its exploiting a flaw within the system, can everyone do sticky watts? no, does it give an advantage? it appears that it does
zwift have known about this flaw for a long time but i am not sure they have the capability/willing to actually fix it within the game code
It is exploiting a flaw to go faster than you normally would. The guy probably does not do that in real life, because no advantage to be gained.
There is one who sometimes does this on Rad to Sky route, he had been called out on it - admitted that his low cadence 550-650w repeated surges and coasting were to go faster. He apologised then a few days later doing the same thing.
There are a bunch of people who have junk equipment or who use software to interpret their equipment. They pedal semi normally and produce a chart like this when it is parsed through software or their pedals. So is it cheating… maybe. Is it absolute junk data… yes.
If someone is using that HR to power conversion it will do this, some spin bikes do this… and so on.
I can understand using software to change things. That could easily be viewed as cheating.
Using junk equipment - I don’t think that’s cheating.
Some trainers that certainly aren’t “junk equipment” have various “exploits” that can be used to gain an advantage. I have also heard of certain calibration techniques that can be used to also gain an advantage (more power).
Using these exploits isn’t right.The microbursting is spoken about here:
It was also pointed out in the rules where a fairly broad catch-all definition would cover most of these scenarios. That was by Zwift themselves.
Also:
10.13 J and K:
j. Exploiting connectivity issues or bugs in the Zwift software.
k. Utilizing techniques that exploit a networked game such as ‘Sticky Watts’
The top four accidental causes of bad power outputs on zwift seem to come down to
Whether you want to call it cheating or not, they should not be able to race and diminish the experience for others.
If they are putting out WT numbers for a few years before noticing they are much slower outside - that’s on them
How should I provide you with a screen shot of user activities for apparent bot use?. This guy E. W. rides 300 miles or more almost every day. Ive reported him numerous times but he is still at it. His big rides are deleted but I guess he keeps whatever points or drops are contributed to levels and upgrades. Thank you
You’re welcome to send me an email - james.bailey@zwift.com
However if they are only using initials it is often very hard to find their account. If you have their Zwift ID I’ll be able to locate their account and have a look.
My email address is literally on the post above 
I’ve fixed that account.
Ah thanks - I think I replied to a parent post much further up the chain when you said “Most of you know how to get hold of me” or something and didn’t scroll all the way down to see the email. I appreciate the quick response, but again please share with your team the desire for a better auto anti cheat system!
Oh that’s the one I spotted the other day too. Good it is dealt with.
does fixed also have the same double-meaning in the UK as it does in the US with respect to pets?
Shows as Watopian in review.
Caught the guy Wad A* on Tempus Fugit on 27th riding 173w on average (+/-2 to 5 watts) due to gradient changes. Fella was like going 3.7 w/kg all the while and I suspected another case of Botting due to the too perfect pacing, especially without ERG.
So I reported it to ZWIFT team and he was placed under review.
Assuming that Chris and myself encountered this Clan “Wad” riders, someone out there is organizing a program to “fatten” up the account before selling it or systematically to cheat the game.
How do you know this person wasn’t in ERG mode?
You are very trusting of these folks. The one we spotted earlier was over level 200 already, impossible for a real human. Even one who is suspected by many of sharing an account with a friend (to get maximum distance per week) isn’t at that level.
The other day spotted someone with over 300km and 6000m+ elevation effortlessly going along at 3.7w/kg and around 180 watts. I think it got about 10 hours then stopped for the day. It was banned.
The new trend now is for people to drop their weight to 50kg because they believe it is still somewhat believable. I don’t know many adult males that are that light. And another one the other day who couldn’t seem to decide if he was 50kg, 65kg or 75kg - going between those weights (that was on Zwiftpower).
Not trusting, but there was no indication how he could tell that erg mode couldn’t have been used (eg. using trainer’s app to dictate power instead of Zwift). We don’t want everyone getting the impression they should report riders just because their power output is in a quite narrow band.
Also missing from the story was any mention of how long the suspected bot had been riding (1 hour vs 10 hours etc).
We could have met the same account but switched names to throw us off the track. However, your description of his wattage/kg and trend sounds perfectly matched to the one I met. Same level 200+ at 3.7w/kg all the way.
Agreed. We try look beyond just the power range if available before making an informed judgement.