Hi All
I am really keen to ensure I enter the correct category for racing and have a few questions.
So… never raced before but work/family commitments have finally enabled me to get consistent with riding on Zwift since Jan this year, via early mornings sessions. I have focused on the regular Vikings Rides and completing the TDZ. I have a zwift power account from a while ago and have just looked at it and realized that my rides have counted for analysis on zwift power. On my profile page it says: minimum cat C, almost B, with all my TDZ efforts classified as B.
So if i wanted to sign up for a race what cat should i do?
Hope you can help… Ride On
Many thanks Jon
TDZ cats were distance based, not w/kg.
You are a C, almost B, (by your report) so ok to enter C.
If you enter one of the new Enforcement test races next week, you maybe a B because the race rules are changing.
OTOH if your rating C) is all based on TdZ recent efforts, you also may want to just ask yourself to what degree you tried as hard as you could in those efforts, or just rode them for fun or at a knowingly leisure pace.
It might be interesting for you to just check the Monday 10am PST Zwift Category Enforcement race (or any of them during next week’s trial) to see if it forces you in B, or lets you enter C. You don’t even need to race in it, just see if you can select C or if it’s disabled for you. That series uses all your ride data including workouts, not just the TdZ ones you’re seeing on ZwiftPower. It is still however a work in progress (which is why they are testing it), so can always change algo.
If that pushes you into B only, then might start needing to get used to riding B 
From a Zwift Power perspective you’re still ok to ride C of course, but you’ll probably be pushed to B once you do a few more races by the sounds of it.
Hi John
Many thanks for the feedback. I should have said the TDZ events were where i was getting all my B cat status from. As i have never raced (outdoor or zwift) i will admit that I became competitive with myself just to see how well i could do. So i was definitely trying at the TDZ events that classified me as B. Many thanks Jon
Hi Aaron Many thanks for responding. This PST Cat enfrocement thing sounds good as all i want to do is ensure i am in the right category and not breaking any rules or annoying any other racers. So this “test” will automatically put me in a set category?
As you can tell i have never raced indoor or out!! So yes B sounds like a big push in performance and effort but I am willing to give it a go. For a “normal” zwift race does the individual choose the category or does the game “enforce” you into a specific category? I assume i “sign” up for races like i do events, using the companion app the look at events listings? Is it here that you select your category, or enforced selection? Sorry for all the basic questions, but i just want to make sure i am doing the right thing. Not breaking any rules and not annoying other races. Thanks for any further advise. Best Wishes
Jon - Ride On
Right, it will take whatever efforts you have in Zwift, not just races, and restrict what category you can enter - it “might” show you as B or C, depends on your past efforts. Now, if you don’t have enough data it defaults you to “A” category only which is absolutely not what you want, so if you see only “A” available, that’s because you didn’t have enough data to properly classify based on their algorithm. But given you’ve got a bunch of TdZ rides and other riding they probably have enough info on you to try.
The one caveat with the categorization enforcement tests is this is the absolute first time they’ve tested this, so there are likely to be changes based on people’s feedback. It’s probably not a bad thing to have some people join those races who haven’t raced before to see how they “Feel” about the race categorization anyhow.
So those test categorization rides are happening all next week if you want to try them out, just pick one that works with your schedule.
You can also legitimately enter a C category on any race given your ZwiftPower category shows you as C almost B as well.
Realize that Zwiftpower I think only looks back 90 days. Not sure when your hiatus from indoor cycling started or when you started up again, but if your pre-TdZ rides were more than 90 says ago, then ZP is saying you are a min-C, almost B based only on those rides.