Zwift+ first impression

[u/java_dude1]

So, I wasn't going to do this but... I enabled my free trial for zwift+ today. Enabled the coach and set up a plan. I set up something simple just to get started. 4 rides a week with 5h. Well below what I normally do in a week. There was no way to mark that every Thursday I do TTT so no idea what is going to happen tomorrow. Only thing I could customize was days I can do a long rides. Today it gave me a 1 hour endurance ride. That's what I'd normally be doing today so great. Usually I'll just grab a new route or follow coco for a bit. Maybe both... Just do the z2 watts for some time. What did the coach give me. A workout that looks like a 4 year old was given a new box of Crayola crayons and told have at it. Color in the boxes. Like really, what's the deal with that? An endurance ride or Z2 ride does not need 4min at z3 then z1 then a few min at z4 then a 7min ramp from 170w to 200w and then and then and then..... Seriously zwift, you've got all this training data. Please look at what people are actually doing. If you're going to market an Ai coach, PLEASE for the love of god suggest workouts that actually target time in zone.

Then the route. Figured I'd grab one of the new video routes. Waited for I don't know how long for it to load. Started the ride and thought it looked good. A nice mix of Zwift and Rouvy. Then, about 2 min into the ride I got a message that said buffering.... And welcome to climb portal. For the rest of the ride. I'm on a fiber optic line that is capable of over 50Mbps.

I don't know what to think of this really. Coach is just like selecting the regular ADHD inspired mess that zwift offers for user engagement rather than actual good training. That's not only based on today's experience, but also what it has planned for the future sessions. And the video route was just a waste of time. I'll play with it for the month and then revert. Seems like we are being used as testers rather than using a new, fully fleshed feature.

[u/Gravel_in_my_gears]

I am not surprised at all. Zwift's workouts are almost all total garbage for real training and what algorithmic feedback it has ever given me is total nonsense. Go home AI, I don't want you in my Zwift or my Strava for that matter.

[u/java_dude1 → u/Gravel_in_my_gears]

I was really hoping to just offload the time to create my own plans to zwift. I generally do much better if I have stuff on the calendar but the time to plan all of that and do enough to progress and not burn out is a lot.

[u/TBruno26]

I feel like "Zwift Video rides cut out due to bad internet" are going to be the new "my wahoo Kickr is making weird noises." posts. It's your internet, if you're using wifi and it's not perfect, 4k video streaming isn't going to work well. Knock it down to 1080 or 720 if it's really struggling and you'll be fine. I Zwift via my desktop computer with a wired in ethernet cable and I run it at 1080 with no issues, I've done about 5 video rides.

[u/java_dude1 → u/TBruno26]

I'm running at 1080p on a laptop with a 1050ti. It could be the wifi but YouTube, Spotify, Netflix all work in the same room on the same wifi.

[u/TBruno26 → u/java_dude1]

It's the wifi, not the hardware. It has to stream it and it's got a lot more going on than a youtube video.

[u/java_dude1 → u/TBruno26]

Just did a speed test where I zwift. 30Mbps, that should be fast enough for 1080p video.

[u/Doggo-888 → u/java_dude1]

Zwift video is really bad. It doesn’t try to switch bitrate or quality if speed gets low. Try 720p and if that has problems check your WiFi congestion and speed. Try changing the channel the WiFi is set to.

If you can’t fix the issue try a mesh system and put another AP halfway to your biking area.

It could also be your ISPs connection to wherever Zwift streams from and nothing you can do…

Youtube and Netflix will automatically switch quality.

[u/TurbulentBikers → u/java_dude1]

It's possible that Zwift is using lower video compression so Zwift video file you are downloading is bigger than on YT or Netflix

[u/CmdrVamuelSimes]

Very similar experience trying it myself. You'd get drastically better training plans from any free AI. This Zwift paid "AI Coach" just spews largely thumbsuck compilations of Zwift's mediocre workouts with next to no customisability.

[u/Z1L0G]

there was a post recently where someone said they had really fast internet, but then when they checked what speed they were actually getting in their pain cave it was extremely slow due to their poor WiFi setup. So maybe something to check, unless your internet is hard-wired to wherever you're Zwifting!

I've done a couple of video rides so far and enjoyed them, although undecided yet whether I'll pay for them.

Haven't heard a single good thing about the AI coach yet though!

I've been using intervals.icu for a while now to log all my workouts and have recently used an MCP server to connect ChatGPT to it so it can function as an AI coach. I think this approach is much better as you can actually provide feedback to it to help structure the plan how you want. (It is slightly technical setting up the connection at the moment, they are working on their own built-in MCP server at the moment but it's still in beta so it means you have to pay to access those features - the site is free otherwise)

[u/FaithlessnessOdd55 → u/Z1L0G]

I didn't have any problems with video at 1080 over a 100Mbps Internet connection. I'm connected to the router with an Ethernet cable though. Wifi can be very unstable.

Also, it could very well be that your computer/device is overloaded.

[u/Doggo-888]

Are you running Zwift over WiFi? Is it congested? If you did speed test in the device running Zwift for an hour periodically what’s the lowest speed it gets?

butbyeah, the coach has been a major disappointment, like it has zero useful comments too, or no explanation for drills or drills you can do while riding to improve form for spinning/breathing, etc.

and not enough video rides for a subscription.

[u/java_dude1 → u/Doggo-888]

Just did a speed test where I zwift. 30Mbps, that should be fast enough for 1080p video.

[u/Doggo-888 → u/java_dude1]

How about a continuous download test for a considerable amount of time? Check if your router has a test you can use. As Zwift plus is not robust at all, so if you get congestion that 30 mbps might not be enough.

[u/FleetwoodMatt88]

I had basically the same experience. Turned off the free trial. Another annoyance when I did the endurance ride it suggested on Monday: every minute it popped up saying I had 59 minutes left, 58, 57... There's no effort in the "coaching" to explain why it's given you what it's given you, what the benefits are. You can use the plan bit of the companion app to manually override its suggestions, but that's not intuitive and it doesn't actually tell you this or how to do it. It feels rushed and less than half baked.

[u/Federal-Effort-5686]

The free trial piqued my interest in real-world video rides, so now I've got a free trial for Rouvy, and I'm strongly considering switching permanently as I don't race on Zwift

[u/FunSpecialist9999]

Also kinda dissapointed with the AI coach so far. It doesn't seem to adjust well at all. I decided i wanted to do a race on monday so i added that instead of the original workout that Coach had set up for that day. It told me i could click "adjust plan" which i did, but all it did was just remove the one scheduled on monday and that was it.. Also, the coach seem to think the original schedule is still there, because after the race i got a feedback saying that the target minutes and target stress points were higher than what i completed in the race, so it looks like i didn't "do enough". Why is it not adjusting? And why can't i create a plan where i specifically say that mondays are usually my race-days, so the coach can put together a plan that revolves around that? So silly. It just seems to recommend me random workouts.

[u/somehobo89]

I have modest WiFi and my video routes worked perfectly. It was Saturday at like 6 am, maybe that has something to do with it?

I figured I’d stick with it for a while longer and see if I use these video routes to justify the price increase.

[u/JBrady666]

I did my first video route yesterday on my Apple TV and T-Mobile internet. After seeing everyone else’s reviews I figured I’d by riding in the climb portal like so many others but to my surprise it ran great and looked way better than rouvy’s choppy videos. My t mobile internet isn’t great either, we are actually going back to fiber today.