A friend of mine is new to Zwift. He uses his electric bike on Zwift and is able to win the A class with ease. Do you think this is cheating? Should I say something or just let him be?
Hi Willem,
as you are probably aware the scrutinised racing results are dealt with by Zwiftpower. I am guessing you friend has not signed up to this group. If he
has Iâm sure his unlikely performances will be flagged by someone else
should you not want to do it yourself. This is probably the best solution
as it would be a shame to loose a friendship over a flawed racing system.
Zwift racing at is still in its infancy rule wise and pretty much anything goes
at present. This is I believe to be changed in the near future as there is talk
of a new racing system. Yes please Zwift. ASAP.
My view on Zwifts racing is, that if you are wanting a good hard workout it is fantastic, as is Zwift overall, I just donât get too hung up on the results. I am
talking as a (trapped) B group racer that only sees himself under the present system as a keen racer. When I first joined Zwift I did everything I could to reach the A group (mainly through weight loss) but I couldnât even win a B group race. LOL
I would like to see riders progress through the groups, not just sit at the top of one
group collecting imaginary trophyâs for their imaginary trophy case. Let there be some progression PLEASE. Obviously at some point a rider would top out but that
would be earned, and feel more real. (to me anyway)
Until we are given real points that move us up through the Catâs keep Zwift racing
results as a fantastically, engaging, awesome training session. Donât worry about
others until we get a workable solution to all the racing problems. (check the forum
for many other complaints)
Sorry for my rather long reply
âRide Onâ âŚhappily
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Itâs kind of pointless really using an electric bike - does he feel good about winning the races like that? For me its like an adult racing 5 year olds - yeah they would win all the time but what is the point. Iâd rather lose and know Iâd put a great deal of effort in. Also he will get much less training effect on an assisted bike, so again, what is the point?
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What an idiot. I would tell him to be a man and race in his correct category. My belief in humanity is deminished
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Ya think!? This is an honest question? Might I suggest taking an ethics class at your local college?
The amount of cheating I see taking place in Zwift each day defies belief; itâs already caused one of my friends to quit, another is considering it based upon his last Strava post and if I can ever nail a successful vEveresting, no small feat, Iâll be quiting too and going back to a âsoloâ type of indoor training program. Zwiftâs lack of action is driving serious riders to their competition.
There is nothing more frustrating than absolutey training oneself through the pain to become a better rider, then to have little Johnny on an E-bike or dumb trainer, or e-doping blow past cheating their tiny little egoâs into contentment. Nothing! It doesnât take a rocket scientist to know when someone is performing beyond what a well trained rider or even a pro could do.
I could share crazy stories from every single ride, but what would be the point? Zwift doesnât stop them.
If they really cracked down on this type of actively, banned them, ghost them for a week, put all ZPâs on a separate instance etc, the cheaters might quit paying them and Zwift could lose their subscription. See, this isnât about making Zwift a better place for us die hard roadie types to ride, train, hang out, or be happy, itâs really about the money.
I quit racing after a single attempt; saw whatâs going on quick. Iâve even started riding in the world solo a lot more because of the ego driven freaks causing problems, cheating, or trying to use me as their own personal âbot.â If Iâm going to be forced to ride solo to find some peace, then there are better options than Zwift.
Right now things look great, on the surface. However, a whole bunch of honest riders now using the program for the first time are (slowly) discovering the ugly truth underneath. Zwift is only look at next monthâs bottom line. Iâm thinking a year or two years into the future and what their reputation now is going to say about the company; itâs not very good.
Zwift is in a very critical moment in their history right now, whether they realize it or not. Big picture stuff. What will they do?
I donât know.
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Well, my opinion is: He is a p**** that is a loser in real life and gets his pride/ego boosted out of being a fake. He has no personality and always will be a loser. The only word for him is P***y.
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EB (electric bike)
Not a bad idea having electric bike
if he has a max low heart rate because of heart problem or pace maker
And cannot get past 120watts
mybe a EB would help them stay with the other riders
Instead of always being on their own
Zwift needs to address these issues
To make equal playing field 28yr old up against a 72 yr old
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Would that be accepted on a World Tour ?.. guess thatâs your ansver 
BòóX
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But thats what the categories are for. The 72years can compete with the not so fit 28yr olds in D or C cat.
Except that the category system is way too coarse. You are either lucky and at the upper end of the category so you can have fun going for the podium or you donât stand a chance in every single race. Every established multiplayer video game has some sort of matchmaking based on ELO etc. Zwift doesnât, but it appears they are moving towards that with the ZRacing score. With Zwiftâs innovation pace, we might get it in 2025.
Hereâs the latest update on that
Of course the coarse category system wonât be fixed by implementing racing scores, but hopefully people with endless podiums will get upgraded so it could help a bit. Iâm sure it will come as a shock to them and weâll hear endless griping about how nothing is fun anymore.
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Yeah, with a basic 4-Cat system, this basically would just move the line, resulting in a different batch of folks (those promoted into bottom of next higher cat) complaining how theyâre at the low/losing end of their new cat. To make any system more âfunâ, you need a lot more events done with split cats, and to keep rider numbers high enough in these, remove a bunch of rides from the calendar that are diluting the racing base.
Somewhat defeats the purpose of competition to make an equal playing field by getting rid of all performance advantages someone has. Like a chess tournament where the worse chess players get to use AI to help them figure out their moves.
The entire point of competition rests in the notion that some people are better at a given task than othersâthe competition is to try to figure out who that is today.
If you donât like that some people are going to be better at a task than others, because of a wide variety of factors, then competition isnât what youâre looking for. There are plenty of people who swim faster than I doâthe competition of a triathlon is not made better by letting me use fins.
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Who was the better boxer anyway? Sugar Ray or Iron Mike?
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In real life you have age categories to even things up so 70 year olds are racing against 70 year olds.
Maybe you can have 70yo e-bike racers against 70yo e-bike racers burning up the worldwide KOMs on Alpe du Zwift. About that⌠
And they are not racing with E-bikes, or if they tried to they will have a nice long holiday from racing.
All the older racers I know are very hard headed, they want to race and win by doing it properly, not by e-bikes and the like. If you even suggested what you are saying to them youâd get yelled at.
Haha, theyâll just have to learn to enjoy a different kind of fun - called competition.
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Ivan Drago.
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These issues will eventually be resolved by the 211th, 212th, and 213th amendments to the US Constitution.
Of course itâs cheating!
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What do you describe as cheating is it a level playing field or is it a person in a wheel chair and a fit 25th a old going against a disable person it seems it is all about you as a winner no matter what some people who need help lean my man wait long enough you will get to the disable stage
The question isnât whether some people are, or will have, conditions that affect their performance. The question is what people want from competition in general.
There are runners who donât have full use of their legsâpara-athletes. And theyâre slower than people without those injuries. IRL weâre not too far off from being able to outfit para-athletes with prosthetics that would make them as fast, or even faster, than runners without injuries or disabilities. And then we could put them in the same races.
Do we want that? âWeâ being the broad community of athletes in the world. Do we want every race in the future to be open to people with those sort of prosthetics? Without them, those athletes wonât be able to compete with non-para athletes. With them, theyâll be able to. Do we still want some racing to happen without prosthetic aids? Or should our notion of âcompetitionâ be radically changed to include attempts to level the playing field regardless of physical ability?
It seems to me that every culture Iâve seen values competition as a test of actual physical ability. Even among para-athletes, there are classifications to separate athletes into categories of physical ability. 
Society likes that.
Could there be some races that allow ebikes and other forms of aid? Sure. If people want to compete in those, thereâs no reason we couldnât have them in addition. But someone using a mechanical aid in a context when it is neither expected nor appreciated nor intended is cheating, yes.
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we have had that already, Pistorius (prior to the murder obviously!) did race with able bodied (sorry of that is the wrong phrase) athletes. There are rules and regulations around the blades athletes can use.
Interestingly Pistorius claimed they gave him no benefit but then argued that a different athlete in the paralympics gained an unfair advantage with the blades they used so he seemed to argue against himself when it didnât suit him.
anyway, we are so far off topic it is unreal.
is someone using a motor of any kind in zwift racing - 100% yes. I donât even get how this is a question?!
If a runner just set their treadmill off and wasnât actually running on it the whole time would that be okay?! just hopped off for a rest every now and then.
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