Today I noticed I am unable to join category C races for some events.
Zwiftpower profile 1513658
It is my understanding that there are two separate criteria, Category Enforcement, which I think uses something something max over past 60 days… and ZwiftPower which uses something something average over past 60 days.
I’m wondering if I messed up my statistics by participating in the tiny race series where keeping up high power over short distance is feasible… or is it that my longer rides have crossed just enough 3.1/3.2 threshold??
Whatever the case, I guess I want to share the feedback that it is somewhat disappointing competing in general category series like Zwift Classic and 2 races before the end being excluded from the category. (Even if, as may be the case here, I became a bottom B in the course of the league). I don’t know what the solution is other than get good and become an A somehow to not get upgraded .
Category Enforcement is past 60 day performances and applies to any rides. It uses a power curve that captures your best numbers between 2 and 50mins. No averaging, no 3 best x 95% smoothening like ZP. If you bump over the limits once, you are upgraded
Your ZwiftPower Cat - (per above, is 95% of 3 best over past 90 days of ZP events), has no bearing on your CE Cat.
Looking at your profile, I see why you could be a CE Cat B but unlike Zwiftpower that lets the community assess these things to help, CE data is not available to you (yet) or me, so I’m just speculating.
Have a read through this thread which is someone going through the same as you (mid-series bump) who posted in the past few days, and even has similar performance numbers - this thread (reasonably short for a CE discussion) covers all the salient points you didn’t know you had on your mind
Looking at your Trophy collection it’s about time to move up…you might do a lot better in Cat B races than you think with that Watt numbers. Your 1 Minute Power will keep you in the 1st Group in Cat B in every flat-ish race.
I understand you so much.
This makes me very angry as i got the same without cheating or sandbagging.
Zwift was always unfair. They try to be more fair but they forgot about our fun, our investment in a serie, and it looks like a punishment.
I wish we could of course, if reasonable improprement, end the serie we are in. This is the only way, for a training platform, to encourage improprement.
Big up! Ride on! Hope this won’t happen ever again.
@Tristan_Slominski for someone like me i start in D but i did C as well, i was close to the line for like 3 weeks i got move back into C only do C, with out doing the them C race as D i would have miss out, if your on the line, it best to do both. 1 your in , and the one right up.
I’m in the same boat. Cat c zp now forced to race cat b. No way am I a cat b. There is no fun being non competitive in these races.
Yes I agree with cat enforcement but the cats need adjustment. I’m sure there are lots of people in same position it’s actually ruining zwift for me tbh
Actually, this is typically the counter-argument to your concern. ie. There are lots of people in the same predicament, therefore there should be plenty of people to hang with in a race.
Thats not really how it works though - those of us on the b/c threshold dont all drop off the main pack at once. I happen to be able to keep with B’s for quite a while then drop off a cliff after say 5-10mins on a flat course. Others, as we have seen in many of these CE posts, drop off at varying times.
It would be great if we all did drop the main pack at the same time, then we have just created split category racing
Every comment is similar. I am not in front so I am not a category ‘fill in A B or C’ racer I should be lower as there I was in front. It is exacerbated because of the power categories rather than results. Since now it is, I never win but I am upgraded but person X is winning everything and remains in category.
With new categorisation it’s easier to remain in cat than ever before. Because of shorter window (60 vs 90, both are far to short) but especially as you can just put in a higher weight, register a ride and be whichever category you want the next day. Good luck. New categorisation has made things worse unfortunately. Category enforcement? Long overdue and positive change. New categorisation? Despite a better underlying theory (but results based would trump it all) the poor implementation actually makes it worse than before. Which is made even worse that no one can see their own category transparantly while the Zwiftpower is so we get a dozen threads with exactly that topic.
Kill the new categorisation. Use the old one with category enforcement so the transparency is there and move towards results. Use the Zwiftpower ranks with a longer look back of six months and it’s quite a good start actually. In B at least looking at the ranks are quite indicative of final results and see says more than the power categorisation (and is more transparent than the new categorisation!). Despite inherent flaws but chasing a holy grail is futile.
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… it didnt occur to me, but this is a good strategy, especially for the long leagues that have recurring events. Thanks!