I think what we actually need here is;
Zwift arcade mode. Anything goes, any power source or QZ even. Whatever you can do at an input level and whatever it happens to do in game is fair game.
Zwift super serious mode. People use their actual weight, power, and height. They don’t get to use coffee stops to ruin the sanctity of the group ride or race. No late joins. Speeds are reflective of ability outdoors.
Pick the server you want when you log in. Anyone who complains is IP banned.
Or a powerup that does the same thing as disconnecting someone from the internet for their ride and reconnecting them at the end, so they don’t see all the nasty coffee cups 
(I might be being too blase)
Totally fine, those rides will be quite empty and few people for the coffee stop folk to latch on to.
I don’t see coffee stops on the rides I do - people don’t like hills very much so it is quite peaceful.
That Super Zwift Serious Mode better not have Tron bikes, or squirrel hats, or sasquaches, or silly volcanos, or any of the stuff I don’t like. 
Serious mode will look exactly like TrainerRoad. Serious people only want graphs.
love a good coffee stop moaning thread
What I find really odd is that this is the first time someone has complained about others using the Coffee Stop.
{/sarcasm}
I think that’s officially called a ‘clutch’ of riders.
I feel like I need to create a macro that automatically pastes this into every new thread about coffee stops.
May those that ride with us, ride with us;
And those that don’t ride with us, May God turn their wheels;
And if He can’t turn their wheels, May He show a big Coffee Stop icon above them,
So we will know them by their lazinessPersonally, I have no issue with someone using Coffee Stop on their own, or on a group ride, but there may be a reaction. I’ve had someone use it next to me on a group ride during a climb. I slowed down, unhitched them, and continued on my way while they stopped. I could only do that because the icon above them told me they were doing that. I’ve seen many a person do it on group rides going up the Petite KOM in France, for example. Okay, show the rest of the group who you are and open yourself up to ridicule; doesn’t hurt me in any way.
I’ve also been on group rides (PRL Full about a year ago, for example) where we talked about it, and agreed that we were all fine if someone wanted to use it to refill a water bottle, use the washroom; whatever. But we also agreed that we wouldn’t use it on the climb. It allowed everyone to take a break if they needed, but without losing the benefits of being with the group.
Do some people abuse it? Of course. Does their use impact me, my ride, or my fitness? Only if I let it make me irritated.
Or … I can use it as motivation to push harder that that person. I know that either I stayed with the group up that hill all on my own, or I know that I gave it everything I had, and just need to keep working to maybe keep up with that group next time. Either way, it’s a win for me.
What kind of ridicule? Type some mean words in game chat?
You don’t know them, and you should surely not ridicule them. At least they are off the couch.
How I ride is my business, not anyone else’s.
How you ride is your business, not mine.
How someone else rides is their business, not anyone else’s.
it is good to have something to read while being towed up a hill
Just change the coffee stop so it can be used from the start to end of the route, no time limits and solve all these arguments once and for all. Nobody needs ride up any hills again, you can enjoy a coffee on your coffee stop without distraction or having to rush, the benefits are endless.
Just imagine you wouldn’t have to rejoin a second or third time when inconveniently dumped at the start of a hill when late joining a ride.
I know you are joking but this exists and people are doing it.
I agree that coffee breaks are being exploited. On two rides this week when doing the long haul up the big climbs, riders used their coffee break so this 70 plus year old guy (Me) could pull them up.
Like others here, I’ve learned to quickly slow to almost a stop forcing them to end their coffee break and pedal their self up instead of latching onto the efforts of a 70 year old!.
I do grab a screenshot of them then look them up within Zwift after.
Maybe a hall of shame is needed if Zwift programmers continue to allow coffee breaks on significant climbs/
I wonder if they should have made coffee stops a “request” based system rather than automatic. So, if you need a break you “request a coffee stop” and someone can accept to pull you along while you have your coffee.
Maybe that would solve the cases of people mainly using it to save effort on climbs.
So, in a group ride, anyone in the group (or the sweeper) would accept the coffee request and pull the rider back to the peleton.
If you’re riding with friends your friend would accept the coffee stop request while you get your coffee. If nobody accepts to pull you around then you can’t get pulled and need to take your coffee alone. If someone does accept your request, then that is the person you are tied to for the duration of the coffee stop.
If you’re trading turns with someone you don’t know in Zwift and you need to grab your towel, you can request the coffee stop and they would tow you.
If you are in a massive group ride and on a climb at the end you can request a coffee stop, and if nobody accepts you simply don’t get one, and need to wait for the next group to come along.
That’s not a bad idea.
I get a few coffee breaks being used against me and given how fatigued I am at the moment, it doesn’t take much to get me to do a quick stop for 30 seconds or a minute to get off the bike and stretch (every little bit helps). If they get upset about it, that’s their problem.
They always seem to have plenty of speed available when they storm away from their little stop.
It’s rare though, most people on the big mountains are there because they want to ride up the mountain themselves.
Alternatively you could pedal your bike. The “hall of shame” if you want to call it that is the product itself, not the people using its features as designed.
Paul,
My apologies if I touched a nerve! Pedal my bike I will do, and without the experience of attaching my coffee breaks to others so that I can coast up the climbs.
I will continue to slow or stop to disconnect anyone trying to attach their “hill climbing coffee breaks” to my personal efforts.
Ride On!
There is another use off coffee-stop in combination with another feature in Zwift which allows people to get infinite distances with no riding at all, say 50km or more with 0 watts.
I doubt that’s how Zwift intended these features to be used. People notice and comment negatively on that “hey, what are you doing?” etc.
Especially when they use the hand-cycle it negatively impacts the group riding experience because people get shoved out of their position in the pack. This happens every few minutes.
So there are a few scenarios where both features need some fine tuning to prevent misuse.
