Could we get the drops multiplier (i.e. same as pacer bot rides) added to group rides that have a group ride leader?
That would help incentivize participants to stay with the leader.
The fence can’t keep track of the group leader that is why it doesn’t kick flyers.
The same with the drops people close to the leader may not get drops.
Is it not the case that the fence is configurable by the ride leader to be two seconds or five seconds or 10 seconds ahead? By its very nature then, the fence MUST have a specific tracking or connectedness to the leader. Likewise, the “close the gap” function has obviously been configured to “track” a rider’s relationship to the PACE partner, both with respect to relative position, distance, and rate of closure or opening. Therefore the request is not only reasonable, but it stands to reason that the technology is already available and tested to implement such an incentive scheme.
Lets just say the Pace Partner has a stable connection and knowing position unlike some ride leaders. but I don’t want to get into a discussion about this.
Like many others Gerry, you seem to think my comments are directed to you personally. But they are not. This is an open public forum. My comments are directed to the entire Zwifting community.
Clearly every Rider on zwift has a known position and speed relative to the virtual riders around her. in fact this technology was substantially altered and hopefully improved with the group pack Dynamic AI release just made.
I respect that you may have some personal knowledge about shortcomings of group rides the fences and ride leaders. I can only hope that you choose to share such knowledge with the community at some point in the near future.
My comments however are relevant to the content of the original poster who clearly DOES want to get into a discussion about this together certainly with many other participants in this forum besides your kind self. This is not a one-to-one conversation… this is a one-to-many conversation.
My point is that currently there is some incentive to jump into a workout with pacers that doesn’t exist with the more traditional group rides. And that it would be reasonable to help the group rides retain their ride clients by adding some of that incentive to their rides as well.
I had no intention to start a discussion about other problems there might be with group rides or pacers.
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I completely agree with you. The reason most often that I join the Pace Partners and NOT a group ride is because they manage to adhere to their ride description, unlike most group rides that I participate in. I suspect that the immense and growing success of the Pace Partners is drawing its support from many others who feel the same way. From my perspective though, it has nothing to do with the drops multiplier incentive, but that may not be the case for others. I think your idea is a fine one and I was merely speculating out loud about the technology which seems already available to enable your idea to be implemented.
The suggestion in this thread that the Pace Partner has a more stable connection and known position when compared to a Ride Lead, or any other rider for that matter, seems wrong on its face, else the Pack Dynamics (recently updated) would fail immediately. So let’s just say the Pace Partner, Ride Lead, and every other rider on Zwift has a stable connection and known position. And I would love to have a discussion about why this might not be the case? As well as why adding a drops multiplier to group rides is not a terrific idea? Got my vote! Especially if the ride leaders are penalized for violating their own ride descriptions, and other Riders are penalized for violating the fence! Now we’re talkin’.
If a ride leader have a very low framerate and a very lagging network connection then Zwift wont know where the ride leader is for every second so the fence would jump every time the ride leader sent this information.
All riders in the ride depend on a constant and fast stream of information from the ride leader.
If a person has low framerate and slow network it will only impact that person and wont be a big deal for the group. but if that person is the leader then it would impact everyone.
And that is one reason why the fence is not kicking riders.
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I was about to start a new Feature thread, but since this is already contained in Feature Requests, I’ll include my comments here:
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Group Ride Leaders, upon whom scores or even hundreds of Zwifters depend for their riding experience, should not be so designated unless they have a sufficient frame rate and stable connection;
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Group Ride Leaders, with properly functioning hardware and software/firmware, should be given the tools necessary to kick Riders who violate the fence, at their option, either individually or en masse with a warning.
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