Pace Partners FAQ [August 2020]

RoboPacers
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Pace Partners are pace-setting bots that users can join up with straight from the drop-in screen. There will be a variety of Pace Partners available, initially only in Watopia, each offering a different level of challenge for users.

Our goal with this feature is that many users will choose to follow the available Pacer Partners, effectively creating one big fun never-ending group ride.

What is the Pace Partner schedule?
Currently, there are four Pace Partners riding at the same time; a mixture of more and less intense cadences. They can usually be found roaming 23 hours a day.

They take an hour long break nightly at 04:00 am UTC and may take an occasional hour in the morning at 16:30 pm UTC.

What are the configurations of the Pace Partners?
[Updated w/ bot “weights” and wattage range]
Diesel
Casual-paced group ride with a few gentle hills.
1 - 2.4 w/kg @ 82kg = 82-197w

Cadence
Moderately-paced group ride with occasional hills.
2.5 - 3.1 w/kg @ 65kg = 163-202w

Brevet
Expert-paced group ride with frequent climbs.
3.2 - 3.9 w/kg @ 82kg = 263-320w

Anquetil
Elite-paced ride on a challenging route. Many tough climbs!
4+ w/kg @ 65kg = 260w+

What are the limitations of Pacer Partners during FutureWorks trial?
Pace Partners are currently limited to:

  • Watopia routes only
  • Cycling (running planned for future iterations)
  • English language (translations planned for future iterations)
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Each partner appears to favor particular routes (?), based on the descriptions (?) (otherwise how do they “know” how much climbing to do?). And when you select a partner, do you “dial in” their w/kg for the pacing (e.g. Dan could be dialed in to anything from 1 to 2.4w/kg), or does each fluctuate during the ride within their range, and it’s up to you to follow?

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Great idea!
When do these go live? Will they be pinned to the top, or should you follow the bot so it shows up at the top of the list? Will their power output hold flat for their whole session or will it be a range?

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Pace Partners go live August 7 10:30 am California time / 17:30 pm UTC. WorldTimeBuddy will translate that to your local time zone.

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@xavier_nihilo

For any given session, you can choose from two of the 4 preconfigured rides. There’s basically an easier pace and more difficult pace.

UPDATE October 7: Up to 4 Pace Partners will be available during their operating hours.

There will be a way in-game to give your feedback, but we’d welcome your thoughts on this forum too.

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Anquetil dude for me, let’s see what he does :facepunch:t3:

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psyched to try this, do you have any screenshots that show how you find them and select them?

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It should be near the top of the “Ride with” list along with people you follow. I’m excited for this. I’ve asked for this feature through certain channels and I’m excited to ‘race’ with them. Do they look like blue aliens?

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Look up Amelia Anquetil on the companion app. There’s some screenshots from her last ride (a test ride I presume) which shows she is a glowing red outline rider on a tron. I don’t know how long that account will stay up for though.

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i’m still not sure how the easy D level 1-2.4 W/Kg pace will be executed?
1 on flat 2.4 on hills?

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Great idea- excited to give this a try!

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Breaking news (see what I did there?)

We discovered a bug with Pace Partners, so we have to push back today’s launch. It will be patched ASAP. Stay tuned here for a followup.

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any progress updates ? ETA on solve?

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It’s so sad that it’s become funny now whenever something gets released that we know something is bound to break (fence, group event mis-routing, km counter, the list goes on). Can you hire some of us to do Beta testing for you? Or is your philosophy that the prod environment is the the dev environment?

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“I Don’t Always Test My Code. But When I Do, It’s In Production.”

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The next one? No, please…

I think we are ready for a new survey - how long does the patience of loyal users last?
It is not about the money, it is about trust in a product we like and use.

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Totally agree… Why don’t zwift have beta testers @shooj? … Get them to sign an NDA or something. I’d be happy to test.

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