Im 65+ and I sit right around an FTP of 2.5. I thought I was under it, and participating in D Events, but Zwift power says Im over and that Im a C. Im a little frustrated and unclear how to proceed. I dont want to be a sandbagger, and the D events are more than hard enough for me - its not like Im winning races… the C events are just a bit depressing - usually Im the only guy in there under 3.0 and it shows. Advice?
Its DQ’ed you because you were Cat C in ZP and entered Cat D.
Have you previously changed your Cat in Zwiftpower to C - your best 3 results are all within Cat D limits so its odd that it has you as Cat C:
If you were a Cat D in Zwiftpower and and then entered that race, you could push up to an 20min avg 2.6w/kg and still not be DQ’ed. Your 20min avg w/kg was 2.5w/kg for that race.
No idea - didnt change anything in Zwiftpower. Would prefer to just stay in D…can I change it somehow?
Hmmm, interesting!
Go to Profile / Settings and click the UPG Mixed Category. You should be able to pick Cat D there. Mine is set to “let ZP decide”.
Having said that, if it self-selected (to Cat C), it may not work. I feel I am missing something.
Your FTP # of 195w might be causing the problem. With your weight, it gives you an FTP of 2.57 w/kg. I suspect thats why you are C.
I did an FTP (20 min) as a Zwift Workout – about a month ago – it was 187, so Im not sure where the 195 came from
Perhaps I did 195 in some event for 20 minutes, but that should be discounted down to 95% - right?
Correct but I would stick with 187. Let your race results decide your Category.
That’s just it – the test was 187, and that’s 2.49, but then something kicked me up to 195 and thus over 2.5……
As a Cat C, you will still have good races but you have to search them out. For example I was looking at an ABSA race today. You wouldnt have come last but you would need to look at Zwift power to check the opposition prior to the event.
Having said that, if you feel you are absolutely at your peak and have no room in the tank for improvement, then do a full FTP test and be guided by that result. My assumption of course is that you did a shorter FTP test which can over-estimate particularly for us non-spring chickens. But nothing wrong with popping 187 now and hope it lets you change to Cat D.
email zwift and get them to downgrade u.
zwiftpower doesnt rly care about FTP typed into ur profile.
2.32wkg avg is defo Cat D rank. no point racing in C u’ll get destroyed :3
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Its actually just a little under 2.6, so its totally murky
zwiftpower doesnt care about ur listed FTP, only ur best 95% of 20min avg from top 3 races in last 90 days. if ur 2.3 for that ur gucci, wont get promoted til tht number is >2.6
Ok, that’s 2.47. Wonder why they promoted me? I just wish my rating was in the MIDDLE of a category, not either at the very top or very bottom. Pick your poison I guess….
Gain weight then. Remember these are weight categories. Before they are performance based.
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Ha! Ill just weigh myself holding my bike
You can use different bikes, that’s who I believe Zwift adds some weight (depending on bike).
There will always be some people on the top and some on the bottom. With my average of best three - 2.61 W/kg - you can imagine where I am. Results based categories would be better imo, but it is as it is.
Cheating (+1 kg would be enough for me) is not an option.
Thing is, Im losing weight in reality, so the the end of D is near!
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See you!
Ride on
In a related problem, and I have seen this posted elsewhere, if you are a lighter rider, then the w/kg system of classification essentially means you are NEVER going to be able to do well in a race unless it is up Alpe du zwift or similar. The reason is that the power you will need to put out just to keep up with the pack (even when drafting) of heavier riders means you will get DQ’s for being above the w/kg limit. After a few of these you will then get upgraded to the category above where you will be unable to keep up. The maths is simple: take a pretty average category C race (the maths is the same in B and D): the peloton will go along at around 240W, the average weight is around 78kg, so a little under 3.1 w/kg. All good. Now if you are say 65kg you will still have to put out 240W to keep up on a flat course (and almost all courses have alot of flat), thats 3.7 w/kg and you will be DQd. I have seen several suggestions of alternative grading systems based on results, which would be better, but there is clearly some difficulty in implementing this so I wonder whether a simpler solution would be to up the absoluteFTP limits that also apply to being DQd/upgraded. It would be a very simple change. At the moment the border between D and C is 200W which I think probably never comes into the equation. It would work better I think if it were at (say) the average weight for the category times the w/kg limit, so for example 3.2*78kg for moving from C to B, so more like 250W. I have dropped this thought to zwift but if others think it is a good idea maybe the weight of a few more emails (no pun intended) would help
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What do you mean with absolute FTP?