So first race over and I have a few issues that I just want to understand if they’re mine or Zwifts…
1 - joined at the right time but even though everything was connected I just sat there for a couple of minutes legs spinning but going nowhere
2 - eventually my avatar jumped from the top of the start platform to underneath in the sea and said something like “pedal assist” for about a minute
3 - after 1 and 2 I was virtually a lap down already and nothing on screen to suggest that the race has started at any point
4 - once finally under way I could see riders on the map and on the list on the right but I was a good 40 mins into the race before I saw a single rider on track
5 - I had a couple of riders in my category around me (in the list) no more than 30 secs ahead so I thought game on… yet these riders kept jumping from being ahead to behind in fractions of a second
6 - my position was - - / 71 on screen the whole time so I had no idea of where I was
7 - when riders eventually appeared on screen they were coming past me like I’m standing still… I was pushing 2ish W/kg in cat D yet other Cat Ds are running at the same speed as probably catAs
8 - when the remaining distance ran to 0 nothing happened so I stopped and checked the menu but there was only quit race… nothing on screen to say where to carry on to, eventually I just kept riding until it stopped at a reduced speed
On the whole my first experience was not good, I know some of this is my fault but I thought that Zwift was supposed to be quite plug and play and idiot proof yet even joining the race is not at all obvious…
Did you do a time trial? I have never seen “pedal assist” on anything else. That could also explain why your starting time wasn’t exactly at the event start.
Keep at it.
I’m not sure where you heard Zwift was a plug and play game.
Almost every body has issues to work out.
Everybody is Zwifting on a set up different than most others.
This was the motivating factor that lead to a robust forum community years ago.
In the beginning, there were very little instructions from Zwift, we just entered the world, rode around and made discoveries.
In terms of lateness or otherwise I sat there on the main screen watching the count down to the event and when it got to zero nothing happened. I knew it was in Watopia so I selected that and was instantly asked if I wanted to join the event. So from my point of view I was bang in time but reading other posts it seems I should enter sooner?
From your last post I’m not clear on where you were waiting. For events you can start riding in any world prior to the event. When the event is 15 minutes away you will get the option to join event in the companion app and in the main app. I usually wait till about 2 minutes to go before joining, but if you’re not used to it then maybe do it with 5 minutes to spare.
After hitting join you’ll get transported to the start of the event and you can keep pedalling, you just won’t move. When the event starts you’ll start moving automatically so especially if it’s a race get your power up 3 to 5 seconds before the start.
When I joined the event I started in the tree shaped assembly area but when I actually started moving I jumped underneath into the water!! Once on land and on the road it was ok apart from those things mentioned above…
This sounds like you weren’t in a ride and were waiting on the world selection/route screen. Then you chose watopia after it started and were late, hence the pedal assist and ending up in a weird spot under water. You need to spawn in a world prior to the countdown ending, plan on at least 4 or more minutes, the earlier you are the better. You can sit in the race pen and warmup.
A user will be provided with a Join Event notification (at the bottom left of the screen) 30 minutes before the scheduled event start, NOT 15 minutes as mentioned above. In fact, a user may secure his/her position at the starting queue of an event, exit, and do something else (including do a warm-up ride with a Pace Partner, for example) and then re-join the group ride prior to the event start and STILL preserve your early position in the starting sequence.
