jmX

Hey guys. I know I've got to walk a fine line in this post so that it doesn't come off as an advertisement, so I'm not going to mention my companies name, show photos with our name or logo, link to our site, or even talk about what my product does, but I'd love to share my story. I'm truly a cyclist who has been on this forum since the start of my cycling 'career', and I think it's a neat story to share.

Soon after I joined this forum in 2010 I bought my first bike, a Trek Hybrid. Within 60 days I was hooked on cycling and already starting to look at road bikes. By the time that first chilly SoCal winter rolled around I was itching to start training properly with power, as well as just get rides in after dark. Being a video game developer for 13 years at that point, I got a trainer and started writing a video game/training software powered by pedaling - the main features at the time being virtual power and cool graphics. Fast forward 3 years, and it's December 2013. I was contacted by some like minded business folks (namely Eric Min) who wanted to make something similar to what I was doing, and we joined forces.

Skip to today. This past Tuesday we did something that was logistically insane. We had a simultaneous global launch of the product at 3 Rapha cafe locations, San Francisco, London, and NYC with people from the media racing together across the globe. It was crazy...press from the Wall Street Journal, Velonews, Bike Radar, Bike Rumor, Popular Science, Peloton, bicycling mag, and probably 50 other outlets were all there. We even had 3 riders from Team Sky show up, one at each location, and in London they brought the infamous Team Sky Jag. To top it all off, we had the action announced by infamous Eurosport TDF announcer Carton Kirby which we live broadcast to the other 2 locations. That voice is so recognizable that it was a calming force for me to have in the background during the big 2 hour launch. Pinarello also loaned us 9 dura ace F8's to use for the festivities. All in all, I'd say the launch was a success.

London:



San Francisco, me on the left, Cofounder Scott on the right:


After we cleaned up the Rapha store Tuesday afternoon Scott and headed out by bike to de-stress and celebrate the nerve wracking experience being over. We pedalled out from the city across the golden gate bridge, and up hawk hill.



It's been a wild ride that's found myself lined up at the start of a Gran Fondo with TDF winner Stephen Roche, cranking up a mountain with Olympian Nelson Vails, cruising the hills above Malibu with national tt champ Dave Zabriskie, and sharing a room with one of the organizers of the Tour de Giro. Now all that's left is everything...I know how rough and opinionated people are, especially after being a veteran of the games industry as well as "the 41" so I'm prepared for a tough road ahead.

There's a bike radar article and video which sums it up, but moderators please feel free to remove just the link if you feel it's inappropriate:Bike Radar Article + Video

And for a throwback, here's a post I made on this very forum 2 months after I started writing code, Feb 2011. https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycli...ics-video.html The first response was spot on!

Now, where's my bike? It's time for a ride.

-Jon

WhyFi

Cool story, bro - and I don't mean that in the *******-ish way.

Heathpack 

Kudos. Mr H has been semi-obsessed with the idea of getting something like this for me ever since I got my trainer. I speculate that I may find this under the Christmas tree.

gc3

Cool starry bra.....but it's impossible not to sound like an ad, or at least self-aggrandizing. Which makes it perfect for the 41.....

rms13

+1

Pirkaus

Wow I can see my winter is going to more interesting than just sweating in the cellar!

jerrycan42

Best thing ever done for indoor training. F N AWESOME. Will buy the day it comes out.

robbyville

Great job, I read about it on Bike Radar when it first came out and reminded me of a post i started a couple of years back. I've been amped for something interesting.

Looking forward to trying it out

Clipped_in

+1

GuitarBob

Awesome. Congrats and best of luck!

chaadster

Damn! Zwift has me looking at upgrading to a Wahoo Kickr so I can really get into it! Congratulations, and looking forward to giving your software a go!

gc3

First look at Zwift, an ultra real graphics trainer app | DC Rainmaker

Read what the Ray-Man says about it

Bob Dopolina 

I remember that initial thread. It's awesome that you followed through and seem to have produced a game changing product.

Good luck with the venture!

Slackerprince

Great execution.
I have a lot of crazy good ideas, but I'm too slackerly to make them happen.
Way to go.


S

bigfred 

Get ready for some "heavy" competition from down under.

Heathpack 

Well, we will finally get to ride together maybe.

pmclamb

I realize this doesn't come out to the public until 2015, but I was wondering if anyone knows (particularly the developer) how this compares to a system like BKOOL? Software specifically. This seems like it would be a better platform, but I am not smart enough to really know the differences. Anyone that uses BKOOL like it/hate it/wish it was Zwift?


Also, will you be able to use the software on a SmartTV such as a Samsung?

coldehammer

Cool story, anything coming up for the future? I live in SF and never heard about the Rapha event. Actually, there is very little cycling publicity with the exception of SF Bike Coalition for that matter.

jmX

Thanks for the comments guys.

pmclamb, we may one day work with smart TV's but it's not something I'm currently working on. I'm not even sure any of them could actually communicate with any exercise hardware at this point. I'm not very familiar with BKOOL's 3d product, but I have tried it and it seemed as if it were clearly something different than what we're making. If you really want to keep your software options open, just get a KICKR. It'll work with everybody.

coldehammer, it wasn't really an event for the public, but the Rapha store still had a little room left for walk-in customers during the launch.

coppercook62

so down for this I have limited time to ride during day

calyco

Great story and congrats on your success! Def something I want to check out

mox

Congratulations on a job well done!

pmclamb

Thanks for the quick reply. I think the Kickr is the way to go. Thanks.

a77impala

To me indoor trainer doesn't compute! It's outside or nothing!

dave1442397

Sounds great! Congrats on the product launch. It's always nice to see success in the making