03-22-2019, 10:02 PM
I rode my second ride in the VZfit Explorer app today and I activated the workout mode for the first time. This is a really cool product and I think it has a lot of long-term potential. I am posting this feedback in the spirit of "roadmap" -- not expecting instant fixes on a lot of this. I've ridden most of the major indoor cycling platforms out there at one time or another so I'm thinking in terms of how to make VZfit the best product possible in the long term, and what you will have to do to compete effectively with some of the more mature platforms.
The Good
-Everything was intuitive to me to start the app, connect, activate workout mode, ride the ride and quit while done.
-I rode for 30 minutes on the Carmel, CA recommended route in "Interval" mode. No issues with motion sickness and I was able to get a good hard workout in. You can see from my strava profile that both power and HR showed an interval response in the 20 minutes after my warmup. So don't let anyone tell you VR can't be a good workout! -https://www.strava.com/activities/2231567676 (I was tracking and recording data on my phone in the wahoo fitness app from my HR monitor and trainer power meter)
-I liked riding with the virtual trainer much better than riding VZexplorer without a partner. It helped give you something to focus on besides the scenery which made the ride motion more gently. In addition, the effect of being able to ride with and steer around the virtual partner was the best and most immersive part of VZfit for me so far. This is really, really cool and much better than on Zwift or other TV-based platforms.
-The changing scenery is a little distracting but much less so if you're focused on the road, the virtual partner and your intervals. The scenery becomes more of a backdrop and less of a focus.
The Easy
-As stated on another thread, it would be good if the heads up display was a little lower so you could see and manipulate it better while riding.
-It would be good to see the interval counter and/or training instructions in the HUD as well as over the virtual partner's head. When the virtual partner was beside or behind me I lost track of my interval times. Looking around for her made it hard to stay focused.
-Other programs also put a little colored dot, line or gate along the road to signify the beginning and end of intervals - that might be a nice graphical feature to add
-The head-tilt-to-steer function is pretty aggressive. When I took a drink from my water bottle I was running off the road. I think this could be adjusted?
-There were times when we were supposed to be "climbing" but we were going downhill. Or where we were flying uphill in recovery mode. This creates a lot of cognitive dissonance, especially in workout mode. Could you relate road speed to the elevation change/grade of the google map route? That way you would have to pedal faster to go uphill and you could softpedal on descents. It would create a more realistic experience.
-Instead of just commands to "go harder" it would be cool to put some more thought into the actual workouts to vary them with things like "increase resistance" or "high cadence for 30 seconds"
The Harder (but important)
-That brings me to the harder feedback. I understand the restrictions of having only a cadence sensor input. That said, this makes it really hard to create a realistic training experience. The way I was playing the game was that during the "hard" intervals I would shift up the resistance on my bike and push cadence a little, like I would on a normal bike. During the "easy" intervals I would downshift and soft pedal. However the effect for the virtual training partner was that when my "hard" resistance increased I was not pedaling as fast -- so the trainer would shoot forward away from me and drop me. When it was "easy" time my cadence would pick up and I would catch the trainer. This is the opposite of what should happen in real life. There was a big temptation to "cheat" and cut resistance to go faster during the hard intervals. I guess you could solve this in a few different ways. One way would to give clear resistance commands during the program on screen, and then vary the speed of the virtual trainer assuming the rider's cadence would slow. Another option would be just to make the virtual trainer "sticky" so they are always about your speed. The third (and best) way long term would be to allow VZfit to measure a "speed" or "power" output from the bike flywheel or a power-based indicator like a powercal heart rate monitor (https://www.powertap.com/product/powertap-powercal) rather than measuring cadence. The game is fun as is and a lot of people will enjoy it. But to make it a viable workout product that more serious riders will consider useful you might want to put some of these updates on your long-term plan.
The Good
-Everything was intuitive to me to start the app, connect, activate workout mode, ride the ride and quit while done.
-I rode for 30 minutes on the Carmel, CA recommended route in "Interval" mode. No issues with motion sickness and I was able to get a good hard workout in. You can see from my strava profile that both power and HR showed an interval response in the 20 minutes after my warmup. So don't let anyone tell you VR can't be a good workout! -https://www.strava.com/activities/2231567676 (I was tracking and recording data on my phone in the wahoo fitness app from my HR monitor and trainer power meter)
-I liked riding with the virtual trainer much better than riding VZexplorer without a partner. It helped give you something to focus on besides the scenery which made the ride motion more gently. In addition, the effect of being able to ride with and steer around the virtual partner was the best and most immersive part of VZfit for me so far. This is really, really cool and much better than on Zwift or other TV-based platforms.
-The changing scenery is a little distracting but much less so if you're focused on the road, the virtual partner and your intervals. The scenery becomes more of a backdrop and less of a focus.
The Easy
-As stated on another thread, it would be good if the heads up display was a little lower so you could see and manipulate it better while riding.
-It would be good to see the interval counter and/or training instructions in the HUD as well as over the virtual partner's head. When the virtual partner was beside or behind me I lost track of my interval times. Looking around for her made it hard to stay focused.
-Other programs also put a little colored dot, line or gate along the road to signify the beginning and end of intervals - that might be a nice graphical feature to add
-The head-tilt-to-steer function is pretty aggressive. When I took a drink from my water bottle I was running off the road. I think this could be adjusted?
-There were times when we were supposed to be "climbing" but we were going downhill. Or where we were flying uphill in recovery mode. This creates a lot of cognitive dissonance, especially in workout mode. Could you relate road speed to the elevation change/grade of the google map route? That way you would have to pedal faster to go uphill and you could softpedal on descents. It would create a more realistic experience.
-Instead of just commands to "go harder" it would be cool to put some more thought into the actual workouts to vary them with things like "increase resistance" or "high cadence for 30 seconds"
The Harder (but important)
-That brings me to the harder feedback. I understand the restrictions of having only a cadence sensor input. That said, this makes it really hard to create a realistic training experience. The way I was playing the game was that during the "hard" intervals I would shift up the resistance on my bike and push cadence a little, like I would on a normal bike. During the "easy" intervals I would downshift and soft pedal. However the effect for the virtual training partner was that when my "hard" resistance increased I was not pedaling as fast -- so the trainer would shoot forward away from me and drop me. When it was "easy" time my cadence would pick up and I would catch the trainer. This is the opposite of what should happen in real life. There was a big temptation to "cheat" and cut resistance to go faster during the hard intervals. I guess you could solve this in a few different ways. One way would to give clear resistance commands during the program on screen, and then vary the speed of the virtual trainer assuming the rider's cadence would slow. Another option would be just to make the virtual trainer "sticky" so they are always about your speed. The third (and best) way long term would be to allow VZfit to measure a "speed" or "power" output from the bike flywheel or a power-based indicator like a powercal heart rate monitor (https://www.powertap.com/product/powertap-powercal) rather than measuring cadence. The game is fun as is and a lot of people will enjoy it. But to make it a viable workout product that more serious riders will consider useful you might want to put some of these updates on your long-term plan.