After buying Sufferfest last year for the app, and improving it no end, Wahoo have now acquired RGT (think Zwift but better) RGT started just after Zwift but never had financial backing. Even so its a great product thats steadily built functionality whilst engaging with a small core user group. Graphically it is good, a number of good routes, you can create races / group rides for community or private and the golden bullet, Magic Roads, email a GPX and within minutes you get a code back to ride your route (with basic scenery granted). With Wahoo behing it it is potentially going to make Zwift the Myspace of cycling apps. For the same price as Zwift you get Systm (run, bike vids, yoga and strength vids) as well as RGT now.
Well worth a look!
More likely RGT will be the Google+ to Zwiftâs Facebook. For all itâs faults, people will keep going back to Zwift because that is where their mates are, or that is where they can ride with a pro, or just because that is what they have heard about.
Iâm a long term Sufferfest/SYSTM user, but Iâm not dumping the Zwift subscription yet.
I think Wahoo have the clout to actually pull this off. Either way Zwift are going to have to seriously up their game, especially workout/clubs/events. Competition is always good.
I will check that out. I use SYSTM and really like it having used Sufferfest vids from early on. My trainer doesnât get on with Zwift, which makes climbing on there horrible. Systm works just fine. I am not bothered about group rides or riding with a pro on a virtual platform TBH.
When I saw that Wahoo are now an Ironman sponsor that we might see IM training partnership coming to Wahoo. With Wahoo buying RGT I wonder whether they will replace Rouvy in providing virtual riding of their courses. That was before knowing Wahoo had bought RGT.
Or Betamax vs VHS 
I think Zwift such a big first mover advantage that RGT will never catch up, even if it is a superior product.
I guess Wahoo can help things along by bundling in an RGT subscription when you buy one of their turbos, but what is their market share of the turbo market? Have they missed the big boom in turbo sales during covid/lockdown?
I agree, it will be tough. I hope they succeed, as I say, I have used Sufferfest/SYSTM for a long time and would love to stick to one subscription. But I have my doubts.
When my non-cycling friends hear me talk abut cycling indoors they say âis that that Zwift thing?â the point being they have heard about it even though they have no interest in cycling, and to them, indoor cycling = Zwift, there is no other platform.
Then the comment in the DCR article - anyone interested in getting a smart trainer has bought one in the last 2 years. If lockdown didnât get you into it, then you are not going to be convinced now. The hardware market has peaked and is only doing replacement business for the next few years.
Didnât Rouvy lose the Ironman courses last year? If I remember correctly, Ironman bought Fulgaz and moved the virtual routes over from Rouvy.
Haha shows how in the loop I am. Still, I do wonder whether having the IM courses on RGT will happen? Maybe when the Fulgaz conract ends or Wahoo buy them out. It would be a good way of getting triathletes on the RGT platform.
To be fair the only reason I knew is because I have a Rouvy subscription and they made a big noise when they got the IM routes. Iâve seen it said that it didnât increase their subscribers by anything like they imagined it would. As has been mentioned above, I think itâs pretty hard to challenge Zwift.
I can see that course recce for tricky courses like Lanza, Kona, Tenby could be attractive, provided itâs realistic. But is that a big enough market?
I would have thought that IM athletes make up a very small portion of the total indoor cycling platform customer base and the proportion of those who will want to train on IM courses will be fewer still.
i actually bought the TACX Wales course for that very reason, the fact it was in two halves was excellent. The software was shit and I spent more than one evening ending up spending more time trying to get it to work than actually riding but when it worked it was good, all be it slow and jerky even on a top PC. I would argue that it needs the real video to make it worthwhile though so that its realistic , know where the turns are, landmarks before big descents etc. The magic roads in RGT gives the ability to âride the courseâ but with generated scenery, so rather pointless as a recce/training perspective.
I wasnât implying that it would be wahooâs business plan but as theyâre already a sponsor of IM, I thought it would make sense rather than have that stuff on a different platform. I find systm much more enjoyable than I did zwift.
I think thereâs a market in adding the courses as real video to Systm rather than RGT. some of the video stuff is really good. I was one of the doubters when Sufferfest sold out, but I pay annually so thought Iâd at least give it a go until my sub ends, and they have added and made it better. I would renew even without RGT, this possibly means the Zwift sub goes! the fact Zwift is monthly means its easy to just cut and maybe re add in winter if Im bored of RGT. To be fair Zwift is largely in the background these days as i watch a video on my phone, or its on the phone (to log free miles) as I do a Systm session
I will get it donwloaded and upload Outlaw half course and give it a go at some point over the next cople of weeks.
Ideally yes. Iâm sure one of you code monkeys on here could hook it in to Google Streetview and it will be just like being thereâŚ
At the very least is it representative enough to test things like gearing, and just how much/little flat there is? Hook up to Wahoo Headwind fan for the full Lanza experience.
Do people really want to use the âmagic roadsâ courses to familiarise themselves with landmarks and descents, or are they more likely to be using them to practice the climbs?
Itâs not like you can actually practice your lines through the corners on the turbo.
Climbs for sure. IM France being the example I was going to use previously. Although thereâs a couple of âproperâ climbs, youâre going from sea level to a few hundred metres before you start climbing.
