The latest TrainingPeaks Virtual update, v0.4.16, released March 10th, brings more graphical variation and quality enhancements.
Editor’s note: Since early June 2023, we’ve highlighted the rapid evolution of indieVelo with weekly update posts. Not everyone receives the emails or is a member of the various social media groups, and the more searchable mentions available, the better to promote the indieVelo, err, Training Peaks Virtual vision. The name is different, and the once-a-week cadence might change, but the commitment to promoting the platform hasn’t wavered.
A Note From the George Gilbert, TrainingPeaks Virtual Founder: |
TrainingPeaks Virtual is continuing to deliver the features you’ve requested. This week’s release significantly improves the in-world graphics, helping to give a more immersive experience as you ride.
Headlining is the introduction of fully customizable branded roadside barriers and flags. As well as making your custom events feel more lifelike, these enable coaches and event organizers to better promote their businesses, showcasing the value each brings to athletes. A rotating selection of these will also be shown on the main island to those free-riding to ensure that coaches and event organizers on TrainingPeaks Virtual have an ongoing presence in the virtual world for everyone.
Other significant changes include the use of other graphical effects such as atmospheric haze, motion blur and updated road surfaces to make riding and spectating more engaging. Major improvements to the internal infrastructure also mean that we’ve been able to increase the number of low memory devices capable of recording local copies of your FIT files (as well as the server copies as usual), and significantly improve the quality of graphics shown to everyone.
Alongside this are a large number of updates to the TrainingPeaks Hub mobile app to improve the UI. A huge thank you to all the members of the Founders Club who have given their feedback so far. As usual, we expect to be able to act on this quickly and then are aiming to roll out the app to everyone within the next couple of weeks.
Rounding off the already jam packed release, are a huge number of updates to the underlying infrastructure. These additions, improvements and fixes continue to make pairing your Bluetooth devices easier, faster and more reliable, as well as keeping everything else running smoothly.
As always please share your thoughts and suggestions of what you would like to see in future releases on the dedicated UserVoice channel, as well as vote and discuss the ideas from others. Thank you all again for your continued support!
In Episode 58 of the Virtual Velo Podcast, Chris and Emma welcome Dirk Friel, co-founder and Chief Evangelist of Training Peaks, and Dr. George Gilbert, the creator of indieVelo, to discuss their newly formed partnership and the launch of Training Peaks Virtual.
Ride With Us for TrainingPeaks Power Hour! |
Join TrainingPeaks staff for in Virtual for a spirited group ride every Wednesday at 19:05 UTC (12:05 MST). Humans only, with the rubber band on normal strength until the last 5k. |
TrainingPeaks Virtual will just self-update the next time you open the app. If you find any problems, please follow instructions on how to manually update here.
Do you want to steepen your indieVelo learning curve? Check out our How-to-Guides page for details!
“Thank you all again for your continued support, and we look forward to helping build your vision of virtual cycling, and the experiences committed athletes want and need.”
– George Gilbert, and the TrainingPeaks team
Release Notes – v0.4.16 |
TrainingPeaks Virtual will self-update the next time you open the app. If you find any problems, please follow instructions on how to manually update here. |
- Added customizable roadside barriers & flags.
- Added in-world hall of fame for event organizers.
- Added configurable motion blur.
- Added configurable atmospheric haze.
- Added ability to display trees on more low memory devices.
- Added ability to save local FIT files on more low memory devices.
- Added dark mode setting to mobile app.
- Added share button to mobile event page for sending details to friends.
- Added lots more custom team kits, event banners and event jerseys.
- Improved road surface textures.
- Improved positioning of various roadside objects.
- Improved default Apple TV graphics settings.
- Improved parsing of custom workout files.
- Improved stability of Bluetooth connections.
- Improved support for 4iiii heart rate monitors.
- Improved support for speed and cadence sensors.
- Improved support for bridging of Bluetooth data.
- Improved camera post processing infrastructure.
- Improved mobile site viewing on small screens.
- Improved mobile branding.
- Improved mobile networking.
- Improved mobile UI.
- Improved iOS SDK.
- Improved build system.
- Improved documentation.
- Improved error handling.
- Improved memory management.
- Improved mobile infrastructure.
- Fixed bug with logging in twice in quick succession.
- Fixed bug with changing workouts after a failed login.
- Fixed bug with interpolation when there’s high latency.
- Fixed bug with trying to join an unselected team.
- Fixed bug with ARR not being shown correctly in user profile.
- Fixed bug with repeating events not showing correctly on mobile.
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.
