Remove sticky watts in at least races.
Can’t be such a big problem compared to all coasters using sticky watts in races.
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Ain’t it amazing how many times people apparently have addressed the issue and nothing has been done about it?
I do believe many Zwifters don’t even know about it. My case in example, I’ve seen someone mentioning it before on Zwift without actually understanding what it is and how it’s done (both my trainer and power meter drop power instantly). I’ve been years on Zwift without knowing what’s going on until I saw a video on YT explaining it, and why you maybe shouldn’t be taking Zwift racing too seriously. I don’t do racing on Zwift, but even on the group rides -now knowing what it is- I’ve spotted the behaviour yesterday for the first time. And looking into it, it’s shocking how well known figures of the community abuse the “feature”.
Well, you know what, you can’t hide it. It’s easy to spot and it’s recorded. Check their ride data afterwards. You’ll notice a Cadence line that resembles a saw tooth. Even funnier is the power zone data chart where they have accumulated some time spend in the ‘next to nothing’ watts. Two clear markers something is off.
I wonder if the abusers realise how easy this is detectable? 
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I’ve only seen it a few times, and only one time with some guy from my country who was blasting to 600 watts then coasting over and over, for a long time too. That was years ago. I guess that must have been the sprint coasting mentioned after this post.
I’ve tried to see if I can make it work just as a quick experiment but at least with the trainers I have never seemed too see any obvious benefit, no point so left that alone. But then I’m more interested in keeping my real world riding going properly than trying to find shortcuts to go better in the virtual world.
Maybe they just don’t care until they get in trouble for it. And if something was done, users might be outraged.
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zwift wont do anything as they are a paying customer….one rider has been reported multiple times in wtrl races for a combination of sprint coasting and sticky watts, nothing was done about it as was supposedly a trainer issue not a rider issue
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Nothing stops WTRL from sanctioning a rider showing sticky watts under their rules (10.1.3) with or without Zwift’s cooperation.
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That’s crazy! At some point in time, if not already the case, won’t it be more valuable to keep things real and protect it?
Yeah, the lots of time in the far left of the power bar chart, despite a really hiugh average is so indicative of Sticky Watts.
I do think some riders are doing it by accident, by using a PM and having a stop/start pedalling style.
But there are a number of top advanced racers (all anonymous profiles) who are clearly doing it knowingly and getting away with it.
Once rider, zFTP 450, name is 2 letters, just does 6.0 / 0.0 3s / 3s on the front and blows races to pieces.
also on Zwift Power you can see his power is spiking, followed by a perfecty flat ‘top’, for exactly 3 seconds, over and over.
Reported him, with all the necessary info, and to be fair to Zwift I haven’t seen him for a while.
It’s the anonymous profile guys who are the most obvious.
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A few exemptions at once.
Agreed, if not done frequently. I can relate to having been seated for a long time and momentarily spin to elevate saddle sourness or as a preventive measure. Taking a coffee brake, all is visible in the charts. That’s OK, that’s nothing compared to racing with a stop/start pedalling style which makes no sense at all. Whoever is doing this unknowingly probably never rode a bike outside? How many of them end up racing on Zwift? And winning? Also, not every PM has sticky watts, mine (Rotor 2IN-Power) for example isn’t affected. You might be right that some people are unaware of it, but there surely won’t be many of them racing, I would think.
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I raced elite level in NL and BE 15 years ago and have a stop / start style at times, both racing indoors and outdoors.
If you accelerate into a better draft on the flat, it’s both possible and realistic that you can hold your legs still for a few seconds and not lose position. Or sometimes you just soft pedal. It’s a momentum thing. Sometimes you actually have to not only stop pedalling but actually brake in a peloton on the flat, to avoid riding into the back of riders ahead after you accelerate up a few places. Some riders hate noisy freewheels as it lets other riders know (for example in a small breakaway) that you are not working as hard as you should be or are tired. Also, when you are really exhausted, you can get into a death spiral of sitting in last place, finding some energy to power up back into the middle of the pack, then that effort and pain needs you need to hold your legs still for a few seconds (meaning you sometimes drop back to where you just came from)
As long as you don’t use a PM, or have a trainer model that holds the power for several seconds if you stop pedalling, you’re not getting any advantage from this. I use a Wahoo Kickr v6 that I connect with an ethernet cable. Sticky watts aren’t possible, and that’s clearly visible in my files.
In real life racing you’re trying to save energy all the time. Racing isn’t ‘everyone pedals constantly at +/- FTP then does a sprint’
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Sorry for the brain fart James, you’re absolutely right. I was thinking about riding in isolation, attacking, bridging a gap, pulling the pack, key moments where you create a split, … At those points in time it, start/stop pedalling is an unnatural riding style, referring to the incidental nature of exploiting sticky watts. But I get your point, it could be helping you unknowingly in other places.
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Yeah exactly, in a TT or if someone is riding solo it’s very unnatural.
But in a large group things are very different.
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