Notes from the Velodrome: CVR World Cup Paris (Part 1)

Here’s a new (ish) one…A world class time trialist, a two-time world champion, a few elite and semi-pros, some number of Cat 2-5 roadies, world class mountain bikers and leading Zwifters walk into the Velodrome National Saint Quentin en Yvelines. They line up to race, but never roll an inch.

They are pumping enough watts to power the venue’s grid, while grunting, grimacing and dropping liters of sweat, pooling on their mats. This is virtual cycling racing, Cycligent style. Using the Zwift platform, smart trainers and integrating proprietary software from Cycligent, CVR brings its World Cup competition to Paris.

Before we get to heart of this, lets start with a little Zwift primer for the uninitiated. Zwift is an interactive cycling game that is used as a virtual training tool for cyclists, but it’s also a virtual world where cyclists can come together. From this game sprouted an impassioned community that has deep roots seeded in the soils of “traditional” cycling. But as this global community grows in size and maturity, the ways in which its users interact with the platform have morphed and fractured into various offshoots. Virtual Cycling Racing on Zwift is just one of the example. And that is where we start.

CVR Events, The Primer:

Though you can find virtual cycling racing opportunities on Zwift seven days a week (many streamed live), the Cycligent Virtual Rankings (CVR) events offered something different. With real people, in the same room, racing on matched and calibrated equipment, virtual racing suddenly took on a complexion beyond the pixel. It became real. After a testing the concept with a race in Roanoke, CVR presented races in rapid succession in Las Vegas, London and most recently Paris, not only showcasing Zwift Racing to the Esports community, but also providing a world stage for virtual cycling races in what is now known as CVR World Cup. I was intrigued. With a career working in start-ups, my instincts told me this is more than a sizable experiment in cycling as eSport; this feels like an investment in it.

CVR isn’t just changing the game. It’s pioneering a new format of cycling racing. Relax cycling purists, it will never replace the “real” thing, but that doesn't mean it can’t be its “own thing”. And it’s pretty darned exciting to watch it take shape.

This past weekend, I got to see CVR World Cup up close- but I wasn’t exactly undercover. Given my current Zwift cycling history and racing performance, I was invited to race and therefore was “embedded” in the field of racers. And because my skills intersected both racing on Zwift and a 20-year broadcast background, I was tapped to comment on the races. That's my journalistic disclosure, but make no mistake, the words and thoughts expressed here, are very much my own.

So here is what I see, and stick with me here: Imagine you’ve opened a restaurant. Let’s pretend its kind of a niche “farm to table” variety, which has become popular with the foodies. And all of a sudden it catches on. Big. Time. Suddenly its popular with more than the foodies, and oh yeah, your patrons realize they are good at cooking…and farming. So they start influencing the menu and maybe bringing their crops to the restaurant. The restaurant is part co-op, part community supported agriculture. The menu begins to change and next thing you know, there’s a farmers market in the adjacent parking lot. Next the buzz becomes so big the restauranteur(s) have to decide if they are going to expand its footprint to offer more seating, or create a function hall that can be secured for private events and parties. If you’re still with me, in this analogy the restaurant is the Zwift platform. And the farmers/patrons are the passionate cycling community, who are, in many ways transforming the menu and model; and in CVR’s case, they are creating a new door to the storefront. This transformation may not be surprising to anyone familiar with how games evolve, but its possible the genesis has exceeded expectations.

Ok, so maybe I need to get some more sleep and shake off jetlag. And maybe I need to come out of the Veledrome bubble. But this whole “virtual-cycling-racing-in-real life” competitions will be interesting to watch. Especially as more pros latch on, bringing more attention to it.

As a cyclist north of 40 (with a job, kids etc.) my life keeps me from racing as much as I’d like, so I’m grateful for the opportunity to race others from the comfort of my cluttered unfinished basement. Personally, I never would have even tried racing without experiencing last year's inaugural Zwift Academy Program (the talent identification program culminating with the award of a pro contract to one rockstar cyclist). I didn’t sign up and complete the program believing I had a chance to be plucked from cycling obscurity and given a pro contract. Well maybe I secretly wished for that chance, but let’s face it, at my age, no one is going to be interested in developing my talent (or investing in it), but me. But I looked to Kristin Armstrong, also in her 40’s, and her 2016 Olympic win reminded me that it is not over for “women of a certain age”.

And for this reason, being invited to race in CVR World Cup Paris was a huge highlight to my first year as a competitive cyclist. I may be a late bloomer to cycling, but as lifelong competitor, I constantly crave an outlet to test my strength- to see what I am capable of, and to chase my personal best. It was both exciting and nerve- racking to know I’d be on a world stage. I would be testing myself against others, but in reality, I’d either proving my basement power numbers, or not*. And for the many like me, racing along side some formidable world-class cyclists is damn intriguing.

I applaud CVR efforts and am forever changed by the CVR World Cup experience. Offering new racing opportunities and formats (with gender neutral prize purses) is something to cheer. And personally, it gives cyclists like me a place to test myself, and a compelling reason to invest in, and develop my cycling.

And if you believe in cosmic timing (and I do), the opportunities presented in this next level of virtual cycling racing makes me believe that maybe, just maybe- there is earnest interest in investing in the many cyclists like me. Those of us who will never “go pro”, but just can’t give up on the competitor within that burns a fire in our bellies.

*It’s validating to discover my numbers are real. A third place finish in the preliminaries earned me a spot to race in the Elite finals, where I placed 7th overall.