Unsure if this is feedback or a feature request so will just pop it in here and hope that’s ok.
Heard on a ride that when the red fence in group rides goes live, if you pass it you will be kicked out of the ride.
I’d like to request that instead of being kicked out of the ride the rider gets zooped to the back of the group. You’re not kicked…but you aren’t in front anymore either.
I think this would make for a more fun ride.
Thanks!
No it doesn’t zap you - Zwift turned that off a while ago due to bugs (a few events recently were accidently configured with it on). Zwift recently hinted that the fence will be back at some point.
Zapping was a galvanising subject - loads of different recommendations in various threads around here.
I think you would then end up with a group of people continually riding through the bunch, off the front and repeating from the back.
Personally I’m a fan of the fence doing what it was intended to do. Not saying that I’ve never ridden away from a group ride on the odd occasion that I’ve felt stronger after starting a ride than I did when I signed up. But overall it is disrespectful to the organisers and other participants. Last week or the week before I was sitting on the front of the bunch just behind the fence and I was 122’nd on the ride… 
Zwift is testing the old new letal. Fence.
I heard about Inc ride with letal fence, and we had it into team Italy endurance ride on last Sunday… Unfortunately it was bugged and impossible to disable, so we lost the majority of our riders because of this and ruined our prl full ride…
The fence sucks. If they don’t want to stay with the group, let them go. Just like a real group ride.
Why do they join the group ride, if they don’t want to stay with the group?
Well, there could be a bunch of reasons that doesn’t warrant force or things like that.
Perhaps the ride is going too slow. Perhaps you as a rider feel like going faster than the pack - but why have to end the ride and start over? We don’t do that with group rides. We just meet people back at the load in, or if you’re really fast and unsociable, you just leave.
Perhaps you thought it would be fun, but you’re feeling terribly limited by the pack and now its not fun at all. You just want to break free.
Just because as an organizer would like this great blob to feel that the group ride is being successful, I vote to let people be free and ride how they want. Don’t penalize them. They obviously are not interested in riding with the group, only starting with it.
The only problem with that mentality is we see a lot of new riders who get caught up with the fliers who just want to go fast since the new riders aren’t always sure who the leader is. So they go off with the front and then we see a fair amount of posts on group social media pages along the lines of “X ride wasn’t at target pace”, “I was riding above pace and still getting dropped”, etc. so it leaves a bad impression of group rides with people.
If there isn’t a group ride that meets your (any zwifter) pace needs at a time that works for you (any zwifter) then consider creating a meetup, building it up attendance wise, and trying to get it on the official ride calendar.
I don’t want to penalize anybody, riding mostly solo - tried a group ride with 2-2.5 wkg last week… never more. It was a race. So perhaps I could ask another question - why don’t they start in a race instead of ruining the group ride?
I know, next step is “why don’t they start in the proper category”…
The fence Zap function is not a penalty it just eject them from the group ride they still continue riding they just don’t have the ability to influence the group dynamic. It is a win win for the rider and the group.
What w/kg are fences based on – the leader’s watts for their weight, or some universal average middle-of-the-road weight?
the fence is based on the ride leader speed. It will stay a set distance (time 5s 10s) in front of the ride leader.
This is what the leader see: He can control the distance and turn it on and off.
Oh then! If its not a penalty, and they continue riding… then that’s a great solution!
Thank you! I will check out those links.
Huh. The idea of a bunch of people continually riding off the front, going through the fence, and getting kicked to the back actually sounds like a lot of fun. There could be some interesting rides based around that very thing. As you say though, pretty disrespectful to the organizers of your everyday ride. OTOH, if there was a ride where the function and purpose was to ride through the fence and be kicked to the back, that could be a lot of fun.
“I heard about Inc ride with letal fence, and we had it into team Italy endurance ride on last Sunday… Unfortunately it was bugged and impossible to disable, so we lost the majority of our riders because of this and ruined our prl full ride…”
Oh my gosh! Getting kicked during the PRL full! Brutal!
Ok, good to know. So it’s not like a bot Pace Partner but which just sits a certain amount of time in front of the listed w/kg calculated speed. IOW, the ride leader by default can’t pass the fence.
A followup question. Is the ‘zapping’ automatic, or the ride leader has to tap a button on a screen to confirm removal. That is, if accidentally go past the fence, is that it and you’re out? Or some time allowance to get back? I’m wondering about the in-course sprints – is it considered disrespectful to participate in those, which I think would by default shoot you past the fence if the ride leader isn’t also going full out?
The ride leader can’t pass the fence.
With Zapping it will give the rider a onscreen warning and a count down then it will Zap the rider.
With sprints the leader will turn of the fence and then after the sprint he will tell the riders to come back to him and then he will turn on the fence.
That’s solved by leaving the ride and continuing on your own. I did it today because a group ride was going much faster than the expected pace.