Hi all. This is my first post and I would like to thank all that contributed before me and helped me along the way!
Regarding the badge hunter series, I’m interested in trying my luck at the watopia on fire! Badge with the group on Sunday (here in Western Canada). When I went to sign up I noticed it’s a cat C ride. I’m new to cycling and zwiftpower has me cad D. Am I going to be alright on this ride? Could there be possible negative consequences? I’m ok with being slow and getting dropped.
Hi Chris - welcome to Zwift! The category for a group ride is just so you know what to expect in terms of pace range from the leader (yellow beacon) which, for all the rides in this series, is listed as 2.5-3.2w/kg. There are hundreds of riders signed up for many of these rides across multiple time zones, and you’ll find some riders going faster than the leader, riding with the leader, or riding at their own leisurely pace.
There are absolutely no negative consequences to you joining this ride; actually, I think you’ll find the contrary! You’ll be in the company of many others which will help your overall speed as you’ll often be in someone’s draft, there’s likely to be quite a bit of chatter which will help make the time fly by, and you’ll achieve a goal that many experienced Zwifters have yet to attempt! I say sign up and have fun!
Good luck! Just to emphasize, in races, the categories do refer to your functional threshold power in terms of W/kg, so if you follow your Zwiftpower rating you’ll be good. (There may be a handful of exceptions where a race will deviate slightly from the usual category bands for whatever reason, e.g. some include an A+ category. Read the race info.) In group rides, it can get confusing, but some rides might use different categories to denote different distances (e.g. Tour de Zwift), or some rides might use them differently. I just did one of these rides, and there was a sweeper at the back plus the ride broke into many groups. So, even if you don’t keep pace with the main group, chances are very good that you’ll have someone to ride with.
I had a great time at this event! I was able to find to people to ride with for most of the event and finished my first 100km ride on zwift. I will definitely join another badge hunters event in the future. Thanks everyone for the encouragement