Does it even work? Rouvy Virtual Shifting with QZ-Zwift App
- Indoor cyclists who don’t want to waste their time or money
I recently upgraded my indoor cycling setup to focus on triathlon training over the winter.
The setup I’m working with includes a Wahoo Kickr Core, a Zwift Cog, and my tri bike. I’m rocking the Zwift Cog because I like the idea of less bike maintenance and simplicity.
I don’t love Zwift’s aughts-era MMORPG aesthetic, so I’ve been experimenting with all of the latest and greatest cycling apps on the market. So far that’s included TrainingPeaks Virtual (aka IndieVelo) and Rouvy.
Related Read: Using the Zwift Cog with RouvyTP Virtual is cool - no major complaints so far.
With that said, Rouvy’s user experience is more polished, and it does sound fun to better simulate riding outdoors. I find something about these metaverse worlds unappealing, like I’m playing Runescape circa 2003.
I also happen to live in Southern Illinois, which means I spend most of the year riding through cornfields. This makes virtual riding the only way to accumulate decent elevation.
I had the day off and time to spare. I wanted to burn that extra time on an epic climb, continuing my Rouvy free-trial testing period.
Rouvy doesn’t support virtual shifting yet, so I’ve only used the app in erg mode so far. With an afternoon to spare, I thought it would be more fun to experiment with virtual shifting.
Using “QZ - qdomyos-zwift” to Enable Virtual Shifting on Rouvy
I read rumors that people are using an iOS app to enable virtual shifting on Rouvy when using a Zwift Cog. The app allegedly acts as a “bridge” between your training and Rouvy, allowing you to use the app to shift gears.
First red flag: the app’s name is way too weird (“QZ - qdomyos-zwift”). But, the app has solid reviews, and I like supporting indie developers.
I ignored the red flag. I decided to give it a try.
If the app works as advertised, the $4.99 price tag would be a small price for an authentic simulation of climbing 4,000 feet up Col de La Croix in Switzerland.
TLDR: this app doesn’t enable virtual shifting on Rouvy. Or at least, I couldn’t figure out how to get it working after 30 minutes of putzing around.
The app’s UI is confusing at best and completely overwhelming at worst. The clunky UI and questionable implementation made me question whether or not I was going to cook my Wahoo Kickr - the app kept maxing out the trainer’s resistance, and I couldn’t figure out why.
I gave up.
Unless you enjoy digging through obscure configuration settings pages without proper documentation, you should give up while you’re ahead.
According to this Redditor's comment, Rouvy’s dev team is allegedly hard at work implementing virtual shifting anyway -
Our developers are working very hard on implementing virtual shifting with ROUVY and it is our top priority for this quarter. We appreciate your patience and encourage you to stay tuned for more updates! Workouts will still work with these trainers a they are ridden in ERG mode and so your experience will be unaffected. Many thanks for your understanding. Keep Going! ROUVY Team
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Recommendation
Wait for Rouvy to build virtual shifting into the app. The “QZ - qdomyos-zwift” iOS app is complicated, and it’s probably not worth the time unless you’re particularly adamant about enabling virtual shifting on Rouvy.
If you need virtual shifting, stick with Zwift or TrainingPeaks Virtual for now.
If you do come up with a relatively straightforward way to enable virtual shifting on Rouvy, please share it with me. I’d love to know how it works!
References
The Author
Alex Z.
Triathlete, trail runner, CrossFit endurance
Alex is a maximalist, and that’s what led him to triathlons. Swimming, biking, running–why choose one when you could do all three? But as a chronic upstart, he found there were many hurdles to getting started. Through Gatebreak Endurance, he shares information and tools to help anyone achieve their goals.
Alex is a maximalist, and that’s what led him to triathlons. Swimming, biking, running–why choose one when you could do all three? But as a chronic upstart, he found there were many hurdles to getting started. Through Gatebreak Endurance, he shares information and tools to help anyone achieve their goals.
