Is it possible to have a controlled lead in on mass start races as the distance to the start line on some races is quite long.Just a thought.
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Hi Steve,
In short, no.
But some series (thinking Flamme Rouge) include that as part of their race rules, and they (I believe) DQ those who donât stick to the rules.
Iâve found the starts in longer races (like over 40/50k+) to be slightly more tolerable, albeit still hard.
Worth noting that whilst the lead in isnât technically part of the lap, it is still part of the race and should be treated as such.
Just assume the lead in is part of the race except if the race directions state something different.
Iâm sure the technology (or something close to it) exists.
They could implement something from the Fence zapping code once that works reliably.
But really, all that does is slightly delay the FOOLS GAS start. Even with a neutral roll-out, once the flag drops people will still hammer on ASAP to get a gap (or not get dropped). Zwift racers gonna start hard. 
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Kind of. Itâs not a standing start so itâs not a zero to hero effort.
We did this when we first started racing on the platform and you found people do push past the leaders and riders do drop off the back before the goâŚgo⌠An A rider would usually want a faster lead in than a D. Very difficult to control.
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A natural Zone will make the starts even harder. Letâs say Zwift Limit the rider speed to 30km/h no matter what power you generate, then just before the flag drop people will spin up to high power and shoot off like they currently do. But now the heavy strong riders are already at speed and donât have to accelerate their body mass there fore they will fly even faster than a standing start.
I donât think thatâs quite what I would interpret the request as. I think it would be more of a âno more than 2w/kgâ for a certain period of time at which point the restriction was relaxed.
So everyone would be travelling at roughly the same speed, although the heavier riders would have to put out more watts to maintain that speed.
Either way, the functionality doesnât exist at this stage.
at 2w/kg the heavy guys will go faster on a flat road.
Even if we are traveling at the same speed and us heavy guys have to put out more power, just before the flag drop we will go up to 500-600w and shoot of the front.
Not having to accelerate a big mass will be awesome. 
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âEveryone meet by the lap start and wait for the signal. Then neutral roll out to the sprint banner, then go!â (or was it the bridge?)
The nascent days of Zwift racing. Good times.
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you can take a lot of the sting out of a fast start yourself. for a B race, if your peak power is 15wkg and you start a race with 10 seconds at 10-11wkg, then you might as well start with 5wkg for 45 seconds instead. youâre still going to have to do the next couple of minutes at or near FTP anyway but the next half an hour will be much easier for you if you do the latter
Iâm just happy you recognise any of my starts as heroic! 
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This actually isnât true, if the FRR experience is anything to go by. Once up to speed and released, there is really no point sprinting off the front as it is so easy to hold the draft. It actually just just starts the race smoothly as one would hope.
The FRR experience has made me realise an optional ramped start behind a neutral rollout vehicle would actually be an awesome feature.
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I donât know what FRR is, but I think this is the key aspect. Whether the neutralised period does get people up to a near-racing pace, or whether itâs a relative pootle then a GOGOGO!
Itâs hard to do at the moment as previously noted. I watched someone do a race recently (Ed Laverack I think), that was supposed to have a neutral rollout. But some people âforgotâ and went from the gate. DQing them later is all very well, but it causes a lot of confusion and angst. I saw a fair bit of chat about âhave we started?â and unfairly slagging off the race controllers.
If itâs the ramped start, I think youâre right; itâd be a great addition. No one really likes Zwift starts, do they?
i see them as just another aspect of the race that you can use to your advantage, but iâm not opposed to neutral starts either. more options are nice
FlammeRougeRacing - a series with a complex set of rules and scoring, all done âofflineâ of course, but makes for some really interesting races. Cat boundaries are different too.
This is indeed the race Ed was doing - they screwed that one up a bit. It worked very well in my race. Of course, for it to work well, it should be a feature of the game - a fence that if you are beyond when it is released you get throttled or removed, for example.
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Thanks, looks interesting. Like WTRL they have a terrible website.
Makes WTRL look like web 3.0 versus their Geocities. Itâs horrific. But theyâre trying.
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No it would not happen in the real world, best option is a good warm up prior with a run through the various power levels poss using the BOTS to get the lungs and legs warmed up.