Does "Our Giro" cook your pasta?

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TLDR: The Giro on RGT - so much potential, needs investment, well worth your patience.

Stage 1 closes 11th May

So as a Friend of The Cycling Podcast (TCP), when they announced that one of their presenters had designed a Giro with the chance to come “race” it on simulations of the real roads, it was enough to make me download and try RGT.

https://thecyclingpodcast.com/ourgiro

I wasn’t too sure what to expect, and perhaps like my kids at Christmas I expected too much. It does have real roads but it doesn’t have representative scenery. On Stage 1, I was surprised not to be riding through the streets of Budapest (or at least a generic city-gen).

However, I do believe what TCP have done by putting together this multi-day event has amazing potential. While I understand that genning isn’t feasible for every “Magic Road” upload - if companies were to sponsor single/multi-day events then I’m sure this could cover the cost of StreetView read/gen and could take us to more iconic places around the world.

As for the “racing”? well the drafting is cool, I mean the potential for a peleton working together to catch the break, before a bunch sprint is there. Let me just repeat the potential is there, the software not quite yet. This is mostly to do with the reaction time between me and my avatar.

And the software (or perhaps underlying server power) is not quite there yet in the number of times it need to retry loading the course, or the fact that the two app connection often drops.

But that said it has something. I can see what they are trying to do and where they could go and its a good place. Its good intentions allow me to be patient with it. Maybe it’s because there is little road racing/crits in my area (even w/o this lockdown), but this feels like all the TR training, and all the Podcasts I’ve listened to about tactics might actually have somewhere to express themselves. I’m only on Stage 2 of 21 but right now I believe I would add future events to my Calendar and Plan Build the whole block as an A Race. For now though I’m just going to up my Build from LV to HV for the next 20 days - today (Stage 2) was Andrews (the last day of recovery).

In fact, if a company that provides the best, most stable, most focused Training software, a company with no intention of moving into the Gamification market were to team up with Gamification company that needs help with the robustness of their product, together they could be a match for that other behemoth of the industry.

@Nate_Pearson - you want racing, you need racing, I would so love to see you, Pete, Brandon et al on the General Classification board.

Any other TR users there? Remember Stage 1 closes 11th May, hopefully see some of you there.

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The ability to cheat (even on accident) is too great for me to get into online racing without other precautions taken.

Unfair competition de-motivates me.

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I’ve done all 4 stages so far, the most recent 2 I’ve ridden in race versions and the pace is waaaay too tough for me as a 2.6W/kg rider. I see the pack for about 20 seconds then they’re gone. I’ve ridden the equivalent of Juneau 3 days running so I’m going to have to have an easy day soon, my TSB is plummeting.

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Exactly my experience too, did ok in the prologue riding it alone but averaging 2.5-3wpk I’m near the back (didn’t help yesterday I had to stop for 20 mins for a call which probably would see me miss the time cut). Hard to tell if everyone else is just really strong or lying about their weight. I’m going to try and do the 6.30 tonight if you fancy joining a grupetto at the back?

I’ve also seem to have lots of issues with the platform that are increasing the volume I’ve done. Stage 2 died after 10k so had to start again. Stage 3 was in the group that got stopped by the virtual landslide and stage 4 didn’t save in my account so tried to ride again later in the day but gave up after 11k.

My form is already at -30 so 2 more weeks of this (and we haven’t hit the climbs yet) and I’m going to be in a big hole.

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Yes I’ll be there tonight, it doesn’t look quite as brutal tbh.

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Maybe it’s not perfection yet, but when you can sign up for the Austin Driveway series and race against a field of almost entirely USAC Cat 1/2 and domestic elite/pros, including World Tour riders I’m not sure what cheating you’re worried about? The two weeks I’ve raced I haven’t seen any questionable performances at all.

FYI next race is tomorrow:

Austin Driveway Series

Is It actually the platform that is the real issue issue? I ask because I personally don’t see any competition with TR there, different products. Either way, it seems odd to me. You seem to enjoy turning pretty much everything into a competition so why pass on an opportunity to compete against the best in the US?

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Just gone through the rest of it Veloviewer blog Ride The Cycling Podcast “Our Giro” on RGT (powered by VeloViewer!) | VeloViewer if the full stacked image is the route of what is to come then arrgh

Stage 15, 16 and 20 look brutal not sure what state I’ll be in if I get anywhere near finishing it

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I decided to ride early today as I was feeling a bit flat. Tomorrow looks grim, they seem to have included a heck of a lot of climbing in the routes.

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I got 3 k from the finish and had to abandon, had work calls to do. Might try again tonight but I think this distance/climbing everyday is going be just too much for me particularly as it’s meant to get harder in week 3.

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Yeah, the above shows some digital doping in action - shame.

Still think Virtual Racing is here to stay. Still think there’s a good enough community to start getting bona-fide racers/teams in. Personally I’m so far from that end of things that it’s not a big concern. Mostly I’m just doing the group rides, and just doing it for me but I am gonna at least start a race this evening (Friday) cos like why not :slight_smile:

It was listening to TrainerRoad say just do it that got me into CX last year at the age of 47 :slight_smile:

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sorry - the notifications on these posts went to junk mail - just finding them now as I was looking for something else - I’m in the UK - racing Stage 6 tonight (Fri @ 18:30 BST) - would love to jump in a group sometime as I’ve ended up doing quite a few of these solo which seems a shame as the drafting would actually bring a group along at a much faster sustainable pace

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A solitary screen shot doesn’t tell a story. Was this sustained power or just a surge?

Not saying there aren’t issues, but we don’t have anywhere near enough info to judge anything from the pic and (lack of) info provided.

Regardless, people need to recognize the deficiencies present in virtual apps, accept that and get what they can or just step away. There are people actively working to resolve the numerous issues (because it is not all “intentional cheating”). But until they make headway, what we have is what we have.

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apologies - sustained - most of the race at 6.5w/kg and 200 w

full video here- check out from around 57:20

tbh - I was just acknowledging Nate’s point and the naivety of my original post.

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I think he’s showing that the guy is putting out 195W, which is 6.5W/kg. That would make his weight 30kg.

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I gotta agree with Nate on this one. Racing on Zwift is kind of a joke. I gave up on the USAC Zwift series after the first two races. I raced C category and the guy who won had something like 6W/kg. I tried racing D category and guys were still putting out 5+W/kg. When there are no rules, or rules that are arbitrarily enforced, it really takes the fun out of it.

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Copy that. My point was to state the issue more explicitly rather than leave it to the viewer to figure out.

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Fair enough. I agree with your point that if it doesn’t work for you, just step away, which is what I did. Way more productive to ride outside or do TR workouts than stress myself out with virtual racing.

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I think it can still be beneficial in the current state, but you have to be clear on your intent and expectations.

Too much time and energy is spent on pointing out the problems, while ignoring or downplaying the fact that it still has functional purpose if you want it to (even if flawed). I don’t race often, but it works damn well to push me harder than I might in a workout, with the elements approaching a group ride/race that I may not have access to at any give time (weather, lack of others, and other reasons).

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I think level of cheating depends on popularity of the race. I have completed six races now I’m RGT, all local races, and haven’t noticed any obvious or blatant cheating. I attribute it to the 50-60 people racing not caring enough whether get a digital win or not, and just coming out to have fun and stay entertained.

Then again, I’ve finished close to the top for all of the six races, so perhaps it is my ego talking here (or in the opposite, maybe my ego is bruised when I am dropped like a brick in a Zwift race). While there is clearly no replacement for an outdoor group ride or race, Zwift/RGT has kept me entertained and motivated throughout the last 3 months, to the point that I am fairly confident I would not be logging the same hours and intensity on TR alone. The combination of TR and virtual world rides is keeping things fresh(er) for me anyway.

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I’m not saying there’s no sand baggers, I’m saying if someone is as fit as Nate and wants to race, a series like the Driveway As is a pretty good time. Had Lawson Craddock and Nate Brown out last night along with a lot of other domestic elites. Once again, no supernatural performances ruined the racing. I led out the sprint like an idiot, but that was totally my own fault…

I can sympathize that the lower categories are more prone to issues, but typically series races are better than zwift events. The organizers at least care enough to filter results and most don’t allow zpower.

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