Currently the Name & Power Output in Kg is listed. It would be helpful to display the Riders Age, Height, Weight (optional check marks to display). Currently the Kg power indicator doesn’t represent the Rider properly due to weight and height. On the “real” Road, you can visually see others, you can see age, height, and weight estimates. This assists in knowing fellow Riders, personal motivation, and realistic challenges. I’d like to know if I’m attempting to ride with a 6’6", 220lb 55 yr old vs a 5’5",160lb 24 yr old. Riding with 200 Watts for a 250lb rider is a different level than 200 Watts for a 150lb rider. Overall it’d make it more enjoyable riding with others.
I’m only curious, but I guess I’m not understanding what’s desired here. Currently name and w/kg is displayed on the rider list, not watts. I agree that straight wattage doesn’t tell you much without knowing anything about the rider, but w/kg does. It shouldn’t matter too much about the rider’s age, weight, or height. If he or she is generating X w/kg, that’s a “normalized” number. For example, I’m 5’9", male, and 45 years old. My wife is 5’4" and there’s a 7 year age difference between us. But if we’re both climbing at 2 w/kg, we’ll stay more-or-less together. The only thing the w/kg number doesn’t tell you is how hard that rider is working to generate that number. But that’s something you might not be able to discern on the road either.
Am I missing something?
I indicated the Rider list shows current “Power Output in Kg”, which is the same as w/kg. My indication of Watt was focused on the level of work. I was attempting to condense the suggestion into a brief post. Your example does touch the issue, and agreed not much noticeable difference to similarly sized Riders. That’s my point, if you and your Wife are close to weight & size on the real road you’re generating similar work riding next to each other and motivating each other to hold the pace. On the Zwift where you can’t determine the other rider’s physical size doesn’t tell you the level of work. If 2 riders are generating 2.9 w/kg they could be extremely different on level of work. 1 rider is 120lb @ 120w for 2.9 w/kg, the 2nd rider is 260lb @ 340w for 2.9 w/kg. Climbing a grade, 1st rider may indicate a short burst of w/kg 7.27 w 400W and 2nd w/kg 3.41 w 400W. The Program even correlates the measurement matrix to work; the w/kg of 7.27 goes red, where as I don’t recall a w/kg 3.41 going red. So as a larger Rider is climbing and attempting to hold the pace with riders of physical size they wouldn’t consider holding a climb on the real road. The larger rider isn’t going to hold 400W and his 400W isn’t near the speed of the smaller rider’s 400W. So if both maintain about 200W on the course (sm w/kg 3.63, lg w/kg 1.7), the larger rider isn’t able to hold pace on climbs due to physical size and the associated metrics. If route was a flat course, your example would be more applicable, but on a hilly course the physical size is a big variable. So for the joy and competitiveness of the ride, a larger Rider would be more motivated to see physical attributes to help rationalize their performance. On the matter of age, 7 yrs isn’t much difference but if Rider is holding pace with a 24yr rider and he’s 58 yrs that does make a difference. BTW… LOL, I noticed this more when I crossed over the 55yr age line. All these are visual and estimated known factors on the real road to assist in judging performance, you may even do it subconsciously but if you’re the smaller lighter rider overtaking the larger heavier rider it may not be a big factor. This is probably more apparent with larger riders than smaller riders; smaller riders don’t consider the wide spread of physical differences because it’s not very applicable. When saying large, doesn’t equate to poor fitness, or over weight. As example: a 6’8" rider in trim fitness could easily be 260lb or over. In the Zwift Game, the fitness & strength of the rider doesn’t necessarily equalize the riders if physical matrix is applied to the ride (game). If size didn’t matter there wouldn’t be a need to collect physical matrix, just have a Rider element of one size, then it would be based on power output only. The FTP tests produces an endurance wattage rating and avg riders of all size rate in the 170-240 W range but that doesn’t equate to speed performance. I think the physical variable being displayed would help with many Riders motivation. When riding I notice many riders in the 1.x w/kg range being passed constantly and not able to ride with others pace and I don’t see them stay on the course very long… are they getting discouraged? Isn’t the goal of the Zwift Game to increase fitness and motivate or simply be a training site for smaller fit Riders.
There are parts of this which I would like to see.
You can look at most of this data in the person’s file as they ride past or behind. Just touch their name and it’ll take you to their details.
I often do it when I see someone lapping me at 5 w/kg, when I am doing 2.5 w/pg. Then I see that they are only pushing 250 watts total, same as me, but weigh half as much.
I’d like to see their watts alongside their w/kg. It would be LESS of a distraction when they blow by, and help me understand a bit why they blow by.
You can even display it on the back of their shirt. I’d like that.