Instead of the fence kicking riders out there should be an option for event leaders to choose the impact hitting the fence has. Thinking specifically about the option for riders who hit the fence to be transported back to the yellow beacon our to the same time/distance gap behind the yellow beacon that the fence is set (IE if fence is at10sec then when you hit the fence you are transported 10sec behind yellow). Could also be that the nearer you get to the fence a larger handicap is applied so you have to work harder.
The second option might be easier to implement, as it would be like applying a gradient related to how close the rider is the fence. The other option would involve repositioning the rider during a ride, which would create some interesting distance calculation issues. Both might be hard, and probably more than the Zwift devs want to work on. In the grand scheme of things, though, if people want to kiss the fence, or ride behind it, they clearly don’t want to be in the group, so why not just boot them from the ride to do their own thing?
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What about the option to make the fence solid so that no matter how much power a rider puts out they can’t go beyond it. A bit like rubberbanding?
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Riding past the fence should trigger an un-mutable “Ride On!” every 3 seconds, for your ears only.
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I guess the problem with messing with ride position and teleporting people around, or adding “anchors” to people is that it removes the link between effort and distance, and makes it difficult to take Zwift seriously in terms of Strava segments etc. I do think you’ve got to have a realistic mapping between input and distance travelled and not mess with this too much.
Maybe a different option would be simply a “three strikes” rule? Or a configurable “grace” period after hitting the fence? Or some combination of these?
The complaints I see from people is that they got zapped unfairly because they were on a descent (and presumably don’t know about the “brake” function, or can’t use it since not on a PC etc), which this solution could probably overcome?
The electric fence is fine - it should be possible to manage your power/speed enough to stay with the beacon.
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I did my first ride with a fence yesterday, and it seemed to me to have a version of both these options. I accidentally hit the fence at the top of a climb, and it gave me a whole minute to get back behind it. I also got the impression from other riders that hitting it multiple times was not a problem as long as they got back behind it within the 60 seconds.
It should be, but because some people seem to take great pleasure in “winning” a group ride it definitely isn’t.
Correct David, my point was not to add these features, but to make them configruable - i.e. to say how long you had to get behind it (eg 30 seconds, or 5 minutes) and how many strikes you had before you were kicked (1, 5, unlimited etc).
Cool … is the only configurable option at the moment the distance then?
I’m far too much of a liability to ever be put in charge of a group event but as I understand it, yes:
The reason for raising the topic was that I have been on several rides over the Christmas period where there was some negativity thrown at the race leader, one ride in particular the yellow beacon was taking some abuse over the fence despite the fact they were riding at or close to advertised pace, and another where quite a lot of riders where kicked off when going downhill. Just got me thinking, given the human nature that seems to come with some Zwift riders (IE everything is a race), could this mentality be put to use to help the group as a whole, accepting that simply working at the front of the blob doesn’t seem to work. In my opinion the fence has helped but think it could be even more effective.
Supposedly fence function is now a configurable option in event setup, the organizer can choose between the original that removes flyers after 60 seconds in front of the fence and the gentler one that just keeps telling you to rejoin the group. During the event, the ride leader can just turn the fence on/off and select how many seconds ahead it will be from three options.
TLDR: let the ride leader configure the destination that the fence zaps a rider.
I’m fairly sure not much has changed in fencing since the last post. But I had a thought about it and looked to see if there was a forum, here I am.
I rode in some group, fenced rides and there was a lot of chat about putting the fence on, taking it off, asking why it was there etc. I found it quite a chore reading it, but it did distract me from the tedium. So, my thought was to be able to configure the fence. Beyond distance and ejecting or not. It’s mentioned previously by Craig Purchase about setting the Zap point to back behind the leader. That would be great. I ride the “Gain Train” on Thursday’s occasionally. They have 3 groups, B’s C’s and D’s. D’s go off first followed by C’s then B’s. The idea is that they work within their stated parameters to get to the end and all the groups merge shortly before the finish and a mass sprint ensue’s at the finish. Back to my fencing point, I thought it would be interesting if you were to ride off the front of a slower group, you would be zapped to the next group up. Thought this might stop the in ride chat about it and the vocal disappointment of having it there. Maybe however, it might make it worse!
I’m sure it would be a coding nightmare, but perhaps the teleporting code could be repurposed/re-engineered to facilitate it.
What about zapping those riders with a massive amount of aero drag so they have to do much more effort for the same speed until the main group catches up again.
Alternatively the fence could be a barrier that people cannot ride through no matter what they do.
I think this is a good idea. The zappy fence as it functions now is highly punitive, which means people who are new to group rides and have no idea how it works end up getting ejected, which means they are often bewildered and upset. But if they were simply allowed to claw at the fence as much as they want, well “at least they got a good workout”.
What lies beyond the fence??? Sticky air and a gravity well?
I agree it can be a harsh lesson to learn. In my experience, I think ride leaders can be a bit reticent to use it to keep the event under control. If they had an option to bounce riders around, back of the group, back to the leader etc it might improve things??
Ive been on quite a few group rides - led and leaderless - where the group has ridden responsibly with no flyers and no need for a fence. Equally I’ve had similar experiences to above where the fence has zapped a few who can’t control themselves and get back in time (or because not all ride employ the zap option, think they will keep going anyway).
I think folks get enough time to take action and are warned, so if the get zapped that’s their loss not the rest of the group. Sometimes a comfortable pace for you might take to to and through the fence, but you have enough warning.
If ride leaders are finding it hard to control a ride with a fence on multiple occasions, then rubberbanding would be a better solution.
The thing I see pretty regularly is a person shows up on the Zwift Beginners group on Facebook and says something like “I tried doing a group ride, and I was trying really hard not to get dropped, they were going so hard, and then all of a sudden the ride went away. What happened?”
The zappy fence warning doesn’t explain the “or else” consequences. Some kind of newby improvements could help with this new user experience.