Even then, some might respond faster than others. Or have a greater simulated incline. Or behave differently on the “downhill”.
I think a lot here do not really understand the whole 0 or 100% settings.
There is no such a "maintaining aa steady effort " during the race on 0% difficulty or dumb trainer .
Why?
Since the pack is always dynamic.
The whole differece on 0% difficulty or a dumb trainer is that the shifting is in inverse direction.
Example: the pack is going at 3w/k flat and then hitting the climb at 4 w/kg. Those with 100% difficulty settings will be forced to shift. But same thing for those with 0% but the shifting is in reverse direction. And in some cases on 0% or dumb trainer will be forced to stand on the bike in order to get more watts.
So no differece in dynamics.
The only difference is for the smart trainer the shifting is when the trainer simulates the grade change. And on 0% or dumb the feel of the grade made by inverse shifting.
So a very experienced rider that knows really well the routes will almost feel no differece between 0-100% since he will always shift 1 second before the smart trainer will make it feel. …the real big difference might be for grades over 10-13% but I’m not sure, since never really tested enough that difference.
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I think they should add this to configurable stuff for organizers. A good and easy way is to make something like 3 presets for race where the organizers can choose from. The ‘serious’ category should have stuff like minimum 50% difficulty, hrm required.
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I like this idea because it gives you pretty much all the “real world” gearing choices rather than some kind of artificial levelling out of the course.
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This is a good point about the lag. I sometimes feel the trainer doesn’t respond to the on screen slope in time. This has got to cost some advantage if you are running a higher difficulty,
No. …and yes.
Depends.
For the races, if you would like to stay in the pack (any pack…) you will be forced to change gears.
Go and try it yourself with 0% and make 3-4 races and you’ll see that you’ll be forced to change gears (but in reverse direction) in order to stay in the pack - actually you will have sort of artificial smart trainer behavior due to the dynamics of the pack.
The one-gear option could be realized during a solo ride…- but we are not speaking here about how the rider decides to ride during his solo…
On that basis, I’m proposing just go and test the 0% during any race by trying to stay in the pack.
_—
p.s. all that above being sad not in order to advocate 0% difficulty race riding or 100% difficulty race riding, but first understand the whole settings vs virtual and real physics vs in-ride group behavior vs trainers differences (including different incline support) vs actual reality prior of changing anything at all.
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Multiple posters have mentioned what I think would be a pretty workable experiment:
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give race organizers the option to control trainer difficulty settings.
I think it would be interesting to see what would happen. Maybe certain settings would become popular, maybe the majority of zwifters would find it uninteresting… or maybe difficulty settings really don’t end up affecting outcomes that much. the only thing that would happen for sure is that we would learn something.
I feel this experiment could be pretty valuable especially if you think there is going to be growth in e-sports.
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First you will need to limit the type of trainer because a dumb trainer with power meter effectively has 0%. Then you have to limit all wheel on trainers because they can not simulate 15% grades. Then you have to pic a brand and model of trainer because they all see 100% as something different.
Then you are left with a few racers that don’t want to race up the epic KOM.
You should also inspect their bikes that they don’t cheat and use triple cranksets with 11-34 casettes.
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Hi Gerrie,
so are you saying I’m cheating if I put a triple crankset and 11-34 on my S-works?
(Well if I had a triple and an 11-34… oh, and an S-works) 
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LOL, only if they force us to 100%.
A triple on a S-works 
Depends on the results you’d like to see. I think you’d see plenty of interesting results without doing any of the things you specified. Also no one is “forcing” anyone to do anything in the hypothetical scenario I mentioned.
I thought you suggested Race organizers should control trainer difficulty, isn’t that forcing racers to do something.
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Race organizers would have the option to use the tool and racers would have the option to join whatever race format they choose. To assume all race organizers would put the difficulty setting to 100 for all races and racers would therefore have no choice is not a very likely scenario.
I would hope that option would never be possible, I think it would be unfair to have someone with a 56/48 and 11-21 race on 100% against someone with a 50/38 and 11-28.
But it is all up to Zwift to decide. We can just throw out ideas.
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Thats wont happen i bet. Will be sick…
This looks like a particularly high trainer setting
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I really am confused as to why cassette/ chainring is being brought into this.
In real life you get to choose your cassette and chainring. If you showed up to the deathride (www.deathride.com) with a standard and an 11-21 cassette you are going to have a hard time. Similarly riding a compact in a velodrome doesn’t make a lot of sense either.
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I’m in that for those who like to race, mimic everything as much as IRL. If you choose a flat race, have some close gearing ratios so you’ve your best cadance closely. If you choose a hilly race, be prepared with a correct gearing for your race. If you decide to set up your TT bike with a 56/48T with 21/11 cassette for a hilly race, you already know you’ll have a (very) hard one and probably ending somewhere far behind.
Zwift is still a “game” but if you choose to race, make the race like IRL. It’s not only fun but you might learn racing (shifting) that way also. What’s the point with some digital sliders so you don’t have to change gears if you choose a rolling route?! Go for a flat route then. Ok, when i say learning to race, it’s still a big difference than IRL racing but let’s say that changing gears is a real thing. Not riding with a fixie over hilly roads 
If Zwift wants to take those races more seriously, there’s still a lot more to change because the way it’s now, it’s just a fun factor and it’ll only be that. Those categories in races are just a laugh. The whole racing part, is just a laugh. Smile when you’ve passed the finish line. Don’t expect more.
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I think real zwift racing is and Will only be possible on live events.
Because I am not spending more money on chain rings just to race on Zwift. Also changing chainrings and derailleurs for every race is just unrealistic. That is why we have the difficulty slider. So we can adjust it for hilly races and for flat races.
The slider is there for every rider to use, if you think it is easier at 0% then use 0%.
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