dropped from a 3.5 group going 3.68

The Archives Archived: Tips and Troubleshooting
1

Hi can someone explain why I was dropped from the enduranceWERX training ride? I had more watts and watts per kg than the ride leader, the only difference is that I quit in frustration after chasing for 20 minutes and not being able to close a gap that grew to 1:30. 

My ride:

https://www.strava.com/activities/844386175

Leader’s ride:

https://www.strava.com/activities/844399217

And the more frustrating thing is that there were people with less watts per kg and raw wattage able to hang on with the group with ease. Does Zwift just hate me?

1 Like
2

did you ride TT bike? you don’t benefit from Wheel sucking as on other bikes.

i take it leader was behind someone as well, as there are usually people riding ahead of leader…

that’s only way i can think of

3

I don’t use the TT bikes.

4

And why are there voting buttons in a help forum? Is it to enable bullying?

5

Don’t underestimate how difficult it is to catch a big group if you drop off the back. In  a big group it is much easier to maintain a high speed at a much lower wattage than someone riding on their own.

I find I have to do at least 0.5w/kg more than people in the bunch to have any chance of catching on again. A group going at 3.5w/kg would be going very quick and I would have thought at higher speeds the aero effect of drafting becomes even greater. In this case you would have probably have had to do 4w/kg + to be able to catch back on.

6

let’s say you are a 60kg rider in a pack being pulled by a 90kg rider who is putting out 360w (4 w/kg). The pack would be travelling at 39kph. Since you are drafting, you only need to put out 75% of the 343w it would take you to travel that same speed solo. That’s 257w, which is 4.28w/kg. Don’t miss this! Just to maintain your position in the draft your w/kg is already going to be higher than the heavier rider who is pulling.

Then if you get dropped and lose that 25% power savings, so you’ll need to put out 343w just to keep pace with the group. That’s a whopping 5.72 w/kg you’ll need to put out, while the guy pulling in the pack is still just doing 4 w/kg.

 

 

7

it would be better if zwift would show actually only watts on flats and w/kg on bigger uphills and downhils, might would be less confusing then… OR show both!

8

I find this happens occasionally as well, and not even when there is any drafting going on. I can be riding up Box Hill at 3.5 w/kg and someone goes flying past pushing 3.2. I don’t really care as we’re not racing, but it seems weird.

And in general group rides almost always turn into competitions with the average being .5 or so w/kg over the advertised rate. I guess that’s a bit like outdoor group riding!

2 Likes