Evolution of Indoor Cycling: MyWhoosh and the Rise of Esports in Indoor Cycling
By Christopher Schwenker
The running joke, or more fittingly, cycling myth, that the first bike race began the moment builders fashioned a second is an aphorism that humorously captures the competitive spirit inherent in cyclists. Despite how driven, when the change of seasons forced the committed traditionalists indoors, droning away for hours on the turbo was no laughing matter.
On May 31st, 1868, an 18-year-old expatriate Englishman from Paris named James Moore won what historians consider the first recorded bike race, a 1,200-meter affair between the fountains of Saint-Cloud Park, Paris. The first city-to-city contest came six months later, where Moore repeated on a 135 km course connecting Paris and Rouen.
Shockingly, the origins of the bicycle trainer date back almost as far. The Národní technické muzeum in Prague houses a collection of bicycles, including a penny-farthing bicycle trainer dating from 1884. It sits beside a “safety” bicycle trainer Voldřich designed between 1890 and 1900.
(Penny-Farthing Trainer 1884 – Photo by Stanislav Jelen)
Albert Schock invented the “training wheel” to combat the detrimental effects of winter weather. He rode his uninterrupted fitness to set a world distance record for a six-day race of 1,009 miles (1623KM) and three laps of a Minneapolis track in 1886.
Schock and his competitive compatriots would tirelessly train for nearly a century on similar sensory-depriving devices, lacking even the most basic resistance variation to stimulate their workouts.
Until Charles “Chuck” Ivan Wurster, Jr., the co-founder of CompuTrainer and inventor of RacerMate, created a new category that paved the way for the indoor cycling boom and the innovation of smart trainers. Invented in 1986, CompuTrainer revolutionized turbo training by allowing riders to pedal through a virtual landscape. It adjusted resistance based on the terrain and measured speed and output with an integrated power meter. Notably, it was the first system to feature a computerized interface connected to a wheel-on trainer via the original Nintendo Entertainment System.
Over a decade later, Amerigo Sartore, the founder of the cycling trainer company Elite, introduced a significant innovation in 2010 at Interbike Las Vegas with the launch of Elite RealAxiom. It was the first virtual app that allowed up to 10 people to race against each other. The technology enabled users to download GPX files from Google Maps and featured interactive resistance to their turbo.
The saying “one cyclist is a ride, and two is a race” took on a new meaning when those riders were in different locations, competing against each other virtually. Sartore’s contribution to indoor cycling’s evolution gave riders the technology to scratch their competitive itch, and with that came advancement and the creation of virtual cycling platforms and a new discipline – Cycling Esports.
The early platforms focused on fitness and training, providing a fertile ground for community growth, accessibility, inclusion, and acceptance of virtual cycling as more than a necessary evil, but race-specific innovation was lacking.
In 2019, the virtual cycling platform MyWhoosh was founded, promising to lead the charge in legitimizing cycling esports. MyWhoosh embraced evolution as a distinct cycling discipline, aligning with cycling’s international governing body, which agreed to organize the first UCI Cycling Esports World Championship in the same year (contested in 2020).
Committed to bringing cycling esports to a new level, MyWhoosh organizes a weekly racing series, the Sunday Race Club, MyWhoosh Championship launched in 2023 and other weekly races and events for the cycling community.
These high-stakes competitions attract the top esports professionals from around the world, including 2020 UCI Cycling Esports World Champion and 2022 runner-up Jason Osborne, along with Ollie Jones, Lionel Vujasin, Katherin Fuhrer, and Kristen Kulchinsky.
These types of events and innovation to the sport also enticed New Zealander Michael Vink to race on the MyWhoosh platform. When his form dramatically improved, and his results justified the impressive power numbers, World Tour UAE Team Emirates offered him a one-year deal. Identifying talent is a MyWhoosh priority, and by delivering the highest standard for fair racing, the platform provides the arena for any racer looking to catch the eye of a pro director.
MyWhoosh is driving the legitimacy of cycling esports through groundbreaking innovation, developing the industry’s most comprehensive validation, verification, and categorization model, and providing a realistic racing experience. To ensure fair competition, MyWhoosh employs a proprietary performance verification system that checks each racer’s performance in every race using dual trainer power recording.
Before any rider can register for a MyWhoosh Premier Cycling Esports event, they must complete the MyWhoosh Power Passport, which most racers consider the most robust pre-verification in the sport. Rolled out in September 2023 with the updated ruleset V2.0.0, the video-recorded comprehensive performance analysis creates a baseline power profile for comparison.
MyWhoosh is the official indoor cycling platform of UAE Team Emirates, with team principal Mauro Gianetti serving on board. In partnership with World Tour Team coaches, MyWhoosh created a proprietary set of maximum performance data points.
There are thresholds in the game for each athlete based on the pre-verification Power Passport Test and the data MyWhoosh’s team of coaches provided. When a rider who isn’t a World Tour pro exceeds those data points, it sends an alert to the system and race control team to verify the legitimacy of data.
MyWhoosh flew several riders to Abu Dhabi who exceeded those testing thresholds, including Lionel Vujasin, Ollie Jones, Michael Kaminski, and Selene Columbi. All the racers mentioned met or exceeded the World Tour standards they were up against. The unprecedented step underscores the platform’s commitment to authenticity while highlighting the tremendous performance potential MyWhoosh is unlocking in esports athletes.
The unwavering commitment to the sport also caught the UCI’s eye. On August 17th, 2023, the Union Cyclist Internationale (UCI) announced that it awarded the UCI Cycling Esports World Championships to the cycling esports platform MyWhoosh for the next three years.
To broaden their commitment to accessibility and inclusion, the UCI and MyWhoosh confirmed that 20% of the 2024 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships semi-finalists will qualify through the MyWhoosh platform’s public qualification process.
The UCI will assign approximately 80% of the starting spots to the National Federations, who will choose their remaining national representatives. The new format aligns with the UCI and MyWhoosh’s broader goal of promoting growth and inclusivity in cycling esports on a global scale.
All World Championship competitors will compete in a live event final for the first time in cycling esports history, successfully bridging the gap between real and virtual competition. The groundbreaking event will take place in Abu Dhabi on October 26th, and in another momentous move, all of the racers will be using UCI-approved trainers.
The top 20 male and female competitors from the September 6th semi-final have now progressed to the finals stage, where, also for the first time, all the smart trainers will feature an “Approved by UCI” label, ensuring a 1% power accuracy. Representatives from MyWhoosh and the UCI met at the Elite Headquarters in Italy in July to accuracy test and standardize the thirty Elite Justo 2 smart trainers the athletes will use in the final.
The unique points format for the finals consists of three stages on bespoke courses custom-created for the event and designed to test every aspect of an athlete’s abilities. We won’t know who the new wearer of the iconic rainbow bands is until the last rider crosses the finish line, but rest assured, it will be the best all-around rider.
Stage one, known as “The Sprint,” will take riders on a 1.7-kilometer flat circuit. Drawing inspiration from Formula One, racers will have fifteen minutes to clock their fastest time through a 300-meter timed segment. A live leaderboard will display the fastest times, and points will be awarded based on the best segment time.
Stage two, dubbed “The Strategist,” covers a 9-kilometer circuit consisting of a 4-minute climb at 2.1 kilometers, a swift descent, several kilometers of rolling hills, and a 1-kilometer flat stretch to the finish line. Points are up for grabs at the base and summit of the climb, with double points awarded at the finish line.
In Stage three, “All Out,” riders must give their all for a shot at cycling immortality. The 4-kilometer circuit includes a 50-second full-gas climb to the start/finish line. Each lap features an intermediate sprint point at the crest of the climb.
In addition to the esports edition, the UCI designated MyWhoosh as the exclusive virtual cycling platform for the UCI Road World Championships, with rights to virtual versions of the road race and time trial courses.
The recent UCI Road World Championships was held in Zurich, Switzerland (21-29 September 2024), and the next one will be held in Kigali, Rwanda (21-28 September 2025) and Montreal, Canada (20-27 September 2026) respectively. Virtual cycling platform MyWhoosh will receive exclusive rights to the circuits and has already crafted and curated the Zurich route for its users.
The MyWhoosh platform is strengthening its commitment to accessibility by offering virtual versions of the event’s road race and time trial courses. Allowing riders and the global public to challenge themselves on the same courses the professional cyclists will compete for the rainbow bands, no matter where they are in the world.
The rapidly evolving free-to-use app democratizes cycling esports and offers industry-leading graphics, World Tour training plans, live video training, and other features users request. By building a community and establishing a dominant position in the virtual cycling landscape, the app significantly impacts the history of cycling, extending beyond the metaverse. And they’ve only just begun!
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About the Author
After over twenty years as director of his private physical therapy practice, Chris stepped away to pursue his passion for virtual cycling and writing. He founded TheZommunique.com, the leading source of independent cycling esports journalism, is a frequent contributor to Cycling Weekly, Cycling News, and road.cc, and co-hosts The Virtual Velo Podcast. He cycled 3,900 miles across the US in 2022 to support his virtual cycling non-profit, The DIRT Dad Fund.