Yes, these threads can be hard to follow. I just read the last posts and wanted to push for a quick fix. I don’t blame @James_Zwift, but from an outside view it seems a bit odd that Zwift don’t want to host these events. I’m sure they have their reasons.
It’s because we’re already running 16 events daily on our own Monthly Racing series’ and don’t want to dilute these further by adding even more Zwift owned content.
4 Likes
I see. I guess many just ride each race in the monthly races serie once per week. Then there is plenty of room for crits in between.
The first two installments of the “Get Rolling” series have been in the 30-35 min range on mostly flat, sprinter friendly courses, with a relatively short kicker/roller as a selecting feature. Seems fine for a short hard lunchtime or evening race.
There were well over 400 signups for the noon (EDT) race, and again over 400 for the early afternoon (2pm EDT) races today. Easily the most popular recurring weekday races. So its possible that a majority of users like the change. Satisfied customers aren’t always vocal.
The nature of the series encourages people to ride more often. Overall finish time is tracked (only your lowest time for each installment counts), so there is a reason to keep racing beyond simply getting a workout. Also, people who care about rank prefer well attended races. So any change that increases participation attracts more competitive racers, which in turn improves race quality and attracts even more.
AFAIK, the series will vary the length and type of courses for each month, so there will not just be short and flat races. I’m ofte doing two of these races a week. I’m not doing the ZRL, so there is still room for some crits since these races are easy to recover from. I know I should be doing some longer steady state rides, but they are too boring. I think there are many like me.
I think the question is why both can’t coexist. If the Get Rolling only had 300 riders and the CC race stole 100, would that be ok? I don’t completely understand the dilution of Zwift owned content. Do riders car who the ‘owner’ is, or is it Zwift who cares about the protection of the community organized events?
an event leader that cares about their series who you can contact and talk to is a good thing for everyone in my opinion. though pen enforcement has made normal every day zwift run daily races a lot better, things like league races or certain weekly events are probably best handled by a community leader
a lot of people seem to racing zwift run events now though (crit city races were often empty) and the better community events seem as healthy as ever so i don’t think it’s a net loss or anything
1 Like
That is not my impression. At the times I’m riding (18-21 CET), there was always relatively good attended crit races during the Zwift season.
1 Like
That wasn’t my impression either: The Crit races were always packed during the main Zwift season last year. Even now before the season truly kicks in, the new Rhino Crit City races are getting pretty good turnouts, and generally the bulk of people will always gravitate towards the official Zwift Events, which is only to be expected. Everyone has different expectations and requirements from Zwift to fit their own personal preferences, so as much variety in the races offered will always be a good thing. Hopefully this thread has highlighted a gap and helped to fill it. Personally the new Rhino evening UK time Crits have renewed my interest in the platform - this forum has been very useful
2 Likes
Zwift, why are Crit city races still missing? These are punchy, good training rides that mimic my real world riding much better than the anaerobic threshold festivals that are most races. I’ve stopped using Zwift as much as a result. Please bring these back!
there not coming back. (zwift ones)
I agree they are good but there is also lots on the calendar competing for riders which i’m not sure we have the user numbers to have them hourly like before. not with the zwift monthly races that can be somewhat similar length. (and the public calendar needs the dead events cleared up could help)
If you find a quiet spot with nothing similar on happy to suggest it to events as i’ve done with crit races Tues/Thur/Fri 11 and 8pm UTC
What’s the chances of the lunch time one get bumped back 10/15mins or so?
Reason being, just practically for alot of people finishing lunchtime ‘ish’ to jump on get something done, 12 on the dot is running it tight. I think that’s why the original ones did well as they were at 12:20?
This is a purely personal post as I quite often have conference calls running 11-12, so If I cant wrap them up early then I wont be making the race.
3 Likes
Electric spirit have a crit style races at 12.15 if that suits. not always Crit City but generally short designed for exactly as you suggest for a lunch time ride.
2 Likes
I just looked for a quick race to jump on before going out, and there was just below 23km (unless I do a TT or enter an A cat) between 4.30 pm and 8.30 pm UK time this evening. All are mostly between 23km and 28km. A bit disappointing and not much variety from what I can see. Racing seems to have gone downhill
1 Like
I also miss Crit City. The newer series are good, but they mostly fall into the same strategy 90% draft + 10% sprint (or climb). The nice thing about Crit City was that there were more opportunities to pull away and/or be dropped, so they were generally punchier races.
I certainly don’t need them every hour of every day, but sprinkled in here and there would be nice.
1 Like
When I checked earlier, there were 72 races on Crit City in the next 7 days. That’s more than ten a day.
Oh! Is there a way to search by route/course either in the companion app or on the website?
I liked that they were punchy and rolling without being mountainous, and allowed for recovery each lap. The bigger circuit races are slogs.
1 Like