You should be able to roll down the hills in Cali Rally

[Colonel_Izzi]

One potential objection is that merely rolling runs counter to the whole point of VZfit, but I disagree for two reasons: 
 
1) Powering up a hill with more intensity than you otherwise might because you know you'll be able to roll down the other side is part of a real-world cycling workout.
 
2) One of the magical powers that virtual reality brings to the fitness equation is that when what you're doing is fun, the actual exercise component flirts with being "incidental" as opposed to being more of a psychological hurdle when it is merely exercise for it's own sake. This is obviously why you've found that people tend to spend more time on exercise bikes when the activity is augmented by virtual reality than they do when it's not. I think that adding this additional dimension of fun and realism is totally in line with that. 
 
This wouldn't have to be the default behaviour of course (though I would personally argue that it should be). You could put a toggle in the Options panel instead. But please consider it.

Thanks

[emalafeew]

Thanks for asking and presenting your arguments! We agree it would be more akin to real biking. For discussion sake, the reasons we haven't gone there yet are

1. To make all VZfit games decelerate the same way, by slower pedaling. If we were to allow you to coast, we'd need to devote a button for braking, and that could be harder to control without being analog. Counter argument: It might be worth trying at least in the cycle games.

2. Most stationary bikes have flywheels attached directly to the pedals, so you can't stop pedaling and coast. Only very high end stationary bikes, and real bikes on trainers, support such coasting. Counter argument: More people are using VZfit on bikes with trainers (hopefully with the front fork stabilizers we recommend for safe leaning!)

3. As you say, we wanted VZfit to always motivate pedaling, not just on flats and up hills. And we already simulate gear shifting to maintain constant resistance, so you have to pedal more to go the same speed up hills and pedal less to go down them. Counter argument: Pedaling less downhills still isn't as realistic as coasting, which can take you out of VR immersion.

Would love to get more opinions and thoughts on this, and we'd be happy to try out button braking to see how it feels.

[Colonel_Izzi]

2. Most stationary bikes have flywheels attached directly to the pedals, so you can't stop pedaling and coast.  Only very high end stationary bikes, and real bikes on trainers, support such coasting.  Counter argument: More people are using VZfit on bikes with trainers (hopefully with the front fork stabilizers we recommend for safe leaning!)

 

The bike I'm using at the moment is of the magnetic flywheel variety. I find it really easy to just stop pedaling. I don't have a lot of experience with other models though. Do some of them have a more significant amount of inertia that makes it a whole lot more difficult to stop pedaling? If so, I can appreciate this objection.  

Regardless, thanks for taking the time to respond. I'll keep my fingers crossed

[emalafeew]

The bike I'm using at the moment is of the magnetic flywheel variety. I find it really easy to just stop pedaling. I don't have a lot of experience with other models though. Do some of them have a more significant amount of inertia that makes it a whole lot more difficult to stop pedaling? If so, I can appreciate this objection.  

Regardless, thanks for taking the time to respond. I'll keep my fingers crossed

Sure! I ran a quick test on a magnetic flywheel bike and a spin bike. When I stopped trying to pedal, the time it took to actually stop depending in large part on how much resistance I had set on the bikes. Greater resistance caused it to stop much quicker. On the magnetic flywheel bike it stopped about as quickly as a real bike so coasting would feel the most natural. But the spin bike at same resistance it still took 2-3 seconds to stop, as did the magnetic flywheel bike at lower resistance. Food for thought.

We also discussed internally how to control your speed while coasting, if your pedaling can't slow you down. Feeling in control is pretty important for VR comfort, and for drafting other riders (your pedaling speed has to be within 20% of theirs to be in draft mode). If we used the B button, we'd have to make it pretty weak, or ramp up its strength the longer you hold. Another idea was to actually pedal backwards to slow your forward motion. Can't say how those would feel until we test them.