On Zwift power you are on the edge of upgrading. I think you are upgrading at a good time now that there is less sandbagging.
With this new system there will be a lot of people in the same boat as you so you will have people to race at the back of the pack.
If you upgraded before this change you would be on your own for a long time, because a lot of racers will not move up or find ways to stay in the lower cat.
The B guys start very fast. So my tip is to practice the starts. If you want a good practice race look for those in London I found the London start the hardest.
That’s why i picked two different events : one flat and one punchy.
On both I was able to stay with the A+ guys because of double draft but anybody who was left behind could never come back because of double draft making us go fast, and quit. Today we were 14 A at the beginning and 7 on the line, all those who were left behind quitted because of that I think.
Throwing this out there; as I feel like this can be a realistic scenario for the people that … just really want to have this mentality.
Warmer months are coming for some of us, and they’ll ride outdoors more, and probably end up with softer rides on Zwift, so they’re 60 day power curve might… say drop, and they’ll go down a cat.
If they do a single race event, and punch over the categories’ limits… do we know what happens?
What if they even do it mid-event on zwift; is cone of shame a thing on these events? Or could it be?
I don’t know if anyone has these answers, but I’m hoping a question like this has come up from someone somewhere before.
(yes obviously this will certainly lower the mass amount of cruisers and sandbaggers, but it won’t all out prevent it from happening; I realize you say the word “less”, but curious what happens in these circumstances)
I don’t know if this will help as I also don’t have the answer. But here goes. Before this test event I was listed as C in Zwift power, I knew I was not a C rider (I would never enter a C race if I know I am a B) but I wanted to see what this system will do with my numbers. The system put me in B where I belong.
So I do have a lot of confidence that it work as intended, but that is from one data point.
It would have been interesting perhaps had I not done that TT last Friday and signed up for C while I still could last week.
Granted it also would’ve been interesting had I registered for C while I could when I first heard about the signups for these tests. (I imagine it would have errored out and said I was no longer able to attend the event, which I guess would have been even more confusing at the time)
I’m just curious what happens if someone goes over the cat’s limits mid-event, or what can happen if someone stops racing on zwift almost entirely during an “on-season” if you will.
(I realize these would be one-offs and few and far between, so there is that benefit.)
I think it’s clear the goal is to avoid mid- and post-event DQ’s and I haven’t seen any suggestion they would go back to that because as far as I can tell, everyone hates that. Once the flag drops, the race is on for better or for worse.
Sure you might have some people get through the system for one or two races, but it’s the systemic abusers that this is trying to catch.
What makes them think they will be at the front on Rouvy?
People have to understand, just because they pay a monthly fee it doesn’t mean they get to be at the front of every race.
It would be great if we could get variable boundaries and people will be the hammer and nail in their usage, but people who only want to be the hammer can bluntly… get da ■■■■
I’ve been at the back of loads of B races and I kept coming back - as long as I am not completely alone which has happened on occasion, I’m not too bothered. Riding alone is crap though - would likely not race as much if that was always the case.
I just want to find a group to settle in with and then sprint against at the end.
I managed for 3/4’s of the CETE event on Tuesday morning to hang with the front blob but got dropped on the second time up the KOM. After that I rode to try and catch the rider ahead of me (fail) and stay ahead of the two riders behind me (win!). Finished 13th out of 33. A really great race for me on Zwift even though I finished alone. I’m looking forward to being able to hang longer and actually make that final selection. This wasn’t ever the case in a Zwift race previously.
Managing gaps with that type of racing is actually really challenging and highly rewarding. I’ve got my best power PR’s across the board doing just that (excl sprint).
