Ever since Zwift switched to the ZRacing category format, racing has become much less enjoyable for me.
My Race Score is around 750, which puts me in the Advanced category. For some reason, Advanced races are only scheduled every two hours, so as someone who trains around work and childcare commitments, it’s often difficult to find a race that fits my schedule.
Even when I do manage to join one, there are usually only a handful of participants. On top of that, the courses are almost always short, punchy, interval-style routes. With so few riders, the field often splits apart early, and the race turns into a lonely solo effort (or maybe a two-person ride) for most of the event. Honestly, the racing experience has been pretty poor.
Lately I’ve found myself spending most of my Zwift time riding with RoboPacers while watching videos, and it’s making me question what the point of Zwift racing even is anymore.
Is anyone else feeling the same way?
I’d much rather see larger fields and more road-race-style events, even if that means broader categories and less precise matchmaking.
I have a feeling a lot of people don’t have time for longer races, or they prefer the very short events which suit their power and racing style.
My racing score is just a little under 600 so I have a few more options but mainly prefer to do my own rides alone.
Your best bet for a decent field would be mass start events, but it won’t solve the problem of convenient scheduling since you would have to search for them in advance and plan around the available times. There are also race series that are not on the public calendar, like ECRO, FRR, DIRT racing series. Again the problem of not having something available to do whenever you want but the competitors will be there. Personally I have more or less given up on Zwift racing and I do mostly group rides with an occasional Club Ladder race once or twice a month. Since most of the longer races have been culled from the calendar due to low participation, and I’m generally uninterested in a half hour event, I pick group rides according to my desired intensity and those are typically 60-90 minutes, sometimes more.
Anyway if you want to look for mass start events, you can do that on the ZwiftHacks events page. Filter for Cycling, Race, and then go to the Rules tab and choose Same Time Starts.
ECRO is the best racing at the moment for me. I’ve given up with ZRacing too but mostly because it’s 50%+ cheats in Advanced.
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Seconding recommendations of private calendar racing for better fields especially at the high end. Our club members have been enjoying ECRO and FRR (Flamme Rouge Racing). Both have some verification protocols and longer races.
ECRO has stage races mirroring the UCI world tour calendar. Mass starts. Uses vELO cats. You don’t have to do every race to participate.
FRR does mainly stages races using vELO cats as well but again you don’t have to do every race. FRR doesn’t shy away from climbing, last tour featured Seven Horsemen route.
FRR’s main stage tours are done for the minute, but they are partnering to do some weekend series in June and then with Liv/Giant and others to do a more easily accessible tour (it’ll be on the public calendar and use old Cats) in August to celebrate Tour de France Femmes. Best way to follow FRR is through Discord.
Good luck, I hope you find something that works for your schedule and needs