After placing third in the inaugural edition of the AusCycling National Club Esports Cycling Series in August, Bathurst backed that up in an even tougher second edition to place fifth outright as they did battle with 50 of the nation's top clubs.

Only Vikings Cycling Club, Canberra Cycling Club and Randwick finished ahead of the Bathurst team, manager Mark Windsor extremely proud of their effort.

"Bathurst has finished fourth behind the two big Canberra clubs Vikings and Canberra City," Windsor said.

"We were in a great battle for third with the two Sydney clubs, Waratah and Randwick, and Randwick has finished stronger than anyone to get third, but we were impressive to get past Waratah, who won the first series I might add, to get fourth.

"So we've certainly established ourselves as the top regional team in Australia and also top five in Australia overall, which is pretty impressive."

Founded in founded in 1884, the Bathurst Cycling Club is one of the oldest in Australia and has long produced riders who have impressed at state, national and even international level.

But eSports cycling is only a relatively new pursuit for Bathurst riders.

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Like many clubs across Australia who were unable to hold races for its riders due to COVID-19, Bathurst turned to competing online with indoor trainers using cycling app Zwift.

In the national series there were female and male categories across A, B, C and D grades with points awarded to the top 30 riders in each of the six rounds contested.

As well performing well as a club, Bathurst riders Windsor (A grade men), Toireasa Gallagher (D grade women) and Gary Baker (D grade men) placed top five outright for the series in their respective grades.

"Our goal was to get as many team members as possible to the finish line in all of the categories contested in the club series," Windsor said.

"We had 21 Bathurst club riders finishing the Champs-Élysées course in the final round of the series, while that wasn't a record for the Bathurst club, it was an impressive display and set up the club for their continued success in the series."

Another D grade rider in Glen Carter provided a highlight too as he took the honours in the final round, winning a tough bunch sprint up the virtual Champs-Élysées.

Carter was surprised at his success as he was using the race as part of his rehabilitation from an operation to repair a stress fracture. He had spent eight weeks in a boot and it only came off in September.

"I was just using it as a bit of rehab, I'm coming back from an operation I had on my ankle at the end of July, I had four screws and two bone grafts done," he said.

"I had no idea idea it [the series] was like that. I'd done a bit of Zwift and to be honest I was never a fan. But I jumped in these races and Mark taught me a bit about the game and it was great we did so well against all those big clubs.

"I had a win in the series just before the operation and I thought the Champs-Élysées sounded good, but I didn't realise it was that up hill, it was pretty tough, especially when you've done nothing. Watching on TV does it no justice at all ... I needed the bucket next to me when I finished."

Of the other Central West cycling clubs who took part in the series, Dubbo placed 19th overall, Mudgee 33rd and Orange 45^th.

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