Online cycling and/or baseball manager type timewasters?

[matt j]

Volcano U23 race today, just off the podium for a Fox River rider and Csiki Monkeys put one of theirs in the top 10.

[ad hoc]

I always find myself discovering new pages or pieces of information that was hitherto invisible to me on this game. Now i have found out that if you click on the "edition" number of a race (on the page of that race) you can see the first 15 places in that race. So that Fox River had riders finishing 4th, 13th, and 14th, while Csiki Riders were in 7th, 12th and 15th.

This information is of no real value to me, but it's nice to discover it

[Sits]

Foot of the OTF table face-off this afternoon as Lindfield Locknuts and Nuhiu Rules compete with ten other teams in the Bräcke Municipality Grand Prix. Perhaps with "just" 72 riders in the field there may be one or two scraps for us.

[longeared]

Quite aside from anything else, I'd like to know what the fuck is going on with the bear on Bracke's coat of arms.



I released one of my dead wood riders who was clearly popular within the group as several riders' team spirit immediately dropped. So I've entered a sprint race in Slovakia on Thursday which seems to have cheered them all up again. I bet Dave Brailsford doesn't have these problems.

[ursus arctos]

Very Bernisch

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahne_und_Wappen_des_Kantons_und_der_Stadt_Bern

[Sits]

Very Bernisch

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahne_und_Wappen_des_Kantons_und_der_Stadt_Bern

I thought you were joining the game ua!

[Sits]

Foot of the OTF table face-off this afternoon as Lindfield Locknuts and Nuhiu Rules compete with ten other teams in the Bräcke Municipality Grand Prix. Perhaps with "just" 72 riders in the field there may be one or two scraps for us.

Solid outcome with LL’s Clayton Gaby 4th and Nuhiu’s Bond Munroe 5th. From little acorns.

[longeared]

Points and prize money from that so a decent result, I'd assumed Aroza would boss that race and they dutifully did. Now to look forward to getting my first talent this evening.

[Sits]

The problem with talents is they cost 40k which is more than a lot of free agents, plus they’re not even scouted for you which is another 4k. The forum seems mixed in its opinions.

[ad hoc]

They are scouted. That's the one advantage. You pay through the nose for them but you don;t have to spend all the money scouting

[Sits]

I Sits corrected.

[Levin]

Veridian Dynamics have formed. I'm signed up for a ITT tomorrow and a proper race on Friday. I've scouted some of my riders but not bought anyone yet. I'm going to see how far I can get with the rubbish I have now. Is average potential ok for a main stat at this level or should I be aiming higher?

[Levin]

Oh, do riders you've sent on race break come back automatically when they are assigned to a race?

[Etienne]

I think "very good" is the minimum you'll need to win races as a main stat.

and yes, they come back automatically at the start of the day of the race from a break.

[delicatemoth]

All three talents I've had so far have been terrible, which is a shame cos the last one was called Sherlock Chick.

Managed to grab a CL-DH 86-58 from the free agent list. Unsurprisingly, his race shape is loooow so he'll need a number of practice runs to get to race level, but once he's there I'll be able to field a climbing team of 80-69 (leader); 79-55; 86-58; 72-63; 67-38 or 60-59. Hopefully this will be competitive in div 6, where so far we've scored one 7th place finish.

Levin - I think the overwhelming newbie advice is to be very very careful about spending a money, cos you get a bump at the start and then it turns out to be pretty hard to earn. So don't go mad with the scouting!

[Sits]

I currently have $47, if that's a guide. Welcome Levin.

[Levin]

Get in there. My first results, a 1-2 in a ITT with my second string riders. I'm up to Div 8 baby!

[Sits]

Welcome to the “big” time.

[matt j]

Nice Levin. Welcome.

Although I'm theoretically about 6-9 points from another promotion, I've stupidly managed to sign up for a cobble race I didn't mean to. Guess it turns into a test of how well my sprinters do on that style.

Backing that race up with a u23 mountain and a proper sprint race could mean I go up to delicatemoth's level next week. The description of the skill required on that division 6 team gives me serious pause, though.

I'll be close to having a secondary leader (after another 4 rounds of training) so might not have to rely on Cuthbert as much. But an '80' skill rider is still months away for me.

[Etienne]

Calvin Minnis has finished 8th, 6th, 9th in three races in Division 7, so I was wondering how you'd managed to do better matt - but I see that you've only had one 5th place in Division 7 races, and you're ahead of us with points from Division 8 and u23 races.

[matt j]

Yep, only one proper race in division 7 so far.

Fox River now only 2 points off division 6, I might get promoted without racing tomorrow.

[delicatemoth]

Always the best way to get promoted!

Backing that race up with a u23 mountain and a proper sprint race could mean I go up to delicatemoth's level next week. The description of the skill required on that division 6 team gives me serious pause, though.

I don't know what it's like for sprinters, but the team I just listed got its leader to a 6th place finish yesterday, and that's without any contribution from the 86-58 who is still on practise mode getting race shape up (and will be for at least another month I think).

I've been playing this for two more months than most of you, and I'm going to make a post going through my team and how it got like that.

[delicatemoth]

It's a climbing team. The attributes given are CL-DH-HL, the important ones (in descending order of importance) for climbers.

LEADER - Abner Carder (IoM), 24 years old, 80-69-43. Came as one of my starting squad. I found that Abner and one other starter had potentials to be 200+ climbers. After discussing it with a helpful long-serving manager, I decided to train Abner and bin the other guy. He's maxed on CL and his potentials say he will max at 70-79 DH and 50-59 HL. I've trained him up from something like 43-29-29 (you know, the basic stats for your starters) which has cost a fair bit especially at the high end. Needing to train your best rider is why you shouldn't spend money on 'padding' your domestiques, you just can't afford to do both.

ROAD CAPTAIN - Kim Keithley (IoM), 32 yo, 79-55-53. My starting leader, now demoted. Will be a nice-level domestique till he retires (no, I don't know when and how retirements happen). Still my best hill rider - I have never seen a HL attribute higher than 49 on the free agent list.

DOMS - Cirilo Rebuelta (ESP), 27 yo, 72-63-28. Signed as a free agent, and I have a hunch I got lucky there. His stated release value is over 50K and he regularly scores points for me by leading those races where the DH factor is considerably higher than the others.

Runar Danielsen (NOR), 34 yo, 60-56-41. Free agent pickup good enough to get a couple of Top 10s in div 7, but normally used as a windbreak/water carrier (my understanding is those gels and canteens are worth investing in, other equipment less so and yes I did buy some +Comfort items anyway cos I'm a nice DS).

Egressy Dénes (MAG), 26 yo, 67-38-32. Like Cirilo, a free agent pickup who looks like an abandoned development project. Good example of a rider you shouldn't train (potential Good CL isn't much use if DH/HL potentials don't add up to much) but his previous team's poor judgement produced a decent domestique for us.

Lenny Nohr (DAN), 34 yo, 86-58-27. Cost over 40K from the free agent list with a race shape of 30, I regard this signing as a super stroke of luck. He should be a great climbing domestique for two seasons, once he's completed the slow process of getting in shape.

RESERVES/JOB-MEN

Laurits Kronbjerg (DAN), 31 yo, 42-28-27 SP 55 FR 55. SIgned as a free agent when I still had the idea that a beginning DS could run multiple leaders, and that this rider would be good enough to be one. Used as a windbreak on stages with noticeable SP/FR values, occasionally gets points as a leader if we enter a flat race for some reason (finished 26th in the Abbey Road race I mentioned upthread).

Bowen Palmer (ENG), 36 yo, 51-45-35 SP 48 FR 59. Free agent, signed as reserve windbreak. Job-man, test subject for when/how retirement is implemented.

Spencer Lowe (ENG), 35 yo, 59-38-36. First rider I signed, former domestique, now job-man/reserve. My dirty bad management secret - I spent valuable econs (or whatever they use here) on training his TQ up to 39, which is not at all useful.

Hendrik Hahn (GER), 31 yo, 45-37-38. Another bargain basement emergency domestique/job-man. Next in line for the chop if I see someone nice on the free agent list.

Keene Loghry (IoM), 23 yo, 44-34-34. Original, retained because I didn't want to get rid of all the Manxmen and he's the least shit (barring the two leaders obv).
Dexter Hedrick (IoM), 26 yo, 44-30-31. See Loghry. Gets back from signing autographs then it's off to do a presentation on sports.

[Sits]

delicatemoth thanks, there’s my Friday evening reading.

[Sits]

delicatemoth I've now read your squad round-up which is great. I've created my own development plan which will probably continue to change on the hoof. But the key point (which I failed to follow) is about not blowing training cash on the wrong riders, and wrong skills, before understanding the basic.

I've stupidly managed to sign up for a cobble race I didn't mean to.

Not exactly this, but I signed my "Reserves/Job-Men" as dm dubs them, up for a race which in hindsight they're really not equipped for. But in honesty they're not equipped for much. It's the Arrecife - Femés in a few hours. It will at least bump up their RS scores which I hope will be sufficient to go and do the more lucrative jobs, which should be available for me again soon.

Length: 95 km

The riders start in the main city on Lanzarote, Arrecife. From there they head north to Arrieta where they turn west to Haria. The riders will now start the first climb of the day. It is a steady 10km long climb that will take the riders very close to the highest point of the Island.

The riders are now going south where they will have to cross the lava fields and the Montañas del Fuego. Here the riders will face a short climb with a steady low gradient. After crossing an active volcano the riders will probably be happy to see the ocean but the joy will not last long.

It is now time for the last climb of the day. The feared climb to Femés.The climb is around 5km long and it starts off easy. Gradually the gradient gets steeper and at the top it is above 20%. Only the strongest climbers will have a chance to claim the victory at the top of this climb.