbing speeds with 100W more.

The 'weekly challenges' were previously excellent but currently dominated by two older guys riding at 300W everywhere. I'm talking everywhere, every distance up to 160km with maximum power 320W, minimum power 290W. One is definitely on a smart trainer with the accuracy of a potato (Schwinn IC7) and I suspect the other is on a dumb trainer which are capped at 300W. They're both impossible to beat except when it gets really steep and/or short, so I suspect the rest of us have given up.

Frustrating, but there's no real way to flag it to Fulgaz without sounding like a conspiracy theorist! At least they've finally capped dumb trainers at 300W so there's not morons zooming around with 500W everywhere like there used to be.