In 2017 the School Games welcomed a world first, as Zwift's cycling turbo trainer game was introduced into competitive time trials.
The Irish cyclists fared well too!
GOLD: Clodagh Gallagher in the girl's 50m street sprints
SILVER: Virtual Boys Team Time Trial
BRONZE: Shay Donley in the boy's 50m street sprints
We heard from the riders themselves about their experiences:
Clodagh Gallagher
I really enjoyed the TTT it was different but it was cool! It was like a video game but instead you were actually in it! I definitely wanted to get zwift at home after the TTT ! I would definitely do it again because it was just so cool and different. There were four screens, one in front of each rider, and you could see all your stats and if the other riders were behind you or not. The setup was very smart if you were behind a rider you would feel less resistance on your turbo! It was just really cool! I would definitely love to see more of it in competitions!
Shay Donley
The virtual racing was lots of fun! More like playing an Xbox with extremely sore legs and heart rate sitting at a constant 180BPM...
Personally I wouldn't mind using the system again for training, but for the likes of racing I'd rather keep it on the roads.
The racing on the virtual set up was a team time trial, where four of the Ulster boys and girls had to push to the absolute max to try beat the other teams, this event was based on time so fastest time wins! It was a slow 11 minutes 11 seconds pretty much 🙂
Cathir Doyle
Did
I enjoy the virtual reality TTT? Well that depends, truly this is a yes and no
answer because at the end of the day it was a TTTT and they are never things
which should be enjoyed (if you enjoy it you're doing it wrong). But on the other
hand I really enjoyed the fact that we came second and that this was a true
test of our fitness and cut out any variables between teams such as the wind
they were subjected to or even passes by vehicles, I think it left it a fairer
test. I would rather not do it again, or at least until they fix the
bugs/glitches because I found that some people's turbo trainers maybe weren't
reading properly and in my case my avatar went the wrong direction at the start
of the TT leaving me to have to expend energy to chase onto the back of my
teammates.
Kevin McCambridge
I
really enjoyed this weekend, i gained a lot of experience in all the events and
learned a lot more. I thought the Team Time Trial on Zwift was really quite
cool and felt the effect of drafting and hitting hills would slow down Cadence.
The road race was also very fun with a steep hill every lap splitting up the
group. I feel like i did alright this weekend, it was just unlucky i was held
up behind a crash in the road race because i would of really liked to be in the
break. I was happy with my room and food we got and the Loughbrough University.
The School Games gave me a lot of motivation coming into my winter training.
Nathan Keown
I
enjoyed the zwift virtual TTT because it was a new and different way to compete
and because we were along side each other working together and also able to see
our powers on the screen.
I would use the software again as it was a more enjoyable way to suffer inside but not to compete at the moment because of all the technical issues
Katie Neill
With no previous experience of Zwift, I was
looking forward to the experience, although I was a little unsure how to
approach the event. To begin with, the pedalling sensation was unusual for me
as I normally train on rollers, but I soon got used to the different feeling. I
lost some distance early on, however when our team was reduced to 3 x riders I
knew I had to dig deep to get back on the wheel of my teammates and the welcome
encouragement (loud encouragement..... lol) from Nicola and Paul was enough
motivation for me to close the gap and help the team achieve a respectable time.
I'm not sure if the system was working perfectly although do I think this was an interesting race and I would look forward to competing in this type of event again, especially as I now know what to expect.
Ellie Kelso
The thing I enjoyed most about this event was that it was different and new to me and it didn't matter whether it poured with rain! I would do it again because it was fun riding in a virtual reality.
Maia Simmons
I really enjoyed the zwift experience, I had heard great things about it and
was dying to try it out as I have never tried virtual racing. I was really
impressed by how realistic it was and it was great to try it out with the
Ulster team.
It was a lot more fun and the coaches were able to give us guidance along the way, which wouldn't have happened in a normal TTT. I hope it appears more in the racing scene in the near future.