you keep moving the goal post. 
I showed that a lighter rider on a race with the volcano does not need as much power to win by over a minute.
Their 5 min power was 4.8 versus 3.9! Thatās presumably about how hard they were both going up the volcano where the race was decided.
0.9W/kg is a big discrepancy in my book. And the ālightā rider isnāt all that light anyway. Iām not sure what point this is proving.
Of course they donāt need as much power in absolute watts, they are lighter! But they do need more W/kg, which is why a W/kg-based threshold is unfair to lighter riders, even in hilly races. This is very basic physics.
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In defense of the OP, the āelephant in the roomā in comparing your stats with his are your relative raw watts (212W vs 322W).
Iām in the same boat as the OPā¦ recently moved up to B category. Best finish in a C race was probably 6th place. Iāve only done one race so far as a B but I was DFL by a long shot. It was a race where all categories were visibleā¦ by the time I realized the Bs were actually :30 ahead of me it was too late to do anything about it. I figured Iād give it a few more chances before forming an opinion.
Hardly seems like thereās any point thoughā¦ not sure if 72 kg is considered light, but Iām probably on the lighter side, and the lower end of the w/kg range for Bs (3.3 w/kg). A rider who weighs the same as me and is on the upper end of the range has a 50w advantage over me. A rider who weighs 85 kg and a 4.0 w/kg FTP has a ~100w advantage. Why bother racing against those riders when I already know theyāre significantly faster? Itās like putting a Miata against a Mustang GT in a drag race.
I know results-based categories are on the roadmap for Zwift racing - I probably just wonāt do much racing until that gets rolled out.
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We did not discuss the w/kg threshold both of us are very far from that threshold. ( donāt disagree. we all know w/kg has no place on a flat road)
no on a 4+% climb riders at the same w/kg will climb at the Ā± same speed. That is why we use w/kg because that is a way to compare riders going up a climb.
The weight that the rider has to lift up the hill is not just themselves, but also the bicycle, which adds a proportionally larger penalty to the lighter rider.
We use W/kg for climbs because itās sort of good enough as a reasonable approximation, but a 50kg rider needs more W/kg than a 100kg rider for a given climbing speed, as I just spelt out in elementary detail. If you donāt understand this basic physics then thereās really not much point discussing further.
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O yes I do understand basic physics. That is why I said Ā±. It is an approximation, it is something we used way before Zwift to get an idea of how strong the competition is when Power meters became a bit more accessible, because looking at raw watts you would never know who is the stronger rider, as we all know races get determined in the hills.
But again going back to the original post my comment still stand that the OP should be in B with me using w/kg or CE or ZP ranking.
Just showing off how stupid w/kg is for calculating performance. Iāve got a much better ZP race ranking than either of you with a lower w/kg.
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Light riders arenāt fast at all.
Only ultra-lightweight riders with 4.0w / kg or more and less than 250W are fast.
Itās because of the CE calculation.
I understand that he is the most unfavorable weight in the category.
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This guy is 48kg, has been catted up to B in CE and regularly shows up to B cat crits and schools us all.
Not saying itās easy for those on the cusp of a category, but blanket statements like ālight riders arenāt fast at allā is demonstrably false.
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Itās the fact this rider often beats a majority of the CE āAā riders as well, today they were second place overall by time.
Iād love to see how your lunchtime races would pan out on RGT, with riders using the same weight and height data as they use in Zwift. I suspect solo rider physics and drafting physics, along with solid riders (you canāt pass through slower riders ahead of you by travelling through them like a ghost), would make a huge difference at the finish line.
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Not sure why the time and effort spent on this when race organisers donāt bother using it and just DQ riders they feel should not be racing in their ZP category.
Or is CE to be enforced on all races and in the meantime Zwifters should enter the catgory that CE would place you even when race organisers have not enabled it? So ignore your ZP category assignment.
I donāt know who this profile is. I think itās probably due to height, not weight.
Heās 160cm, so short. But still, we seem to now be at ālight riders arenāt fast at allā apart from a bunch of scenarios where there is a reason that they are. So light riders can be fast?
Does this actually happen outside of ZRL where they seem to be allergic to CE and like moving the category goalposts on a whim?
Yes just happened to me, cannot see why hence my previous post. So we have CE races, ZP category races, think WTRL have their own version, ZP category races with added race organisers information about dubious figures, finally ZP category races with race organisers own rules not listed anywhere. Have I covered all version of races?
Have you reached out to the organisers to find out why?
My text may be wrong.
It is more correct to say that lightweight riders have limited strengths due to their category. Of course, ultra-lightweight riders are an exception as they have less restrictions.
This problem has not been solved, but I think ZP tried to solve it by making a limit of 250W or more.
yupā¦ WMZ manually applied a WKG to me and a 50 year old woman (lol) in a 2x innsbruck kom race recently. well, their race, their rules i guess. they should probably specify it in the race description in the future
Did you get a DQ or did you get a UPG.
I have ridden two CE cat C races (very little ride/race efforts over past 60 days) when I am ZP cat B (last serious month of rides in March) and have received UPGs for both of them.
Iām really not bothered. Others have suggested not all CE enforced races are being set up to ignore the ZP Disqualification Code options.