When I first started Zwift I wasn’t in the greatest shape; didn’t have as many “matches”. I’d get dropped, but I could often count on hills to catch back up to a group. My weight isn’t anything outrageous (80kg) but more than most riders I think.
These days I have to work HARD on the hills. And actually even get dropped on downhills quite often.
This might be due to racing against fitter (heavier?) riders compared to before. But I’ve also noticed that I can’t put the distance on lighter riders like I used to. But I admit that’s hard to positively confirm. I remember once on the really big hill in London (box hill?) I lost 30+ seconds on the uphill and actually made it back up on the downhill.
Downhill dynamics are different between free-riding and racing. Could that be it? The effect of the aero tuck is significantly stronger in a race. In a freeride an aerotuck does not give much benefit.
I wondered why those two supertucking riders flew past me during Monday’s TFC race (like they were riding Ducati’s), whilst I was pedaling furiously and busting a gut on the descent. Checked the result and the two of 'em (who ended up in 1st and 2nd position) were 100+ kg. Obviously their weight didn’t penalize them too much over the Epic KOM & Radio Tower climbs but it sure helped them on the descent
On a slightly different note, I would like to see the group downhill a little slower because the group downhill is too strong and the breakaway loses.
I’d like to see it slowed down a bit, to mimic the fact that in the real world, a small group of people can choose the fastest line for cornering and be faster.
Test routes for auto braking when you stop pedalling, combined with steering around the hairpins, with 100% gradient physics? Each time you go over the cliff, you start again from a standstill at the last check point you safely reached after a 5sec pause, while the clock carries on ticking.
Would love it. Add a bit more skill to racing will make it far more interesting, and downhills is the place to do it because it will allow breakaways to stand more of a chance.
Rather than going off a cliff, if you get it wrong you could just be slowed a lot to correct for the error.
You are probably also racing against more race crafty racers, and you are also putting out more effort going up the hill. The thing that most people forget is to attack over the top, that 2 or 3 pedal strokes to get as much acceleration over the top is more important than super tucking.
Agree. It’s also unrealistic as pelotons are notoriously hard (and dangerous) to maintain during speedy descents. And in my opinion gives an undeserved advantage. Those off the back are usually working way harder as it is.
