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Zwift has debuted a Beta version of what it calls "Fitness-entertainment", using virtual worlds to allow anyone with a turbo trainer and an Ant+ sensor to compete or train together.
“Anyone who’s ever ridden a trainer has probably thought about how much better the experience could be. We started Zwift because we’re busy people and many days we don’t have enough time to ride outdoors,” said Zwift co-Founder Eric Min.
“The goal with Zwift is to improve the indoor cycling experience by making it entertaining, motivational, accessible and social. We call this “fitness entertainment”. Zwift allows anyone, anywhere with a trainer to ride with their friends. We believe that will get anyone to ride more often and to actually enjoy their time riding indoors. For the more competitive minded people, subscribing to Zwift could be the best training investment they can make. We also love riding outdoors but it’s not always convenient. Zwift is meant to complement the outdoor riding.”
Thanks to its unique ‘Zengine’ – a massive, multiplayer video game platform – athletes can follow their own workout plans or ride with each other in Zwift’s rich, 3D generated virtual worlds. Zwift will also allow athletes to take part in virtual versions of real world events such as races, gran fondos and charity rides.
Cyclists all over the world will be able to gain access to the Zwift community and to experience its rich digital environment by paying a $10.00 monthly subscription fee. Access to well-known events and other features will be available for an additional fee.
Invitations to Zwift’s public beta can be requested on their website and are open to the first 1,000 users. Zwift plans to launch to the larger public in early 2015.
For those on Strava, Zwift has already linked up with the virtual training app.
