Zwiftcast

Ep 211: TrainerRoad integration is here, Zwift Academy returns & we meet the Older Women in Lycra!

Zwiftcast co-hosts Rebecca Charlton and Dave Towle are back together to bring you the latest fortnightly episode with news and updates galore, including the much anticipated TrainerRoad integration, news of Sir Chris Hoy's launch of Tour de 4 and the eagerly anticipated return of Zwift Academy!

Director of Product Management at Zwift, Nick Kalkounis, chats to Rebecca and Dave about that TrainerRoad news, and Nathan, Shane and Eric join the crew to discuss all things topical on Zwift, including the Peak Zwift result.

Dave also meets community inspirer Elaine Montoya to learn about the OWLs, the Older Women in Lycra, and chats to Eric Schlange about the Zwift Insider women's portal.

 

Ep 210: Ashton Lambie's incredible life-stories, Zwift Community Live chat and community member Joe Baxter talks Zwift and his traumatic recovery from a brain tumour

Prepare to be truly inspired by this episode as the man known for perhaps the greatest moustache in the cycling world, Ashton Lambie has a brilliantly candid chat with co-host Dave Towle about the many wonderful strings to his bow, being married to an astronaut and plenty more intriguing facts along the way.

Dave chats Zwift Community Live with Eric, Nathan and Shane, and community member Joe Baxter drops in to talk about the moment he was told he had a brain tumour and how he coped from then until now, supported by the world of Zwift cycling. 

Grab a brew and settle in!

Ep 209: Tour Down Under, enchiladas and T-Rex chat, featuring Kate Veronneau, Puck Moonen and Callan O'Keefe

Co-hosts Rebecca Charlton and Dave Towle are back with a brand new episode of the Zwiftcast to talk about going full enchilada with the Tour de Zwift, and it's a jam-packed episode with guests galore.

Zwift’s Director of Women’s Strategy, Kate Veronneau dials in from the Tour Down Under as the UCI WorldTour season kicks off, and adding even more star-factor Puck Moonen and Callan O’Keefe drop in for a chat, with a very special announcement.

Plus, play along with the Zwift quiz and see how much you really know!

Enjoy...

Ep 208: Happy New Year from the Zwiftcast - Tour de Zwift, Prediction games and community favourite Cat Allen drops in

The ZwiftCast team are back to wish you a Happy New Year with co-hosts Rebecca Charlton and Dave Towle, joined by a host of special guests. 

Eric Schlange joins for the whole episode to bring us up to speed on everything we need to know in the world of Zwift, plus discuss new year’s resolutions and why he loves them.

The incredible community member that is Cat Allen pops in for a chat about being the first woman to hit and exceed 300 thousand KM on Zwift and it’s an incredibly inspiring chat.

Plus It’s the annual return of Peak Zwift, the prediction game that always gets the Zwift aficionados competitive in January - featuring Shane Miller, Nathan Guerra, Eric and a very special, surprise guest.

Ep 207: A Christmas edition of The Zwiftcast…plus Shane, Nathan and Eric are back!

A Christmas edition of the ZwiftCast with Olympic Gold Medallist Dani Rowe MBE…plus Shane, Nathan & Eric are back!

The ZwiftCast is back for a festive Christmas Eve special with its new regular hosts, British cycling broadcaster Rebecca Charlton and American cycling announcer Dave Towle. 

The duo dive into Zwift’s recent decision to pause the Zwift World Series with returning experts Shane Miller, Eric Schlange and Nathan Guerra, as well as Zwift’s changes to the event calendar - removing a large number of events - and why this might be a good thing.

Olympic Gold medallist Dani Rowe MBE joins Rebecca to chat all things pregnancy and riding, her recent move onto the Discovery+ broadcast team for the Tour de France, and about designing workouts for Zwift at different points of life. Stay tuned for her hilarious Zwift fail!

It wouldn’t be Christmas without a bit of festive Zwifting - we look at what’s happening to keep you motivated, including the famous Rapha Festive 500.

Grab a mince pie and enjoy!

Ep 206: A new cast for the ZwiftCast and interview with Eric Min and Matt Stephens

After a brief hiatus, the Zwiftcast is back with British broadcaster, Zwifter and life-long cyclist Rebecca Charlton joining American cycling favourite, commentator and announcer Dave Towle as your new co-hosts.

In this episode, they chat with Zwift's CEO and Co-Founder, Eric Min, to discuss Zwift's 10th anniversary, Eric Schlange of Zwift Insider joins to bring the team up to speed on what they may have missed over the past couple of months, and finally, Rebecca catches up with a friend of Zwift, ex-pro and all-round cycling legend, Matt Stephens.

Join the new cast to hear how they’ll be dropping in from the slipstream of the brilliant Zwiftcast creator Simon Schofield, find out why Matt is in a bathrobe for his interview and discover why there's a shared love of the pizza slice! 

 

Episode 205: This Season On Zwift Special - Shiny New Things

In what has now become a tradition, Zwift HQ today revealed a bagful of new features, both in hardware and software, coming down the track as the Northern Hemisphere Peak Season ramps up.

 

The Zwiftcasters run through the shiny new things - some of which are being implemented immediately and some which will be scattered before Zwifters hopefully before there’s snow on the ground.

 

There are a number of real crowd-pleasers, including a revamped HUD and new roads in Watopia, but there’s more - it’s quite a packed programme. Hear what we think of what’s coming!

 

Ep 204: The "Simon Switch" + thrills on the Alpe + all the Zwifty News

After the most thrilling finish to a Grand Tour for many years, perhaps ever, Simon and the Zwiftcasters assess the effect Le Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is likely to have on the sport in the future. In one of their favourite metrics - bums on saddles - already huge progress is being made. But what more needs to be done? The Zwiftcast’s man on the ground Dave Towle files a personal report and we discuss the Tour and its aftermath.

One of the longest running inside gags on the podcast - Simon’s non-ownership of a certain virtual bike - looks like it could be coming to an end (Simon thinks) as Zwift implement an auto-enrol function for the Everest Challenge. Is it a Simon Switch or an Idiot Switch? The Zwiftcasters discuss.

Zwift is finally opening up its API to selected partners with a service aimed at tri-athletes the first to benefit. While the whole API thing sounds a bit nerdy, in fact the implications for everyday Zwifters are extremely significant. Simon, Shane, Nathan and Eric speculate on how fast changes may happen and what the possible nature of enhancements to the user experience may be.

The Zwiftcast ranges across the latest Zwifty news with coverage of UCI certification of trainers; enhancements to the women’s racing calendar and even a small bone HQ has thrown to runners.

In Correction Corner, the Zwiftcasters chew over the revised figures HQ delivered on the proportions of Zwifters at certain levels. There was amazement at the first version of these stats, which didn’t pass the Zwiftcast sniff test. The new version makes much more sense.

And how do you get to be a Zwift club with 1,000 members in 60 countries? Be more SISU seems to be the answer. Dave chats to one of the founders of one of the most successful clubs on the platform.

We hope you enjoy listening.

 

Ep 203: The XP Row, Amazing Stats on Zwifters' Levels and the Women's Tour avec Zwift

This episode kicks of with a sequence looking at the community reaction to HQ’s latest changes to the XP system and, in turn, Zwifters’ levels. It’s fair to say the latest changes were not universally welcomed, and Simon, Shane and Eric pick apart the reasons. HQ acknowledged that the changes were not well signalled and HQ’s head of product Mark Cote explains what happened.

Even the most casual cycling fan must be aware that Women’s Cycling is on the up - fresh, exciting and growing fast. Simon talks to HQ’s Kate Veronneau about the absolutely pivotal part Zwift has played in this, much of it down to the company’s critically important sponsorship of the re-born Tour de Frances Femmes, avec Zwift. Kate discloses that she’s been known to message journalists and broadcasters who forget to mention the “avec Zwift” part!

When a listener asked Simon to chase down some stats on how many Zwifters sit at each Level, he thought it might make an interesting feature. In fact, the data that came back from Zwift was absolutely gob-smacking. The Level 100 Club is uber-exclusive, with only 0.06% of Zwifters getting past the velvet ropes to the inner sanctum of achievement. At the other end, the percentage of Zwifters just starting their journey, and on Levels 1-10, is, if anything, even more staggering. Listen to the Ep to find out more.

Zwift staffer James Bailey provides a shedload of interesting insight into the new Zwift Racing Score system which should, before too long, replace the crude A, B, C and D racing categories.

And Kate returns at the end of the episode to give a preview of the exciting events on the platform to mark the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.

We hope you enjoy listening.

 

 

Episode 202: Zwifting just got cheaper . . . .hardware prices plunge amid fierce trainer price battle

The Zwiftcast hosts discuss the really significant implications of what looks very much like a price war on trainers as Australian manufacturer Jet Black unveils a gob-smackingly good value - and fully featured - trainer at Eurobike.

Simon chats to Shane and Eric about the consequences, with the Zwiftcasters pausing to take a humorous side-swipe or two at the extraordinary offering from Elite, bucking both pricing trends and design conventions.

Simon also catches up with Dave and Nathan for an extended and joyful conversation about Mark Cavendish’s incredible win at Le Tour. Mark, a great friend of Zwift, finally took his record breaking win on Stage Four.

Elsewhere Simon parses an interview Eric Min granted D C Rainmaker, the first time the Zwift CEO has spoken at length since resuming his top leadership role at the company. Simon provides commentary and analysis on a very interesting chat, with more analysis and reaction from Dave and Nathan.

The chief designer of the Zwift Ride, Graham Stoney reveals some of its development secrets in an extended interview with Simon and Shane and Eric speculate on might be coming next from the Zwift hardware team.

And finally, an in-depth chat with Mr Helpful, the Zwift staffer James Bailey, who volunteers his encyclopaedic knowledge of the more arcane bits of the Zwift platform to help questioners in the Zwift Riders FB group.