I know this has been brought up in the past, but I want to have another discussion about the idea of a ‘rolling start’. Instead of having groups decided in the first 20-30 seconds based on a w/kg sprint/surge battle at the start, have a rolling start where these sprints are less effective. This would also make the group larger for longer and make racing dynamics and tactics more interesting, especially earlier on in the race. I believe there is already a ‘boost’ mechanic used in some ITTs. Even experimenting with this feature in zwift beta test races would be fun and I think it would get a lot of people excited. Low hanging fruit perhaps.
It doesn’t have to be a feature used for all races either, could just be a toggle option. Might even make coffee/group rides more chill at the beginning, discouraging people over excited and having the leader yell "please ease flyer’ ’ easy front’ ‘2.5 to start please’ etc for the first 5 minutes of every group ride.
Yeah, two possible options. Zapping Fence to run out at start of race at some arbitrary fixed speed (eg. 30-35km/h) for the first 2-3 minutes. Or have rubberbanding effect turned on for the same first 2-3 minutes.
We do 2km neutral starts in the Dirty Mitten Racing League https://dirtymittenracing.com/ but it is a gentleman’s agreement and the race organizer uses group chat to call out when the neutral is over with a “fights on”. Anyone who breaks the rule gets a potential DQ after the race and is mercilessly ridiculed. These races are not open to the public however, it is all ran out of the club on Zwift and we all sort of know each other, can vouch for one another, race outdoors with each other, etc… to keep the riff raff out.