Zwift Power doesnt enforce categories either
Being primarily a runner I’m a bit ignorant of the whole cycling category workings. I entered a race on Saturday (cat C), finished 24th out of 46 and got upgraded to cat B. That’s a bit mind boggling to me.
Sounds like you need to work on your drafting skills, as that can make a huge difference to the power required to finish with the same avg speed… (Either that, or you’re substantially lighter than those in front of you, if it was a flat course.)
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The first 20ish riders being out of category is sadly pretty far from shocking in C class.
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This isn’t surprising at all, due to the system being based on watts per kilo. I’m going to bet you are relatively light, so you broke the w/kg limit for cat C, but your overall output is way behind heavier riders. I had the same experience, being promoted out of C even though I’d never finished in the top half of any C race.
Apparently the long term goal for Zwift is to move away from the w/kg system towards one based on results, but for now you just have to deal with a category system that works against lighter riders.
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Thanks Anna and Justin, much appreciated. That makes perfect sense, I don’t draft as I’m only using cycling to keep fit whilst I can’t run and at 71kg I’m probably on the lighter side. Thank you both 
Yes, 71 is lighter (I’m 68) so that is definitely a factor, but as Anna mentioned, drafting is critical in both Zwift and IRL. You may not know that if you draft in the ideal spot you reduce effort needed by as much as 30%, so to stand any chance of finishing at the upper end of a race (discounting cat cheats) you need to get into the lead or second group. It took me a while to realize how hard people bomb out of the gate, but they usually dial it down after 30 seconds and then you find your rhythm.
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Ah so that explains why everyone shoots off so fast at the start. I knew drafting helped but wasn’t aware to what extent, great to know. Thanks 
We’re in August now and nothing has happened! How soon is soon is Zwift world?
Maybe I’m oversimplifying things, but I don’t see how this problem can be hard to solve.
- Enforce an FTP test before you’re allowed to race. The ramp test doesn’t take long to complete.
- W/kg is then strictly applied i.e you simply can’t enter a cat D race with 3,3 W/kg FTP. The option to choose another category than B isn’t even there.
- Zwift tracks the users performance in training and races on Zwift. A racer that races in for example cat D and puts out 3,8 W/kg in a race is not simply having a good day and is required to take a new FTP test before being able to continue racing. You would also be Dsq’d since it’s your job to provide an up-to-date FTP. You don’t misjudge your FTP by 25-50%, you will notice it’s wrong. If you prefer not to take an FTP test between every race and not being able to bagging a valid race result you might just move into the correct category. Or perhaps Zwift should just “Autocorrect” by in this case moving the rider to cat B.
Sure, you could put out 300 W@75 kg making you a cat A, but put in a weight of 100 kg “making” you a category C racer. You could race on your girlfriends account or a troll account and all of a sudden put out 300 W@60 kg instead of your 85 in a race. But that’s cheating and just wrong. And you would trip on the steps above and not get a valid race result.
I do realize that people could still cheat if they wan’t to. Teen’s playing comupter games sometimes seem to spend a lot of time “trolling” and destroying the game experience for others by deliberately and repeatedely cheating like some sort of fun. The difference between gaming platforms who make money from online gamers like Steam and Zwift is that the former spend a lot of effort in finding and banning cheaters to make the game fun and playable for honest people. And the people trolling Zwift are probably adults! Just get rid of the cheaters, terminate their accounts and ban their IP adresses from creating new accounts.
Otherwise it might just happen that honest people start’s abandoning Zwift for a bette, cheater free experience. Money is starting to find it’s way into cykling platforms. I predict that within 5 years there will be competitors to Zwift on for example Steam. Many game studios will consider this type of “game” when more and more people pay 15$ a month. They can make better games (with a bette ruser interface, logical menus, saving without exit etc) with their experience and they show cheaters no remorse at all. Zwift is dead as soon as a big game studio like Bethesda tap in on the concept.
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How would you stop people “not trying” in the FTP test?
Let’s say your FTP is 3,8 and you want to compete in C for some reason despite you being a strong cat B rider. You therefore bodge your FTP test to land on a barely sweating 2,9.
When you then perform at an FTP equivalent of say 3,6 in the cat C race you would consequentely be DQ’ed from the race and asked to take another FTP test before you’re allowed to race on Zwift again. That should encourage honest FTP values. You simply don’t misjudge your FTP by 25%.
You wouldn’t have to race at 3.6w/kg to win every Cat C race. Simply sit in and attack at the end - your average will still be below 3.2w/kg
Results-based categories is the only way to go, FTP is not a determinant of success (or we wouldn’t need to race, just compare FTP tests on a weekly basis)
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FTP and W/kg is a poor way to implement categories.
The longer it takes to change this this system, the harder it will be to change it (people become used to it and will resist change).
W/kg system is an open invitation to sandbagging. Look at the weights of people in the top of B, C & D Cats of high participation and ranking level races. Lots of people with 85, 90 or more Kg, something that you don´t see in IRL podiums and top 10s … so something must be wrong in the cat system. Cycling and running are ruled by light people and the game should reflect that.
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The users need Cats based on results ASAP. But instead we heard about cone of shame in April (??) and nothing more. The weeks pass, and turns into months and the is no sign of a attemp to solve the issue of cheating and sandbagging.
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Zwift, as a junior sometimes it’s very hard racing against adults, so it would be nice if there could be a junior category so Juniors don’t have to race against adults, or if the categories were by age groups, I would love to see this happen in a future update
I just did a C-grade crit race. Finished 51st with a W/kg of 3.1. The limit is 3.2 for the grade. Only 5 people above me had a W/kg of 3.2 or less. The worst offender had 4.0!! These riders are completely ripping the ride apart and ruining it for all the real C-graders. My W/kg is almost enough for me to be in B grade but if I can’t even get in the top 50 of C grade…!!
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You finished 18th Dan. ZP DQ’ed them.
This is one of the reasons I would like zwift to bring in a category free TT stage as part of their next BIG series.
Should be at least 16km in length and with a bit of a climb in it as well.
True, but if (when) I get dropped because I got drafted into a faster group, there is usually a few other riders in same situation to ride/compete with, or I slow until the next group catches up and see if I can maintain their speed.
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