His profile is nowhere near mine , for an hour am holding 2.3 w/kg, he can hold 3.6w/kg, its no even close.
dont race him up a mountain? not like anyone does mountain races anyway
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This definitely seems to be the case, at least in my experience with my first scored race yesterday on the Innsbruckring. Iām normally a strong C (weighing 188lbs, 15 sec power 854W and 20 mins at 285W per ZP), and was placed with mostly B riders because my seed score put me in the bottom of the 520-690 pen. Was dropped like a hot potato on the first Leg Snapper, despite putting out average 500 watts for the segment to try to keep up.
I mean, sure, I can sprint, but that means jack when the peloton is a literal mile ahead of me at the finish. Iām hoping I can keep up better on Seaside Sprint tomorrow as it better fits my profile, but Iām still expecting to get outlasted by those who can produce a higher 20 min W/kg than I can. Weāll see, I guess.
Iām also seeing less people racing thus far in the Community Event series, which then brings up another issue - the bands need to be narrowed and more pens created, but if thereās no one there to fill them up, thatās a problem as wellā¦
Regardless, thereās going to be growing pains with such a new and drastic change to any system. I just hope that in the end as time goes on, the system works itself out, it gets refined enough to make things more enjoyable for everyone, and it doesnāt ruin the very thing it was meant to improve upon.
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If only there was a downhill series.
oops my bad meant compared to the OP
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the theory is based on # of signups. 36 of them evidently in your event. FWIW there are 4 DNFs showing as well in ZP. 36 minus 4 = 32/2 = 16
The harsh reality of racing is that if your 1-minute / 5-minute power is only 60% / 12% higher than your 20-minute power, you will likely be unable to match the punch that those around you have.
There werenāt any true A racers up against you. There were some high Bās with low absolute watts.
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Looks like my hopes of hanging on at Seaside Sprint are probably delusional. Granted, more people are bound to join in, but hereās what things are like so far in the 510 PDT slot. Iām expecting more powerhouses to enter the fray.
Either Iām going to set some massive PBs, or Iāll be riding solo much of the time. Forget the lube, Iām getting waxed. 
Seaside sprint is pretty flat.
If you are the rider with 285 watts, you should be able to hang in their draft for much of the race.
There is up to 30% watt saving on the flat, so if the 4.3wkg rider matches their PR and does 319 watts for 20 min, you can sit on their wheel easily at 240 watts, which would be well within your comfort zone.
wkg is pretty useless for predicting performance on the flat. Raw watts and punch matters more.
Just mark any attempts they have to break away from you, your sprints are all similar.
In this video on bike choice, I move up through the bots and Iām hanging on to Yumi (2.8 wkg/ 230 watts), while Iām holding a steady (2.4/180 watts). The draft is giving me ~50 watts for free
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I was going to do that race but there are a bunch of 4.7 for 20 guys in there now so Iām out. Guess Iām just not going to bother racing any time Iāve done some sprint work in last 3 months.
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Yeah, after I posted that, I realized the raw wattages werenāt that much better than my own. Was primarily looking at the W/kg and how much better those are than me. Just have to hold wheels on the inclines. Itāll be tough, but what do I expect? Itās not supposed to be a cake walk.
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Welp, went just about as I expected. Thankfully was able to tenuously hold on to the front group for most of the race, but got dropped after the last volcano kicker with 2/3 lap to the finish. Too many surges to keep up with, even on the flat, and with averaging a little less than my 20 power best up to that time, I eventually ran out of gas. Finished 18/22 with at least one obvious sandbagger not trying. Race score only dropped to 522, so at least another race forthcoming before maybe returning to the category Iām used to.
Two races in, some other observations:
-Both races so far, Iāve been the heaviest and tallest entrant. Thereās been one other racer in each race around my weight, and by and large the rest of the field are a good 15-30 lbs lighter than me. Iām also 4-7 inches taller than the estimated average in the field as well, so the weight and aero drag comes into play much more than it does for my competition.
-Surges and responses to attacks occur MUCH faster in B than Iām used to in C. As in, the lighter racers can accelerate so much more quickly than I currently am able. More than once I found myself dangling or playing catch up because I was too slow to react. The aforementioned weight and height drag make it even more difficult to return to the group and latch back on once I was too far back. Which meansā¦
-My racecraft needs to improve. A lot. Any lack of anticipation I had in C group could have been made up for by sheer power. That advantage is completely gone in this higher category. Iām noticing that places I used to be able to coast, I have to keep pedaling just to stay on a wheel. My tactical mindset will have to shift quite a bit if Iām going to keep up.
I like the idea of facing better competition with varying strengths, but man, itās been tough going thus far. Oh well. Again, itās only going to make me better and stronger in the end.
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I had simular experiences. Somewhat on the heavy side of life and with a sprint Zwift seeded me at 557. I was lucky if I could hang on for 5km before getting dropped and had to ride solo for the rest of the race.
I am now back in the cat below that (350 - 520) and that feels so much better. Still wont win anything and occaisionally getting dropped (like on the 3rd Legsnapper Monday) but overal this feels where I should have been seeded. It is hard, I have to push myself to the max but I feel way more competative than in the 520 - 690 Cat where I was nothing more than just filling and getting dropped after 5km.
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There were A+ riders in the 350-520 community race last night so gave it a miss! Seems race score is a sandbaggers delight!
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which really puts me off doing race score events, iām 100kgs, at first my race score was pretty low, but due to good results in some races and such itās pushed my score up to 478 despite only just getting move from d to c group. the 1100w 15s power and 290w 20min powerly likely isnt helping me there.
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You could start smoking perhaps?
Otherwise I canāt see what your issue is.
The lowest category should exist for people who canāt put out a lot of power and no one else - not āI put out a lot of power but Iām overweightā - especially not if people putting out the same power were getting DQ because they were thinner.
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There are guys in Cat E putting out the same power for 20 minutes, they just cant sprint, Mike is two Cats above them, he is putting out 2.9w/kg for 20 minutes which puts him in the bottom few percent of his Cat (check the table out), if he drops to Cat D he is still very much average in that Cat, its pretty obvious he is another outlier who is in the wrong Cat because of his 60 second power.
w/kg is meaningless
In what sense is it meaningless?
I get that as riders with race craft (or weight) can account for a lot of differences in w/kg
But when you have riders that can do 1+ w/kg more than you over 20 minutes then that is also a clear indicator no matter how good you are you are going to have a tough time and likely to get dropped pretty quickly on anything but the flattest of courses.
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