Day 1 Italy (Italian Coast) VR Cycling Tour

 Italian Coast Cycling Tour in VR with VZ Fit Explorer

Pandemic Bike Tour from Living Room

Oculus Quest 2 + Magene Cadence Sensor + VZ Fit Explorer App = VR Cycling Tour

VZ Fit Explorer has many cool features, among them, my favorite is the ability to make my own cycling routes/maps.  I decided since I'm stuck at home during lockdown, it might be fun to go on a VR cycling tour. I chose Italy because I thought it would be pretty, and I chose the coast because I like water views.  

From the minute I teleported to my starting area, just outside of Genoa Italy, on the coast, I was blown away by the scenery.  The architecture is gorgeous, as are the palm trees, flowers, and the many stone walls. 

Cycling through this area is amazing, even though the VZ fit app is not perfect because it is based on Google Street View, which is not perfect.  Despite the imperfections, I am blown away but the sense of immersion and movement I get in the app.  When I'm in the app, it feels like I'm riding a bike. I'm the size of a person on a bike, surrounded by life sized buildings, trees, vehicles, etc., on every side. 

I ride in country mode, in first person, which means I am invisible but can see my bike below me.  The wheels turn, and the bike casts a shadow on the road. The road moves under me.  The scenery passes. 

When I slow down, my VR bike slows down, and when I stop, it stops. If I speed up, so does it. When I cycle up or down hills or around corners, it feels as if I am really cycling up or down hills, or around corners...except I don't have to work harder to go up hills. I could, if I wanted to. I could increase the tension on my exercise bike when I climb hills, but I couldn't climb hills in real life with my asthma so I have no interest in also being unable to climb hills in VR, lol. I LOVE that I can cycle up hills without having an asthma attack, in VR. 

This was one of the prettiest rides yet.  Hawaii was also pretty, but I think I like Italy even more, because in addition to gorgeous water views and palm trees, there is amazing architecture. 

I am going to try to do a new segment of my virtual bike tour every day; approx. 20 km give or take, ever day.  It depends on the mapping tool. It's hard to make the map follow the route I want exactly, so I have to make some rides shorter just so I can force the route to go where I want it to go. 

I really love the color of the buildings in Italy; so lovely. 

At the end of my ride, after I go through the finish line I get this pop up, showing the route I took, which is very cool. 

The app also lets you connect with Strava so you can keep track there as well. Here is the Strava map. The only problem with Strava is if you pause the ride, even for a few seconds to take photos, it breaks it up into segments. 

I really enjoyed this route and look forward to the rest. I wonder how far I'll get around Italy?