Sunday Zwift spin, 24th May 10.05am

The club group spin on Zwift this Sunday 24th May at 10.05am will be on the "Dust in the Wind" route.

The ride will take 2 and a half hours, and will do a lap and a bit of the route. You can drop out during the ride if you're short of time but you can't join the ride after it has started. Please allow plenty of time to get set up and do a bit of warmup - don't get left behind!

All welcome, no matter what level of rider, and from Zwift first timers to hardened old hands. Zwift's "no-drop" function means the group will stay together no matter how hard you ride on the front or how easy you take it on the back. If you need help getting set up for Zwift look at recent posts here in the forum, or just post a question below. We're here to help.

Registration

NOTE: Due to site maintenance at Survey Monkey the registration form will not be available from Saturday 5pm to Sunday 1am. Please register before Saturday 5pm or after Sunday 1am.

Please fill in this form to join the meetup:

Part of the message is hidden for the guests. Please log in or register to see it.

Registration will close 30 minutes before the scheduled start, or when 100 riders have registered.

Ride banter

We'll be using Discord for voice chat during the ride. Almost all Orwell riders are using it during spins, races, and fund raising rides. If you haven't tried it yet give it a go this time. It adds hugely to your ride experience, and it's really easy to set up - just install the software, create an account, and click on the link below.

If you've already joined the Orwell Discord channel then all you have to do is log in to Discord again before the ride. This is the same Discord channel that is used for the club races, so if you joined the voice channel for that then you only have to log in again..

If you haven't yet joined the Orwell Discord channel, then install the Discord app on your computer or phone, create an account for yourself, and then click on this link:

Part of the message is hidden for the guests. Please log in or register to see it.

If there's a choice, select "open with Discord". If required, select "Join". Click on the Orwell yellow O icon. There is a text channel and a voice channel. To get to the voice channel, click on the menu icon (3-lines) if necessary, then under "Voice channels" click on "Group ride banter". If requested, grant Discord the permissions it needs to use your microphone and speakers.

Reconnect to the Discord channel before our ride starts by logging back in to Discord and selecting "Group ride banter" as above. There's no need to keep the Discord app displayed, it will work perfectly well in the background or with the screen off.

Headphones or earbuds + microphone are strongly recommended. You'll hear better, and others will hear you better.

Well that was epic, but in a good way! 70km, 830m, 2.5 hours. The starting group of about 20 was reduced during the last hour or so to 11 or 12 by the finish. For most, it was the longest they've ever done not just on Zwift but on a trainer ever. Nothing like the recent huge vEveresting and fund raising rides by some in the club, but still achievements all round.

The chat on Discord was entertaining and pleasantly distracting. If you were on the ride but not on Discord you missed a big part of the ride.

A few screengrabs from Zwift below, and one from Discord's text screen.

BarryR wrote:

The chat on Discord was entertaining and pleasantly distracting. If you were on the ride but not on Discord you missed a big part of the ride.

Yeah it was fun.
But there were three people with hot mics, breathing and chain squeaking away, for two hours.

It would be nice if everyone could enabled Push to Talk, or start with their mics muted.
To enable Push to Talk, use the three Overflow Menu (three vertial dots on the top right) from the Voice Chat screen.

Great spin thanks Barry and I love the photos of the green jerseys lined out:)

I started on discord but the wifi went a bit dodgy so switched to music for bit and came back in for the final hurray - which is probably good as I literally cursed you out loud when we turned back into Titans Grove that last time!