I set my virtual partner at 16 miles per hr before setting off on my ride. At the end of my ride I beat the VP, but my avg mph is only 14! why? how?

That should not happen. For me, this has neve occurred. 

You can see in the VP screen how many minutes you're ahead and how many meters/feet you're ahead. It shows it on the VP screen. AND your bike is ahead of the his bike on the screen. 

Are you using a speed sensor and if so, have you confirmed that it correctly calibrated?

Yes that is correct, but that can be misinterpreted easily which is why I have asked, the datafields and graphic relate to the rider, not the VP. If the datafields are in the red, the VP is in front and rider behind, not the other way round and if it's green, it's the other way round. 

And the graphic, the rider is in a fixed position, so if the top rider is to the right of the screen, that is the VP, not the rider themselves in front.

Yes I'm using a speed sensor. I haven't calibrated it. I didn't know I had to do that. Let me check that out. Thanks for the tip. 

I just read over the manual. Yes. I did calibrate the sensor when I bought it about 3yrs ago. I forgot that I already did that. 

Today I went out for a ride on a course, and took some screenshots of why I deem the VP datafields are unusable and innacurate. Sadly I cannot import any pictures into this thread, so I have started a new thread under the Title "VP Screenshots"

I agree. Your VP is totally off. But did it used to work for you and now it stopped working?

It's a long shot but try replacing the speed sensor battery or even disabling it and using GPS speed for a ride or two to eliminate the sensor as a problem.