Cycling Etiquette on ZWIFT Island

Hi Everyone. Just a word of caution as we all get used to riding in this virtual world. Eventually the snow and ice will thaw. We will drag ourselves and our bikes out of our living rooms, basements, 4 season porches and garages and start riding in races and local group rides again. To avoid the ol’ pump in the spokes, quad punches or occasional elbow try hard not to develop bad habits in this digital playground. The real playground has bullies who are fast, skilled and annoyed easily. In ZWIFT if a rider is steadily over taking you it is because he/she is trying to keep a steady pace, most likely based on a training plan. If you don’t believe me watch their Watts/KG. If they are at 2.9 when they come on the screen they will be 2.9 when they pass you and 2.9 when they leave the screen. They are not trying to race you! If you want to speed up to get in front, commit to it and maintain the watts it took to over take them, all the rider wants to do is maintain a steady pace do not give your ego permission to mess this up for them. Do not speed up to get in front then slow down. MAINTAIN! we are not 6, this is ZWIFT not Leap-frog. If you do not want to be passed, ATTACK then keep a pace higher then them. Believe me they will not come after you. Lastly, you could just sit behind this rider, the consistent pace might do some good for you. All joking aside, some of us really are using our actual training plans in ZWIFT and consistency is extremely important. The lure of competitive challenges in ZWIFT makes it difficult enough as it is to follow a plan. Thanks.

I fail to see how someone jumping in front of you is going to slow your pace.  You do realise you won’t hit them right?  You don’t even need to steer to avoid them.  Just stay calm continue on your steady pace ant try not to be annoyed as I work to get through my sprint intervals and you’ve passed me 10 times in the same lap.  :). There’s room for all kinds on the island :slight_smile:

This really makes absolutely no sense at all. In the real world, you trade off to share the drafting and pulling duties, so yes it is leap frog. There is a draft effect in Zwift and I like many other use it to our advantage.

relax people. have a sense of humor.

This post does make sense.  It is annoying if you are riding to pace and all you can see on screen is some wanna be overtaking dropping back and then overtaking after you took a few solid minutes to reel them in.

It just highlights that some people can’t handle the fact that others are faster than them (at this point in time) and should accept that the other rider isn’t interested in a race as they are riding a constant pace.

     Philip, if someone is overtaking you then dropping back and overtaking you again, it seems like they are the faster rider.  I can’t understand why this behavior would annoy anyone anyway, it just gives you something more to ponder while you sweat out a few miles on the island.

Ron, maybe you should re-read what I actually wrote…  I was clearly the faster rider in my example as I caught the other person up.

I think the issue may be as much zwift and the experience of the over taking rider.  I find that settling into the draft is nearly impossible, also to just sit on front requires cooperation and a finely tuned power output.  Remember the physics engine in Zwift is trying to calculate so many things at once and just as you hit the draft, technically your speed should go up for the same power… so suddenly you jump ahead.  So smile, enjoy your ride and if a hanger on annoys you crush them/ leave them in the dust or just drop back, problem solved.  Remember in the real world the moment you move out of the draft you immediately slow down, that does not happen in Zwift, yet.  This virtual reality, not reality so the etiquette is virtual as well and will evolve with the game and the programming. Have fun, and Ride On!

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Riders do not seem to be following much etiquette on the island. I do like to keep a steady wattage and it does annoy me when riders ride up and sit on your wheel. You wouldn’t do this in real riding so why here? and if your going to take a turn in front look at my wattage and make sure your are going to ride at that pace. Be co-operative or just pass.

Personally if someone wants to go slow enough to sit on my wheel I am good with it.  In regards to sitting on someone else’s wheel there are times when I will gradually catch up to someone and sit on their wheel,  when my rider tries to pass (I have not changed my rate) he just seems to bounce barely in front and then to the back again and the effort to pass seems higher than the effort I used to catch up to the person.  It’s not intentional on my part I am also just trying to hold my pace.

Oh, and the answer is NO pace lining is not leap frogging. Even though my original post was partly satire, I have to clear that part up.

 

Not sure I follow.  Do you mean ‘No, pace lining is not leap frogging?’ or ‘no pace lining is not leap frogging?’

Yes, add the comma. Thanks. Gramma iz impotent in ZWIFT, kids.

I vote for this makes no sense. Catching someone and then having them bounce back and forth around me has no impact on my ability to ride a steady pace.

I acknowledged that there will always be riders of different capabilities and objectives for being on ZWIFT.

Whenever I am doing my pulls and someone comes up from my back and surges forth and back off repeated, I will type the word “Steady” to let them know I am on tempo/endurance pace so the choice to follow or flight goes to the other rider, not me as I remained focused on my ride goal.

Other thing to note is an elbow flick after a pull is a good practice to let the other rider(s) behind you know that your turn is done/turned toast. This will indicate a drop in speed and help communicate better.