@Craig_Martin_Herd_Of, I would have to agree with Steve here. The thing is even if people might still be trying to delay an upgrade by finishing just outside the points scheme (or you can obfuscate going the FIS route to ranking calculations instead), then while they are stalling at least they are not winning. Their presence would distort the race texture somewhat although not nearly as much as a sandbagger or cruiser with an intent to win but they are not competing for the podium at that time. It would be better. At this point almost any change would be better.
But it’s a moot point. With the ZwiftPower September Update post, Zwift is making it clear where they stand. I can’t interpret it as anything but an indirect reply to the discussions we’ve been having lately, a big middle finger in the face. Zwift racing is to remain the uniquely stupid sport among sports just… because?
Anyway, I totally agree that sandbagging is a correct term, lent from horse racing originally I guess, for what I call cruising. It’s just that the term sandbagger has been misused so much that in a race where people from higher categories join (like every race 24/7) and then go flying right from the start, the legit racers go “Look! A despicable sandbagger! It’s his fault we can’t get fair racing in Zwift!” And ZP goes “Yeah, we saw that, we’ll DQ the despicable sandbagger for you so you get fair racing. There! Now it’s fair again.” and Zwift goes “Hey, we’ll spend our limited dev resources experimenting with adding a funny-looking geometric shape on top of the head of the despicable sandbagger, so you really can tell you just lost to a despicable sandbagger”. And then many legit racers think they’re good. They’re not.
So another term was needed to reclaim the issue. I did a forum search but I just can’t find the guy who accidentally coined the term for me. He should be credited.
While the term sandbagging describes the phenomenon well, the term cruising does too, perhaps even better. Because sandbagging sort of hints at a malicious intent. Cruising doesn’t. Some people intentionally cruise to get on the podium, maliciously. Other just like to cruise in general, it comes natural to them, it’s the way they want to use Zwift, and that’s fine. But if they also happen to be on top of their category, then they win far more than riders with a natural tendency to work hard. Not so fine for various reasons IMO, but the problem isn’t the sandbaggers, cruisers, cherry pickers, HC flyers, whatever. It’s the cat system and race rules. You get the racers you deserve in any system.