Faster pace partners?

Hi

I think the pace partner feature is great, but there are too few pace partners in the A-cat range (only one at 4.2w/kg).

Could you add a couple for a bit more flexibility? One at 4.4 and at 4,6 might be a great addition.

Hi Joakim,

I’ve no plans to add faster paced Pace Partners I’m sure, mainly down to the sheer lack of demand.

Try riding a TT bike with the 4.2w/kg one and see how you get on.

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Okok i see. Ill try that and see what happens.

@James_Zwift Would there be any interest in adding more ‘aggressive’ pace partners? Not sure how they’d be listed, but the one downside (at least for someone like me with poor impulse control when I see a finish line) for pace partners is having to choose between going for a KOM/Sprint and sticking with the partner.

Would there be interest in pace partners that hold a certain w/kg average, but then kick it up X% for segments? Label them as ‘Segment Hunting’ Robo Pacers or something. Maybe I’m in the minority here.

EDIT: Just saw the discussion under ‘get rid of dynamic pacing’–that seems to answer my question, there’s likely to be only one kind of Robo, right? :slight_smile:

Similar to what James said here, you can tune your effort quite a bit with bike choice. I often will use a gravel or mtb to make the pacer harder. It’s a workaround solution but it gets you pretty close to what you need. And of course you can go with the TT bike, which I’ve done, and it’s tough.

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Ok cool. Do you have an approximation for how much difference in w/kg some of those suggestions might make?

the TT bike should be a 1:1 ish effort compared to the pacer… I can’t say for sure what the others are, It depends on your personal CDA and weight. The slowest would be the MTB, followed by the gravel and then maybe the Safety/Buffalo bikes? you’d probably have to break it down into percentages from ZI’s speed tests.

Ok thanks. Ill try it out and see what works best.

Could you also add 25kg to your weight? That would make things much more difficult wouldn’t it?

And ride a gravel bike.

you could but it has less effect on flat sections and a larger on hills. Plus I don’t really recommend posting anything but your actual weight.

Same here. I’ve never tried adding more weight. It’s hard enough as it is. :wink:

I used to be fast enough to manage 70km with the old Anquetil bot on the mountain route but since the crash and long recovery that’s gone.

Definitely adding weight or switching bikes can make a big difference. In my experience, gravel bike adds about 30W to average output, MTB about 50W. Not sure how that scales with rider size.

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I also would like to have a big brother to Constance, riding at 4.5wkg or something. When I do my 8 min sessions with Constance, typically a 10-20 group, My 1min peak is about 3.6-3.8 wkg and the 5min peak is around 3.4-3.5 wkg (according to S4Z measured in many occations).

I rather use normal bike with a PP riding in a typical pack, more of simulation of real race conditions, vs sitting on a TT bike with no draft. I’m no TT-fan :slight_smile:

Maybe make your height greater?

Otherwise robopacers that sprint at random times would be awesome, I remember someone here mentioning they’d love the “thrill” of the sprint.

So why not? Robopacers which could chase the flyers at the front might be interesting too.

I race a lot and dont want to manipilate weight/height. It’ll be recorded in my history. If someone would be suspicious, they might not believe my explaination. Not sure if I would. :smiley:

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Oh right, didn’t think of racing, that’s correct,

Maybe use a very slow bike then. Even the big spin bike (atomic cruiser) - that is a tank of a bike. I think it gets draft but is very heavy.

Another idea might be that Zwift brings back Amelia Anquetil out of retirement at 65kg and steady 4.2w/kg up hills and she rides all of the mountain routes only, so you don’t get to draft so much.

Constance really only rides very flat routes. The moment it does a slightly hilly route half of the regulars go into hiding…

I used the atomic cruiser on a 100km group ride and my average power wasn’t really much different than the same 100km group ride I did the week before on the Tron, so I think the difference isn’t going to be huge with a pace partner. To really have a big difference probably best to use a gravel bike or a mountain bike.

Yes, good idea. Will try with slower bikes and wheelsets.
I like the idea of riding in race conditions. Such a huge difference vs ERG in the feeling, and at the same time get training on closing gaps, select right wheel, surge, etc :smile:

Another idea would be to wait at start of Alpe du Zwift and when Mr or Mrs Dot rides past at 6.5w/kg and 120bpm you could join them up Alpe for a harder workout. :wink:

Of course they will only be there for as long as 6 or 10 people don’t flag them for dodgy power.

I think pace dynamics tweaks done carefully so that the sticky draft in big packs and autobraking to slow people down is equally annoying for everyone other than just lightweight folk would give people the “dynamic” experience they want in RP groups.

They will also get the sprints they want by virtue of lots of mini-surges needed to prevent being stuck at the back or dropped.

:cowboy_hat_face: