The Ballarat-Sebastopol Cycling Club last week completed the final round of a virtual championship series.

With lockdown restrictions and cold weather preventing riders from getting outside, club president Tim Canny said the club opted to take the sport indoors.

"It's basically an interactive video game where you're in control," Canny said.

"We hook a computer up to an indoor bike trainer and if there is a hill the bike will talk to the computer and increase the resistance on your bike.

"Given Ballarat's weather these bike trainers are really popular for serious cyclists."

More than 28 riders took part in the online series, held over seven weeks. After signing up to the program called Zwift, riders gained access to numerous online races.

Races would include riders of all abilities, however the program ensured that their results were calculated against others in their grade class.

Canny said members would compete against cyclists from all over the world.

"The race itself is a mass participation," he said.

The A and B graders were among the lower grades, so it's a matter of going as hard as you can to hang on as long as you can.

"We were a bit overwhelmed and surprised about how much interest and participation there was in it.

"It was really well attended and because it was indoor, we never faced a cancellation and weather wasn't an issue.

READ MORE

Each week the club dedicated the round to one of Ballarat's seven bike shops.

The businesses would provide $100 worth of gift vouches, which would be handed out to cyclists who performed well on the night.

"There were four grades and the committee decided after the race who deserved to get a $25 dollar voucher," Canny said.

"The main thing we wanted to encourage was participation and we rewarded riders who raced week in and week out and the ones that did more races got more aggregate points."

Club member Darryn Reed proved a standout across the series, producing a number of good performances.

After beginning the series as a B-Grade racer, he moved up to A-Grade and took out a race at the top level.

"There was some good Ballarat results," Canny said.