I tried racing, and I was harassed and called names because they said I was in the wrong category. zPower and my Zwift feed both suggest category D.
I’m not sure what I am doing wrong, and I’m definitely sure that road racing is a more friendly environment… and I never thought I would say that.
If anyone can help, I would appreciate it.
Maybe they are looking at your past results from 2021 which were 3.4w/kg for 20 mins, perhaps they are looking at your last race’s 20min power (which probably should up-cat you for your next race maybe?), or maybe that you won every D race you’ve entered this year?
Not sure, but you’re pretty close to being moved up a category if your last race was 2.6w/kg for 20 mins I would think.
Edit: You’re still showing as D cat in Cat Enforcement, so it looks like you’re still fine to be in D.
The old power results were definitely an anomaly from an older tacx wheel-on trainer that must have read way high, because I have never come close to those numbers again. I was also in way better shape two years ago…
Do you think I should just cat up? I don’t want to piss everyone off and get yelled off a race again.
From looking at your last race it doesn’t seem your w/kg power is much higher than the others in it (basically similar to the others on the podium). With Category Enforcement it ‘should’ keep you in the right category.
While you don’t really need to cat-up until Cat Enforcement tells you to, though you might actually have more fun in C. You ‘should’ be able to keep up just fine in Cat C on any flat race without much issue due to your high base watts (Due to your weight above 100kg it does take a lot of watts to hit the w/kg threshold to go up to C).
There tends to be way more racers in the C category than the D category in races, so that might be more motivational potentially. But really it’s up to you because cat enforcement has you in D. Still, might be worth trying a flat C race to see if you have more fun!
Thanks for the advice, I’ll give it a shot. I definitely tend to get dropped hard as soon as the road turns up.
And thanks for taking the time to look at my number and explaining everything
Yeah, if you can find a race that is on a mostly flat route (one that avoids any longer KOMs if at all possible) that would be a good one to test out in C 
Your base watts should be plenty to keep up with the main pack on flats in C I would think - when you end up on a long climb the w/kg will make things more difficult.
But at the end of the day in my opinion you shouldn’t feel ‘bad’ about entering D as long as cat enforcement shows you as D. It just might be less interesting if there are only a few D riders to race against.
As a legit D category rider, all categories are open to you. You don’t deserve to be harassed for entering D. If the comments are really nasty you can report the riders (take screenshots). If you want to avoid ever seeing mean comments or trash talk during races you also have the option to hide group chat during the event (it’s in settings). There is rarely anything useful in the chatter. When I see a rant in race chat, I take it as a clue that the person is in a self-defeating state of mind, they may do something tactically stupid or rage-quit, which is all fine with me.
Racers who are peeved about how the category system works have the choice to race events more suited to their body type. They chose to enter a race that you own by virtue of being a large rider at the top of D category power. You are not the complaint department for the category system, and you’re not responsible for their choice of event - it’s simply not your problem. When I enter flat races, I am prepared to lose to a bigger rider or better sprinter than me. If that doesn’t sound fun then I pick a different race.
Google on reporting harassment in zwift companion app – so you can do so if this happens again.
you’re not doing anything wrong. don’t worry about it