I can’t be the only one who has noticed this?!
Outside of riding with the bots, there are masses (in the context of terrible Zwift numbers at the moment, understandably here in Blighty) of riders pootling along at <2w/kg.
I did ask someone who I know at ZHQ and they tell me that they have noticed it too and think it’s a new cohort of riders.
I have an inkling it’s as a result of a Zwift Insider XP hack!
What’s the truth?
Ride on!
Dave.
When i used to free ride on Zwift I regularly used to ride at less than 2 W/Kg, what’s wrong with that 
Riders doing zone 1 or 2 on turbo due to rain outside? Been wet in many places in UK this summer so far.
For me, zone 2 is approx 1.6W/Kg these days, two years ago before long covid it was ~2.5.
Power Zone 2 for me tops out at 2w/kg and if I’m doing Z2 riding it tends to be for a longer time.
Nothing at all. In my 75,000 km or so on Zwift, I’ve never seen as many as now. It totally stands out.
When you consider that it’s probably zone 1 for many - I wondered what I’d missed.
if it’s outside of an event, most people i see are doing that as far back as i can remember unless they are with a pace partner… either between intervals or just because that’s their pace. my own easy pace is really only a little north of 2wkg… i’m not an 80/20 dork but “easy” really does mean “easy” in my world
I really don’t think that it’s that at all. I can see where you are coming from. I think it’s ever since the Zwift Insider told people to go into workout mode and earn XP faster than free riding.
I make it a habit of giving people ride ons and especially if the is obvious effort going on. They get an extra 2 xp too. However, it’s hard to award them at the moment.
D
I think 36km/hr is the cut-off where gaining XP is faster outside of workout mode. So you only get more XP in workout mode (xp/min) if you’re going slower than 36km/hr. (have to go back and check that math, but it’s something like that). Folks riding with Coco on flat routes for instance would get more XP per minute than workout mode.
Nothing unusual, just the regular Zwift crowd riding at regular power numbers. Admittedly I haven’t used Zwift much at all recently - but on the days I did everything seems normal.
Thanks for this.
One test you can do, go past them at 4.5w/kg or more, do they suddenly turn into TDF material when you overtake? 
I had that yesterday, bunch who would go race pace the moment I overtook, and as soon as I backed off, they packed off too, then as soon as I went faster again they surged to match my pace, but not enough to overtake me.
If it wasn’t an event I would have done a u-turn. 
ZHQ’s PR have confirmed that, as I was told, there has been a new influx of riders who are riding slower than previous cohorts.
So, the truth is that it’s a new cohort of riders and not as a result of a ZI XP hack?
Trying to wrap my head around this. Zwift jacks up prices then a new, slower cohort of users joins? It seems more likely that Zwift jacks up prices then many of the younger riders, who are generally fitter but more price sensitive, flee the platform, leaving the older, well heeled but less fit users. It would be interesting to see the change in customer demographics.
Soooo many assumptions in there, but I agree that it does seem counterintuitive, especially during northern hemisphere summer.
Maybe the “new” users are ex-subscribers just using their free 25km each month under a new account?
Maybe both. Who knows. I did 55 km on Tempus Fugit earlier. Probably the busiest place on Zwift. Loads of sub-2s. Loads and then the fast people who are more representative of post beta days.
It always was the busiest place because it’s the only “flat” part of Zwift that is actually flat.
Other flat routes have 10% gradients and plenty of rolling hills (ie NY) so you can’t call them flat.
I hope they never decide to reprofile Tempus Fugit and Tick Tock to be more rolling hills like the rest…
Well said 
Wait till you get to 80 2 Watts per kilo will be more than acceptable.