In the last two days, I’ve done 5 group rides. 3 Tour de Zwift stages and 2 Herd rides. In the Tour de Zwift stages, everything worked fine. However, in the Herd rides, one of which I was supposed to be the red beacon, I was completely invisible to the other riders. Nobody could see me, either my avatar on the road or in the rider list, or my chats. DMs worked, but that’s it. Until the ride ended. Then, suddenly, I could be seen and my chats showed up. In the ride I was supposed to be the red beacon, I saw the beacon over my head and I was able to give out bulk ride-ons, but, being invisible, it was impossible for me to provide a draft and sweep other riders. Luckily, my backup was there and was also given the red beacon. In the TdZ stages, I was interacting with other riders in the event chat, not DMs, so I assume that I was visible as well.
On Thursday, I did TdZ 5B in the morning, TdZ 5C at lunchtime, and Herd Thirsty Thursday (red beacon) in the evening. On Friday, I did TdZ 6B in the evening and Herd FriYay Social about 40 minutes after completing the TdZ stage. All of these were done on the same setup (Zwift on iPad, companion app on Android phone).
Why was I in limbo specifically for the Herd rides?
I am having the same issue, watching this.
Are you using a Wattbike?
Or kickr bike? And what setup?
My setup is a regular bike (Spec. Roubaix Elite) on 2016 KICKR with Zwift on iPad and Companion app on Pixel 5.
It doesn’t seem to have happened since Saturday. I do some rides on iPad and others on Apple TV 4K, but these were all on iPad. No changes in setup between rides.
I had a similar experience last Saturday as red beacon keeper for 3R C 100km Steady ride. Everything was fine for first 30km or so when all the other riders disappeared suddenly.
After a few seconds, a few riders reappeared and eventually the yellow beacon, but not the whole group. The entire ride list reappeared briefly before I was stuck with no one in the ride list, but could still see leader chat, but no others.
I lost the group and draft but remained in Zwift purgatory as the red beacon for the remainder of the ride. Luckily was able to DM volunteers from the group to mind the rear for the remainder of the ride.
This “ghosting” has been an issue I have heard from other riders ever since the most recent updates. This last build is riddled with bugs, between this and the fragmented chat, the user experience has been hamstrung. When these things effect leaders and keepers, it impacts the entire group, not just one rider.