At the end of my last post, after winning my ‘comeback’ IRL race – I did my first road race in over a year – I promised to shed some light on the misconceptions between road racing and e-racing. I am pretty sure we all agree that: riding a road bike is very different from riding an XC bike, riding a road bike is also different from riding a gravel bike and I would even argue it’s very different from riding a TT bike. Riding a road bike on a turbo trainer is even more different than all of these combined. Yet, many tend to compare e-racing with road racing, which makes no sense at all.
There are many misconceptions between e-racers and ‘IRL’ racers (be it road or off-road). Kate Trdin, 2024 Australian e-sports champion, already wrote a great article on The Zommunique, explaining why comparing indoor power output to outdoor power output is like comparing apples to oranges. Kate does a great job explaining why this comparison doesn’t hold up. I am definitely not going to echo Kate’s insights here. Just be sure to read her article!
Road-only and turbo-only don’t understand each other
Kate’s article is mostly about justifying e-racers’ power output. But there is more to it! E-racers and road racers don’t understand each other’s discipline. Some elite e-racers tend to think they’re close to pro level, and road cyclists believe a WT pro would easily win an elite e-sport race.
Most pro cyclists wouldn’t last 30 minutes in a virtual race
Both are wrong. I am pretty confident that many pro cyclists wouldn’t last 30min in a virtual race (hot take!). Lasting in a virtual road race takes serious mental resilience – it hurts from start to finish. There is zero coasting and no peloton elastic to save you. Plus, we never wait until the last climb, it is always complete bananas from the start. The first climbs are usually much faster than the later ones. If you are dropped, you are dropped.
Aaaaand most e-cyclists wouldn’t last 30min in a road race
Similarly, e-cyclists wouldn’t last long in a road race either. Positioning yourself in a peloton, cornering or even taking a gel mid-race. Not that easy when riding bar-to-bar with 180 riders. Nevertheless, many e-cyclists have the illusion that they can just blend in. They see some stats on power output on Instagram and think, ‘I can do that.’ But if you’ve never done it, don’t assume you can.
The power-focused mindset many virtual cyclists have annoys me.
It shows a kind of arrogance and underestimates the skill and fatigue resistance needed for road racing.
Blending both disciplines is definitely possible
This does not mean that road and e-racing do not blend. Quick humble brag: I am pretty handy in a peloton and transition between grinding on a trainer and road dynamics fairly easily. Also, at the pro level, there are guys like Jay Vine and Freddy Ovett. Maybe Vine is a bad example, because many joke he crashes so much “being that guy from Zwift”. Yes, maybe he’s unlucky. But when you see him TT and descend, he can handle a bike.
Long story short: a bit of mutual respect between disciplines is more than appropriate.
After finishing this piece, I realize things are turning a bit more in a personal blog. Hope you enjoyed it anyway. Thanks for reading!
"Long story short: a bit of mutual respect between disciplines is more than appropriate."
Also Foldager, Adegeest, AMP, Osborne, Vink... the list goes on. I feel like in five years the vibes are going to be more similar to road and cyclocross right now. Riders might specialize in one or the other, but it's not uncommon to do both and they aren't seen as mutually exclusive.
Great article!