I just finished a C race with ‘category enforcement’. I came in 47th. Of the 46 riders ahead of me, 21 of them had an avg w/kg of 3.3 or greater. C category for this ZRacing Stage is 2.5 to 3.2 w/kg. What gives? Why does a rider’s time officially count when they are out of category? In a race I was in last week, the silver medalist in my C race had 4.0 w/kg!? Wouldn’t this be a real simple thing for Zwift to automatically control?? ie. simply shift the rider’s result into the B category race…??
CE is based on zFTP that is calculated based on expected wkg for 40+ minute timeframes. Were all of the 3.3s you saw actually the average, or were these for 20-minute power? How long was the race?
And Cat C is up to 3.36 w/kg, not 3.2
ht tps://support.zwift.com/category-enforcement-faq-rJ5CQrpvc
John is correct, but just to add one more thing, the way Zwift approaches breakout performances is it upgrades the rider for their next race. It does nothing about the event in which it happened. Chances are some of those riders got an upgrade, and some didn’t. Category Enforcement just means they’re stuck in the correct pen at the start based on their history of power known to Zwift.
The ZRacing series is extremely popular and has huge fields of the most competitive people in your category. If you want a different experience, try some of the community-organized races. The tactics are much more interesting in a field of say 20 riders, and there’s more randomness in the field quality. They also offer more options for routes and distances.
Thanks for responding John. The race was 23 km and the winnng C time was 32:51 minutes.
The w/kg I referred to was in fact the average for the race. Btw, alot of 3.4s and 3.5s.
So I guess the moral of the story is that for any race under 40 minutes, anyone can jump into an easier category? At least for a race or two.
Re the 3.36 upside limit you refer to, the race site clearly states “AVG 2.5 - 3.2 W/KG Category Enforced”.
Thanks Paul, it definitely seems competitive, but I’m enjoying the intensity and usually hanging in there!
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the 3.36 w/kg is the max in C cat for zFTP, @Wannie is correct.
No not at all, you can’t just enter a race below your category if the race is less than 40 minutes. Once your category is established you are stuck there until your performance drops enough over a 90 day rolling period to reduce your category. You are always welcome to race up a category however.
Got it, thanks
Yeah, it’s somewhat a mystery as to why Zwift hasn’t thought to change the listed default ranges for the Cats in their events. It leads to a lot of confusion.
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There were several participants in that race that were strongly suspected of gaming the system. The prime suspect pulled a huge gap, and another racer or two, off the front with about 1.5 km to go, and then quit the race about 300m before the finish. So that performance wasn’t recorded in Zwift Power? Perhaps there’s a loophole that needs to be closed.
Though category enforcement supposedly takes all performances into account – rides, races, free rides, training sessions, and events you quit halfway or whatnot.
Perhaps also worth noting is that this race was covered by Nathan and Zwift Community Live, and that video appears to have been pulled. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8FJT9DWvJXEfaZEqiPlEoQTDyCnXTWZq
Ah. Still, suspicious behaviour, wouldn’t you say?
Could be, what event ID was this anyway.
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I’m a fairly high B and even the guy who won that C race scares me…
he’s got a monster sprint and quite high watts for C.
ahhh zRacingScore can’t come soon enough!
Which; looking at said winners’ results, chances are he would [hopefully] have been forced promoted after winning 5 races in a 5 day period… (3 of which were Zwift Races) back in October.
That guy definitely knows how to work to his strengths to take wins.
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned yet as well for Rick to be aware of, is the zFTP watt limits. Which wasn’t really a factor in that race in particular, but something to be aware of when you do see higher w/kg at the end-screen. Very light folks may get quite a ways above the w/kg limit of a cat, but remain within said cat due to the watt limits.
Another wrinkle - the rider doing 3.7W/kg is under the Watt floor for cat B so remains in C as long as that’s true regardless of the W/kg.
And the guy who won the race wasn’t even the problem. The dude who said “I am done” and stopped with 300 m to go was the disruptive force. You can spot him on the video if you want a name.
Yep, well known cheater impersonating a legit rider. Ball is in Zwift’s court for this one. He mostly craps in the really popular events so it’s not that hard to avoid him.
I’m not sure he did stop, I think he crossed the line and is in the results. One of his usual aliases.