Sounds like a great feature to me, I don’t often ride the C bot as I prefer the B bot pace so look forward to it rolling out further.
I often find myself having to back off a little on climbs as the “let the pacer catch up” message comes on.
Presumably it will eventually be rolled out to the other bots for Brevit and Anquetil descending pace needs assessed in races or group rides bots descending pace would be considered fast especially if blob is large. As a light rider who uses 100% trainer difficulty my hardest efforts are mostly on descents to catch / keep up with the blob. What would be beneficial if trainer difficulty for descents was locked so all riders were simulating the same gradient regardless what % trainer difficulty was set at for inclines.
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- Tear down and rebuild zwift from the ground up.
a. New UI
b. Zwift Run
c. Zwift Bike
d. Zwift Row
- Pace Partners Rebuild
a. 0.5 WKG
b. 1.0 WKG
c. 1.5 WKG
d. ETC…
- Special Bike/Run
a. Recumebent Bike
b. Hand Bike
c. Prosthetic Limbs
- Weekly Missions
a. Bike
b. Run
c. Row
- New Challenges
a. Bike
b. Run
c. Row
- New Character Personalization
a. Beer Belly
b. Receeding Hairline
c. Stick Legs
d. Leave the 1990’s characters
e. Tattoos
f. this can go on forever
- The Garage
a. Oragnization
b. Sell Back Items @ 50% drops
c. 3 Bike Closet (TT, Aero, Gravel)
d. 3 Rim Closet (TT, Aero, Gravel)
- Customized UI
a. AVG WKG
b. Normalized Power
c. 5 Min Power
d. 20 Min Power
e. 15 Sec Max Power
f. ETC…
- Pacer Races
Randomized AI Riders/Runners/Rowers allow us to race against each other and also AI riders. This is set up by zwift every 4 hours. It would be nice if there was also a duathlon
- I would like an AwtKast Island for those of us who get shadow banned. We can at least chat with each other.
5 Likes
Not sure about whatever article you referenced. Sounds like maybe Zwift originally had the PPs riding at varying intensities?
This is a newer PP article, indicating single w/kg target (not a range) for each PP.
ttps://zwiftinsider.com/pace-partners/
1 Like
Another thing worth trying would be to disable draft for the pace partners themselves (possibly adjusting the wattages accordingly to keep the target speeds consistent). Anytime I have ridden near (behind) Coco for a few minutes, I see her moving 10+ metres relative to the riders around in just a second or two because of whatever quirks of the pack dynamics algorithm. It just looks weird and is difficult to miss unless and until you move far enough forward in the blob.
3 Likes
Sadly, I think you have this wrong.
You should reduce the bot effort on the downhill slightly to keep the group together - especially the lighter riders. For longer climbs, the bot should stick to the advertised pace.
6 Likes
Yep this is a great idea as riders often deliberately go in front of pace partner to increase the pack speed which is ok if you are moving down a CAT or two but not so great if you are putting in a solid effort to stay with baseline pace speed.
Interesting. I have just started riding with C. Cadence mainly on Tempus Fugit. D. Diesel really needs it though. Half his group leaves him going into the Italian Villas and that hill after the sprint on the Flat Route.
6 Likes
Sound great, but please add a new pace partner between C and D, at 2.0 W/kg.
19 Likes
I don’t think riding in front of the bot is so much a matter of increasing pack speed but rather just getting an easier ride in the solid part of the blob. Towards the back, the pack is less dense and the riders are often less skilled at drafting, making it more likely that you have to make a much harder effort every now and then or end up getting dropped.
By the way, another factor probably messing up with the pack dynamics somewhat is the high speed (way faster than the pack) at which new riders join the pace partner. Sure, one or two of those won’t change much, but with the more popular ones at peak times we’re talking about hundreds (in the case of Coco maybe even over a thousand?) riders per hour.
Another vote for a 2.0 pace partner. Too big a gap between D and C.
14 Likes
It would be nice if bots would increase the power by 10% uphill, but upon reaching the crest, would roll 10s or so with -20% to gather up the tail. If you still have 5s of hill to go when the lead starts descending, it’s easy to get dropped. After that it could slowly start accelerating back to 100% marching speed down the hill.
5 Likes
Thirded. I find Diesel pretty tame most days - good for a recovery ride day (I could ride with D for literally hours) but for a “normal” day D’s too light, C’s way above me.
The idea’s been floated elsewhere: have a “pace bias” adjustment, sort of like “workout bias”, or a golf handicap.
4 Likes
Hi John. Thanks for replying. The article you’ve referenced does indeed supersede the one I cited and clears up the confusion on my part (i.e. the bots do ride at a constant W/kg pace).
That being the case, there seems to be a yawning gap between the C Cadence pace (2.5 w/kg, 165W) and B Brevet (3.3 w/kg, 265W).
A light rider is likely to be riding at a much higher intensity than a heavy rider just to keep pace with the bot. For me, riding with C Cadence is “easy” but I’ve got very little chance of hanging with the Brevet group, even with super-efficient drafting.
I’m pretty sure that Zwift staff have eluded to the fact that more pace bots will be showing up zoon at different power levels, also in C. Cadence’s draft you barely need to hold over 2.0 to stay in the pack, so that pace already exists.
1 Like
There is an interesting thing that I’ve noticed around the world, my personal training, etc. when you’re trying to ride steady, let’s say Z2 days, the flats seem like the require more RPE, but on the climbs, you usually need to dial it back to stay at a consistent wattage. However, if someone is riding without a PM they tend to float on the flats, hammer the climbs and coast the downhills. The exact opposite of steady in my book. I’ve seen this in Zwift, in the US, Europe, Rwanda and Colombia. So maybe having the pacing partner push a little more on the flats and chill ever so slightly on the climbs would actually teach folks how to ride steady? Just a thought.
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It depends on your weight on the 18th I rode with Cadence for an hour on Tick Tock my w/kg average was 2.65.
4 Likes
Good change 
Just to be geeky - Im presuming you are reading\pulling the gradient and then changing the power of the Ant simulator accordingly?
Something like: IF Gradient >3% Power = 2.8wkg, IF Gradient <3% Power =2.5wkg
This should be a great start. Would love to see it expanded, if successful. Have been suggesting this on the post-ride survey for quite a while.
Diesel for me is also a great recovery ride, but when I try to keep up with Cadence I only manage that on the flat. When it goes up more than 2% I will get dropped. So for me this will be worse than it is now 
6 Likes