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Esports<\/a><\/p>\n One Wahoo customer rep’s advice says a lot about the state of standardization in cycling esports.<\/p>\n Image: Masaka Cycling Club<\/p>\n Cycling esports’ house-of-cards hardware foundation is no secret. Those paying attention, both inside and outside the sport, have long questioned the veracity of cycling esports performances due to a lack of confidence in the one tool \u2013 smart trainers \u2013 that we need to make this all work.<\/p>\n For years, we’ve accepted this situation as ‘just the way it is’, and many have turned a blind eye. But we’ve now reached an inflection point courtesy of a moment that touched the frayed nerves of a community jaded by mistrust.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Is cycling esports just a bunch of cheaters and weight-dopers?<\/p>\n The short answer is, \u201cIt\u2019s complicated,\u201d but innovation, progress, and perception level the playing field.<\/p>\n That breaking point came in July for elite cycling esports racer Kate Trdin. She submitted a request to Wahoo customer support after receiving multiple MyWhoosh Sunday Race Club<\/a> annulments for dual recordings that exceeded the accepted threshold. The response left her dumbfounded.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n “Thank you so much for running through the testing again!” the Wahoo customer service representative said in reply to Trdin. “I think we are coming to a similar conclusion. These two power meters are just reading slightly differently enough in the opposite direction.<\/p>\n “If you want to make them closer for the sake of Zwift racing, I would recommend that you increase the crank length on pedal settings to 170mm. That will increase the Favero reading by 1% per mm of difference in crank length. Perhaps Favero has some ideas as well! Good luck with your racing and thank you for being a Wahooligan :)”<\/p>\n Trdin was taken aback by the suggestion, not only because it didn’t address the underlying accuracy issues that had caused her to lose out on potential prize money \u2013 an essential source of income for many elite racers \u2013 but also because the $1 million MyWhoosh Championship<\/a> and 2025 UCI Cycling Esports World Championship qualification races were looming. She stood to miss the chance at a “once-in-a-lifetime” sporting goal, as she put it.<\/p>\n “I found it frustrating when dismissively told by one of the leading hardware companies to manipulate my power meter settings to make the data appear more normal,” Trdin told Escape after receiving the surprising email from the Wahoo customer service representative.<\/p>\n As she described in a return email to the rep, her shock stemmed from the fact “that you would suggest cheating by changing crank length as a solution, as opposed to addressing the actual issue. This is definitely not an acceptable solution for elite-level racing.”<\/p>\n You see, manipulating Favero Assioma Duo pedal power readings by inputting a false crank length into the companion app or a computer head unit is a well-known form of cheating. The undetected ease with which a racer with the intent to cheat can compromise this and other power meters is one of the reasons that all elite cycling esports races require a smart trainer as the primary power source.<\/p>\n What’s more, by sharing this “recipe for cheating” for the sake of Zwift racing, the Wahoo rep undermined the reputation of the sport<\/a>, according to Trdin, who says, “If companies can\u2019t take esports racing seriously and work to develop solutions for their athletes, then the legitimacy of the sport will always be in question.”<\/p>\n This post is for paying subscribers only Already have an account? Sign in<\/a><\/p>\n Did we do a good job with this story?<\/p>\n \n \ud83d\udc4dYep![\"Chris](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/17339225339092.jpeg\")
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Wahoo experience specialist suggests a data manipulation exploit for racing<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/apps.34182.13548579527826305.29c43655-7425-4b4a-a5a5-ac337c8c8350.jpeg\")
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