Anyone using MyWhoosh?

I’d not heard of this until the recent discussion about Zwift’s price increase. I’d used Zwift occasionally through the winter, but the pricing always put me off, along with the terrible interface and problems with the bluetooth connection dropping out. First look, Whoosh seems ok, perhaps a bit less pretty than Zwift, but setup was fairly painless. Would be interested to hear from anyone else who’s used it for a while. Would also be interested to hear any thoughts on the funding/sportswashing issues…

Started using MyWhoosh after Zwifts price increaae. I thought the user interface was nicer than Zwift’s myself.

I only use it in summer for rwally bad weather rides, or winter indoor rides. On Zwift i didnt use the races, training plans, group rides, challenges etc.

MyWhoosh less crashy in my opinion too.

A timely thread bump.

As we’re approaching Autumn, any early adopters care to offer their thoughts on their MyWhooshing experiences as a Zwift alternative? Ta.

I’ll be using mywhoosh this autumn. I had a brief go on it earlier in the year and it seemed good. Not had much time to use it since.

I started using MyWhoosh when Zwift increased their prices and initially I was impressed, overtime time I’ve noticed MyWhoosh is very glitchy and there are some very frustrating issues appearing and need to be addressed.

I’ve just downloaded the recent update and haven’t had a ho yet but hopefully it’ll solve the latest issues:

Not picking up smart trainer and heart rate sensor.

Crashing randomly during a ride which then restarts Apple TV.

Not able to select items on the main page, to work around this I clicked elsewhere and then go back which seems to solve it.

Got to be honest I think Zwift is better overall!

I’ve got it, not used it that much much impressed for a free app. Everything seems to work and had better integration with heart rate on Apple Watch etc.

Watching with interest

On Zwift i didnt use the races, training plans, group rides, challenges etc

Same here – just wanted a way to control the smart trainer to vary resistance and MyWhoosh didn’t play nicely with the kit or my laptop so I ended up with TrainerDay

https://app.trainerday.com

No fancy graphics but no need for anything more than your phone. The free option is limited to 20 preset workouts but you can chop and change between them and vary the intensity, so with a bit of fiddling you can put together whatever you want, and compared to Zwift it has been ridiculously quick to get started pedalling. The paid option isn’t that much either and payment can be stopped and started as needed.

Only used it a few times to ride a solo hour or so. They have lots of routes without the silly Zwift bits.

It’s not as smooth graphically as Zwift, but isn’t something that bothers me because it’s more than adequate.

I raced regularly on Zwift which I really enjoyed, but not yet tried the races on MyWhoosh.

I tried IndieVelo for a while and it was like a quieter Zwift, but the pace of development has been phenomenal since then. I imagine it’s all to do with starting from a new code based. Might be worth looking at too.

I’ve been using Indievelo.  It’s currently in Beta so it’s free to use.  I really like it.  The developer George Gilbert rolls out new features almost every two weeks and he’s already implemented a lot of nice features the Zwift community have being crying out for.  I’ve suspended my Zwift account but at the moment I can’t see myself going back as Indievelo gives me what I need.

Whats the attraction of riding in a virtual world though?

Rouvy offers similar experiences but on ‘real’ roads, but for some reason doesnt appear to attract people.

I’m up to level 9 on MyWhoosh. Seems to work just fine, but I haven’t done any races. It does feel like a more solitary experience compared to Zwift & in some ways I miss the sense of riding with other people. Unless I am missing something you aren’t told who is riding around you., but I’m not prepared to pay £17.99 a month just for that.

Not really interested in MyWoosh tbh, given the whole sportswashing thing & the fact that it’s basically just Zwift but worse. I’m sure they’ll start charging for it anyway at some point.

I’ve been using Indievelo.  It’s currently in Beta so it’s free to use.  I really like it.  The developer George Gilbert rolls out new features almost every two weeks and he’s already implemented a lot of nice features the Zwift community have being crying out for.

I’ve yet to try IV (you need to pay for the AppleTV version so need to get a PC of some kind set up to try it out for free. Or, I guess I could just pay for it for a month!) but it does sound impressive particularly as if I understand correctly it’s literally all just done by one guy! He’ll definitely start charging at some point though, and some people think the game plan is just to build it up & sell it on (maybe to Zwift!!)

Whats the attraction of riding in a virtual world though?

Rouvy offers similar experiences but on ‘real’ roads, but for some reason doesnt appear to attract people.

what does that suggest to you then? Hint: there’s nothing “real” about riding on Rouvy in your garage! 😉

Whats the attraction of riding in a virtual world though?

Rouvy offers similar experiences but on ‘real’ roads, but for some reason doesnt appear to attract people

I think it’s twofold:

Because in the absence of other stimuli the real world is actually really dull. I could go on a “real” simulation and ride up a “real” hill for 20 minutes, but it’ll have only a handful of changes in gradient, the view will only actually be notably nice intermittently and the corners are mostly just a few gentle bends.  Whereas Zwift will have me switchbacking my way up an alpine pass with dinosaurs and repeated punchy sections.

Also there’s only so much you can do to suspend belief that you’re looking at a screen in a shed. It’s not the same as riding outside, so why pretend?

Would also be interested to hear any thoughts on the funding/sportswashing issues…

Mehhhh, are they also going to boycott watching the TDF?  Or do something meaningful like boycott oil and gas?

Saying you’re going to boycott a free videogame seems like peak virtue-signaling.  Are the USA’s tax breaks sports washing their gun violence problem?

Mehhhh, are they also going to boycott watching the TDF?  Or do something meaningful like boycott oil and gas?

total whattaboutery [rolleyes emoji]

will be irrelevant anyway once they inevitable start charging for it

total whattaboutery [rolleyes emoji]

I agree, but whatabout it?  It’s like me as a 37year old male with no kids boycotting Nestle.I’m not the target market for infant formula (but have just eaten a kit-kat so I’m a bad person).

will be irrelevant anyway once they inevitable start charging for it

Yup, although given the number of hours people spend on Zwift I’m surprised they haven’t figured out a non-subscription model yet.  All those advertising hoardings, pre race warm-up pens, bike upgrades, etc.  Just make it free, crowbar in adverts, charge for bike upgrades, have a Dr with a Clinic at the top of the Alpe-du-Zwift who’ll give you a 20% ZwiftPO boost in FTP for £20, or a shot of OZwiftempic that lowers your in game weight for 30 days.

Following. Unlikely to use MyWhoosh due to me being a virtue signaller. Indievelo sounds interesting though. Zwift at £18 per month, given how crap it is, is a bit rich for my liking and limited usage.

but it’ll have only a handful of changes in gradient, the view will only actually be notably nice intermittently and the corners are mostly just a few gentle bends.  Whereas Zwift will have me switchbacking my way up an alpine pass with dinosaurs and repeated punchy sections

Why only a handful of changes in gradient ? The rides I have done have been mega accurate to the real thing.

Or is it more of a suggestion that Zwift is more of a structured workout/intervals?

I’m currently using the Tacx app. It’s either structured workouts (that I can pre-load/customise) or “just” riding along a real-world route that has been videoed. I really like the latter. I can “attack” if I want, cruise in Z2, do intervals, whatever. It feels the most realistic (as much as riding while watching a TV can) – the most like the type of riding I do outdoors. I grew tired of the cartoon/repeated scenery of Zwift and I’m not interested in the XP/drops/gamification element of it. I can certainly see why Rouvy appeals to some.

Or is it more of a suggestion that Zwift is more of a structured workout/intervals?

Or unstructured I guess.

Zwift tends to have a lot more gradients / bends than the real world, which keeps it engaging.

I guess it depends on the aim though.  If you’re following a workout then it doesn’t matter and maybe the “real” world actually works better because you wont get the avatar surging on each change Over the winter I tended to just ride routes though and it’s the constant clicking up and down the gears that keeps me awake/focused.  And most routes tended to feel like a varied workout with either long draggy climbs or short / hard intervals or mixtures of both.

I can see why Rouvy, RGT etc exist, but by the same token Zwift, Mywoosh etc aren’t realistic for equally valid reasons.

Realistic graphics with obviously not real riding is jarring IMO, ai didn’t like it. Zwift (and the likes) being cartoonish was less odd, there were things to look at and, most importantly people on the routes. Freeriding in any fake world on your own was boring as ****, being able to ride a route and chase down or try and hold someone made it more interesting. Just following numbers on a training plan none of it made any difference anyway, may as well watch a video.

I use mywhoosh. Mainly because it is free and you can make your own workouts. Also use wahoo system. Kids use mywhoosh as well. It has one or two niggles but its free.

It feels the most realistic (as much as riding while watching a TV can) – the most like the type of riding I do outdoors. I grew tired of the cartoon/repeated scenery of Zwift and I’m not interested in the XP/drops/gamification element of it

Thats what I dont like too

 Freeriding in any fake world on your own was boring as ****,

I quite like riding routes that I know I have done in the past in the real world in the middle of winter in the garage, it beats getting cold and wet. Also enjoy riding areas that I might be going on holiday to the following year

being able to ride a route and chase down or try and hold someone made it more interesting.

You can race real people on the likes of Rouvy. Granted not as many participants as Zwift but certainly no different in terms of capability to do it

The thing I’ve still not got used to on Tacx is junctions. I keep wanting to slow down, change gear etc

The thing I’ve still not got used to on Tacx is junctions. I keep wanting to slow down, change gear etc

I once tried to ride rollers with a sufferfest video, it didn’t go well!

I have updated the mywhoosh app so I’m ready to use it. There seems to be a few more routes as well.

Updated it on my mobile earlier via Play Store, opened app to see it wants to download another ~4.6GB! lol

Right, it’s that time of year and I’m a cheapskate with few morals so here’s a brief MyWhoosh review.

It’s basically Zwift. I’ve not done a race in it yet, but everything else so far has been basically Zwift. So I’ll not bore you with the stuff that’s basically the same.

Installation and updates: It was about 3.5GB initially, then 2 days later another 2.5GB update!  Had to bring the laptop back into he house to update it.  Otherwise fine.

Menus and logging in: If you know what you’re doing it’s much quicker than zwift to get from booting up the pc to riding. But some of the menus are a bit unintuitive.

Routes: Clearly aimed at Runners but there’s a lot of 3-6km loops and few 20-30km ones, and it lacks the open world feeling of Zwift. You’re basically doing laps.

The graphics. They’ve gone for more textures but the engine itself seems less refined and more resource hungry.  My laptop with a GTX1650 won’t run them smoothly on max.  It seems to prioritize your avatar over the NPC’s though so it’s not to jarring when your pedaling along but the rabbit waving a UCI flag is a bit Shakey.  It’s probably better than Zwift on a gaming PC with an RTX4060 , but otherwise if you’re running Zwift on a shoestring with an old office Dell and a 970 then stick with Zwift.  I’ve not tried the app versions so they may be better/worse.

Sound: the music is awful.  Just mute it in settings and put Spotify on. The in game sound effects if there were any were more subtle than zwift.

Connections to equipment, my cadence from the smart trainer was miles off, not sure if that’s a trainer issue I’ve mot noticed before, or a software issue but it kept dropping out.  Power seemed steady though.

Workouts – yep, they work. Basically the same as zwift with training plans that you can add to a calendar.  It actually seems a bit easier to find them than Zwift too.  The training plans and individual workouts are in easy to find categories so you could just click “sweet spot”, pick a session, pick a world to ride in, and you’re off.  There’s a “live coach” which seems to be a peloton style session, but the forums and my experience agree that there’s never any online.

Integration with other apps – rubbish.  It’ll connect to Strava (but you have to set this up via the website not the app) and traininpeaks (not tested).  But unlike Zwift there’s no map or pictures. It’s a minor thing but I actually missed the zwift pictures and map in the middle of the sea.  But there’s no way to automatically sync to Garmin and transfering the .fit file manually seems to be missing something as I turned myself inside out last night on a ramp test and my Epix is still saying I’m ready for more training today.  I’ve not tried it yet but the suggested workaround is to just log workouts on your Garmin at the same time.

In app payments, yep you can skip doing a million laps of Alpe Du Zwift for your Tron bike and just buy the in game tokens.  I never upgraded my zwift bike (i actually downgraded to the retro looking steel one) so don’t really care.

Is it sportwashing oil money? Probably, but I can’t see that’s any worse than accepting BP / Nectar / Shell points and spending it on a trip to legoland / in the n+1 watches thread / on a bacon sarnie when you fill up. 

In conclusion, Zwift is better, I’m not going to argue otherwise, it just is.  The graphics are better, the worlds are better, there are more users, it links to other software better.  Is it £16/month better? That depends. To me indoor training is a means to an end.  I have a “good value” £100 Pinnacle trainer, not a £1200 Tacx, all I want from the software is to be not bored and MyWhoosh does that.  If Zwift dropped it’s price and raised it’s money via pay-to-win upgrades or in game advertising on all those billboards I’d probably come back.

And really Zwift is cheaper for a month than I’ll probably pay for a round of drinks in the pub after tonight’s club ride.  I

think it’s more subscription fatigue than anything.  Zwift just stuck it’s head above the parapet by making itself more expensive than Amazon, Spotify, Netflix or Disney.

Previous regular Zwift user primarily for races. Now a MyWhoosh user.

Succinct version ..

Pros of Mywhoosh:

Free

Better routes

Pros of Zwift:

Better racing due to more participants.

I used MyWhoosh a few times, but it crashed twice. Could be my laptop or internet connection so don’t read to much into this. I’m now using IndieVelo which, so far, has been fine. Updates take about 5 seconds when you start the game. Routes are a bit limited but fine for me. Also free at the moment, but I pay $10 a month which gets me some bonus stuff (not used) plus a discount when they start charging.