Wahoo Direct Connect – works on Zwift

Your Wahoo KICKR 2020 (v5 reviewed here) or Wahoo KICKR ROLLR (reviewed here) can now work directly with Zwift in the Apple ecosystem. Simply plug the two together with a network cable. Ah, well, not quite. You need to buy a Wahoo Direct Connect Adapter and plug one end into the Wahoo and then the other end into your Apple device, yep even your Apple TV.

Why?

Why indeed? I suppose it might avoid interference between electronic devices.

But I’ve not got a MAC?

Tough! You’ll have to wait until Zwift tweaks its PC version which, to be fair, is going to happen pretty soon.

Me?

I am one of those weird people that, quite a few years ago, decided to hardwire up my entire house and pain cave with future-proofed Gigabit cabling. I thought the entire world would eventually go the same way as me as they would want greater reliability and speed. Sadly the entire world went the way of WiFi which has gotten annoyingly faster and more reliable in recent years. Indeed even my Google Mesh Network looks slow compared to some of the newer WiFi technologies.

I also often get strange connectivity issues with Bluetooth and/or WiFi. Indeed this happened at the weekend when I was testing Suunto’s new Guides (apps/app store) with my Suunto 9 Baro and Wahoo’s PowrLink Pedals. I spent ages getting the watch to pair to something other than the power meter I didn’t want it to pair to (P2Max on my TT Bike) which I finally achieved by taking my road bike and the Suunto into the house. Then I started AI Endurance’s DFA a1 ramp test only to find that the power came and went for a minute before going entirely. I gave in and just finished the test in any case.

I then went out to do AI Endurance’s running ramp test on the road, forgetting to use the correct RR-enabled chest strap. Sigh. Despite that, I then went off to Richmond Park in a partly-knackered state and did a very good lap on my Cervelo R5 complete with unnecessary climbing wheels. I returned home to find I had the fourth-best time this year in my Strava age group. #WellChuffed, not bad for a triathlete who can’t cycle. He he he.

I digress. I probably deserve pain shed data interference as I have too many devices working away.

Take Out

If you’re affected by interference and were waiting for the Zwift hook-up you will rightly be delighted.

The ranty point is that I should just have been able to plug the ROLLR into my network. But I couldn’t as a) I haven’t got one of the Direct Connect units and b) I’m certainly not going to buy one. This $99/£80 piece of clever tech should just be inside the KICKR, right? I think so.

More: Zwift.com (a how-to guide)