Track V2: 3D Velodromes, Real Track Rules and Live Group Races

Track V2 is here, and tracks in Ride Cave have been rebuilt from the boards up. Every track ride, race and skill now happens inside a full 3D velodrome, with 3D riders who lean into the banking, hold their lines and follow the rules of real track racing. And for the first time, you can race real people on the track in a live Group Race.

One View: The 3D Velodrome

There is now one way to ride a track, and it is in 3D. The old track views are gone. Each venue has its own look, from indoor halls to outdoor tracks under open sky, with the painted lines, the lap board at the finish and the bell on the last lap. Your data sits in the four corners of the screen, and the hide data button leaves just the track. The Infinite World setting still chooses how you ride eRoutes; tracks always ride in the velodrome.

Setting Up a Ride

Open a track and press Next. You choose how you want to ride. Free ride is set in laps, with the distance and an estimated time in your units. Track workout gives you Mix, Endurance or Sprint for the duration you pick. Race takes you to one more step to pick the format, the number of bots and how strong they are, and you see the field you are about to race before you start. Races need a trainer or power meter.

On a solo ride you wait at the boards with your field lined up behind you. Your first pedal stroke starts a 3 second countdown, and everyone drops in at GO.

Six Race Formats

Scratch is first over the line. Points scores the sprint laps, and the most points wins. In an Elimination, the last rider over the line on each elimination lap is out. Tempo gives one point to the first rider over the line on every lap after the first four. In a Keirin, a derny leads the field and winds the speed up, then pulls off for the sprint; you choose how many laps behind the derny and how many to sprint. The Time trial is you against the clock over 500 m, 1 km, 3 km or 4 km, from a standing start with no draft.

Every bunch race starts the way a real one does: two or three neutralised laps (three on a 250 m track, two on longer ones) with the bunch together at a moderate pace, then a flying start at the line. The commissaire watches. Get more than 20 m clear of the bunch when the start is due and the start is delayed a lap for everyone; do it after two delays and you are disqualified. The race radio tells you how far ahead you are and how long you have to drop back. In a keirin, the derny leads instead, and nobody passes it until it pulls off.

Real Track Rules

Riders on the velodrome move the way track riders do. Each rider settles on a line by how hard they are riding. The sprinters' lane, between the black and red lines, belongs to the rider in it: you pass that rider over the top, never underneath. Faster riders pass on the open side, and nobody rides through anyone. Climbing the banking to go round costs you a little, and you feel it on the trainer.

Sit on a wheel on your line and you get a draft, and the bots draft too. Only the wheel you are on shelters you, never a rider a line over. Get boxed in, with a rider ahead in the sprinters' lane and others alongside, and you really are stuck: the badge over your head turns amber and the race radio tells you to drop back to go round.

The Race Around You

The race radio speaks in the 3D world, in a few words: at the flying start, on the bell lap, when a rider is eliminated, when a gap opens. The lap board at the finish counts down the laps to go for the race leader, as on a real track, and turns to the bell on the last lap. The bots talk on the track as they do on eRoutes. When anyone goes hard, a flare lights at their rear wheel, amber for a hard effort and red when they go all out, so you see an attack coming. A real handbell rings the last lap, and crossing the finish brings a burst of confetti before the radio calls your place.

Live Group Races

Open a track and tap Host a Group Ride, or start a new Group Ride from Home and choose Track. Everyone can ride it three ways: a Group ride in laps, where the first rider across the line on the last lap wins and riders can join after the start; a Track workout that everyone rides at their own FTP; or a Race in any format except the time trial. Group Rides on a track get the same poster and weekly schedule as Group Rides on eRoutes, and a public one can be shared to Roll.ooo.

A Group Race holds up to 30 riders, bots included, and locks at the start: joining closes 3 seconds before the GO. The race room lines the field up on the grid by watts per kilo, so every rider sees the same start, then counts everyone down together. Results are official: the race room records each place, finish time and gap to the winner, and every rider sees the same standings.

Results and Race History

When a race ends, your ride summary opens on its race standings: places, finish times with the gap to the winner, and points for the points formats. Every race earns XP. In your ride list, every race carries a badge such as Race, Elimination, 3rd of 12 for a Group Race, or Bot race, Scratch, 1st of 8 for a race against bots.

Riding With Whoever Is There

Every velodrome is now a live room. Start a free ride or a track workout and you see anyone else riding that track, with the same lane rules and draft as the bots. The Tracks page shows how many people are riding each track, and the velodromes appear on the eRoutes map with a live dot when someone is on them. Want the track to yourself? Turn on Ride solo in the ride options.

Skills on the Boards

All 10 skills now ride in the velodrome: Max Power, Balance, Watt Ramp, Metronome, Spin Cycle, the 200m and 500m Flyers, the 500m and 1km Standing Starts, and the 3km Pursuit. Two panels guide you: the instructions, with your progress through each phase, what to do now and what comes next, and the record you are chasing. In Balance, Metronome, Spin Cycle and Watt Ramp a live gauge shows you against the target window, and if you drift out it counts down the seconds you have to get back in.

The lap board at the finish shows your goal, such as hold 90 to 100 rpm or 200 m to go, and the skill radio calls each phase in the 3D world. The record corner shows your best to beat, then your attempt live. A new personal best gets its own moment: a bigger call, a flash at the finish and the venue lit up. The standing starts begin on your first pedal stroke, from a dead stop on the line.

Getting Started

Open Tracks, pick a velodrome and press Next. Race the bots in any of the six formats, take on a skill, or host a Group Race and send the link to your friends.