2.5 W/Kg is the limit for D class isn’t it?
Seriously what’s the point in races?
This is a huge problem in the lower categories. Please also vote for these requests.
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Agreed this is annoying when it happens. We are working on how to resolve this type of issue in a way that makes everyone happy. Note that we think most riders who finish above category limits are not doing so to purposely sandbag, they simply don’t realize the impact of being in the wrong category.
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This should read " resolve this type of issue in a way that makes most users happy. LOL You wont be able to please everybody.
I think there is a lot of riders that just like winning lower cat races and they don’t care if they get DQ in Zwift power.
There need to be strict rules and they need to be enforced before or during the race.
Can’t we test a race series with auto assign Categories?
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Auto assigning of categories is something we’re considering but it’s a bit more complicated when you factor in new riders and seasonal riders. We have to build it in a way where the auto-assignment is right the vast majority of the time or else it makes racing even more frustrating.
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Couldn’t it be an option for the race organizer? Everyone who enters the race would know when signing up that they will be auto-categorized, if they don’t like that then they look for a different race to enter that doesn’t auto assign cats.
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Yes I can see that this can be a challenge. I am excited to hear that this is something you are looking into.
I am thinking something as simple as a FTP test or one “E” race. After a rider did one race his/her FTP should be set, there after every race will change the FTP. But this is a very simplistic way to look at it.
Yes this is a good idea: But my guess is soon all races will be Auto-Cat because it will be so much fun.
Look at this guy… cat C… Really?!
Screenshot removed due to it not following forum guidelines
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Auto-assign race categories needs some care. For example, most races are on flat courses, so a light rider like me will need to put out a higher WKG just to hold on to the heavier cyclists.
My FTP WKG would just about put me as a Cat B but in reality, I’m a mid-pack Cat C. (Not that I’ve entered many races)
If I got auto-assigned to Cat B, I’d never enter a race again and would not be happy with the Zwift platform.
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I think something like having the auto-assignment done based on your average normalized power for the last three races, might work?
If a rider is new or doesn’t have enough recent races, base it on their entered or measured FTP minus some percentage - with the number of riders and races on Zwift, no doubt they can calculate a good percentage to use.
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enter a race, zwift auto assigns based on ftp or other appropriate metric, user then has option to self assign aftewards. and have the leaderboard not show anyone over catagory limits at race finish.
you should just steer people to where they are supposed to be but not lock them in if they know they are in the wrong place.
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But this is true IRL as well. But I do get what you are saying. w/kg is not perfect, I would really want a ranking system, but small steps. But even with a ranking system if you do well on the climbing races you will be ranked higher and thus will have the same problem on flat races.
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you are making some sort of statement, when you’ve never raced… just 6 group rides. and you are a C, nowhere near a B anyway
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Wes what’s your timeline on deploying a race auto-assign feature? Have joined a ZA race today, but, as usual, suddenly everyone’s a D-cat rider. Getting tired of this. Zwiftpower and Gerrie’s approach seems simple enough: take FTP from last 3 races, if over the category power range, reassign to the appropriate category. It does my head in when you see a D-cat rider doing 5 W/kg for an hour.! At the moment the race categories are a mess. might as well not have any if it remains user self-selection.
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Sadly I cannot share timelines but this is certainly something we’re working on internally. It’s not quite as easy as taking an FTP from 3 races especially when you have many thousands of users trying racing for the first time every week during the busy season. Also FTP does not necessarily indicate how well someone will do at a specific race depending on race type and route.
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In the meantime from my race last night (I’m a C grader) …
The top 3 in D grade were all > 3.0w/kg and of course they kicked my butt too 
It is that easy, give us that until you have something better.
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I thought the w/kg categories based on your FTP, which is supposed to be representative of what you could average for an hour?
In which case it’s not unreasonable to be over that in a 40 minute race…
(^^^ read the thread properly now, the OP is for a race of 40 mins but the latter is an hour or so.)
That said, some of the figures shown are entirely unreasonable, and I have also seen crazy numbers in races that I’ve done too!
Zwift Power use a formula looking at your best 20 min of the race so even short races should follow the w/kg rule.
This is true Gerrie, but unfortunately that still hands the responsibility off to a third party when people want Zwift to take responsibility for the results so they can be displayed immediately and in game.
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