Zwiftcast

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!   

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!  

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.  

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.