Bother to report or just move on?

Sorry if this has been a topic covered many times.
But I was in a race yesterday and came second, the guy who won dropped me like a stone, happily banging out 6w/kg for ages and putting minutes into me up the Alpe.
No biggie as I thought he was probably on ZP (which happened in the Alpe race I did in the morning) but he ends up minutes ahead of me so I quickly check his profile.

Definitely some irregularities in there. No weigh in for starters, his weight dropped 7kg in a day when he started racing and he went from C cat to A plus, his height dropped by 7cm.
Also not to get harsh but looking at his pics he looks pretty muscular so Iā€™m pretty sure he isnā€™t 65kg!

Question is, is it worth bothering with (I donā€™t want to appear a sore loser) or do you just move on?

I guess I feel the more people report potential cheats in the game the more realistic it becomes.

Full disclosure, after my own personal numbers were questioned I have bought a second power meter to test with to prove Iā€™m legit, along with a weigh in vid etc.
So Iā€™m trying not to be the person in a glass house throwing stones!

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Hi @Tom_Hughes4, welcome to the forums.

I think the only time you can report someone is while they are actively riding via the companion app. You can flag them as a flyer.

Otherwise, I donā€™t know of any way to report them and Zwift will likely not care anyway. They donā€™t enforce race categories or bother policing their game.

EDIT: there is a form, see post below, my bad!

:ride_on:

Yes there is a process

https://forums.zwift.com/t/why-was-i-flagged-is-this-other-racer-legit/507463/2

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Thanks guys, do you actually think itā€™s worth reporting?
My wife just said donā€™t be silly, you just need to train harder!

The race was the herd dash. Yesterday around 3pm UK if anyone wants to take a look at the guys profile.

Heā€™s won a fair few races and it just seems like somethings not right, with the combination of high power numbers, dodgy weight and height etc.

As I say I just donā€™t want to come across as a sore loser, but Zwift racing has given me some real motivation I havenā€™t had for a few years and I want to feel like I am racing legit riders.

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You should report it, but they donā€™t care either way.

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Itā€™s great the you are enjoying Zwift racing and it is frustrating that so many racers seem to not be totally upfront with their stats. Unfortunately it is an area, especially weight, where there is a lot of misrepresentation and results show it. Once you accept that you canā€™t change it just continue to race hard, have fun, and donā€™t get too annoyed with the results.

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I would narc on them first of all. Then move onā€¦

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I know the feeling i am 57 kg and you can check my zwift power and photos and had it happen on top of the ventoux guy 86 kg pushing 5.5 w/kg suggest get them flagged via companion app and he will be DQ from result and you will be bumped up

Can you only do that in the race?
I normally donā€™t have my phone handy and Iā€™m focusing on racing!

The other thing to look at is the HR/power number. This can be incredibly reliable indicator of a powermeter thatā€™s misfiring.
If you do race after race then you can see it doesnā€™t actually fluctate that much with races containing similar efforts.

If you look at mine on Zwift power for example
(canā€™t seem to include link, but search Tom Hughes, Mine is always between 2.1 and 2.4.

The guy who beat me up Ventoux doing 425w for an hour at 90kg has fluctuations from 1.04 to 2.48 which is basically impossible!

There is zero chance he is legit; fill that form out otherwise no action will be taken.

I DQā€™d him from a KISS race recently after a quick look at his profile.

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Thanks Sticky.
I have filled out the form.
Just annoying that people like this are so pathetic and egotistical they have to ruin the experience for us.

I got questioned on my power and within 3 days I have bought 2 more power meters to show my powertap pedals are legit. The powertap wheel I got is reading 10w lower as expected due to drive losses. The SRM is on the way.

I also weigh myself before each race and change weight accordingly.
I have ā€˜lostā€™ races at 72kg which I would have won if I had said my weight was still 71, but after a curry the night before the scales werenā€™t in my favour.
But I refuse to ā€˜winā€™ with a guilty conscience.

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Just use Zpower as the bible for result. Lets call them the virtual anti doping. Brilliant site and hold your head up high. You are one of the honest guys :ok_hand:t2:

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Zwift should come with a plug in honesty scale before we can turn it onā€‹:rofl::rofl:

Bringing this back up again as serial cheat name removed has won another race. Zwift donā€™t seem to be doing anything or even care.
Whatā€™s the point in having a reporting system?

Maybe itā€™s best just to call out a shame? Or maybe the organisers of the events can DQ?

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Just report themā€¦ (againā€¦) or I thought you could contact Zwift supportā€¦ :no_mouth:

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Iā€™ve done both. Itā€™s insane. Heā€™s winning some big races.
Think Iā€™m just gonna call him out on ZP. You never know. I could be wrong and theirs a reason he lost the 7cm. Amputation? Iā€™d feel bad if it was. That would also explain the weight loss.

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Why donā€™t you just leave it alone? Let Zwift deal with it Iā€™m sure theyā€™ll do something they always haveā€¦!

I used the form last night for a Cat A dude messing up my Cat C race. Iā€™ve long learnt to not let them worry me so have used these as opportunities to test my whit for a bit of entertainment - comments like ā€œcā€™mon dude, that Cat D sandbagger does more work than youā€, or ā€œcan you get in front for my leadout pleaseā€ sometimes get on these peopleā€™s nerves :rofl: Often get a few others joining in too!

I would, but I think people have lost faith in Zwift regarding racing over recent months as it has become more apparent that they donā€™t care. Taking over ZP and neglecting it seemed more of a power move than to improve the racing experience.

Regarding this guy this is an easy case.
He was an average C rider, who miraculously lost 7cm and 7kg overnight, became competitive. Was upgraded.
Then started producing pro level power at age 50+ to become a repeat winner of A races.
Either, he is a big cheat and has a dodgy PM.
Or
He had a freak accident, causing his loss of height and weight.

In the old days this kind of stuff was left to the slowtwitch style witchhunt.

I was personally subjected to it a few weeks ago, I was called out for my high power numbers and my supposedly lack of racing pedigree. Whilst the nature of the call out was unkind it got me to sort 2 additional powermeters to confirm my numbers.
I now dual record pretty much every race.
I also did a weigh in video.
I also put up some triathlon race results.

This was all because I wasnā€™t using Strava.

Maybe this guy deserves a chance to defend himself in front of the racers? Maybe he is totally legit and should have been a pro.

But now he is cleaning up in the A cat, this needs to be stopped if he is cheating.

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Yeah, he does need to stop! But whatā€™s the point? He could create another account get back in and change his name and still do itā€¦

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