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Old 03-29-23, 07:38 AM
  #4  
TennBent
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Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Middle Tennessee
Posts: 45

Bikes: BMC Roadmachine, Obed Baseline

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Originally Posted by gthomson
Just did the stage 4 ride of Tour of Watopia which is the jungle route that I normally avoid like the plague cause I hate that route. Once again, I chose a gravel bike figuring it would be the best option for riding over hard packed gravel paths and wooden bridges but I'm a slow learner and realized it was the wrong choice. I could see how the mtn. bike would be advantage going up hills cause Zwift could simulate 21 speeds instead of 12 but I should be faster on the flats and descents.

Why does Zwift bother offering a gravel bike when it's clearly the wrong choice riding off of the road? Based on gravel riding popularity these days you would think they would have many choices to choose from and it would be the next go to bike after choosing road.
Welcome to the club. Like you, I typically avoid the jungle simply because I don't care for it. However, a while back, I decided to try an experiment. I purchased a gravel bike thinking it would be great for the jungle. I quickly discovered that it was only marginally better than my road bike. I then tried the Zwift mountain bike and found that there was a definite difference in speed. It does seem odd that the gravel bike is so slow. My initial feeling is that it should be at least exactly in the middle of the three or a bit more biased toward the mountain bike. I'm not sure of Zwift's intentions but it seems that since a gravel bike is based on a road bike, they have given the gravel bikes more of the road bike's traits within the game. Who knows? Zwift does some odd things sometimes and we just have to adapt. So now, if I ever do a ride that involves the jungle loop, I stop and switch over to the mountain bike out by the windmill then switch back as I'm leaving the dirt. The exception to this is when I'm just heading straight to the Alpe.

On a side note, from your description, it appears that you did the Tour of Watopia stage on your own. If you had joined one of the scheduled event runs, they automatically switch you from your road bike to the mountain bike, on the fly, as you hit the dirt and then switch back as you exit. It makes things much easier.
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