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CLICK HERE TO WATCH SOME CADEsport course previews from West London Cycling
West London Cycling got involved with organising rides on CADEsport at an early stage because we believed that it has amazing potential. When we started running the events we discovered that it brought so much more to the party than we had first imagined. Of course, being involved early on means that we are Beta testers, but that actually added to the fun too and CADEsport have been very receptive and quick to respond as we’ve embarked upon this journey with them. You can be a part of it too.
The features that add a level of skill to riding CADEsport as opposed to other platforms, are the braking and steering combined with it being set up so that if you take corners too quickly, you are likely to crash. This makes it more absorbing and realistic for the rider whilst adding another dynamic to the racing and, importantly, the outcome of races. Staying up whilst others fall could win you the race!
The second feature that adds excitement is the ability to ‘Equalize’ races whereby everyone enters in ‘ProPower’ and the race is levelled up …. this means that slower riders have a chance of winning and the more powerful get more of a challenge, and hence potentially a better workout.
CADEsport is currently free during the Beta testing phase but will be cheaper than most platforms when subscriptions are introduced. West London Cycling is totally independent of CADEsport and the content of this page is our own independent assessment.
To get started, you need to download CADEsport and the companion phone app.
DOWNLOAD CADE FOR FREE HERE AND GET AHEAD OF THE PACK
PLEASE NOTE: At the time of publishing this webpage it is advised that if you are using a MAC computer then you will need an ANT+ dongle to ride on CADEsport. These can be inexpensively purchased for as little as £10 online from many suppliers.
Once you have downloaded the two apps, go to your settings page to set your preferred choices. We don’t have a general view on this but remember that higher spec’ laptops will cope better with high level graphics and if your machine is at the lower end, it may be worth starting with lower resolutions to minimise the impact on your computer.
You can see from the picture below that there is a huge list of keyboard options which you can use in race. The most important of there are the SPACEBAR (For Braking) LEFT AND RIGHT ARROW KEYS (to steer left and right across the road), THE ‘B’ KEY (to look backwards) and possibly THE ‘C’ KEY if you want to change your rider view.
You can make your own choices about the info displayed, but we initially left off the leaderboard and scoreboard options from the GAMES UI as we felt there was too much info on screen. Similarly you can choose how many other riders are displayed and we felt that it took a lot of screenspace if there were 10 or more displayed.
CADE has online audio too, you can switch this for each ride, we generally use ‘PLAYLIST’ which is available to everyone in the event. There is also a West London VR Channel which we could use to talk to each other without everyone else in the race being involved. We recommend PLAYLIST as your default choice.
You can add the phone app by scanning the QR code onece you are in CADEsport online.
Once you have the phone app, you should calibrate your steering.
As noted above, you can steer and brake using your laptop keyboard but the phone app offers an alternative. You can swivvle your phone from side to side to steer, whilst tapping the red brake bar (see picture) for small speed reductions and continued pressing for full braking. Of course, if you can attach your device to your handlebars, then you can steer more naturally using your bike handlebars. Several West London Cyclists have made this easier by using an Elite Sterzo Steering Block. Although that particular product is designed for Zwift Users, you won’t have to add batteries for use on CADEsport as your phone will be undertaking all the functionality. The other alternative is to use a handlebar mount that swivvles/rotates such as the NiteIze Wraptor (available from Amazon and others), which allows you steer when you are both not within reach of your keyboard nor does your front wheel have the ability to move’
At the outset, you will need to calibrate your steering (see picture bottom right). Our experience has been that setting a small angle seems more resonsive in game.
To join the race, in CADEsport, go to activities / races and scroll down to the West London Race OR go to Activities / Search and enter ‘West Londonn VR’.
The next step is to join a race.
Once into your race, you will see that you are in the lobby. You can view the details by clicking on the race Icon on the right and details will come. CADEsport has a multitude of in-race options but we are, currently, not using Power Ups and other components. What we have done though, is designated our races as ‘Equalized’ which requires all riders to join the race in ProPower and not RawPower. RawPower is your normal capacity and strength, whereas ProPower will bring you up to the highest level. There is a compliacted algorithm that uses your recent past data to calculate the uplift, so new riders may find that the effect alters a little as data is gathered.
You can steer to choose your lane on the road, or take the inside of a bend. You don’t need to steer around corners, other than to choose the line of the bend, eg, this inside.
We tend to factor in a 2kph Westerly wind that will increase resistance when you turn into it,
We set up some races on courses with obstacles, so steering is vital to avoiding them.
Races will, almost certainly, be decided on how you master the braking on corners. Watch the speedometer at the bottom of your screen, if you go into the red zone on a bend, you’ll crash. We have found it best to brake just before the bend and accelorate out, but we all need to practice and master this new skill. The braking can be controlled from the Companion App on your phone or the Spacebar on your PC keyboard. tapping the brake bar will give small drops in speed whist holding it longer will give full braking.
So, with steering, wind effect, crashing, braking and equalized power, this is soooh much more than a trip on the Hamster Wheel you may be currently enjoying. Maybe it’s time to step out of your comfort zone here though:
- If you go too fast into corners you will crash and lose a few seconds time delay. You need to master the braking.
- You can steer around other riders and choose your line with steering. You can force other riders into obstacles by hogging the line.
- A wind factor can be built in so that when riders turn into the wind the resistance becomes harder.
- We have set up our races for Equalized E-Racing so that every rider has pro-power and anyone can win. Natural power isn’t going to be enough, you need to work.
Let’s be honest, some of this is going to take you out of your comfort-zone, but we think that you’ll actually find it more exciting (well it can be frustrating too but that’s part of the fun) …. there are new challenges and skills to learn.
DOWNLOAD CADE FOR FREE HERE AND GET AHEAD OF THE PACK
ENJOY SOME PREVIEWS OF CADE courses and tracks:
