Rides events are valid for zwiftpower to calculate your categorie or are only races?

Racing
1

Hi . A simple cuestion. Zwiftpower only count the RACES to calculate your categorie A,B,C,D … ? Or the socials rides are involved for this calculation?

I’m almost B, and I do not know if I go hard on the ride, I can finish jump to B. Or need I a new races??

Thank you !

1 Like
2

Any rides which show up under your profile count towards your categorisation.

It doesn’t have to be a race.

4 Likes
3

It would be nice if someone could update the FAQ to be more clear, which states:

Your ZwiftPower category is calculated based on averaging the w/kg and functional threshold power (FTP) from your best three races within the last 90 days.

It’s pretty natural to assume that “best three RACES” means three “activities categorized as races”, not “any activity”.

4

As it’s written, that is 100% accurate in terms of your Zwift Power categorization, which is sometimes used to determine your race cat.

However, Zwift has now largely transitioned away from races based on ZP cat since it recently introduced, what’s called, Category Enforcement (search on here for more info). Here your race cat is based on a CE parameter which takes into account every ride you do on Zwift (race, free-ride, workout etc.) whether you complete them, or not.

So, if you are interested in entering any CE races, then your cat will be influenced by every ride you do on Zwift. BTW, there is no way to currently determine what your CE-based cat is (it’s “secret”); you will only know what cats you can enter when you register for the race.

5

Couple of things here - ZP also includes group rides which is why the request to update the FAQ is valid (i.e. James’ statement is what should be in the FAQ, as ZP uses both group rides and races). Checking Jeff’s ZP history shows he got upgraded due to recent group ride performances and given he hasn’t got loads of experience, I suspect this is a genuine surprise to him.

But I suspect his frustration is that this poses a problem for his ZRL team as that is ZP based and he has just proven he should be racing up a Cat.

6

Yes, sorry Dean, you’re absolutely right.

Any event which shows up on your Zwift Power profile under the “Race” or “Ride” tab will count towards your ZP minimum cat rating (provided it’s longer than 20 mins in duration).

Since ZRL still uses your ZP cat (and not CE) then, I guess, he has no alternative other than to race-up a cat. It can all be a bit confusing for novice (and sometimes experienced) riders alike :grinning:

1 Like