I think it would be great to be able to see what other riders’ heart rates are when out on the track. Maybe put a small icon and number on the right of the screen next to each riders name? Heart rate can tell you a lot, for example, how hard a rider is pushing to catch up with you or to pass you. It would be fun and informative.
It would also add another variable to identify “flyers”, i.e. someone pulling 16 W/kg, but only running 85 BPM.
I’m not personally opposed to showing HR, but it seems to me it should be up to the system to identify “flyers,” not other users. Putting it on users just creates conflict in the community, IMO.
To see the tension, just look at the reaction some people on Facebook had to posting weight in one’s name. They took it as an insult (or a boast) and made comments about wanting to knock those riders off their bikes.
I actually think it might be interesting to see Zwift take away the lightning bolt to see what happens to the community. Right now it’s a source of prejudice. I’m not saying that there aren’t more people with miscalibrated zPower than miscalibrated power meters or smart trainers, but zPower riders that are calibrated correctly don’t get much credit in the community.
Firstly, zPower riders that are calibrated correctly will never really know if they are calibrated correctly (unless they have some sort of power meter as well)
Secondly, I think they get as much credit as those of us who do use a powermeter.
= Zero
Personally I would like to choose on entering if I want to ride with other riders by device type. (as a paid service, not necessarily beta)
Oh, heart rate info, Yes please.
Although I must admit, I don’t bother wearing mine any-more using PM, but would be happy to for the sake of the game.
I actually agree with you Christian - we should not be policing the island.
My point was that once (if) BPM is posted for all riders, it becomes “public domain” - at least in the game. You’re aware that your heart rate is out there.
At present, I’m not aware of the Zwift folks tracking or using our heart rate data without our knowledge. Maybe it’s just me, but it feels invasive if they are actually using it without telling us to track flyers.
However, if posted for each rider, and you realize that going in, it “officially” gives Zwift a great additional data point to track cheaters.
You can see HR for riders (if they are monitoring it) by clicking their name in-game. Maybe at some point the mobile app could have this too. If screen space were given to something I would rather see raw watts or % of FTP shown instead of HR.
I have clicked on a riders name a few times in races to check out there heart rate. Problem is if I get a drop of sweat on the touch pad its starts acting up and is hard to get the view back to my avitar. So…seeing it in the rider display would be nice, helps you have a clue if now is a good time to attack. Unlike RL u can’t hear your competition starting to breath hard on a climb.
Ah, thanks Duane - I didn’t realize you could do that.
Hi everyone,
We don’t use heart rate to track flyers - it’s done by time and distance. And, yes, we’d rather not have the community policing other riders. We *always* take the stance that a player probably has a mis-calibrated setup versus outright cheating.
Ok, so I looked on the mobile app at a rider who was giving it prolonged beans and it stated he was on Zpower yet he had a power icon next to his name in the game. What does that mean?
It’s not so much about cheating, but when you’re following someone that is ridding at 500 watts while at 80B/M then it would be much easier on yourself to see that they certainly have a calibration problem so it’s not worth trying to compete with them