Was there ever any doubt? (British Cycling's eSports National Champion caught weight doping with a bot!)

[Irondan]

I have to admit that I at first thought hrotha's comment in reply to Koronin was a joke because of how stupid it would be to try and turn those rides on Zwift on a stationary bike into an actual competitive UCI sanctioned cycling discipline.

They shouldn't be that way for the Worlds. The Worlds is supposed to be showcase, which this year it was definitely not.

Boy do I have good news for you
https://www.uci.org/news/2019/uci-a...f-cycling-esports-as-a-new-cycling-discipline

There's really no good way that I know of to keep people from creating a dishonest profile and riding around the virtual race courses at 115 pounds but putting out 7 or 8 w/kg, which is the weight doping that I saw first hand on the cesspool of Zwift and got so disgusted and discouraged that I never used the machine again and instead froze my ass off riding outside all winter long in the Pacific NorthWest, which was kind of a drag sometimes...

Anyway, the geniuses that we know of as the UCI decided that it would be a good idea to add sanctioned esports events to their annual World Championship roster, less than a week ago I believe is when it was announced, and not more than 7 days later is when the first British Cycling's esports men's National Champion was stripped of his title and banned from competition for programming a bot to ride his Zwift rides as a 45 kilo rider putting out 2000 watts for around 200 kilometers, just to unlock a special bike that made him (or the bot) virtually ride even faster!

Thus proving yet again that real life is truly stranger than fiction as this is something that you just can't make up...

 

[macbindle]

Zwift is a video game and, as long as you bear that in mind, it has its uses.

 

[Irondan]

Zwift is a video game and, as long as you bear that in mind, it has its uses.

Not according to the UCI.

Zwift is among the however many virtual training simulators currently being hosted online, which has been legitimized by the UCI into being called a "sport".

 

[carolina]

He got the bike before the rules even existed. It makes no sense that he's being banned for 6 months.

 

[durianrider]

He got the bike before the rules even existed. It makes no sense that he's being banned for 6 months.

bro he 'STOLE' the bike by faking data and Chris Pritchard covered up for him and denies it ever happened lol.

 

[King Boonen]

He broke Zwift’s terms of service. Zwift banning him would make sense. The ban from all racing is nonsense.

 

[Red Rick]

I have to admit that I at first thought hrotha's comment in reply to Koronin was a joke because of how stupid it would be to try and turn those rides on Zwift on a stationary bike into an actual competitive UCI sanctioned cycling discipline.

There's really no good way that I know of to keep people from creating a dishonest profile and riding around the virtual race courses at 115 pounds but putting out 7 or 8 w/kg, which is the weight doping that I saw first hand on the cesspool of Zwift and got so disgusted and discouraged that I never used the machine again and instead froze my ass off riding outside all winter long in the Pacific NorthWest, which was kind of a drag sometimes...

Anyway, the geniuses that we know of as the UCI decided that it would be a good idea to add sanctioned esports events to their annual World Championship roster, less than a week ago I believe is when it was announced, and not more than 7 days later is when the first British Cycling's esports men's National Champion was stripped of his title and banned from competition for programming a bot to ride his Zwift rides as a 45 kilo rider putting out 2000 watts for around 200 kilometers, just to unlock a special bike that made him (or the bot) virtually ride even faster!

Thus proving yet again that real life is truly stranger than fiction as this is something that you just can't make up...

I was staring at the OP picture for some reason trying to remember creating this thread

 

[Singularitarian]

he should have obtained a TUE first

 

[Irondan]

I was staring at the OP picture for some reason trying to remember creating this thread

It's because I am using your avatar, but it's confusing me too by making me think that I wrote something when in fact it was you. I had my fun with it and need to change to something a little less confusing, for the good of all of our sanity....

 

[Irondan]

He broke Zwift’s terms of service. Zwift banning him would make sense. The ban from all racing is nonsense.

That's exactly what I'm trying to point out in that it's absolutely ridiculous for the UCI to officially sanction what macbindle calls a "video game", when in reality it really is just a "video game" and the people participating may or may not be athletes but can connect with like-minded others to make an inherently boring exercise more palatable. At least it (Zwift) makes it more fun for me when riding indoors on a trainer during the 3 or 4 coldest, wettest of the winter months.

 

[King Boonen]

That's exactly what I'm trying to point out in that it's absolutely ridiculous for the UCI to officially sanction what macbindle calls a "video game", when in reality it really is just a "video game" and the people participating may or may not be athletes but can connect with like-minded others to make an inherently boring exercise more palatable. At least it (Zwift) makes it more fun for me when riding indoors on a trainer during the 3 or 4 coldest, wettest of the winter months.

I don't think it's the just the UCI, it's BC who are the problem here as well. They've seen how popular the Zwift racing series' have been and decided they wanted a slice of the pie with a British Championships (make of that what you will. The riders themselves are a mix of pros and very, very good amateurs). There are other bodies who could have run it, including Zwift themselves, which would have made much more sense, but this is typical of BC. The technical regulations he's accused of breaking didn't exist when he broke them, so they have applied them retroactively.

Worth watching Cameron Jeffers' video on Youtube discussing it. As a comparison to road racing, essentially someone gifted him a good bike to ride Zwift on. No different to riding for a team.

 

[rick james]

Just realised who this guy is....I like hus YouTube videos

 

[42x16ss]

Easy way to stop this:

You turn up to the event, organisers take weight, height etc. Then they create you an all new profile, just for the event(s) and only they know the credentials and log each athlete in/out themselves. Then it doesn't matter what each person has unlocked in the game or how.

This guy didn't qualify by cheating, he still had to race, he just unlocked gear in the game.

 

[King Boonen]

Easy way to stop this:

You turn up to the event, organisers take weight, height etc. Then they create you an all new profile, just for the event(s) and only they know the credentials and log each athlete in/out themselves. Then it doesn't matter what each person has unlocked in the game or how.

This guy didn't qualify by cheating, he still had to race, he just unlocked gear in the game.

This removes part of the game though. I know someone, through a friend, who raced this event. From what I've been told and heard elsewhere people consider winning different bikes and wheels etc. as part of the competition. I don't really do computer games, but I think it's how Fortnite and games like that work? You earn powerups or equipment or whatever through normal play and then use them in tournaments and competition.

 

[smaryka]

A quick glance at similar esports reveals that competitors use the same equipment for something like a championships, so as to level the playing field.

https://www.smrc.co.uk/championships/esports/rules/
"All sessions will be run using Legend Cars, which will run a Locked set-up"

https://f1esports.com/rules
"b)Car Performance = Equal "

 

[Teddy Boom]

A nice DefCon talk about potential eBike hacking:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq9t0VEIMio

 

[King Boonen]

So, time to resurrect this thread as Zwift racing gets more popular (even I'm on Zwift!). Racers getting banned for fabricating data now:

Zwift bans two eRacers for data fabrication

Zwift has suspended eSports access to two riders after a dual-recording disputes and evidence of data manipulation

www.cyclingnews.com

 

[MartinGT]

That Lizi's excuse is laughable

 

[42x16ss]

The entire platform is purely for entertainment and training. Anyone who has been passed by someone doing "100w/kg" knows that