Whether the event is labeled a TDZ race or ride is pretty arbitrary. What matters is how people behave. People treat the rides like races because they want a fun and motivating effort on a particular kind of course against a large field at a time that fits their schedule. If you don’t want to treat it like a “spirited” group ride or friendly competition then you will quickly get dropped and no one will care if you use a coffee stop. But for the participants who are having fun because they and others are treating it as a competition which bears some faint resemblance to reality, the abuse of the coffee stop is off-putting. The players who are intentionally abusing a feature in order to usurp results appear to think they deserve it for being “clever” or some other absurd justification like “sprint training”. All of the posts here justifying this behavior might as well be saying that it’s ok to lie about weight for every group ride because zwift doesn’t stop you from doing it.
My solution is that zwiftpower (which does catalog group ride results) should conspicuously DQ anyone who uses a coffee break. If you weren’t competing, you won’t mind. Not a perfect solution because they can still disrupt the dynamics of the event, but life is all about compromise.
I think however, if in ZPower results there was a column (which btw would be helpful at times) that showed each rider’s CE category (like is shown for signups on each event before it starts), you’d notice probably that there are riders you maybe thought you were racing, who might have been doing what for them was a zone2 or tempo group ride.
Agreed.
But, of all the issues and improved integration that I would like to see between Zwift and Zwift Power, policing Coffee breaks is not one of them and I feel Coffee breaks are unimportant.
Personally I don’t exactly see the problem with a coffee break, even in a ride a coffee break could be one of the tactics, it’s not chique, but everyone has the ability to use one.
I’m even hoping to have races with coffee-break. Could be a great tactic. What if a domestique notices a competitor uses coffee break and drop the pace?
Could be very interesting if it showed everyone who you were Coffee Broke to (is that the term? The person your speed is matched with). If you hit the button and you’re attached to a domestique from another team and they know it? Buh bye!
It’s a computer game. Gamers should learn to use all of the tools provided by the game software to their advantage. Imagine saying it was “cheating” to use the Pulse Rifle in Half Life!
i always picked oddjob in goldeneye 64. i knew what i was doing. but my former friends had to realise this: he was very small, so all of the bullets kept missing him
I remember discovering how to use the laser tripmines in Duke Nukem 3D to survive otherwise fatal falls off of buildings. I also discovered how you could look through the other player’s eyes during the match. My friends thought the second was definitely cheating, and they were divided over the first
Supposedly if someone in coffee break is latched on to you, it’s possible to drop your power to zero for a moment or two then the coffee break guy will slow to a stop.
Hey, why not show a rider on screen if someone is using them for coffee break? Bwahaha.
finally, i get to wheel this anecdote out for the 80th time: i dropped off the back of a steady ride to do an interval and brake checked 5 people, an accident for which i am both very sorry for causing, and very entertained by. i think it would be very wise of zhq to tell me exactly how the coffee break mechanic works so i can avoid causing that strange glitch again in the future
