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Cycling Britain in VR. 09/08/2016

Man riding Land's End to John O'Groats... in virtual reality (+ video)

Aaron Puzey has created a DIY set-up he’s been using since May
by Alex Bowden
Wed, Aug 10, 2016 16:57
9

Using a Gear VR, a cadence monitor and his exercise bike, Aaron Puzey is cycling from Land’s End to John O’Groats in virtual reality. He began his journey in May and this week passed through Manchester.

Puzey, who is originally from Australia but now lives in Scotland, has created his own VR app which pulls Google Street View data to generate the 3D world.

He told CNET that the initial impetus for constructing his VR touring system was "boredom."

"I've been riding the exercise bike for years, just half an hour each day, but it's just a bit monotonous. I'd been daydreaming for a while about the possibility of using VR to make it a bit more fun and now of course the technology has arrived to make it happen."

You can follow Puzey’s progress on his website, where he’s regularly uploading videos. That may not sound particularly enticing, but the footage is endearingly unhinged and faintly mesmerising.

In the footage, Puzey reads about the towns he passes through on Wikipedia, giving populations and local facts and he intersperses this with reactions to what he sees around him. “Wow, it really is bin day. Look at them all,” he says.

Occasionally he comments on how the technology is working, but he seems to retain a sense of the absurdity of his efforts throughout. “It’s very stormy looking,” he observes at one point. “Better pedal faster.”

On that occasion, turning left resolved the bad weather. Were that it were so easy to dodge bad weather in real life.

vitual reality
LEJOG
Aaron Puzey
Alex Bowden

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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9 comments

Avatar
Yorkshire wallet | 8 years ago
0 likes

VR is the future of....well, lots of things. I bought a new hyper phone recently and thought I'd give the VR thing a go and it's actually amazingly immersive. I took it into work and had a gang of people initially laughing at headset but then wanting another go. I just thought of Zwift and sweating a lot more!

If Zwift can move beyond the last gen graphics it currently has and incorporate VR it would be the ultimate boredom killer for indoor training.

Avatar
brooksby | 8 years ago
0 likes

Why oh why oh why oh why??????

Avatar
handlebarcam | 8 years ago
5 likes

Typical. Hogging bandwidth, wearing silly goggles, riding without virus checkers installed. #BloodyVirtualCyclists

Avatar
bikebot replied to handlebarcam | 8 years ago
2 likes

handlebarcam wrote:

Typical. Hogging bandwidth, wearing silly goggles, riding without virus checkers installed. #BloodyVirtualCyclists

And don't even mention his road position, it looks like he's going to take the lane for all 900 odd miles.

Avatar
mike the bike | 8 years ago
7 likes

One alternative to this nonsense is, of course, to ride your bike.

Avatar
fukawitribe replied to mike the bike | 8 years ago
1 like
mike the bike wrote:

One alternative to this nonsense is, of course, to ride your bike.

He is.

Avatar
Accessibility f... replied to fukawitribe | 8 years ago
0 likes

fukawitribe wrote:
mike the bike wrote:

One alternative to this nonsense is, of course, to ride your bike.

He is.

 

An exercise bicycle with one wheel is not a bicycle.

Avatar
tritecommentbot replied to Accessibility for all | 8 years ago
1 like

Peowpeowpeowlasers wrote:

fukawitribe wrote:
mike the bike wrote:

One alternative to this nonsense is, of course, to ride your bike.

He is.

 

An exercise bicycle with one wheel is not a bicycle.

 

You just said a bicycle isn't a bicycle.

 

 

Avatar
tritecommentbot | 8 years ago
0 likes

Can't wait until we get lightweight VR headsets to use for our indoor sessions.

 

Will be way more fun blasting around a crit circuit or slogging it up Mont. Ventoux that just watching a Sufferfest (which is currently the most fun you can have while training seriously indoors). Zwift have much more technical resources at their disposal so maybe they'll partner up with some firm and provide VR experience.

 

Maybe someone completely new.

 

We really want mass participation, immense map selection and proper structured training (and aids like virtual partners for when no-one else is kicking around in game). In game races etc.

 

It's all going to happen, just hope it comes sooner rather than later.

 

Maybe someone can Kickstart a sports VR headset then sell it off to a bigger player to get the ball rolling.

 

Anyway, cool stuff from Puzey! Will check your site out now.

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