Do you think zwift should not allow people with Zpower to do all races? In my opinion,this source of power is a good and less expensive option to be able to ride on zwift.I’m sure it give zwift alot more subscribers and it good because it increase zwift community.Zpower should be allowed in group ride, training. But when it come to train against eachother(race), this source of power is not fair against more stable/reliable source of power like power meter and smart trainer. It happened to many time in races, to have racer with Zpower holding the cap of 5.5w/kg the whole race. Since I race sometime in A category the peloton always try holding the Zpower cap power and at the end the peloton brake and the race is kinda ruined. For me,it like a running gag when there a Zpower at the start of the race, I know it will go as a flyer or it will stay with the peleton and explode it later!
Thanks you for your time
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I would think If Zwift had Result based ranking than Zpower would be fine because as they win races they get upgraded and still be competitive. BUT it should not be allowed in A cat because there is not cat above that. SO the requirement for A cat would be power meter.
I guess if Zwift wanted to they could allocate Zpower riders to separate Zpower Cats.
They could also probably ensure Power and Zpower riders could not give draft to each other but only to their own power group. If that all makes sense.
I’ve been in several races when a Zpower rider blows up the race because they’re putting down power beyond Category. Sorry but if you want to race you should have the equipment for the event. That means a smart trainer. If anything there should be Zpower races where those guys and gals can hammer it out on their own.
Semi-dumb question… I’m probably forgetting something obvious, but how do you tell if someone is using Zpower? Is that anyone not using a companion app?
And when you’re on the rivet, trying to hang in the pack, it’s hard to remember to look for that lightning bolt. Sh*t, I forget to hit the powerup I was saving for the last 10km of the event in the final sprint all the time…
Zpower riders need to have a place to race, for sure. It’s just not with the riders that have a valid power source. Bad enough that we have to deal with sandbaggers in races, Zpower riders cause just as much havoc.
So with a race result category system both of these issues will be solved with the addition of no Zpower in A Cat. That way every body can have fun and Zpower can join in.
But wouldn’t that mean that Cat B would have A LOT of Zpower users, eventually taking over. Users with legit power meters or smart trainers would get stuck never being able to win against them and never progressing to cat A.
Zpower needs it own race mode. Zpower is a different power source compared to any other Power Meter.
You can even argue that power meter from different brand needs its own mode.
So i would love to see Zpower from disappearing from any race at all and have its own race mode.
To see only Tacx Neo or Wahoo Kickr or SRM or Power2Max race modes. In that way i can make sure i race against “the same” powermeter and not something different.
But it will never come because this game is not about racing. Its about a splendid isolation, a vision, or physic far from beeing real far from beeing what the communty whants to have.
Does that mean once they win enough times, they are no longer permitted from entering any races until they get a power meter? Essentially banning them from racing at that point until they get a proper PM?
Its a cheat if you compare Zpower to other Powermeter.
As simple as that.
Thats why people dont like to race against Zpower. As a Zpower user you wouldnt use it ever again if you see the discrepance between Zpower and Powermeter. If you compare both. Why would you want to use Zpower if you see the real power of your Powermeter compared? Exactly to cheat because you see that you push alot more compared to a authentic Powermeter. A authentic Powermeter has less power output and thus winning races is less likely …
I used Zpower for a full year (Cyclops Fluid 2 with Wahoo Speed and Cadence sensor) and never got out of the D cat, it was actually under estimating my power. I got a smart trainer and my FTP shot up to the top of C. I would never want to go back in either case, but they are not all cheaters.
I’m not saying they should be allowed to race against accurate power meters, that is not my point, and I agree with you about multiple modes depending on your power source. I don’t think Zwift will ban Zpower from racing however, they can’t bring themselves to police the sandbagging so why would they ever say to a considerable amount of their customers “sorry, you can’t race until you upgrade your setup”.
Maybe when the Zwift bike is ready to be sold… then they might want to encourage Zpower users to upgrade.
Good point. Of course not all do cheat because they whant to cheat. But Zpower in some cases can even display higher Power. Its very difficult to find Powermeter which show accurate data and like you said banning wouldnt be the solution but to divide between the source and all compete against the same powermeters i guess…
I once talked about the patent holder of Powermeter measuring technic insinde crankarm, spider measuring not sure if it spoken right in english and he was saying that he is finding the most accurate powermeter the one producing electricity based on tests in the 1960/70/80s. Those tests where made far before inventing common cranks from manufacturers you all know. Its not rocket sience its very simple in the end.
If you can produce electricity you can get the most accurate source to display power! So that might be the solution of the future. To build a powermeter and/or smarttrainer which produces electricity!
I also don’t see Zwift removing Zpower from any race. My suggestion is finding the middle ground.
I don’t mind racing against any racer on ZPower as long as they are in the correct category and not sandbagging (But this goes for any racer). Even if the person is IRL a D racer but the trainer put them in B then I am happy to race against him/her.
