I’ve never done very well in racing, can’t keep up in Cat B and want to race in Cat C. How do I change my category? If I can’t change it I will have to either give up bothering or race in the wrong category.
You can’t change it, Zwift Power use the average best 3 races. Your best 3 races is B Cat performance.
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So one option is to enter races where all categories race together. That is most races and while you sign up and start with the Bs you can just ride at your level and hook up with a group of strong C racers and still have a good race. You’ll continue to push yourself and improve. Not being able to keep up with the strong B racers (many of them may not be legit) shouldn’t keep you from having a good race.
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Sounds good, but I think I’ll probably just enter Cat C and not worry about Zwift Power. The results on the companion app don’t DQ anyone anyway.
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This sentiment is exactly why Zwift racing is in the situation it is currently.
Properly categorized racers that don’t like not being top 10 decide “hey it’s okay to race a cat lower because I can’t win or place in my actual category”. You are a legit Cat B. Don’t ruin someone else’s race cause you want to race a level below your abilities.
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I wouldn’t be ruining anyone’s race. I’ve only ever raced once at Cat C and was 4/14.
It’s worth pointing out that even if my w/kg is ok in a race the riders with lower w/kg but higher power outputs will generally beat me. This reflects my experience of real life racing, although in real life it would be them that get moved up a category for winning, not me for having a higher w/kg.
Yes you would. Just because you didn’t finish first doesn’t mean you didn’t ruin someone else’s race. The fact that a Cat B rider (and often times it is a fair amount and not just one) enters a Cat C race you/they have affected that race for everyone else.
The way Zwift racing is set up, based on w/kg, means you can hold higher power to weight ratio than any legitimate Cat C racer. If a legit Cat C didn’t go in to ZwiftPower before the race and identify you as someone who shouldn’t be in that race once the race goes they expend higher energy trying to keep up with you and/or all the other Cat Bs that shouldn’t be there. They might be able to hold on the whole time but more often than not they blow up and bonk because they can’t hold those higher power to weight ratios (hence why they are Cat C and not B).
This problem gets worse the further you go down the scale. Try entering a Cat D (and I am not actually recommending this just using it for illustration)… my guess is you still wouldn’t win that race cause too many Zwift Racers have your attitude of “I’ll race in a Cat that I’m competitive in” and not the one their abilities assign them to.
Zwift Racing is a joke right now and will be until they force everyone to race their assigned Cats and/or go to a points system so people can’t race lower than their skill level.
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Why not move people up a Cat based on their placing? Simple, justifiable and fair.
Also, you don’t have to be on Zwift Power to race, so the the Category system isn’t really set up to work or be relevant.
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Exactly and many people have been arguing for that. But Zwift has declined to implement that.
ZwiftPower was created by the community in order to create more fair races in the beginning of Zwift. It works well for its purpose but as more and more people get into racing a legit ranking system like IRL needs to be implemented. Or in the least Zwift needs to force riders to be only eligible to race in their ZwiftPower category.
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Oh well, let’s hope they change it, or a better alternative comes along, soon.
Probably the other 3 in front of you should have been in the Bs too.
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No, that was the Zwiftpower result, so as reliable as you can hope for.
That’s why more and more racers are heading over to RGT.
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Are they? I’m not active in any RGT circles, so I’ve next to no knowledge of it. I’ve tried it a few times, but that’s all. One of the things I don’t like about it is everything having to be done through my phone.
I’ll have a look
well if you only came in 4th in a C race you clearly should be racing in D then
/S
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RGT requires a phone control app and a screen app. Totally different physics.
Yeah, I get that it’s two parts. A “dumb” head display and a mobile control app.
That’s what I didn’t like. I have a perfectly good keyboard and mouse attached to my PC.
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