Is it possible to have your race category bound to your Zwift account to prevent riders changing at will? (this would have the immediate effect of stopping sandbagging)
An extension of this idea would be to have qualification events or challenges either generated by the community or as part of a “single player” element within Zwift.
With the recent ODZ test event designed to create a racing style similar to real life I believe that if the racing format is likely to mature and develop a long way. I am sure it will not be long before leagues and seasons are established and if this could be integrated into the achievements and solo ride experience I think it would be a lot of fun.
A lot of computer games work on the basis that you have to “earn” your progress. I think Zwift could do more with the “gamification” in this way without making it feel like a gimmick.
I suppose this is not so much a request for a single feature. But, I am interested to hear if others agree.
This seems to me a good way to go. All users should be directed to a FTP-workout in order to find the proper race-category. I mean, lets not kid ourselves. If people want to cheat, they will find a way. But making FTP the key element in chaning category would solve a lot, I think.
I don’t think an FTP workout is even necessary. An algorithm looking back through a riders X weeks of history = calculated FTP for classification, with the ability to over ride that to a higher, but not lower class.
Combine this with pulling weight from a daily weight tracking app through ios and categories should be more solid. There would still be cheating of course, but it would require more effort to do so.
On reflection and discussion with a couple of race organisers, there is concern that Category boundaries ought to be set by the organiser (i.e. KISS, ODZ, etc.) and I can understand this point of view.
However, I still see a lot of merit in Zwift holding performance data. In future, should short track racing become an option (or even for Crit) it may help the riders are dynamically grouped. This would mean that from a pool of 100 entries Zwift is able to place you with another 5 or 6 similar riders for a short track event.
I doubt this is on the horizon for Zwift right now. But, may be it is part of the road map.
I would suggest further definition of categories rather than a strict w/kg categorization. since zwift uses more than just this number to estimate road speed, it may be better to implement a points system so that categories get filled out by actual race performance rather than just your w/kg. i.e. since w/kg isn’t the end all metric for speed especially on flats or if you happen to be a very tall or very light rider, or worse yet tall and light. But ultimately having the categories set within zwift and then used for the various races would allow for more consistency in races. or at least more consistency in the expectation of what a C or B race really means as far as effort.
Yes I very much wish the system would force a category on people in a race. This would insure proper race tactics. I’m not chasing down someone who’s in a different category than me since I’m not even racing against them! For now I’ve taken to asking people directly during a race what their category when necessary. The races that have different starts for different categories obviously helps this issue.