it does but if pen enforcement had been put into place as requested by the majority on here, which would have taken less than a week to implement as the code already exists to shut users out of certain pens, the rest of this time and those resources could have been used to come up with a better system, that’s all
I believe CE is still better than ZP categories since it uses all your efforts (not just races), it doesn’t rely on a 20min power (which you’ll never max out in a typical race), and it does lock you out of categories you shouldn’t be in after only one effort.
That said, the tweaks they made to stop people from complaining about upgrades, and to reduce confusion with ZP have watered it down a bit.
I’m really surprised we still don’t have the ability to see your CE category, and the MAP/CP values, and there’s nothing at all about it on your ZP profile so of course there’s still going to be confusion with ZP categories. They released it, then mostly gave up on it, and we don’t have a better replacement at this time.
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I don’t think they need to tell all details (such as MAP and CP) as long as they’re able to tell us which cat we belong to. If they show all details, people immediately start gaming it, holding back to stay within some limit, and so on.
However, it might get confusing to list this category in your Zwiftpower profile whenever/if CE is used in different ways depending on the race type. E.g. if it’s sometimes based on age and gender instead of power, or if it’s a dead flat race and the categories are only based on W and height and not weight, and so on. Then it might be better not to list category at all.
Agree that category shouldn’t be listed once pens can be determined in different ways (they can’t right now, so it’s unimportant), but the output should. The whole idea is that it should not be easy to game because it takes all activities in to account.
Just popped in here to say….
LOL.
Metric that takes into account all activities - Great
Enforcing a minimum pen based on a category/grouping - Great
Only doing both of the above on a new categorisation - Complete failure.
Upgrading existing categorisation with the first two als have been clear and tangible wins. With much lower effort than what was pursued now. Not making it available for other categorization but forcing upon everyone a new one with some weird effects but above all lack of visibility and transparency is just a failure.
Zwift should build tools that community can use. They went around this the wrong way. Especially number two, pen enforcement, onto a wide range of possibilities (and give some organisers access to a testbox with sample data they can use to test new categorizations which then can be applied at Zwift to enforce pens) of grouping would do wonders.
Instead… We are here. 2023 is near and nothing really moved forward for years, besides half-assed attempts that die slow deaths.
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Spot on.
What, no ROTFL emoji ?
Apologies if this has already been addressed somewhere in the above 1548 posts…
I’ve been off Zwift for the summer and have lost my category classification. What sort of ride profile is the quickest way to get a category assigned?
Would the FTP Ramp Test cover all bases?
Does the ride need to be a minimum duration?
Would a single “E” category race do the job? (What if that race is only 5 km long?)
The best would be Climbers Gambit hitting the 3 climbs max effort 
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literally 2 minutes of z1 riding will open up the other categories but you probably want to start with a 3min max and you will probably be restricted to the cat you normally belong in after your first race
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Come do Herd Winter Racing. It’s not categorized, and you WILL get a good power number if you try to do as well as you can.
I tried, literally, a 2 minute ride. Didn’t save. I think that Zwift has a minimum distance criteria for saving rides (2 km?).
I then did a 2.5 km ride. That activity saved but the categories have not unlocked.
I’ll just ride and I’m sure they will unlock eventually. Still curious what the minimum criteria is…
maybe longer then. i am just repeating what zwift staff have said. it’s possible the rules are different if you are a returning rider and that you have to do 1 race as an E or something
Hopefully you should see CE races open up for you tomorrow.
I think You were ZP cat C 6 months ago, have you been training or resting the last 6 months?
You can still race in ZP races today and the decision is yours as to which is the right category for you. However fewer and fewer ZP races to be found.
Enjoy your first race back.
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Ah, good. I’ll check again tomorrow.
Correct, I’ve been a “C” for years. I don’t expect I’ll be faster this season (unfortunately) but I’ve been outside on my mtn bike all summer so hopefully I won’t be too much slower either.
These are being worked on right now and should be out on the web soon (though it is a holiday week in the States).
We’re also looking into this one. We’ll have more info for you as we make some progress on that one.
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Nice one!
removal of the watt floor would be a good start
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CE uses W/Kg which mandates the wattage floor (as arbitrary as it is). Compound Score enables you to remove it. Remove it without switching to CS and you just take one set of problems and replace it with another.