Maybe they don’t care about Zwift Power.
A sandbagger that gets a podium finish in Zwift still got the podium finish in Zwift.
That’s a result.
We can have closed events once we get the private club functionality. Organisers will be able to restrict access, manually update league tables, etc. However, you’d have to be willing to pay organisers for the admin…just as with real racing.
Otherwise, ZwiftPower automatically allocates your category according to your performance, not just simple w/kg. Perform consistently well and you get bumped up. And it’s free.
Result for whom? They’ll finish a race and have nothing to show for it, because I disable Zwift’s results. They won’t have anything as proof, no screenshot to post on Strava, no bragging rights - just a DQ on ZwiftPower.
Sure, they can still ruin a race with their sandbagging, but it’s the best we can do without closed events or forcing riders into categories, as Zwift is trialling at the moment.
I don’t do races on Zwift, but I’m sure not all race organizers disable Zwift results. The sandbagger may still see Zwift race results.
That’s up to the organiser and can be easily rectified. For that very reason, no ZHR event has in-game results.
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Totally agree. That´s what i have been saying for so long … there is physiological limits to cycling and you can use this knowledge to create some boundaries. As have been said, there are limits for VO2, efforts, for 20 min efforts, etc
You can´t have a guy that says he has a an FTP of Y watts, and all of a sudden he is doing 5 min at 160% Y watts. It´s bonkers … and there are many other aspects that you can control using physiology. Bs, Cs are casual athletes, people that are not blessed with supernatural genetics and/or can´t “waste” 20 hours/week training. So you can´t have super values in this levels (sometimes WT levels … lol) … or else you should be on A. And even on A, there are things that are ludicrous … again, use physiology knowledge to keep things in the realm of reality.
This is an major problem. You are in the middle of a race/event, and you are totally blind in terms of your position to the riders with legit values/setup. This throw the strategy part out of the game/ride … and that´s a shame; it is a big loss …
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I’m new to Zwift and glad to see this discussion. I categorize as a high C (3.2) and wondered why when I rode one of the Crit City C races last week I might as well have been standing still. 350 watts for the first 4/10s of a mile (my one minute power is just under 300) and I pulled out. (Interestingly, in the women’s C races I’m fine.) I joined a Crit City D Race last night just so I could at least try to get in a good hard-but-not-impossible ride, but then that was not fair to those who really are Ds. Am I a “cheater?” I guess yes if you assume my motivation was to beat up on riders with a lower strength: weight ratio. But what would be the point of that, really? I want to ride hard and strategically with others and that is absolutely not going to happen for me in the open C category.
I haven’t read every post in this thread, but Zwift App People, what is the reason that you can’t automatically assign us to our rightful categories? Or simply block us from entering a lower category? You’ve got a really complicated program running…seems like this should be a very simple fix by one of your programmers.
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Welcome to the forum,
Yes racing in anything but A Cat is a bit of a mess with people jumping in where the feel like.
You can vote for this feature.
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Thanks a bunch! Voted! 
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One other question, Gerrie: Is Zwift booting people or anything for racing the wrong category X number of times? NOT suggesting that as an option, just want to make sure that I don’t get flagged for riding in the D group a few times.
Thanks!
No, but they are beta testing a solution that will throttle your watts down if you are over the cat limit. This is being tested in the ZHQ Beta Crit City Races, so if you enter one of those you might get “coned” (cone of shame, a triangle icon will appear above your avatar).
If you are signed up on Zwiftpower.com you will get DQ’d on their results however.
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Ooh, I’ll sign up for one of those! That seems like a far more complicated solution than just writing code to keep people from signing up below their categories, but it is a solution. Thanks!!
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I agree.
If (FTP/weight) >= 4.6 w/kg then A+
If (FTP/weight) >= 4.0 w/kg then A
If (FTP/weight) >= 3.2 w/kg then B
If (FTP/weight) >= 2.5 w/kg then C
But there is better point systems than weight classes.
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Just as easy to manually change your FTP as it is to select the wrong category although if zwift did that then at least everyone would know people were cheating on purpose (well except for the new people doing their first race who likely wouldn’t have a recorded FTP at that point).
But yeah it’s the obvious thing that zwift should have done years ago (like before the dinosaurs).
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An ongoing power profile (if possible to programme into the software) would be a better option than just a 20-min effort; the coaching standards of 5s, 1min, 5min, and 20min give a better overall picture of a rider’s ability.
I gather they have refined it to take account of that and I understand why they don’t want to tells us the full details, as determined cheats will find a way to limit their power to keep just inside a certain category.
And there’s your code! I know the algorithm while riding takes into account the rider’s weight (to a degree), but power: weight seems like a crude measure when you’re not on the actual road. Age, for example, might be figured in somehow. And gender. What do
you mean by points system?
I agree with both of you.
They can take the best 3 FTP values of the last 30 days. To avoid people changing FTP per race.
Yes Robert, there are better options than just 20min power.
w/kg is just a glorified weight class. 
But time for w/kg is over, we need a points system.
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Point system please!
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Points would be great but, for them to work, organisers need to be able to set rules and apply DQs. And those rules need to be flexible, as not all of us run events with the same old tired w/kg split.
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