Just what it says in the title. Remove the coffee stop function in its entirety.
If that’s too radical then add an option to a user profile to disallow coffee stoppers from attaching to the user during any type of event.
Why? What effect does it have on the person being attached to?
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Hi Rob,
I’m sorry to say, this thread makes me sad because I believe wholeheartedly in inclusivity - allowing people to ride the way they want to, provided it doesn’t harm others.
Coffee stops don’t harm anyone; they give people a temporary break and they aren’t allowed in races - just social and free riding. In Zwift, I’ve pedalled alongside people on coffee breaks and in real life, I’ve been overtaken by people on e-bikes. I can’t stop people riding e-bikes in real life and I don’t want to - nor do I want to stop people using coffee stops in Zwift.
What I do think Zwift should seriously consider is making coffee stops less visible; I think we’d see less people complaining about coffee stops if there wasn’t a coffee cup over someone’s head when using one.
Plus I’d like to be able to take a tea break instead of a coffee break. With some biscuits. 
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I agree but I take comfort in the fact that it’s here to stay, regardless of threads like this
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i disagree, for no reason whatsoever
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Sorry to upset anyone, certainly not my intention.
I don’t know why you mention e-bikes - I absolutely love IRL e-bikes and the fact that they allow folks to get out on a bike for longer / further/ higher. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been overtaken by an e-bike and I’ve zero issue with that.
If I stop in real life I expect to stop… not for those around me to push me while I have a bit of cake … but hmm maybe 
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normally i’m not an advocate of suggestions like this but in this case i absolutely guarantee the complaints would cease within 2 months. i don’t know if i’m being mean or being generous by implying the collective public are only capable two months of object permenance but i think i’m being realistic
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Thanks Rob and you didn’t upset me; I just wanted to stand up for coffee stops in the nicest way I could! 
I mentioned e-bikes to encourage you (and anyone who feels the same) to try looking at coffee stops from a different point of view. As you say, an e-bike enables you to ride further and longer in real life, and as I look at it, a coffee stop also enables you to ride further and longer with the same group of people on Zwift, if something happens like you suddenly needing to get off the bike to help the kids with something.
So if someone needs or wants to use one, I’m cool with it. If someone doesn’t want to use one, I’m cool with that too. I think it’s good to have the option.
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I’m not entirely against removing the coffee stop, but only because I feel that teleporting is a better function and more reflective of what’s actually happening.
Expanding the teleport functionality to be active in group rides, and include the beacon(s) and whoever you were riding with up to 3 minutes ago would be a great solution.
Compared to coffee stops the only big issue would be recording route completion. I haven’t tested it but I believe currently teleporting resets your route progress. But I’m sure there would be a way to preserve it.
I don’t think coffee stops are a bad solution, I use them and have no issues with others using them, but I think an expanded teleport function would be better.
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What Zwift should do is allow each user the individual option to turn off the viewing of the coffee stop icon rather than hiding it completely.
So you can choose not to see it, others can choose that they do want to see it.
The OPs idea to disable let an individual prevent coffee stop people from attaching to them, could be interesting. As was said before, “it’s good to have the option”. This is just an alternate option.
It would also be interesting to see how many people will use that versus how many people are using coffee stop function.
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I would like to hear just one solid argument to why this hurts your experience in any meaningful way.
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True enough … but there are a whole load of reasons you might need to stop when working out at home that don’t apply when you are out on the road …
- Your kids might need some help with something
- Someone is at the door
- The dishwasher has flooded the kitchen
- The shopping needs bringing in from the car
- It has started raining and the washing needs to be brought in
- etc.
Given that someone latching onto you, and taking a coffee stop, does not affect your ride in any meaningful fashion whatsoever, why would you want it taken away?
If you really don’t like them attaching themselves to you, all you have to do is stop briefly and then restart and they will unattach themselves.
A fun prank in group rides where I perceive a coffee stop rider is attached to me is to tow them ahead of the group and hope they are not looking at the screen at the time. (If I’m sweeping of course I use the opportunity to try to rejoin the group.) Personally I have had someone tow me through the fence while I was using a coffee stop, but I can hardly complain if I’m taking the free speed.
I recently towed someone to a sprint segment 90 day PR (them and me) 
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Our rideship on longer rides has increased significantly, just by pure numbers, and also the rate of completion when coffee break released.
(which means that as of right now, when coffee break literally doesn’t work somehow… the amount of complaints on said ride were through the roof)
Other than its lengthy list of bugs, it’s safe to assume it isn’t going anywhere.
Free roaming however; is the only place I think coffee break doesn’t seem to serve much of a purpose and agree that teleport is better suited. That said… I don’t have an issue with it, it’s just a little strange when I see free roaming folks latch onto people doing workouts 
There are days when I’m in ‘just want to be left alone’ mode, and I’ll admit that on those days, riders who randomly decide to stick with you on the road are mildly irrationally irritating Same way as it would be IRL if someone you were passing sped up to keep pace with you when you wanted to be left alone–same way, but much much less irritating on Zwift than IRL. I’ve never been Coffee Stopped on those days, but I’m assuming I’d also be mildly irritated too.
So, I will admit to sometimes feeling ‘mildly irritated’. But I’m with you overall, in that I don’t think my sometimes feeling mildly irritated is a meaningful reason to remove the feature Mild irritation serving as a reason to change Zwift features would lead to no Tron bikes too, lol.
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it’d be interesting to see how many people would use this if the distance didn’t count to their ride stats?
if you hit the coffee break and you stopped at the start of the road then teleported next to whoever you would have been latched on to once you pedal or the break ends.
see who is using it because they need to for whatever reason v those using it to gain some “free” miles.
I’m not bothered by either use case (just wish there wasn’t a big icon on my screen and that they would pedal and not float along!) but would find it quite interesting.
My two penneth for what it’s worth:
- I’ve used it once (I think) when I forgot to turn on the fan. It’s useful in ‘domestic’ situations like that, so it would be a shame to remove it.
- I’m not sure whether it was intended to be used to avoid pedalling up hills, but if it means non-competitive group rides and robopacers get extra riders as a result I can’t see any harm.
- For rides where there is a results placing, it’s inevitable that people will race them regardless of whether it’s set up as a race or not (maybe call them “rades” - race at the front, ride at the back?). I’d suggest that using the coffee stop (and late joins) should mean that you are filtered from the results in some way.
- I’ve never been in a situation where I’ve known that a coffee stopper was attached to me, but can understand it could be annoying/distracting if wanting to ride solo.
It is quite distracting (for me at least) to have someone hovering next to you with a big icon right there on the screen. Maybe they could disappear when using it and reappear when it ends? Ignorance is bliss!
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