10 a.m. On a Saturday morning here. So happy weekend if you're watching from Australia or New Zealand
Or happy Friday, if you're still in the u.s. A few hours ago
We saw an update drop for Zwift with a few extra features
Which I thought I'd talk through today given there are a lot of new people on Zwift
There's not a lot of information about these updates and what they are
So today I'll go through the release notes so you can know what to expect with this update.
Backing up just a little bit first to cover how Zwift updates occur.
Now if you're a Mac or PC, it'll happen automatically
If you're an iOS, Android or tvOS they should update automatically
But sometimes you do need to force those. Now with Zwift being a subscription service. You're always on the latest version
You're not having to resubscribe for version 2 or version 3 and there's not people stuck on the older versions unless they haven't updated.
But you're always on the latest version
So you will get the latest updates as part of your subscription service and every two weeks or so, something new comes out.
First up on the changelog list today is added support for upcoming special events
Every now and then on a regular basis Zwift will hold a special event. Be that a single ride
A challenge or a tour we've just seen Tour of Watopia wrap up with some make up days happening now
So they've added some more, there but vague on what that is.
But given a lot more people are coming indoors these days
Expect a few more special events coming up. Added support for the Pinarello f12 bike in the Drop Shop
You need to be level 12 to unlock the purchasing of that. Added support for April ride and April run mission.
Again, not quite a special event because they have those monthly
Do watch out for the April Fool's! Now in the past on April 1st Zwift has always done something very interesting.
I think it was paperboy a few years back, bike flames last year,
Something special always happens on April 1st.
So, do log in and make sure you've got an updated client on April 1st wherever you are.
Temporarily reduce the jungle and Alpe du Zwift level restrictions to 5 & 6
So there's two sections on Watopia that you can only get to when you're a certain level
The jungle was level 10. Alpe du Zwift was level 12. You couldn't freeride to those if you weren't at that level. Given recent events
They've brought those back temporarily as they say to level 5 and level 6
That should only take you a few hours to get to those levels :)
So if you're sort of banging up against those walls and can't get through, keep riding and
You'll be able to get there a lot sooner. Updated new user tutorials for certain user types. Brilliant!
The onboarding process can be a little confusing
When you log in you're presented with a blank screen where you have to ride
Go through the tutorial and then bang! You're given the full Zwifting experience.
So it's I guess a little better onboarding experience for those
New users are now prompted to customize their avatar during the first ride or run. That's a good thing
We see a lot of what I call vanilla riders and runners out there at the moment
There is a section on Watopia now where all new Zwifters are born for this onboarding tutorial
They're all in the same Jersey the same bike
I call them vanilla Zwifters it looks kind of funny them all sitting in one place
But that gives people the opportunity or the tutorial on how to change jerseys and things as a newbie
Good stuff. Next on the list here is one that may be controversial or just common sense
Birthday and gender can not be changed
Once they are set. So in setting up your account
Make sure you click the right boxes for that. If you do make a mistake
You can contact Zwift support and have those updated.
Next up is "Bluetooth FTMS spin-down is reenable for certain trainers"
If you run a wheel on smart trainer
It's advised that you do a spin down every ride to make sure your power numbers are correct. Direct drive trainers, not so much
They just really an every now and then spin down requirement. If you have a power meter on the bike
No need. Make sure you pair your smart trainer to your "controllable", your power meter to the "power", and you're good to go,
No spin down required. But the option is there if you're using bluetooth FTMS.
Tweaked ride leader fence functionality and added telemetric for further investigation.
And we'll be testing this feature in select group rides. So the group fence was enabled a while back
It's been a bit buggy of late. They did remove that recently, it looks to be re-added
So watch out for that ride fence and when in a group ride. What the ride fence does is stop people pinging off the front and
dragging people along and sort of pulling the bunch out and creating a horrible experience for everybody else, if there's a few flyers.
If you go beyond the fence, you'll be booted out of the ride. Now, You are warned of this, you're given a minute to come back
As I said, the fence was disabled recently looks to be re-enabled.
So watch out for the fence on any Bunch ride
The fence is not enabled in any races and it's fully controlled by the ride leader so they can turn their fence off or manipulate
The fence during the ride. And finishing off the notes here, the team mentioned they've integrated dozens of other smaller fixes into this release
But as always if you have any issues
Make sure you raise a support ticket or post on their forum to let them know about it.
So there we are, today's release notes and what's in store
For your next ride on Zwift. As always remember - hit subscribe
If you're not a subscriber to this channel to be alerted of new content coming up. If you have any friends asking about
Zwift send them my way. Get them on this channel. We've got a heap a help to get them on board and up and riding
Ok. Thanks for watching. Have a great weekend!!