(although not like I stood a chance against the 80kg++ freight trains riding at cat limit)
QQ
ah well, progress is progress I suppose, guess I have to stick to group rides / workouts for the next year or so as there’s no way in hell I’m going to be competitive in Cat B for a longggggg timeeeee…
(interestingly, the ride where I hit the 3.29w/kg I was not using clipless pedals as I broke my shoes, was using some janky plastic clips instead, but somehow that resulted in an increase in average power over a distance?! xD) - feel like toe clips i use calves less and quads more…? weird…
Lots of races have all groups combined so even if you sign up legit as a B you can just slot on with a group of C racers and have fun. Yes, you’re not going to win any braces but you can have lots of fun within your own little group. Try and remember Zwift is a game and there are lots of people who know how to “play” the game.
i can ride at just under cat limit and can out-sprint majority of cat C
however, i cant do jack sht vs 80kg++ guys pushing cat limits who are 1min up the road from me thnx to zwift’s lovely categorisation system x speed algorithms :3 Speed Tests: Steady w/kg Across Various Body Weights | Zwift Insider
attitude dont matter at that point, tactics neither, i literally cant get close to them without getting DQ’d for exceeding cat limits (and im not fit enough to even do that yet but whatever, even if i was i’d be DQ’d).
p.s. boost mode dont count, try 3.3w/kg in a real cat B race and ur dead last
pleased that i get to ride solo in dead last in every race i enter for the next 6+ months…?
ok
basically can’t race anymore. but its cool. still make some gainz in group rides/workouts.
i reckon it’s at least a year (if not more) before i can sustain 4w/kg for 20mins tho, considering i can barely manage 5mins now.
Presumeably you didnt start riding with being able to hit 3.3 w/kg so you had must have had motivations to get you where you are today - just find new motivations such as Race Ranking points (or something) until your further improvements get podiums within reach. I’m at an age and fitness where I probably should not be improving but no way do I accept that. Pick your races and play to your strengths.
Aroound a year to be competitive in B from where you are now - damn you’re lucky mate!
You won’t be solo.
You will be with the other new B’s and all your regular C friends.
The bad thing is the C’s may not chase you and won’t want to pull.
Hey you have been promoted you should be chuffed with that .
I know the feeling . I got promoted to A and thought that was the end of being competitive. It took a few races but gradually I started to find a place in the new cat AND at the same time to do that improve my fitness and output . All good right ? Winning is fun but being competitive is what matter and you will be if you set about it with a good attitude . It is also true BTW that sometimes higher cat racers can be easier , that is very true in A because everyone knows flying off the front is suicidal as you can be closed down easily . So races are often more tactic and not out and out power fests . You will be back racing everyone does …
This is a common issue, and is a good example of why the w/kg system is nonsense. We need a results-based system, just like in the outdoor cycling world.
If the formula would consider more than your 3 best in the last 90 days it would be an improvement. If I race 2-3 times/week, that’s 25-38 races in 90 days. Only 3 of them need to be above cat limit to be forced into the higher cat even though my overall AVERAGE is below the threshold… perhaps well below it. I can only imagine this is supposed to motivate me but is actually pretty annoying and discouraging.
nah im motivated bcos i compete in another sport - but cant do it due to lockdown restrictions for like the last year or so, so using cycling to stay in shape. uses similar muscle groups. but my sport is pure anaerobic rather than threshold. still, cardio is my main weakness so should give me an improved baseline to work off of whenever i am able to ice skate again…
dunno if i will ever be able to hit the cat B limit but here’s hoping
You can always join me - I’m just scraping into B.
Had to giggle when I entered a race the other day (in B), ended up nearly last in cat. Only to be beaten by the winner of D! Sidenote - so what about winning “your cat” by many minutes is fun if you clearly are not in the correct cat?
I’m out there to improve myself, not to worry about others. I have my IRL aims and that is what counts. Most of the time I spend on Zwift is either interval training or nice recovery rides)
Ride B, so what if we get beaten. In a month or two we’re stronger.
90 days ends on 03.04.2021 - two months only.
And you can race without Zwiftpower on Zwift in cat C. Nobody will call you a sandbagger, if you finish with 3.2W/kg. Ok, this is a life without trophies - thats a hard life. But maybe better than lonely B races.
That’s called “out of cat” and that is just plain cheating.
Right now, sandbagging is not breaking any rules, it just smells bad.
Knowingly entering a lower cat is breaking the one rule Zwift racing has so far.
More rules and refinements are coming but I think the social pressure here on the forums should be recognized by ZHQ as a plus.
It’s the same issue for anyone who gets promoted to the next cat, be it D > C or B > A. And the same issue for racers IRL who get promoted from Cat 5 to 4. It’s called “life”.
In real life though, when you get promoted it’s after you’ve been beating most other racers in your previous cat, or perhaps competing roughly equally with a top bunch and you all get promoted.
In real-life racing you don’t keep finishing mid-pack and then get promoted ahead of those who keep finishing on the podium.
You do have a point, which goes back to the W/kg classification rather than a results-based system as requested by many since a long time. It’s no more complicated than the current ZwiftPower system, it’s a lot more flexible (allowing events to dynamically split entrants into groups based on ranking), a lot harder to cheat, evens out the disadvantage of light riders on flat courses, and there are tons of example systems in various sports to pick from.
