This winter I am thinking about running Zwift at the same time as TR. I tried this out last spring with TrainerRoad controlling my trainer and Zwift getting power from my power meter.
However I want to keep my bike on the trainer in the basement but my PC is in my office on the first floor. As there is space by the radiator pipe I was thinking I could run a long (20’) HDMI & USB cable to the basement so I could have a monitor and Bluetooth dongle by my bike.
Would this work? I figure I would have to set up Zwift before I head to the basement but then I think I would be good to go?
As an alternative to the long USB cable, if you have a phone or other device you can run the Zwift Companion app on that can connect to Bluetooth sensors, then you can pair your sensors to that. The sensor data gets transmitted to the Zwift application (on your PC) over your local network.
It’s a little more prone to occasional dropouts, but otherwise works pretty well.
I didn’t realize I could do that with the companion app. That makes things easier and I don’t mind the occasional dropout as I just am looking to use it as another distraction while I do TR workouts. I use the phone for TR but usually connect everything through ANT+
What you propose with the extensions would technically work. I basically do the same thing but a much shorter distance. I run a 6ft HDMI to a TV monitor from laptop and a 6ft USB extension from my laptop so that the ant+ dongle sits directly under my power meter. But what about your keyboard and mouse? Bluetooth? That could be a issue unless you plan on setting everything up on the pc and then running downstairs to jump on the trainer and hope everything works.
And you should expect it’s probably 99.9% stable. Many people use that solely.
However, you might want to consider an ant+ dongle to pair with the companion app or maybe two instead of bluetooth and run them off of usb extension cables. You can only connect one bluetooth device to one app, so you may not get full functionality of both zwift and trainer road without two separate connections for heartrate and cadence.
You can connect multiple mice and keyboards to a computer over the usb cable already being strung for the ant dongle (usb hub will be needed to get enough ports).
However, if you don’t have a spare mouse/keyboard and have buy something anyway, these kind of mini-wireless kb/mouse combos are highly functional and a great value:
Easy to keep near your bike and pull out even while you’re riding. Signal might even reach the PC through walls/floors avoiding the need for a usb hub.
