I signed up for just my second race on Monday night which was fun.
I joined only a few minutes before the race started so was at the back of the group in the pen which was to be expected, but I was also facing away from the start. I stayed like that until the start of the race when I took a wide arc to turn round which meant having to put in a fair amount of effort to catch even the back of the pack and absolutely no chance to get with one of the front few groups.
Did this happen because of something that I did, or did wrong, or is it some sort of bug? If something I did I’d like to make sure I don’t do it again in future.
Maybe that’s one of Zwift’s anti-sandbagging protocols, and they suspect you of being under category lol. Wait—now that I think of it, it might be fun if, when the system calculated over-category power levels, it suddenly made the rider do a u-turn, and then said rider had to react and u-turn themselves back into the flow while losing ground. But as @B_CN said, it sounds like a bug. Bummer for you and your second race
Not sure if it’s better being a bug rather than something I did, but hopefully won’t happen again. Will have to sign up for another one soon just to check it out.
Had this happen to me today in a Paris race. Out of about 50 riders, two of us were facing backwards and thus started the race with a leisurely U-turn. So much for staying with the front group! Whatever this bug is, it’s still there more than a year after you encountered it.
The curse of the U turn strikes again … The fix of the fix of the fix , we come full circle to the broken again sort of thing ?
Never experienced it , but this sounds like one of the bugs that never gets fixed and become just part of the way things are . If that is the case , would be good to know if quiting the pen and coming back in again reverts or it is sticks with you in those instances. (just in case).
This has been a consistent issue on the Paris map since it was introduced. If you’re facing the wrong way you WILL do a U-turn and follow the correct course, at least in my experience (happened multiple times to me). You lose maybe a second or two, I can’t say that I was ever unable to get back into the main group, even if I had to use a little extra energy.
Just wanted to say this is still a live issue, it happened when I raced on Saturday and Wednesday. Both times Lutece, Paris, 4 laps.
Big U-turn and major watts trying to get back on and in the group, very unhelpful when the group is planning a serious first effort to sort the peleton. This really needs fixing.
Saw it too this week, on the Lutece Express, glad it wasn’t me. And I also observed it in Ed Laverack’s CharlieMode stream on the same course. There’s a definite theme to this feedback!
Yes, quite a few had this problem yesterday in the start pen (HJC grand prix, Lutece Express). What a nightmare - being prepared for a race and then going the wrong way …
Agreed. The trouble is as we all know that start is like the final 30sec effort! So to be actively cycling away from the lead, sauntering around 180 degrees to find myself having to chase hard to catch the rapidly accelerating blob is an awful way to start any race. The energy required to reestablish race position burns too many matches.
I’m surprised to see that Zwift were aware of this nearly two years ago but it hasn’t been resolved. I know the old issue of things being fixed zoon I’d just hoped that this would have been genuinely been treated as a higher priority.
Honestly - I don’t think the Paris map gets a whole lot of use, probably way down the priority list. I’ll only ride it to participate in a race series I’m riding in. Was pretty cool at first, but not much to do on it.
You’d think something that’s been on the books that long would get bumped up in priority eventually though.
