New B+ Category?

General Discussion
1

Hi all, not sure if this has been discussed previous but would Zwift have any plans to put a buffer between A and B cat races?
I’ve just been promoted to being an A rider due to two short races on crit city and the BC race series on Innsbruck.
I managed a 4.3w/kg in the races, and my FTP has gone up to 4w/kg.
There is not a cat in hells chance I can compete in the As with most over 4.5w/kg, going to mind boggling 6w/kg.
For me this just makes it less competitive for riders like myself.
I understand that people lower down in B could say the same, but at least it’s competitive and a super human effort is not needed to progress.

Thanks for reading

2

I have not heard anything about adding more Categories.

But I think w/kg is a bad system to use, it is basically just a weight class system. But that is what we have.

Being at the bottom of any category will be hard if it is D,C,B or A that is just part of racing.

People riding in the wrong Category just make the problem worse, if the bottom 20% of B’s ride in C then the bottom of B is not 3.2w/kg but 3.5w/kg.

Zwift is addressing the Sandbagging issue, and is working on a points system.

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3

Thanks for your reply, yes like I mentioned in my post other riders lower down in the B category will feel the same. But at least you have a slight chance racing between 3-4 w/kg, the jump to try and compete to 5-6w/kg is massive.
But I hope something does get addressed to make it more enjoyable and competitive for more.

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4

Unfortunately the enforcement of race Cats and a results based Cat system has long been a requested item. It seems that those “in the know” believe a revamped system is just around the corner. I am hopeful.

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5

Yeah, having a similar issue, i’ve seen a pretty solid increase in fitness recently, and I’ll admit, my W/kg is starting to get decent (last race put my 20 min PB at 4.6W/kg). Previously, I had won a few B races when my FTP was closer to 4.0, specifically hilly ones, and based on W/kg, zwiftpower has upgraded me to A, which is fair, though it means I no longer get any rankings unless I race in A.

However every A race I have done recently has resulted in me needing to bail, the difference in pace is just insane. Going from averaging 4.0W/kg in a B race, to each of those A races setting new 10-20 minute power PB’s each time and then getting spat out the back doing 300w @ 4.5W/kg (my 20 min power PB), while also trying to be as conservative as possible.

I think having a B+ category would be a great idea, 4.0-4.5W/kg, that way I feel I could still really push myself at the upper end, and still be somewhat competitive. Each A race at the moment just ends up being straight into VO2max, and staying there the entire race, and it is quite demoralizing, especially given that even though I was winning some B races, I never felt I was cheesing it and still had to dig deep to finish the races.

Especially now that there are so many more riders on zwift, the player pool issue from before may no longer be a thing. I’d also like to see category progression that isn’t based purely on W/kg, but based on results and points. I guess the main issue is the disparity between riding ability. Realistically, Category A/B encompass all road racing categories from Elite to 4th Cat, it feels there should be a bit of a better spread there.

I Guess B+ can still fit into the mass start races, that’s fine, but it would be cool if on Zwiftpower, you are only comparing results against other B+ racers. Equally that means in a race, if you are getting shelled, then other B+ riders are likely going to end up in the same group as you, meaning you still have people to watch and race against.

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6

It seem like result point systems is on the long term plan.

Listing to the Zwiftcast Epesode 81: It sound like a short term plan is in the works to get racers in the correct category.

Once all the Bottom A riders move back into the A category from B you should have a lot riders to ride with.

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7

There may be more former B riders joining the A ranks soon if the new measures talked about in the Zwiftcast are implemented and work according to plan. I guess we’ll see what happens.

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8

That is exactly it Michael, you’ve described exactly how it should work.
Like me today I was going to enter an A race and bailed in the warm up, legs weren’t right, but I checked the results of the Yorkshire series A race and it ranged from 4.3 - 5.8w/kg!!!

It’s just not worth even trying, the progression of an average rider will probably plateau at around the low 4s, it takes extreme training or pure good genetics to get near the 5w/kg mark.

Or maybe for a lot the moment dodgy stats and trainers lol

A sub category 4-4.5w/kg would be perfect.

9

I agree guys. The jump from B to A would kill me. I still haven’t won a B race but my average w/kg was 4.2 in my last race. My FTP has improved a lot in the last month and to be honest I’m worried Zwiftpower will move me up to category A. Great to be an A but I will not be able to come close to competing with them. I can see myself staying with them for the first few km then getting dropped on the first climb.

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If you are pulling an average of 4.2 in races, you’ll be fine in A races. You many not win them, but you’ll hang in there.

11

Please consider voting for my request, which I had adressed previously.
https://forums.zwift.com/t/a-only-race-category/399382
I can relate to this. After going over the A limit it is just going all out for first 10 miutes, which it mostly not enough to hang on. A new B+ is probably not necessary, just withouth the 5+ guys would be fine for me. I think I could draft those longer.

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12

Yes I agree I’ve just been upgraded to B gutted only done 6 races just getting into it just getting something like I’m not good enough for B races just something like in C races now but cos I really try to keep up my w/kg is 3.4 over 9.8 miles rather stayed C grade for bit longer if I was coming in top 5 regularly it would make more sense now I’m going to be paying a subscription and can no longer rage against my big brother it was starting to get really good fun too.

13

Hi Tim,
Zwiftpower is using your best 3 races in the last 90 days. You have averaged 3.21 W/kg, that is (bottom) B.

From ZP forum:

Category Enforcement is taken from 95% of 20 mins.

However, ZwiftPower allows a rider to go over cat limits by up to 0.1 w/kg but only if that rider entered their correct category.