Is there anyway that anyone who violates category enforcement is simply DQed? Or at least bumped up to the next category from a results standpoint (my preferred solution).
I did a race today ( Stage 1: Get Rolling - Watopia Flat Reverse - 8:13 am PDT - in CA) in the D category.
This is supposed to be limited to 0-2.5 riders. According to Zwift Power, I came in 12th. However, if all the riders who were 2.5 and above (therefore belonged in C) were DQed or changed to C riders then I (at 2.4) would have been 2nd.
I kill myself trying to stay in a draft with the front group, only to find that the reason I can’t is because none of them belong in the Ds…
It isn’t rocket science for either Zwift Power or Zwift to look at the total wkg and just move the rider up to the correct category.
We are going to have this till the ZRL when people will start getting in right Cat. As people are coming back to Zwift so no race or ride data so using the loop hole to the gold trophy haha so sad when rider do this.
It’s a source of frustration for me too. I race at about 3.5 w/kg and can choose between violating the category rules and racing in Cat C or racing in Cat B and having my doors blown off by people who should be in Cat A. Zwift has our power data, they should just put everyone in the correct category instead of letting people pick.
@Philip_Procter - If Zwift and Zwift Power would just automatically upgrade someone to the right category, then it becomes a moot point. If a D rider averages 2.6, then they automatically become a C rider and show in the C results. This avoids DQ disputes, etc. If you know you will be bumped up automatically, there is less benefit to riding in a lower category.
Nobody exceeded pen D “Category Enforcement” thresholds, which are predictions of 2.625W/Kg zFTP for 40-60mins and 3.2W/Kg zMAP for 6mins (providing their zFTP is greater than 150W).
This short stage 1 is taking approx 16-18mins for the frontrunners to complete, so a racer would only exceed zFTP if they completed the race with an average of approx 2.9W/Kg+.
In a shorter race of 11-12mins, a pen D racer can average approx 3W/Kg without getting a zFTP promotion. Over 20mins, the zFTP limit would be approx 2.85W/Kg etc.
@Steve_Cl - Thanks for the clarification. Is this documented some place where I can just set a bookmark? But that’s why I included a link - just so that it would be easy to clarify.
It seems strange that someone can race with a 3 wkg average in a race that is marked as 0-2.5 wkg. However, it makes sense that the distance is a factor.
So the trick appears to be to ride 0-2.5wkg races at 3.0 wkg and make sure to finish the race in less than 20 min… or 2.8 wkg if between 20 and 40 min
Does the 2.5 wkg limit apply if the race is longer than 40 min?
The tricky part is that zFTP is not really FTP or 0.95*20minPower. It can be influenced (lowered) by a good shorter term power. Maybe that is why zMAP is there as well because most of the races are decided by best power for 4-6 min or less.
I think that one of the problems is historical - in the early stages of Zwift CE, they increased the zFTP thresholds so that the Zwift CE and Zwift Power category were closer matching (D is 2.63 W/kg, C is 3.36 W/kg etc.). That allows some of the riders on the border of two categories to race down.
For what it’s worth, you’re at the bottom of Cat B, so yes you’re going to get your doors blown off until you improve. But that doesn’t mean people should be in Cat A because you’re extremely low B.
Reminder that Cat B extends all the way up to ~4.43w/kg for 20 minute powers; to put your 3.5 into perspective.
CE “Pen Enforcement” is exactly the purpose of putting people in the correct category instead of sussing it afterwards and seeing B folks racing in D like the days prior to the introduction of CE last year.
For OP’s sake, from a similar perspective means that D riders can push 2.76w/kg for 20 minutes, and still be within D; but since that was a sub 20 minute race, basically means people could’ve pushed into the lower-mid 3w/kg in the 5 minutes range and still be D.
Moving them up is a bad idea. Particularly for higher categories, depending on how it’s raced sometimes the C’s will be faster than the B’s. Even more often the B’s will be faster than the A’s. Bumping them up into a win when the category above weren’t racing them, particularly when all categories are not visible or when starts are offset, is an extremely unfair solution.
The concept now is that you are entering the category that you should be based on your power history. This time of year, there are lots of people who have not ridden on Zwift all (Northern Hemisphere) summer. They’ll be moved up for the next race.
