Day 2 Italy (Italian Coast) VR Cycling Tour with VZ Fit Explorer

22 GORGEOUS km along the Italian Coast, in VR, on my exercise bike, in my living room...

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

 Day 2 of my VR Italian Coast Bike Ride was spectacular! Even prettier than Day 1!

The ride started beautifully again, and one thing that really helps make the rides look nice is that in Italy, there are lots of stone walls that are the same distance from the road for miles, so they look good instead of wonky in 3D.  Also a lot of the houses are built right close up to the curb which helps them to look nice in 3D as well. Things get wonky when one house is close to the curb and another is far back, and that doesn't seem to happen much in Italy, so it all looks good. 

Much of this ride had glorious ocean views, mountain views, or both!

I rode up and down curvy mountain roads and in VR, you really feel the twists and turns.   There were only a few spots where the turns weren't great and I rode "off" the map and into the blue void, but I kept pedaling and the game put me back right again, lol. 

The google car must have travelled this route in 2020 because many people were wearing masks. These 4 masked people were glaring at the unmasked people on the other side of the road. I can't say that I blame them. Everyone should be wearing a mask in public now.  We have 19 covid cases in town now, and we've gone months with none. We're back in lockdown here in Ontario, Canada, and that's one of the reasons why I thought it would be fun to get away from it all and do a virtual bike tour of Italy :-). 

I really wanted to get off my bike and go sit on the outdoor patio of this restaurant for a nice cool drink. Instead, I stopped pedaling and my bike stopped. I had a sip of my bottled water, which fits perfectly under the headset, lol. 

I visited Italy when I was 12 years old, but now that I'm touring it in VR, it is back on my bucket list as a place I want to visit one day.  I'd have to save loads of money though. 

This portion of the ride was so cool. I passed pretty beaches and rode through long tunnels through the mountain.  All in VR.  It's hard to explain how cool it is to feel like I'm a part of the photos you're seeing. I was actually riding down that road, and I actually cycled through that tunnel. 

I'm so glad that VZ Fit Play gives us a pop up map at the end of the rides because Strava messed up and broke the map up into three segments, on 3 separate maps.  Twice because I paused to take photos, and once because I went to grab my shoes because my feet hurt from pedaling in my slippers, lol. 

Here you can see this segment of the Strava Map is just under 10 km.  There are two other segments that make up the 22 km I did today. 

I am having so much fun and can't wait for Day 3.  Today was the end of week 2 with this app, and I 112 km for the week!  So amazing!!!!

VR Bike Riding on Oculus Quest 2 & VZfit Explore

New Fitness App

VZFit Explore

So, I am so excited!  About 3 weeks ago I ordered a cadence sensor on Amazon so I could attach it to my exercise bike and try out a fitness app called VZFit Explore.  The app lets me wear my Oculus Quest 2 headset and explore the world on my exercise bike, and simulates bike rides anywhere that the google car has gone.  It's based on Google Earth and it's very, very cool.

I was going to buy a one year membership myself, but my parents wanted to do something special for me for Christmas and I didn't want them going in stores so I mentioned the app and they got me a subscription for a year.  

This is where I got it: https://www.virzoom.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAw_H-BRD-ARIsALQE_2Ot2C_7q8YGO06yBpKQFO42LoSbmNh4zvDDyJSrAyUCfMckQhNW0C8aAk_KEALw_wcB

First Ride...my home to Belleview Park

For my first ride, I decided to do a ride I do on my regular outside bike...home to Belleview Park, a pretty riverside park across town.  So, I set my address as the start of the ride, and the park as the end of the ride, and the app made my route.  Next thing I knew, I was simultaneously sitting in my living room, and also outside on the street in front of my house, lol. 

My house in VR/VZfit Explore

The next thing I knew, I was happily biking down the street.  Now, it's not perfect, because you can see where one photo merges into another; there's a sort of...blink?  Not sure what to call it, but it's like a glitch in the matrix, lol.  I tried to time my blinking to the apps blinks and soon I barely noticed it.  I was blown away by how much it felt like I was actually riding outside, while riding my exercise bike in the living room.  

The underpass

Next thing I knew I was riding through the underpass and well on my way across town. It was so much fun to see my home town speed by, and I was impressed that the faster I pedaled, the faster my bike went, just like in real life.  I was also able to stop whenever I wanted, and once stopped, I could press the Y or B buttons on my controller and the view would clear up and look amazing.  I took these photos with the Oculus button but there's a way to take them right in the app. I haven't figured it out yet though.

Top of Pine St. Hill heading toward Bay St

The weather changed as I cycled, and when I got tot he top of Pine Street, it was a bright sunny day with blue skies.  

Belleview Park

Once I made it to the park, it was overcast and cloudy, lol.  It was so cool.  I am super excited about th is because I bike ride outside spring, summer, and fall, and miss it a lot in winter.  I hate riding the exercise bike, but now I'm going to enjoy it.