Category Enforcement Issue

Yup. While in theory I agree with using current weights in practice it’s fundamentally flawed. Easier to sandbag than ever before by upping weight and immediately (well, overnight) you get downgraded. That’s why in B when I look at starting fields actually nothing really changed to before and after. Only good change was enforcing categories (which is common sense) not this flawed new categorisation.

I’ll see you in various sprints again soon then I reckon !

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Oh yes, you are totally right :wink:

For sure we’ll see us in some of upcoming races and sprints (if I’m back in B then :smiley: )

[quote=“Alexander Heid [T:f], post:106, topic:587921, username:Alexander_Heid”]
Kinda ridiculous
[/quote]

Not really. You are still capable of the same power as you were before you changed your weight, and the reduction in weight will mean that your W/kg is higher.

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I am, you’re definitely right James :wink: Maybe the power with me :stuck_out_tongue:

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Yes and now it’s easier than ever to stay in a category of ones choosing…

I will happily ban anyone that does that.

Seems to be a bit silly to risk a 3 month racing holiday.

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It’s all about border cases so changes in weight won’t be large. How can you tell I haven’t gained 1.5kg? While also the weight controls are all focused so no one can put a lower weight than in practice, not vice versa. Post bans are just less effective than improving the process. Conservative approach is max power in a period divided by lowest weight in same period. You will get complaints though as Zwift is apparently full of people that once can exceed their abilities which are then out of reach forever.

Prove it! :grin:

There have been numerous people on these forums who have increased their weight mere days after posting about cat enforcement and change of available categories.

Have these had a 3 month ban? Of course they haven’t as they are all still racing, some even still posting on this forum - no one is taking a 3 month holiday from racing for increasing their weight.

Law of unintended consequences or just poor design, the new system encourages more weight doping than the previous system.
24hrs after a change and you are back to sandbagging, atleast previously once they went over x3 they were in that cat for 90 days.

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The weight used for the CE is your weight the day before you signed up for the race.
So on race day you can go lighter or heavier.
If someone changes their weight, no one knows if it’s a lie.

even if its a legitimate weight change? you’re opening up a whole world of problems if you/zwift start banning people but you then have to prove their weight change isn’t legitimate, are you/swift going to ask for people weighing themselves and sending it as corroborating evidence? there have been plenty of times I have raced with a lower weight than I actually was because i didn’t update my weight

It’s all becoming a bit demoralizing and depressing.

It’s like Zwift are running scared of upsetting too many people and/or losing paying customers if the CE system is rigidly enforced.

Trying to align the CE and ZP CP/FTP values should have set alarm bells ringing.

There have been numerous ideas voiced on here regarding weight doping and potential ways of addressing it, but Zwift are steadfastly refusing to touch this with the proverbial barge pole.

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For me, you have hit the nail on the head.

In the initial post about CE @xflintx stated in reply to a post they would not lose their nerve when all the complaints started from Sandbaggers - You know what, they have.

IMO the weight change & the new cat boundaries were Zwift staff losing their nerve regarding the noise CE was making. Now trying to make tough statements like people will get banned for changing their weight is just silly - Everyone knows this isnt going to happen.

But the statement has been made, lets take it face value - If people post in here about CE and then raise their weight mere hours after getting their answer, should we expect them to be banned?

There are people who have posted in this very thread who have done it, but are still racing with no ban and continue to sandbag…

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" Implementing scoring and categorization based on race results. While we are still in the extremely early stages of this work, it’s important to bring it to light. We don’t have all the details right now, as we are still exploring how to best implement this and are only in the early phases of work and experimentation. For now, it is sufficient to say that we will likely use scoring and categorization structures based on existing models, e.g. ZwiftPower and USA cycling."

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Obviously not. That would be stupid.

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but how will you know if it is legitimate or not?

Honestly, no way to be absolutely certain, but if you can see someone with a track record of weight changes to stay within category I’m within my right to ask for a weigh in video.

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that’s just asking for trouble to be honest

Weigh in videos are setup to ensure you are not heavier than indicated. Not the other way around and again; we are talking a few kgs here. Another topic argued for allowing weight changes of 2kg per week. For most that’s enough to cat down when at border.

Well you know best Rich.