So I did the FRR tour in the B pen. I had a great racing experience, holding on for dear life on the flats and in the sprints, getting pushed hard on the short hills, and pushing the men on the long climbs. Lots of fun and camaraderie. I still didn’t manage to win a race in B, despite supposedly being one of the few As in there (possibly should have won Innsbruck but the custom finish was downhill so I went from first at the banner to 7th as the other heavier riders a few seconds back had so much momentum)
The tour plus improving health meant I was finally able to do my predicted ZFTP power for an hour (which for the last 3 months has been 10W over what I am capable of) … so Zwift has now lowered my ZFTP to just under that
My ZMAP is still sitting at my best 5 minute watts in the last 3 months though (from the power test) and I haven’t gone close to that in a race. I definitely can’t hold that for another minute. It’s currently 16W above my best 6 mins (5% high).
Still unfortunately in ZMap A by 0.02wkg and ZFTP A by 0.007wkg. Should have left my weight 0.3kg heavier than I am! Velo is now down to Emerald though so I’m hoping some more series might start using that for category placement.
The FRR series are now looking into a category system that also accounts better for weight of riders and are hoping to roll this out soon.
Can somebody help me out here… I’m trying to understand how I’ve just been pushed up into cat B?
I haven’t raced on Zwift for years… I’ve just been taking it very easy (zone 2 rides). There’s just been the one exception where I had a dig at the alpe du zwift… 63mins. My fitness is not that spectacular at the moment (I’d estimate an ftp of 250W at 70kg).
I was just looking at doing a race, but Zwift has now enforced me into Cat B?!! What the heck? I know I wouldn’t last two seconds there… I’m seriously wondering why I have a Zwift subscription if the interaction of racing against others of similar ability is gone… I may as well use another platform.
it’s still there. you can join a staggered start race, sit up and let the Cs catch you. they start about a minute later than the Bs, typically. it depends on the race format, the race settings etc. try not to wreck their race if you’re significantly stronger than them and approach it with the mindset that you’re a B sitting in with C riders and nobody will mind. bear in mind that some races are set up (ZHQ races for example) so that other categories are invisible to eachother, and where possible it’s best to confirm it’s OK with the race organiser before doing anything like that, so you aren’t stepping on anyone’s feet
Your ftp isn’t that significantly different to mine (230w and 62kg) and I have been cat B for most of the last few years, apart from a brief flirtation in cat A. I have won once and the occasional podium, but very rarely find myself way behind. Generally the first few minutes are the hardest to keep up, but it does ease, although every time it goes uphill there will be a marked increase in pace. I would say, try and sit in the draft as much as possible and know that most other people are hurting as much as you. Concentrate on improving your 1-5 minute performance, which should help, Good luck.
I would be surprised if your Alpe effort of 63+ minutes resulted in a zFTP worthy of B cat. That time generally equates to an effort of around 3.0w/kg.
You may have forgotten the big effort you put into your November FTP ramp test.
I can’t know your exact watts but I’m guessing you made around 30 seconds at the 340w effort. Your last 1 minute average would have been around 330w which would give an FTP of around 247w. I think an on screen message would have come up to that affect. That’s possibly why you think your FTP may be around 250w.
Anyway an FTP of 247-250 equates to around 3.5w/kg. However in itself an FTP of 3.5w/kg doesn’t always result in a zFTP (more important for racing) of >= 3.36w/kg to make it into category B. But of course it might have done.
In the last 5 minutes of your FTP there is a very good chance you put in an average effort of around 290w. The second part of your racing category is based on zMAP which Zwift deem to be your max 4-6 minute power. The 4-6 minute time varies for different people depending on their power curve however many hover around the 5 minute mark. 290w would give you a zMAP of 4.14 w/kg and for as long as your zMAP stays at your 5 minute power I think this will continue to keep you in Cat B.
Have a read of the first post in this linked thread. It will explain in a lot more detail and point you towards finding your own racing zFTP and zMAP figures.
If you want to post screenshots of your zFTP/zMAP and PRs at various durations (from my.zwift.com) you can probably get more useful advice about why you were upgraded. Without those details we can only guess. If your zFTP (not FTP!) is 250W @ 70kg, that’s B category power.
What I find strange is that there is a lady ranked higher than you on ZP and Zwift Racing, she is lighter than you and has actual watts higher than you on ZP for 15secs, 1 min and 5 min. However your actual watts are higher for 20 mins, but her w/kg is still higher than you. She is in cat B.
I appreciate that the shorter 2 efforts don’t count presently count for category placement. Presumably that gap widens towards 40 minutes. Based on those figures you would presumably win on an ITT over 10 miles, but as the vast majority of races on Zwift aren’t TT’s I would think you should both be racing in the same category. This is clearly not an isolated incident, and lets hope that the new categorization process will address this.Clearly there will always be people at the lower end of any category that will never make a podium, but it can’t be much fun watching everyone disappear off into the distance from the gun, although that did happen to me in my first ever IRL crit race.
I think you’re talking about my teammate (and very good friend), Mary. She is a stronger all round rider than me who specialises in hill climbs. I started out in cycling as a time triallist and longer hills are more my strength but I don’t have Mary’s punch. Mary went into ZP A for a week, did the tiny races, upped her 3-5 mins and then got her ZFTP reclassified back 1W below the cut off for A despite at the time being much fitter and stronger than me. She often still joins in the A pen for races.
My VO2 is currently on the rise as I have had my iron and folate deficiencies addressed so it will be interesting to see if I can better my current 3 minutes and see what that does to my ZMAP. I’m almost certain it will do as it did with Mary and push it down. Hopefully with improving health and fitness (and weight also starting to drop back to what it used to be as my metabolism is working better), I’ll now be able to hold on longer in some races and I don’t feel so out of place in As. It was definitely the wrong place for me to be whilst coming back from illness though and this is where I think the categorisation system is at it’s worst. I really think a 60 day rolling system would be better to allow more for injury and illness.
Yes, I didn’t want to use her name, but guessed that you would know who I was talking about. I have raced against both of you on Zwift, and then noticed you both competed at the Tour of Cambridgeshire and did similar times to mine, in Perth being much older than either of you I rode in the Medio fondo, but looked out for both of your results. Presumably you weren’t at your best for both of those, which must have been frustrating. Obviously Mary performed fantastically.
When I read your post, I was surprised that you were now in cat A, whereas Mary was regularly kicking my butt in cat B, so had a quick look at the figures. I had a similar situation, where one 12 minute effort, in the middle of an easy ride got me promoted into A, and by improving my 5 minute best I was subsequently moved back into B.
It’s good to hear you are getting stronger again, good luck to you going forward. I’m in my 60’s now so sadly going in the opposite direction to you, and expect if you do come back down into B you will join Mary in leaving me in your dust. Thank goodness for masters events
@Juan_Ascoli_BMTR Spot on Juan, I am 66.5kg (147 pounds) and experience exactly the same. I am B and can only finish in top 50% in very long and steep climbs. It is indeed frustrating, I’d rather be competing in C.
