Pace Partner Weekly Update - WC 13th June

Hey everyone!

I’ve written above that this is the update for w/c 13th June, but I’ve got a couple of “about to happen” or “this is happening now” bits first.

We’re about to roll out release 1.26. In this release, Pace Partners will stop changing colour when they use dynamic pace (eg: 10% more power on a hill). In the Home Screen, they will always show their correct (category) colour. They will still show their “live” pace and we’ll be working on that late Summer / early Autumn (Fall!)

Our Pace Partner led rides up the Alpe are happening NOW. Running every 3 hours (they start an hour later each day, eg: 8am Weds, 9am Thurs, 10am Fri). These are basically Climbing Pacer rides, where they set a set pace for you to either follow, or to go ahead or behind depending what you are looking for. It doesn’t mean that you have to stick to that exact pace.

These events are test ones for another event we’ll be running in the summer. they will end on Friday, but that’s not to say that we won’t do more in the future. Over the next few weeks we’re going to be running some more Event Pace Partner group rides and I’ll keep you posted once we’ve finalised these.

Coco is going on a bikepacking tour! She is heading off to go and do the Four Horsemen route. If you are looking to do this as a badge route, please bear in mind that you will have to do the whole lap from start to finish and it could potentially mean doing 1.99 laps to get the badge. I foresee a Coco watch thread appearing at some stage!

Our 9 Running Pace Partners will remain on 5k loop and early indications are that there was approximately an 800% increase in runners spending time with them!

Here’s our schedule for next week:

Anquetil: Big Loop
Brevet: The Magnificent 8
Eddy: Volcano Circuit
Coco: Four Horsemen
Daniela: Beach Island Loop
Diego: Muir and the Mountain
Diesel: Seaside Sprint
Dorothy: Ocean Lava Cliffside Loop

Bernadette: Wandering Flats
Charlie: Neon Flats
Denise: Neokyo Crit Course

That’s it from me!

Thanks James, great stuff!

Are you sure the route badge would be awarded for Four Horseman (or any other route) by joining the PP and completing the lap banner to banner? I could be wrong but I thought I had read that you have to load it as a route to get it and a PP ride wouldn’t work (I’m really not certain on this…)

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I’m 99% certain this will work as it really is just a group ride, where the hash (reference number) of the route is loaded when you choose to join the PP.

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No way I’m doing Four Horsemen with those odds! :laughing:

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Popped on to see how the partners looked and Cadence has changed to black. Might be because I was in Just Watch mode?

Strange experience today: guest worlds were Makuri and NYC, so joined Denise in Makuri for a change of scenery. Still had a TT bike, so had to quit and start all over again. Available worlds now changed to London and Yorkshire :man_shrugging:

So tried to join Coco in Watopia but had me riding on my own and no sign of the beacon. Tried twice more before being placed in Coco’s group.

Edit: on Apple 4KTV and updated

Not sure on the placement issue, but I was Makuri/NY until they switched over. I think this happens at 4am my time, so that would be a bit weird.

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Loving the updates but you use the pacemakers first name whereas in game it’s initial and surname which causes a bit of confusion when trying to get my mates on the same one!

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I’m gonna guess you’ll get more feedback on dynamic pacing with this Cadence lap profile (having Cadence increase difficulty for the entirety of the Alpe segment is a lot different than on the smaller climbs if folks were looking for an average 2.5W/kg pace and join just before the Alpe). Would be nice if somewhere in the description it would tell you what times Cadence will be going through the starting point of the Four Horsemen so people could plan when to start if they are looking for the badge. Or maybe Cadence’s talking points on the ride are the 3 (or 4?) times she’s gonna be at the start gate the next day so people can plan to do it the next day etc…

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I think single named PPs makes sense.
Achilles
Beowulf
Charlemagne
Desdemona
…that kinda thing

Thanks so much James/Zwift for adding 3.0 W/kg Eddy Echelon pace partner to Watopia!

Eddy is perfect for my efforts to bridge up 3.3 W/kg B. Brevet.

And Eddy is great for those of us who do not yet have the new user interface and can only ride with 3.0 W/kg Charlie Chaser on the days when the Makuri Islands is an active world.

Thanks again!

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I’ve had that before. Seemed fine after a restart.

Just updated and it is showing E Echelon at 3.0 but as a Yellow D Cat pace partner on the “Choose a pace partner screen”. 3.0 should be well into C Cat range.

Edit B brevet is 2.8 yet shown as a B Cat.

I tried E Echelon today, liked the pace, ended up being 185W average over an hour on Triple Flat Loops. With Cadence on my last hour long ride on Flat Route I averaged 177W, so for me these two are very similar, though usually with Cadence I average a bit closer to 170W.

I felt my ride with Echelon resulted in a lot more power fluctuation than my other pace partner rides however, might be because the group was a bit smaller, maybe the undulating terrain, but I would spend a lot of time in Z1, a lot of time in Z2, and some spikes to Z3 on the way up any hill, and sometimes into Z4 maybe after cresting a hill or by being caught off guard on the pace. It was all over the map, so it wasn’t an ideal endurance ride for me as I was hoping. Again, I would personally like less fluctuation for a pace partner, but I understand a lot of folks like all the variation.

James - please can you add the w/kg beside each rider again (and going forward)?

There’s a lot of D’s to chose from and I don’t have them memorised yet.

I know the w/kg will be visible in app soon enough but I like to plan ahead - especially if there’s a chance it’ll get me a new route badge

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Can you amend opening to make it easier for people to track the pace partner paces.
@Dave_O1 - here’s the list, best I can do

Anquetil (4.2) Big Loop
Brevet (3.3) The Magnificent 8
Eddy (3.0) Volcano Circuit
Coco (2.5) Four Horsemen
Daniela (2.0) Beach Island Loop
Diego (1.8) Muir and the Mountain
Diesel (1.5) Seaside Sprint
Dorothy (1.15) Ocean Lava Cliffside Loop

Bernadette (3.8) Wandering Flats
Charlie (3.0) Neon Flats
Denise (2.0) Neokyo Crit Course

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What time of day do the PP’s change to the new routes ? Currently 4PM Monday 13th local time (2330 PST) and the PP’s are still on last weeks routes.

7am UTC Monday.