In seven short years, eRacing/eSports/Virtual Racing/chasing pixels/real-racing-on-fake-bikes has come a long way. In the beginning, the Zwift community came up with a way of categorising races based upon watts per kilogram (w/kg). A ranking system was developed, again by the Zwift community, and whilst we raced, there was always the nagging feeling that w/kg wasn’t right.
If you race outdoors, you will be used to a points-based license. You start at the bottom and progress by gaining points. If life throws a few extra challenges at you, you can take a year out, drop down the rankings and progress forwards again. It’s all simple to understand. At the same time, outdoors, we don’t see the w/kg of all the riders around us. We cannot see their cadence, heart-rate and power data. We can see other things – other tells – that aren’t visible on a screen. In essence, virtual racing is different and at the same
Many experienced Zwift racers wanted something different and as the competitor platforms have grown in popularity, one platform is standout for the seasoned Zwift riders – RGT. Mike Swart, podcaster from the excellent Nowhere Fast podcast, top level virtual racer and strong outdoor cyclist, has created a team to solve the category/ranking conundrum.
For the developing Titaniumgeek podcast, I recently chatted to Mike and we’ve put it up on YouTube as this is info that needs to get to the virtual cycling community quickly. The maths and methodology behind the system can be discovered on www.rgtdb.com and please watch the video (above) and let us know what you think to this refreshing new (for cycling and not gaming/esports) approach.
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verytalldwarf
James Gill
