Seems like there’s so much negative talk that can be linked back some way to coffee breaks that maybe a brainstorm to adjust the feature is warranted?
Coffee breakers negatively impact other riders by messing up the draft mechanics. They appear to get priority for draft, pushing legit riders to the side out of the draft, eventually making them struggle to keep up with the group. It’s also super hard to pass coffee breakers, group mechanics make you ride significantly harder than the guy in front of you to be able to pass him, which is alright, but for coffee breakers it is much much harder still. All this put together results in coffee breakers actually causing the group to break up in multiple smaller groups.
Coffee breakers are interfering with other’s rides even though they are not riding themselves!
And there’s lots of them! It’s not just your average guy getting of his bike for a toilet break or to pick up a dropped bottle. Coffee breakers are everywhere, getting free kilometers with robo pacers, getting a free lift up a climb, …
Here’s my suggestions
- Coffee breakers should not affect other riders in any way. They should not affect draft, … So instead of giving them draft priority, just turn them into ghosts, as in actually mostly transparent and not affecting other riders at all. Just let other riders ride through them.
- Coffee breakers should not get anything for the kilometers they are breaking. No XP, no drops, nothing, the kilometers shouldn’t even count since they are not cycling. Want to coffee break on a route you haven’t completed yet? Tough luck, you’re not getting the badge as the kilometers during the break don’t count. Want them to count? Just come to a full stop for your break and resume when you’re back, don’t use the coffee break for that.
That’s my two cents.