virtual MRC FMR Zwift Event

[cbusick]

I'm considering setting up a zwift event for our MRC FMR over the winter.
I'd like to gauge the interest before setting it up. If it's only going to be a couple of us, it would be easier to join an existing event,
It would be way more fun to have an MRC (and friends) group.
If you haven't tried zwift since last year, the new way they handle events really improves the experience.
We all stage in a corral together on virtual trainers until the start time.
Only people participating in our event show up on the rider list screen.
KOM and sprint leaderboards only show people participating in the event.
The ride leader is clearly marked.
You turn automatically with the group, no need to worry about going the wrong way.

The next few weeks anyway Fridays are the London course in zwift.

Here's the format:

Fridays at 6AM. Should take about 1 hour. This give people flexibility to add 30 minutes before/after but has 1 hour that most people should be able to do.
2 Laps of the London Loop (including box hill). That's 9.2 miles/loop.
Steady group pace of 2.5 w/kg on the flats and throat punching on Box hill.

Lap 1, regroup after Box Hill
Lap 2, the race is on from the start of Box hill to the finish line. You have to be behind the ride leader at the start of Box hill on lap 2 to be considered for the win.

Who would be interested?

[Mkidd3]

Interested

[miker2]

Tempting.

[JeremyC]

I'm interested. But I'd propose 3 laps. First lap is social warm up at 6am, then 2 laps as you suggest. FInishing at 7:30. Thoughts? I'd rather not warm up at 5:30 personally

[cbusick]

I think you should warm up on your own time, not during the event.
How about a compromise of starting the event at 6:15 and doing 2 laps.
You can wake up at 5:45 AM, throw on some bibs, grab a water bottle and go to the pain cave,
wait for zwift to update and be on course by 6AM.
Then you have 15 minutes to ride around London doing whatever you want for a warmup and zwift will automatically take you to the start at 6:10, or you can override that and do a Pare and show up when the counter gets down to 0:10.

We don't hit box hill until 4.5 miles in, so you get another 10 minutes of warm up at 2.5 w/kg before the fun begins.

[KTeves]

Interested. I like the idea of a later start.

[ahamilton]

Interested. At least for the warm-up and pre-warm-up. Not terribly fond of getting punched in the throat, but easy enough to slip off the back and avoid the fisticuffs when they start.

BTW Chris, if you try to make this a sanctioned Zwift event, we'll end up with a lot of people. Not sure how you become sanctioned - there are still a lot of unsanctioned races/rides so there may be lots of conditions.

If there is not enough interest then an option is the ZHR Hare and Hounds that starts @ 6:00. 4 levels (A-D) so you can choose your poison. Slowest group starts first and tries to stay away from next group, etc. The A group has to make up a lot of time, but it can be done. Plenty of horsepower in the A's and Bs, and no lack of sandbaggers in any of the groups.

[JeremyC]

How about a compromise of starting the event at 6:15 and doing 2 laps.

I'd be OK with that

[Fintan]

Interested.

[cbusick]

Alan,
I want to use the event module for this. I want it to be easy for people we know to join, but I'm not going out of my way to publish it more broadly. I don't know if using the event module means it's a sanctioned event or if there is something in between "lets meet at the starting line" and a fully sanctioned event.

-Chris

[pace21]

Yes. 6:15 preferred. Voice comm would really make it great

[pace21]

I'll make sure I'm there by 6:14

[KTeves]

@CP: there's TeamViewer for that, and, agreed, sooo much better

@CB: Have you found documentation on creating events through the event module?

[jraguin]

OK, this is a good idea. I am interested.

[pace21]

Can I use a phone app for comm? I'd rather not have more stuff running in the background and robbing bandwidth.

Also: Teamspeak or TeamViewer?

[pace21]

So I talked to my IT department (my 14 y.o.) and he says Discord is the bees knees. Mark and I just tried it out and it works great, no delay, clear voice, and has good echo cancellation and background noise reduction. I set up a server that should hopefully never expire and accommodate up to 99 participants assuming I did it correctly.

To join the group chat you need to download the Discord app, create a free account, and verify it by clicking on an email. Then click Join Server (I think it's a big "+" sign) and use this alias:

https://discord.gg/yUep8KD

It should come up in the app with the title "MRCgroupRide" and you'll need to click on the "MRCvoice" button to get fully in.

A pair of earbuds with a mic work great but other solutions might be just fine. I'll try to get on early Friday, feel free to text me

[KTeves]

Can I use a phone app for comm? I'd rather not have more stuff running in the background and robbing bandwidth.

Also: Teamspeak or TeamViewer?

A moot point now it would seem, but, yes, I meant to say TeamSpeak. And TS has a app for Android. I thought TS worked well (it also has echo cancellation and other tweaks incl. push-to-speak or auto-voice detection), and you don't need to create an account, but have no qualm trying Discord.

BTW, I'm out for this Friday; taking a couple of weeks off the bike end-of-season.

[Mkidd3]

Once you get Discord set up its fine. Not super intuitive (on android at least) to set up but then again I'm not a 14 year old gamer...

[ahamilton]

@CB: Not sure if there's a diff between event module and sanctioned event. Probably the same thing. But if you use the event module there may be a requirement to have a ride leader show up for every ride.

I heard Discord was better than TeamSpeak.

[KTeves]

Alan, have you seen anything on how an event is created that would utilize the module?

[JeremyC]

Alan, have you seen anything on how an event is created that would utilize the module?

I sent the instructions to Mark who already gave them to Busick. If we want to do it this friday we should getterdone ASAP

[jraguin]

Do you suggest putting the Discord app on your phone so there is less clutter on the laptop?
I am sure the first week will be a s%&tshow but it will be "fun".

John

[cbusick]

I put in the request to Zwift to create the event. I'll update when I hear back.
Should I add the discord settings to the event? Or should that be for insiders only so we can complain about the freds that just show up and attack off the front at 5 w/kg when the gate drops?

I'm not going to spend the whole ride telling people to slow down and regroup on the leader.

[cbusick]

BTW: http://zwiftblog.com/organize-group-ride/

[pace21]

Let's leave the comm as MRC-only for now.

John, yes my goal with Discord was to be able to run it on my phone as an app to save PC resources.

The IPhone app was pretty darn easy to use FYI