More Feedback, 10+ hours in Zwift land now...

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Today’s ride was easily the most enjoyable. Not a single AI bot that I could see. At least 100 real users for my full 2 hour ride today. That alone made the experience better. Be it a mental gap, who knows, but there were more people to chase up the hill (or try to hold off) which kept today’s intervals interesting.

  1. Passing still feels a bit awkward, especially when there is a large discrepancy in speed between users. The automatic ducking in behind someone that you’re approaching rather quickly is not necessary in my opinion. Going around a rider just to duck in behind the next rider that you’re also going to go right around is visually “distracting”. I would like to see the passing worked on some more; especially as it relates to speed differences. If you’re approaching someone at “plus a certain percentage” of their speed, can’t we just stay to the right/left of them and roll on? With a busy day like today, doing +4 W/kg from the orange arch to the KOM arch, could be visually smoother without ducking in and out of 20 or so people. Especially when there’s 2 or 3 of you together, going through a pack of slower riders, it’s easy to lose track of someone you’re climbing with.
  2. What happens with the KOM/Green/Orange jerseys as those riders exit? Do those times remain atop the leaderboard for everyone else who’s active at that time? The leader boards that flash up for each arch, seem to contain more names than the list on the right. Today 230+ vs 100 - 105.
  3. To that, I noticed a M McCarthy (I think) with a Zwift logo by their name rip the KOM and sprint to pieces. Fastest times I’ve seen for the CCW course. (Is that a 'resetting" of the leaderboard by a gamemaster??) At points I was 2nd/3rd for both the sprint and KOM and you feel like maybe you will end up with it simply by attrition. That never happens though. Anyway, just game dynamics curiosity. I like view #3, so I never see the jersey I’m “wearing” anyway…
  4. Also, Chasing M. McCarthy up the hill, they seemed to quickly pull away from me with just 2.5 W/kg to my 4.0 - 4.5 W/kg. Glitch or some other power up I can’t see.
  5. I think the KOM/Sprint should be timed from the lap start. It just seems right that it should be treated like finish lines, instead of Strava segment like. In no bike race that I’ve seen are jerseys awarded for the fastest time though a short segment of a longer race. A KOM is the first person over the top. Jerseys are awarded for the first people to cross the line, not the fastest for a given shorter distance.
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This is all you need to know about M. McCarthy http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_McCarthy_%28cyclist%29

The logo next to his name means he is a zwift employee.

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@Greg
Ah, very cool. Been waiting to cross paths with T. King, J. Voight, L.t. Dam, etc, but I’ll keep an eye out for Mike too. He kept me motivated…

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You must mean former Olympian Mike McCarthy…who is also a world champion in the TTT and multiple national champion in the ITT and track.

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Ok, ok Gregs.

Hey Eric, first off, thanks for the feedback. I’ve seen plenty of things that make me raise my eyebrows and I think the more the community self polices, the better.

To comment on both points that involve me, I can say in regards to the first one, that aside from using the aero boost for both the green jersey and the KOM, that those were otherwise, legit efforts. I did feel kind of bad about the green jersey sprint since you happened to be wearing it when I passed you right at the line. Then again, competition is part of what makes Zwift fun and believe it or not, I lost that jersey a lap later!

As for the riding away from you, uphill at 2.5w/kg. I need to check that out a little bit. I ride a calibrated smart trainer and my game weight is a whopping 94kg. I believe that you saw low watts from me but could they have been on a section where it rolls over and the gap could be opening even as I was letting off the gas? I’m going to have to dig a little more and see if anything weird is going on next time I ride.

Anyway, stoked that you’re having fun. Actually kind of cool getting called out on legit efforts! I might be old, but I ain’t dead yet! See you out there.

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@Mike,
Actually I didn’t think your efforts were false. Keenly timed, and badass, but not false. :wink: Those false efforts I have called out in the past are those sustained 11+ w/kg for full and multiple laps (that I haven’t seen in a while now, which is good). I was doing intervals from Lap Start to KOM arch, but for those few laps I broke from my set intervals, and enjoyed chasing you on the climbs, and staying ahead to the lap finish (but it appears you weren’t chasing me anyway, otherwise I’d have been stomped)
Meanwhile, this raises a point about the leader boards. You say I was in the green jersey when you passed me, but on my leader board I was shown to be in 2nd place for the sprint. Dropped to third by you, then the next lap to 4th. It would seem my above question is answered, that being the best time during my activity stays up as the best, even if that person leaves the game. And no jersey by attrition.

Hope to see you out there again Mike, and I’ll have to try the aero boost on the KOM next go around.