Newly enhanced AI-powered Racebots add a more lifelike, dynamic, and "aggressive" flair to the cycling esports platform indieVelo.
If you’re new to the virtual cycling platform indieVelo, the question has undoubtedly come to mind. indieVelo Beta-testers have heard them all. It doesn’t phase them one bit. Their experience on the platform affirms the claim that indieVelo is defining the future of virtual sport, and this is one of the many ways.
How do I know which avatars are human and which ones are bots? The fact that the question arises at all is good, right? indieVelo Racebots act and react like human riders. The resemblance is so close that most users can’t tell the difference.
Whether cruising The Island of indieVelo during a free ride or doing some training intervals, you’ll encounter Racebots doing the same sorts of things. As the platform develops and popularity grows, living “heavy breathing” humans will replace many bots, but they may never be gone for good.
Racebots Ensure An Interactive Riding Experience
The bots ensure that every indieVelo riding experience is fulfilling and interactive. When you think about it, there are only a few things worse than enjoying a steady endurance ride with a group of Pacebots acting like your mates during a real-life cafe ride. That is the solitude of indoor riding in a lonely, unstimulating digital space. Or worse!
We’ve all gotten to our Gain Caves in time to put in a solid warm-up in preparation for a race, only to find we’re among “very few” who’ve done the same. The pens are empty, and those that start the race don’t see any point in finishing. Alone again. That’s one of the beauties of indieVelo’s Racebots.
The platform varies the number of active bots as more humans join the open world, but they’ll always be there if you need them. Like when you have a small window of time to get in a race effort, and there are only a few like-minded heartbeats to join. Or when you create a custom event at the last minute and don’t have time to invite others. Your friendly neighborhood Racebots step up to fill out the field.
Five Key Facts About indieVelo Racebots
Human-like Simulation: indieVelo’s Racebots, powered by advanced AI, effectively emulate human behaviors, engaging in similar activities as human players, like free rides and training intervals.
Enhanced Interaction: Racebots counter the isolation often felt in digital indoor cycling by providing a fulfilling and interactive experience, ensuring there’s always competition, even when there’s no one else around.
Diverse Abilities: Thanks to their AI, Racebots embody various racer profiles such as climbers, time trialists, and sprinters. Their performances are based on the Critical Power/W’ model, simulating energy reserves and sustained power capabilities.
Realistic Ranking System: Racebots utilize the same ranking and rating system as human players. Their skill level and in-game status evolve based on their performance, contributing to a more realistic and dynamic competitive scene.
Continuous Evolution: indieVelo’s developers consistently refine Racebot AI based on user feedback and observations. The latest update, Version V0.2.6, introduced even more strategic, tactical, and aggressive behaviors in Racebots.
AI-Enhanced Racebots Behave Like Humans
Don’t be fooled! The Racebots won’t be friendly for long. You will soon wish they didn’t have such an uncanny resemblance to the fittest and most strategic mate at your local crit. indieVelo’s developers have applied sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) to individualize their lifelike characteristics.
The virtual Racebot community is inclusive and diverse, modeled to behave like human racers. You’ll find bots with classic phenotypes, like climbers, time trialists, sprinters, or a combination. Each has a unique AI signature based on a Critical Power/W’ model with digital-physical performance attributes.
Racebots Have Individual Phenotypes and Characteristics
Picture it like this, the Critical Power (CP)/W’ model equates each Racerbot’s performance to a bucket of water, with water as their energy reserves. CP is like a hole in the bottom of the bucket, signifying the highest power the bot can maintain for an extended period. W’, the bucket’s size, indicates their energy reserves for efforts above CP.
Like you and me, once the Racerbot’s bucket is empty, there’s nothing left to give. The bots must be strategic about metering out their efforts because they only have so many drops in the bucket to spill. They must recover from attacks, and the sting comes out of the whip with each subsequent angered turn of the pedals. In short, they get tired and, in some cases, will “blow up.”
That’s your chance to take advantage because beating a bot influences your in-game status. The Racebot’s tactical realism and lifelike physical limitations are essential to the competitive cycling esports experience. indieVelo takes it to another level by assigning the same ratings and rankings to the bots.
indieVelo’s Racebots Take Esports To The Next Level
Racebots utilize the identical rating and ranking system as their human counterparts. Their performance in events directly influences their ratings, increasing with successful outcomes and decreasing when they fall short. This system accurately represents a Racebot’s skill level in various race scenarios. The matchmaking process considers it to ensure a consistently high-quality competition, matching your skill level, regardless of your ability.
Much like their human rivals, the Racebots are evolving. indieVelo’s developers observe bot behavior and process Beta-tester feedback, using it to tweak the AI. With Update Version V0.2.6, released on July 17, 2023, indieVelo introduced the latest iteration of Racebot. From what racers are saying, the learning curve is more like a hockey stick, and the racing is strategic, tactical, and aggressive.
“The bots attack and counterattack now,” notes Saris-NoPinz elite esports racer Gavin Dempster. The Racebots enhance the racing experience with more dynamic and compelling competition. “They absolutely send it when they attack too—quickly getting a ten-second gap.”
Dempster’s teammate and Beta-tester Matt Gardiner share a similar experience: “There were several break attempts that I bridged across to, and the one that stuck was a counterattack after we got caught. I bridged the 10-second gap, lifted the pace, and the bot met my effort. We stayed away and won by 40 seconds.”
How do you know if the avatars you’re racing are bots? Judging by how Matt and Gavin’s scenarios closely resemble real-life racing, there may be only one way. Well, if there’s no smack talk after receiving a bot beatdown, you may be happy that you don’t know!
Your thoughts?
What do you think of indieVelo’s Racebots? Comment below. Your fellow virtual cyclists want to know!
Semi-retired after more than 20 years as the owner and director of a private Orthopedic Physical Therapy practice, Chris now enjoys the freedom to dedicate himself to his passions—virtual cycling and writing.
Driven to give back to the sport that has enriched his life with countless experiences and relationships, he founded a non-profit organization, TheDIRTDadFund. In the summer of 2022, he rode 3,900 miles from San Francisco to his “Gain Cave” on Long Island, New York, raising support for his charity.
His passion for cycling shines through in his writing, which has been featured in prominent publications like Cycling Weekly, Cycling News, road.cc, Zwift Insider, Endurance.biz, and Bicycling. In 2024, he was on-site in Abu Dhabi, covering the first live, in-person UCI Cycling Esports World Championship.
His contributions to cycling esports have not gone unnoticed, with his work cited in multiple research papers exploring this evolving discipline. He sits alongside esteemed esports scientists as a member of the Virtual Sports Research Network and contributes to groundbreaking research exploring the new frontier of virtual physical sport. Chris co-hosts The Virtual Velo Podcast, too.
Although the bots work well, I am disappointed you can’t tell the difference. I would rather race against 2 or 3 humans than potential 49bots which I may have had today!!!
Thank you for the comment, Martin. Many users share your viewpoint. May I ask, if you can’t tell the difference why would you like to know?
Hi Chris, I very much appreciate your efforts around the platform but as Martin says it will be nice to know if the riders are bots or not. If I know that there is a real riders it will give me more motivation to catch up, ride in the draft to pull and don’t stay behind all the time as I would do with a bot, why would I pull a bot. There might be a riding friendship that can form, following each other on Strava, arrange rides. We are social animals after all
I agree. Why did I pull a group of 10 bots up to to the bots that had dropped us? And why did I have to keep doing it? Because they wouldn’t do the same for me.
Hello everyone,
The challenge of a new platform is to attract as many cyclists as possible. And that’s no easy task in the face of the popular Zwift…
Zwift has become the Facebook of e-Cycling. Since everyone’s there, everyone’s going, even if they have to pay.
How do you get Zwift users, who are used to riding with lots of humans, to come and ride on indieVelo with few humans so far?
The only solution is to keep the line between humans and bots blurred, at least until the user base is enlarged, and to propose very realistic bots behaviors.
Another problem is that a Zwift user will find it very difficult to drive sporadically elsewhere, as his Zwift stats will then drop…
Yes, in the face of the Zwift monster, it’s a challenge to launch a new platform.
IndieVelo is the most qualitative platform, with the most accomplished physics and rider behavior, and a race organization close to reality.
If the UCI is to sign an e-Cycling partnership with a platform, it should be with indieVelo, not MyW…
Personally I dislike bots, and even moreso bots that try to look like humans. I see the point of them, but bots are currently the reason I’m not using IndieVelo or MyWhoosh. I understand the challenge of growing popularity and users, tis a tough one.
I’d like the option to have ‘turn on/off bots’ or ‘make bots obvious’ options, I keep looking at the events page for races/rides without bots, but they all seem to be bot heavy, you can tell by the round number of riders signed up, eg. 10, 30, 100.. which tells me not to join and keeps me away from the platform.
I really want to use/try Indievelo more but can’t face the bots…. just my own personal opinion, and I’m probably a very small minority. I don’t know why but bots make it worse that being alone for me, perhaps I’m just odd, who knows.
While I don’t personally agree, I am sensitive to your frustration. There are more users joining the platform daily. Several promoters organize non-not group rides and events. I suggest that you check indieVelohub and the indieVelo FB group for more information.
Thank you for your comment, Ian!
Hi, as we’re still in beta I thought I’d better post a recent experience. I’m not a bad cyclist by any measure but came last by quite a margin in a group ride last week. I came 197th! I was near the front for a good half of the ride but when we hit the hills riders were overtaking me like they were still on the flat. I didn’t think there were any other real riders on there so I expected some of the bots to coalesce near me but not so – they all went racing by.
Thank you for sharing your experience, Kevin!
I am new to Indievelo. Completed 4 races. This must be why no one ever answers a chat or starts a chat… is it likely most all of the 50 other racers were bots?
Hi !
I like to race on Indie Velo, even if only bots, but can we know the ranking of all the bots and their results in race to see their awards ? I’m curious to know more about them !
Hi there, I too would prefer it if you at least had the option of turning off bots or making them more obvious. I had a similar experience where I was soundly beaten in a race, found myself going backwards all the way through the 2nd half which tends not to happen when facing real people. I would happily set my own PB’s then go against those up the various routes and climbs to keep myself motivated if this were an option. Or you could maybe have the option of a pace bot that can be switched on based on other user’s times similar to Rouvy? Great work by the way, am blown away with how great this looks and feels. I have no doubt this will be a zwift killer of the future.
I appreciate your comment, Andy. Thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts. You should check out the indieVelo Discord channel. The developer, Dr. George Gilbert, monitors the conversation. Your suggestions are welcome there.