WTRL applies the “Over Power” Code 7 based on “FTP W/kg.” This has been going on since at least early 2021. WTRL sets over-power limits for each race course but doesn’t publish them for the obvious reason that racers would ride to them. This was in the pre-Sauce era when ZwiftPower Live was all that was available. I could quote WTRL’s rules, but no.
I put FTP W/kg in quotes because it refers to the FTP ratings we all periodically get from Zwift. That’s 95% of the wattage from your strongest 20 minutes during an event divided by the weight on file with Zwift. I personally don’t like it, but it’s the calculation Zwift has been making for the five years I’ve been on the platform.
ZwiftPower has a related system based on the average of the highest 3 event "95% of 20 minutes) w/kgs within the past 90 days. Look away from that; it’s not relevant here.
So: Code 7 => “FTPw/kg” based on 95% of the strongest 20 minutes in the race. WTRL allows some leeway that it doesn’t publish, like 2.57 w/kg for Category D and that varies course to course.
Separately, you should be in the correct ZwiftPower category, although WTRL allows “upgrades” to finish a Round if they’ve completed three races in the right Cat.
WTRL, by the way, has its own rider rating system. Why does ZRL use the Zwift and ZwiftPower systems? The Zwift Racing Director sits first-chair on the race commission.
Thanks for your clarification Paul. still I think of me going 0.1 w/kg over the limit is a bit not fair because my disqualification leaves my team with one less rider no leeway option for me haha. I would think that if your are racing a uphill course you would expect all those ftp w/kg increase. But I guess WTRL is not taking that into account when coding a racer.
You would only expect this from people who haven’t done a 20 min max effort though - which is probably the case for a lot of people who only race, if none of them typically do a 20 min TT or 20 min FTP test. That said, if you’re close to the top of a cat and haven’t put out a best effort 20 mins before then I would expect that yes you could blow by it by … producing something closer to your actual 20 min best effort and then slotting into … the correct category moving forward.
Half the race was downhill. If you blew out the category limits then you absolutely should be DQed as your actual ability is even higher than what you did last night. Enjoy your upgrade.
Your power is your power, regardless of the terrain, so it’s fair. But it is a harsh reality-check and I understand your disappointment. I also do my best power when looking at a picture of a hill. There’s something about it that makes me go harder than grinding away on the flats.
Power is power, no different uphill or flats. If you can do 3.5 w/kg uphill you can do it on the flats. The categories are determined by power not the terrain.
You’re 0.02w/kg away from being Cat B in ZP with another effort like that anyways.
I assure you, it wasn’t the hill that was “making you work harder.” It was you who did the effort, not the hill.
Congratulations on the upgrade.
Not sure if you’re new to Zwift or cycling in general, but your growth is pretty phenomenal going from 214w / 20 minutes up to 262w / 20 minutes in the past 6 months.
You’re a in a place to be a very solid B if you race smart, and probably even an A after another year or so.
I think at this point it’s clear you can do B level power (you did 3.5w/kg for 20 mins as part of a much longer race, so your 20 min max is higher than that for sure), so you have two choices: One is to manage your power and try to stay in C (by racing courses that will not push your 20min power, or specifically holding back when you’re getting close to the B limit on longer hill segments - basically you’re sandbagging if you do this), or to embrace the fact that you’re now in B and just focus on getting better within B. It sucks to not be top of a cat, but the cat boundaries are wide, so a lot of people in B are not top of the B cat and are getting wrecked in every race.
That said, if you enter another series in C and get moved up halfway through, that’s not unfair, it’s unfair to the folks in the series that you started in C.
@Moby_Parkes that is flat out lie. top end C Can beat lot of the B rider.
i got gold in C, and 3rd B in stage 1 London. note the B race was only 40 riders or so who started.
is getting 3rd in B a big fall from grace ? mid size group.
So you think your individual experience means that most riders moving from the top of C to the bottom of B will keep on doing as well in B races as they did in C?
This was a race perfectly suited to your characteristics. The category system doesn’t differentiate between route profiles when setting your minimum category. If it did, or if results were factored into the category system, you would have been forced into B or higher for a race like this. When a rider regularly finishes first, that’s a good indicator that the category system is not working well.
