RGT have just released a points based ranking system on RGTdb.com. It’s in beta but the start we hope of a results based system.
Until Zwift actively enforce cats enter whatever cat you want. Join the rest that do it. Either way the race is spoilt by someone. You are not going to get punished in anyway for doing it.
RGT still has a long way to go but each update moves in a very focussed direction and more often than not what the community is looking for. It just needs more personality!
As someone coming from the running world (not a road cyclist until now), I have pretty good endurance, so I got bumped to A pretty quickly. That’s when my cycling education began. Some things I’m learning:
Punch it HARD at the start and HARD on the hills. Like really, really hard. Recover on the flats. This seems logical, but I didn’t know just how important it was until recently. The starts are pretty rough.
In running there’s no drafting and I’m still amazed at how the drafting mindset dominates cycling. I get it, it’s a tactic, yet so many riders refuse to ride alone and also refuse to pull in a group. As an A rider that gets dropped in most races, I end up riding with B. I feel like they see I’m an A and thus will sit in my draft even when I slow down.
Zwift is a training platform. I’m using it as a way to work on my weaknesses, like an interval workout. Even if I end up riding along, which happens very often, I know I’m burning more calories and still putting in the miles.
All that said, it’s sometimes unclear to me how some B riders don’t get DQed. In most cases, it’s high power but low W/Kg due to weight. At first, I thought many people might be artificially lowering their weight to get an advantage. Now I’m wondering if it’s more common for racers to artificially bump their weight up to keep their W/Kg down and thus stay under the cap.
How do you filter for the races where everyone starts together?
Lots of filters here.
excellent, thanks
That’s cycling, we’ll work together until it’s time to stick it to you cause I want to win.
That’s why it’s not a bike race until there’s a contraversy.
@Mike_Monterusso It all depends on your personal strengths. since it requires both w/kg AND ftp in watts to be upgraded some riders manipulate weight in order to stay under the upgrade. If your ftp is below the limit one could lower their weight to get a crazy high w/kg and never get an upgrade. On the other hand if the ftp in watts is too high just keep adding weight to keep the w/kg low. This is just one example of how “racers” cheat In Zwift.
That doesn’t sound like working together. All too often, and partly because I’m an A riding with Bs, when I slow down so do the riders behind me just so they can stay in my draft. Unless you’re in the lead group - like top of A - then I don’t see the point in holding back until the final sprint. And winning what?.. the bronze cup in B? It’s all yours, my friend.
You really should not complain about others…
Or the legit Bs are working together to stick it to you the whole ride since your an A Cat racer riding in a lower cat. Pretty obvious why they wouldn’t help you since you shouldn’t be in that race.
, good point but not necessarily true. He could have signed up with A, started with the As and fell off the A group. The strong B’s (who are really sandbagging A’s anyways) picked him up. 
I don’t think y’all understand. I join A, I start with A, my Cat is A, I’m in the A race… but I can’t keep up with most of the A group, so I fall back. Not by choice. The other As generally put out more power. Sometimes I don’t finish last in A. There are reasons I can’t keep up with them… I’m working on it. In the meantime, I end up riding by myself or with Bs around me (but I’m still in A). Not sure how to make that any clearer.
That. I always sign up with A even though I often finish last in A with a finish time often somewhere in the middle of B.
It’s clear, sorry, misunderstood.
In that case it is exactly the problem we have with the categories, cheaters and sandbaggers.
There are many other threads about it, I voted for results based categories.
Ride on!
When the race ends, I scan through the B riders that finished ahead of me to see what’s going on, how they didn’t get DQed (which isn’t always obvious). Some are heavier, some don’t race very often, some just had a super awesome day for whatever reason. I’m still figuring it out to include how to keep up with the Cat I’m assigned to, but my current suspicion is that some riders bump up their weight to keep their w/kg under the B cap.
You’re possibly one of the less strong A’s? Arguably the Zwift system of ranking makes all races time trials with the fields being arranged in ability groups.
I am in the same boat. Changed from an elite dumb trainer to a wahoo kickr core and I am now more like a C rider how can I change category?
I think we are all feeling the same frustration as you.
My comment about “that’s racing” was a bit of satire directed at the state of things on Zwift.
Part of the issue is because Zwift is full of cyclists and bike racing’s history is full of teams and people doing what we see people doing on Zwift.
The history is also full of an oversight entity that responds to the challenges and at least tries to contain the unfair advantages that others try to gain.
The history is also (mostly) full of people who want to be legit and fair.
You doing the right thing and are setting the good example and I think some of the comments were directed at examples of people doing otherwise.
Zwift needs to step up and and least make some changes.
Most people don’t expect it to be fixed overnight but how long will people put up with no action?
Zwift power was a community based self regulated association complete with social pressure incentives to man up and work hard when one was upgraded in cat.
That seems to be missing now.
Keep up your good work.
Zwiftpower sets your category based on your best 3 efforts (95% of 20 minutes power), so I believe you will be set down in the moment these efforts do not count.
You can send an e-mail to zwiftpower@zwift.com (with link to your account), but they (he? @xflintx ) are really busy…
Here’s a particularly strong example. I finished last in A and would have been 4th (of 6) in B (I was especially slow because it was a recovery ride for me). The B “winner” would have been 4th in A and actually had the highest w/kg of anyone because they weigh just 58kg but their power was under 250 so no DQ. Click through to their profile and you’ll see they don’t race very often. Are they sandbagging or just an occasional racer? Both? Plus, DQ them and you’ll see complaints from legit smaller riders and young riders.
I think we racers are not a high priority for Zwift as their focus may be on the larger customer base that doesn’t care much about racing. Zwift is a victim of its own success, perhaps… meaning they are trying to put out fires across the board. Our fire just isn’t big enough and without much competition there’s no incentive for them to address it sooner. I do intend to give RGT a try in the next couple months.
