Do it in races and it will fine. i can see why they have it for groups ride/free rides. @Chris_D9
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The ramps in NYC feel vastly different somehow. Also, my kickr climb behaves in London. When I was using 100% TD on my kickr v6, I’d go from riding in z2 around 200w 85rpm gear 12-14 virtual shifting depending on speed, I would quickly shift down through the gears to 1 and nearly have the pedals stop if I wasn’t fast enough with the watts jumping up. The longest ramp is the biggest culprit due to the extra time spent on it. Going down, to maintain z2, I would go from 12-14 to 18 or so. It’s not as bad to have the resistance pull away as there’s plenty of overhead for shifting up.
My biggest gripe is when my kickr climb is stuck at 19% or -10% (forgot what the range actually is) for several seconds after when the gradient is actually around 0%.
Same delayed onset/end using Kickr Core v1 with current firmware. I’d say the effect is the same in the London escalator, but to a lesser degree. In NYC it seems more significant. Thanks for looking into it!
I’m using Kickr V5 and Climb.
New York escalators feel a bit odd. After reaching the top, the trainer’s resistance peaks.
Also, Climb sometimes doesn’t return to its original position immediately. After descending, it maintains the same posture all the way to the bottom. After ascending, it holds the same posture for a while, waiting until it levels out, but it takes a little time to return.
There’s a clear difference compared to London escalators.
In London, the load is released after you reach the top of the escalator. In NY, even though the video shows you’ve passed the top, the trainer load continues.
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I’m on a JetBlack Victory. While I wasn’t performing rigorous ‘tests’ for troubleshooting, and could be mis-remembering, I recall perceiving a ‘lag’ at the start of the ascents, where the resistance didn’t seem to increase as fast as I was downshifting (with ‘Click’), leaving me ‘spinning out’ until mid-escalator when the resistance seemed to kick in. I definitely don’t remember any instances where the resistance didn’t feel right at the exit from the escalator ascent. Again, I wasn’t scrutinizing the phenomena, so I could be mistaken.
Kickr v5 here and I’m getting a 3-5 second delay going up and down. I put it down to network performance and trainer’s ability to react to sharp kicks. I’m probably half way up the ramp before resistance kicks in and then a good few seconds of flat afterwards do not relent. Equally when descending I’m probably halfway down before I start picking up speed, which lasts some way afterwards. With seeing it going down as well as up, I don’t think this is related to the escalator functionality specifically.
Kickr v6 and Climb here, and I’ve not experienced this anywhere in new NYC yet (twice through Spinfinity, once through The Greenway) - each time, resistance on the Kickr and height on the Climb returns to normal in what feels like the correct amount of time, definitely not well into the flat section after the escalators.
I’ve also tried various amounts of power (reasonable effort, light effort, sit back and let the escalator do the work) and in each case, my combo seemed to work properly. Thought the data points would be useful in case this turns out to be specific to certain configurations.
tacx neo (firtst edition) trainer and I have the same feeling of misalingnment. London no problem but on the New York escalators you have to pedal hard for a long time after you’ve come of the steep part.
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I have had similar issues but the resistance on my trainer doesn’t seem to go back to a normal level and my power levels go crazy. I go from pushing 3,5-4 w/kg to anywhere from 6-7,5 w/kg until I get to the next escalator. It has resulted in a greatly increased FTP, racing score and category bump from B to A (which means I’ve been disqualified from my ZRL team).
Riding Elite Suito setup.
I am using Kickr Bike V1 but power comes from my Favero Assioma pedals, I am not experiencing the huge delays/unusual behaviour of others.
I apply the power going up the hill, but I’ve also taken the other option and stopped (0 watts) and the escalator takes me up the hill and that works as expected.
Email zwiftpower@zwift.com if you need your PRs reset, but if you have a faulty trainer you need to address that to avoid a recurrence
Thanks Paul, I will contact them. It shouldn’t be my trainer though as I have only experienced the problem in connection with the escalator ramps in NY and nowhere else on Zwift.
I guess we’ll find out if others are getting that experience as well. I don’t have a theory for how the game could make your trainer produce those numbers, but I guess if you stay away from escalators maybe you get to enjoy ZRL 
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Yep, all the escalators feel wrong for me too. JetBlack Victory trainer.
Takes to long to long for the resistance to come in, then feels like I’ve slammed into a brick wall, and to get going again at the top, on the flat you have to push way to much power than is realistic. Doesn’t feel anything like London
If it has to be an elevator, it should require little effort to use, like in real life, but here when the gradient simulation kicks in it drags the cadence to a near halt, loosing momentum completely and you really have to work to get going again. In reality, coming off an elevator or moving walkway you carry some of that momentum with you, so it’d be nice if the simulation reflected that, making it easier to continue without constantly adjusting gears
They’re a pretty dominant feature on the new roads and the abrupt changes do impact the flow of the rides unlike anything else on Zwift
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Kickr V5, trainer difficulty set to zero, myself and 3 other riders, I put out the most W/KG going up the escalator and still got dropped, on the second lap I also used a feather power up and still putting out the most W/KG I was still dropped.
The escalator boost effect means speed going into the climb matters a lot more, and there is a ton of draft available. It’s taking some time to understand how to hit it properly but it’s not like a normal climb at all. Aero/draft powerups help a lot.
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I was drafting both times but I maybe have a little lag on connection, I will try sprinting a few seconds earlier next time, thanks.
Also, there’s a bug on the escalators when going DOWN them where you lose all draft, so you’ll be at like 105 draft as you approach, lose all draft on the way down it, and then due to speed increase be on like 330 draft as draft returns at the bottom and you hit the flat. 
Tried hitting the escalator at 1000 watts and it made no difference, second time I free wheeled onto it and came off it at 1000 watts, made no difference, riders putting out a lot less watts either dropping me or matching me.
With the steep angle rapid change visually and chevrons moving at a different speed than your avatar, it is a bit vertigo inducing.