Group all riders male and female, AI-riders male and female, created rides, according to something like W/Kg FTP from Training Peaks Power Profiling

Hi

As above, group all riders, male and female, according to something like Training Peaks Power Profiling. This could be calculated from
a. Previous rides Avg W/Kg
b. Weight
c. Gender
Everybody start at “Untrained (e.g., non-racer)” and advances within the category or up to next category according to “trend”.

When arranging rides, have the arranger provide this information to give interested riders information about the intensity of the ride. (NOT 200w but cat. 4)

Also group the AI riders in ALL of those FTP W/Kg-groups and for both genders.

URL to used information : http://media.trainingpeaks.com/documents/powerprofiling-v4.xls

World class (e.g., international pro)
Exceptional (e.g., domestic pro)
Excellent (e.g., cat. 1)
Very good (e.g., cat. 2)
Good (e.g., cat. 3)
Moderate (e.g., cat. 4)
Fair (e.g., cat. 5)
Untrained (e.g., non-racer)

Great idea!! I think this is pretty excact too, as I’m on the edge of domestic pro based on FT. On max 5s I’m almost out of the chart (26,68) :smiley:

I like the idea of categories, but given the uneven gender proportions in the ridership, I would make the categories gender-neutral (and hence not use the standard power profiling guideline).

Also, Trainingpeaks is pretty hard-core. I see a need to pay more attention to the non-racing categories in Zwift. There seems to be a pretty wide range of competitiveness among riders and excluding non-racers (by bucketing them all in one category) doesn’t seem appropriate to me.

This is an excellent idea, especially for those of us who start vomiting and fall off the bike after 4 laps.

Untrained must be in groups from .50 .70 .90 1.0 1.25 1.5 watt/Kg and up within that category! Like you say Christian W.

I agree this should be gender neutral. watt/KG works the best for all riders. Do it! :smiley:

I feel that a dissenting opinion needs to be presented in case Zwift are actually considering implementing this sort of thing. Please don’t take it personally. I may only speak for the minority.

I oppose the idea of putting riders into categories on two grounds.

Just because a rider is capable of a certain wattage at threshold does not mean that rider will be riding at Zone 4 today. You will likely miss out on the chance to make new friends if you assume otherwise. For all you know, you might have had a nice two hour ride where you were at high tempo, and your new buddy was at low endurance or even recovery pace. Project this out to more riders and you can see how pigeonholing people can make things weird.

It takes something away from the social aspect of this as a social game. In real life, nobody has their FTP stamped on their back in a ride. Even in races where there are categories, people still don’t advertise their relative strengths. It is the task of the individual to pay attention and find out by observation what the situation is. It’s the same thing over the course of time when you enter into a new location and meet riders. You find out who the people in your relative strength ballpark are. You find out a lot about people by observation.

I would prefer if Zwift were like that. I have now logged 1500 miles on Zwift and I can safely state that I still prefer it that way.

If you want to ride with people at a certain pace, then set up a forum or a signup place where these kinds of desires can be discussed, along with riding style (competitive, stay together, length of ride etc.) This is already happening on FB and it’s only a matter of time before it happens on “My Zwift” as well.