A few weeks ago I posted a question about body types and it was confirmed that bigger or fluffier folks got a different shape than the whippets.
Last night I did the Clyde Gallop ride in London. As we were staged and warming up on our trainers it was clear I was shaped different than most all there. I weigh 225# (102.2kg), 1.93m, and a BMI of 27.4. I understand Clyde to be >200#(90.9kg).
Well, lemme tell ya, despite a long hx of strong racing and 2+ months of hard zwifting I was crushed when I looked at the results on Zwift Power. I know, it’s not a race, but the standings are posted.
Questions:
- What defines Clydesdale?
- Are there rules against that 64kg dude, and other malnourished punks, being in there?
- What constitutes “winning”. If it watts per KG I would think nobody under the designated wt. could jump in.
I know, it’s not a race, but a zippy group ride. I just need some perspective.
Cheers!
As you are probably aware, the folks that run ZwiftPower are a third party, unaffiliated with Zwift. They pull ride data from all organized events and rank each rider based on when they cross the finish line, not w/kg (answer to #3). ZwiftPower doesn’t organize the events or determine the rules for entry (answer to #2); though, they will recategorized you or remove you from rankings if you have ride data that doesn’t seem to match realistic values. ZwiftPower provides a kind service and is a great resource for actual races, but on group rides, workouts, ZwiftQuest rides, etc. it doesn’t make much sense. Also, my understanding is that a Clydesdale is defined as >220 lbs (answer to #1)
With that said, your questions reflect the great demand that is out there for racing events that are better supported, controlled, and regulated. Racing is one of the most exciting parts about Zwift, and relying on a third party for hosting the races and compiling results is not sustainable (riders get burned out really fast when they can’t find their results, don’t know why they were cut from the rankings, don’t understand the categorization rules, etc.). My guess is that Zwift is working on an update that has better support for racing.
Nick,
Thanks for the detailed response. There are some good confirmations in there.
Heck, I am almost too light for Clyde but that appears unenforceable anyway.
Stan
I just found out about the Clydesdale ride on Episode 42 of Zwift podcast. I was intrigued until this post. They say minimum is 84kg. I was thinking to try and race that. But what would be the point if someone could just drop in at a lower weight. It is doable for them to fix. We have seen woman only rides that don’t allow us men to sign up for. It should be just as easy to set a weight limit of low and high. I dought anyone would put in extra weight on their avatar to join. That would be backwards.