Individual Training Races

[NikeBoy]

This suggestion is an attempt to bundle a couple of seperate suggestions which have been done before.

Every week there are 5 different training races. These races can be held on 1 day or can be spread over different days.
In each race you can enter 1 cyclist of your team (so 5 cyclists in total). 1 cyclist can only participate in 1 race that week.
After each race this particular cyclist will gain a small amount of training in 1 or more skills, depending on the race in which he participates.
The total amount of training per cyclist will be equal over all races.

These are the 5 races :
1) The mountainbike race : a race which mainly consists of mountain and downhill. The race profile will be randomly generated every week but the total amount of mountain and downhill will be the same.
In this way you have a different race every week but specialised in certain skills,so any cyclist with good skills in either mountain or downhill can have a chance of winning the race.
Every cyclist in this race will gain a small amount of mountain and downhill
In addition, a little bit of experience is gained by the cyclist.

2) The 'Kamikaze' downhill race : there is only 1 way and that way is down, down, down ! A single race which only contains downhill (and a little bit of flat, so not every week the same cyclist wins)
Every cyclist will gain a substantial amount of downhill skill, but be aware that the chance of getting injured after a fall is quite high.
As an award for being so brave to take on this 'Kamikaze' race, the cyclist gains also a little bit of balance and experience.

3) The 'Velodrome' track race : the cyclist will ride 50 laps on a velodrome, with a number of intermediate sprints. A combination of sprint and time trial is important here.
Every cyclist will gain a small amount of sprint and time trial. Be aware that balance is important (so the chance on a fall is quite high) but the cyclist is not likely to be injured after a fall.
Every cyclist (wether he fell or not) will gain a little bit of balance.

4) The cyclo-cross race : this race has a little bit of solid road (so flat) and some field with mainly hills. So the cyclist will gain a small amount of training in flat and hill.
Be aware that punctures are quite common, so your steering is important in this one.
Every cyclist (wether he had a flat tire or not) will gain a little bit of steering.


5) The time trial endurance : a time trial race on a combined surface of any kind. Every week the profile changes in a random way.
Every cyclist will gain a substantial amount of time trial.
Also the leadership of your cyclist will be increased a little bit.

You can not set an effort in these races. Every cyclist will ride with a certain amount of effort (f.i. 80%). Of course, the amount
of fitness is still taken into account. The cyclists will NOT loose any fitness in these races, they will only gain some training.
The cyclicst can be in a "normal" race/tour at the same day. He does not have to "free" of any race at the "training race" day.

A few variables still have to be filled in.
Either

these races are held per division and every race will have a max of 20 cyclists. You can award the top 5 cyclists in every race with division points for his team (the winner gets 5 points, the second 4 points, ... 3,2,1). A seperate league table can be added to give the ranking of the best teams in these races. Awards (like medals or cups) can be given for the best team in a certain race the entire season, ...

OR

a certain amount of "virtual" divisions are openend per race (depending on the number of teams in Peleton) in which you can enter your cyclist and you can race against other division cyclists, other country cyclists, ...(maximum 100 cyclists per "virtual" division)
Of course, no division points can be awarded in this way and league tables are also difficult. (maybe the implementation as such is not an easy one)

[steingrim]

I like the idea - I like it a lot, but I think there should be heavier drawbacks.

- The rider should loose fitnes when racing a training race, you can't train extra for free. However, the more fitnes you invest, the more you training you get. Or fix the amount of fitness to 100% (or maybe only 85%), and fix the amount of training...
- Or if form is introduced, it will drop i training weeks, and increase slightly after training.
- It should cost serious (or semi-serious) money.

[NikeBoy]

I have modified the original post.

Main modifications :
Every race trains a maximum of 2 skills (and not 3 or 6 like before)

Jul 26, 2008 14:31:54 GMT 1 steingrim said:

I like the idea - I like it a lot, but I think there should be heavier drawbacks.

- The rider should loose fitnes when racing a training race, you can't train extra for free. However, the more fitnes you invest, the more you training you get. Or fix the amount of fitness to 100% (or maybe only 85%), and fix the amount of training...

Amount of training will be fixed for everyone (let's say 0.1 extra per race spread over the trained skills).
You can only train 5 cyclists per week extra (and with a very small increase), so I don't feel that it should "cost" you anything. You also have to see this as a kind of "funrace".

- Or if form is introduced, it will drop i training weeks, and increase slightly after training.

Since this is not introduced (yet), I can not count on this for my idea

- It should cost serious (or semi-serious) money.

I do not want to impact poor teams. This extra training is to help (a very small part) in making multi-skills cyclists and not to make a benefit for the rich teams.

[Schizm]

Nice idea but I think a bit hard to implement, some remarks :

In my opinion this should replace the regular training (so as a consequence it probably would be driven during the week-update) and the amount of training gained would depend on the FA (but the total should not exceed that of a normal (one-skill) training).
It also would be nice if secondaries could increase also f.i. "Velodrome" could increase balance, "cyclo-cross" steering, "Time trial" leadership, and "Mountainbike" experience of course this rise should be also taken into account for the total training gained.

[NikeBoy]

Jul 31, 2008 12:47:56 GMT 1 Schizm said:

Nice idea but I think a bit hard to implement, some remarks :

Why would it be hard to implement ?

In my opinion this should replace the regular training (so as a consequence it probably would be driven during the week-update) and the amount of training gained would depend on the FA (but the total should not exceed that of a normal (one-skill) training).

Could be an ultimate result, but at first I would like to see it as a nice, small extra. More fun than tactical. And on top : now a lot of managers have probably a few cyclists which they would like to sell if they would pop on downhill or sprint or time trial, because they are pretty sure that it is a 2.9 sprint or a 3.8 hill. In this way, they can give these cyclists their extra training ...

It also would be nice if secondaries could increase also f.i. "Velodrome" could increase balance, "cyclo-cross" steering, "Time trial" leadership, and "Mountainbike" experience of course this rise should be also taken into account for the total training gained.

Good idea, it could be added as an extra.

[steingrim]

I see. As long as the total amount of training is the same for all cyclists, including those who do not race, then there's no problem.
I just like the idea that there should be a choice, i.e. a reason not to participate in these races.

[iwander71]

As a new player I really like this idea. It would give me the ability to tweak even further with my team. I also like how it adds more 'manager-inputs' to the possible overall ability of a team.

"a certain amount of "virtual" divisions are openend per race (depending on the number of teams in Peleton) in which you can enter your cyclist and you can race against other division cyclists, other country cyclists, ...(maximum 100 cyclists per "virtual" division)
Of course, no division points can be awarded in this way and league tables are also difficult. (maybe the implementation as such is not an easy one)"
-I like the idea of being mixed with teams from outside of the division that you normally race in as this gives some 'research' possibilities to the manager's game. I mean, I can choose to do homework on other riders and teams for whatever reason. Could this be an element that you could open to the game?
The lack of points, and the lack of a division table are not important. Plus, wouldn't the 'practice divisions' just be randomly generated each week?

"Amount of training will be fixed for everyone (let's say 0.1 extra per race spread over the trained skills).
You can only train 5 cyclists per week extra (and with a very small increase), so I don't feel that it should "cost" you anything. You also have to see this as a kind of "funrace"."
-I like the idea of it being looked at as a fun race. I think that this will encourage people to actually train, and to experiment even, with their team instead of possibly focusing on winning the training races. (Not really the original reason for their creation, non? :
The issue of possible drawbacks is taken care of with the real possibility of injuries to your riders that participate in the training races. A young, inexperienced rider, like the ones we will most likely want to train, are more likely to injure themselves.
Also, with you only being able to train an extra five players per week this way; who do you choose?

"It also would be nice if secondaries could increase also f.i. "Velodrome" could increase balance, "cyclo-cross" steering, "Time trial" leadership, and "Mountainbike" experience of course this rise should be also taken into account for the total training gained."
-I like this and wonder if you could go a step further.
What if there was an ability to train our riders to come-up/go-down to their goal-weight for the particular height?

"- It should cost serious (or semi-serious) money.

I do not want to impact poor teams. This extra training is to help (a very small part) in making multi-skills cyclists and not to make a benefit for the rich teams."
-This is a very important point for me as I think it should be open for all teams. I also believe that it needs to be non-profitable, except for the benefits to your riders.

My tuppence.

[NikeBoy]

I have edited the beginpost and added some secundary skills. Please keep in mind that these secundary skill increases will be very small.

@ iwander71 (I wander if the 71 is your year of birth ) :
thanks for the positive feedback.
Indeed, the fun part and the fact that it should be cheap (or free) are key points.
Like said, I don't know if it is possible to make it inter-divisional (or international).
The change of the weight could also be a nice add-on

[iwander71]

...yup. I have been wandering this planet since '71.

And as far as positive feedback; I am really enjoying the game, (I am in my first week of competition), and I am happy to help in one way or another.
I can see a lot of effort has gone into this game, and from what I see there is still a lot going on.

I have re-read your original post, and have been thinking about it through the day. I really like your idea a lot.

[jmc7]

in my point of view this is the best suggestion i ve read

[lee1950]

I know this is a late-to-the-party-post, but this would be a very cool addition, NikeBoy. I really like the way you've developed a nice balance between the desired positive outcome and some potenial risk - so appropriate to a management game. Being able to tweak riders with something like this would be great.

It would increase the fun-factor while adding some more strategy and head-scratching to an already outstanding game.

[lee1950]

Just wanted to add this into the discussion about training.......