Tour of Watopia 2021 FAQ

Yes, absolutely!

Besides, it’s really not about doing the same thing for everyone. Anyone who says there are women-only rides so there should be men-only rides is really missing the purpose of those women-only rides.

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To be fair to the OP, I don’t think he was saying that there should also be men only rides. I think he wants the same opportunity to ride the same route for the tour. I can see why that could be wanted/requested if there was a larger disparity in routes. But in the case for stage 1 of the tour, this hardly makes sense.

Yeah, I don’t think so either specifically, but he did refer to a “reverse gender inequality issue”, which there really isn’t.

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now if stage 5 for example had the following routes, I can see a good argument here:

A ride - Alp du Zwift
B ride - Epic KOM
C ride (women only) - Volcano KOM
E ride - Epic KOM

Many males (and rookies) would want the opportunity to climb the Volcano over the other options due to numerous reasons. This example doesn’t scream gender equality to me. Again, I have no idea what the other stages look like for cat C.

It’s a bogus assumption that equality or equity means exactly the same being available to everyone at all times.

And the women’s rides aren’t even about equality in that way anyway. They’re more equality of opportunity not to be harassed, to talk more freely about women-specific topics if they wish, and to ride with similar abilities.

So what if it’s on a different route? It’s not as if this is the only time that route is available.

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I don’t disagree with you, but in the large tours and events, it might be the only option to complete a stage and that is where my example of very different climbing routes comes into the discussion. Everyone should have the same opportunity to participate and finish the event. For some users, climbing the volcano could be just as challenging as the you and I climbing up the alp.

Heheh Mike, I’ve used that same image myself. I understand what you’re saying, but it’s not really that simple is it? I mean, it just opens up other questions:

For example, why no women-only ride on Alpe du Zwift or the Epic KOM?

In this case the most equitable solution would be to make the C ride Epic KOM. :wink:

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but then there would be no reason to argue about it :laughing:

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We’ll still have the lack of a women only ride up Alpe du Zwift to go at! :smiley:

This may be stupid but why not make to events one for every one with all 3 routes and one for the ladies only with all 3 routes.

I would guess that should be fair to all. Some ladies may prefer to do the longer ones with only ladies.

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The Tour de Zwift seems to have solved this problem. Some examples follow.
GROUP A: Longer Ride

Introducing Richmond’s 2015 UCI Worlds Course. What’s it got in store for you? A flat first half and second portion jam-packed with attackable climbs.

GROUP B: Standard Ride

Introducing Innsbruck’s 2018 UCI Worlds Course Short Lap route. What’s it got in store for you? Scenic roads that cut through the Sill River, all the way to the Inntal Autobahn.

GROUP C: Shorter Ride

Introducing UCI Worlds Harrogate Circuit. What’s it got in store for you? Fast roads that take you up the Yorkshire KOM all the way past the Duchy Estate.

GROUP D: Women Only

Introducing Innsbruck’s 2018 UCI Worlds Course Short Lap route. What does the women-only route have in store for you? Scenic roads that cut through the Sill River, all the way to the Inntal Autobahn.

Stage 1

FAVORITE FLAT ROUTES

Welcome to Tour de Zwift, Stage 1, where we’ll take on our favorite flat routes. Different groups will head to different destinations—choose between London, Watopia, and New York. Routes full of nice, flat roads to speed across and kick our journey off right.

GROUP A: Longer Ride

Welcome to the Greater London Flat. Between the bridge, subway, and Buckingham Palace, there will be sights aplenty here.

GROUP B: Standard Ride

Welcome to the Volcano Flat. Be sure to bring some water—this’ll be a hot one!

GROUP C: Shorter Ride

Welcome to New York’s 6 Train route. This clockwise road covers the middle loop of Central Park’s three ground-level sections. As you power through, take the time to smell the hot dogs and soak in the fall colors. If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.

GROUP D: Women Only

Welcome to the women-only Volcano Flat ride. Be sure to bring some water in this stage—it’s going to be a hot one!

Stage 3
SERIOUS MOUNTAIN ROUTES
Love climbing? Then this stage is for you! The view is great from way up high in the third stop of our journey, whether you’re headed to La Reine, Road to Sky, or Watopia’s Mountain Route. Take a big breath and dig deep on all of these leg-building climbs!

GROUP A: Longer Ride
Say hello to France’s La Reine route. Be sure to check out the hot air balloons and the Balloon sprint before heading to the beautiful Mont Ven-top!

GROUP B: Standard Ride
Say hello to Watopia’s Road to Sky route. Be sure to check out the 21 hairpin turns before heading to the beautiful Alpe du Zwift. Finish strong!

GROUP C: Shorter Ride
Say hello to Watopia’s Mountain Route. Be sure to check out the radio tower before heading to a tough climb that gets the heart rate pumping!

GROUP D: Women Only
Say hello to Watopia’s Road to Sky route. In this ladies-only ride, be sure to check out the 21 hairpin turns before heading to the beautiful Alpe du Zwift. Finish strong!

So if Zwift could so simply solve this non-problem in the TDZ, why have they introduced this problem in the TDW?
The format exists for these rides, why not use it, and make everybody happy. Otherwise, I suspect, there will be a lot of guys riding the TDW C ride.

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Yes but the TdZ had “dozens of people planning it for several months” - I guess they didn’t have as much time allocated for TdW to be able to come up with solutions like that.

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Because introducing a 6th group, F, would break something? :smiley:

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they can’t, its restricted to women only and you can’t change your gender very easily anymore.

I was thinking something like this.

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At the start of this thread, there is the statement:
What’s the difference between the ride categories?
Each stage will offer three different routes for you to explore—ride one or ride them all!

Category A will be the longest ride, requiring the most amount of time.
Category B will require the shortest amount of time to complete.
Category C is the women only category and will lie somewhere in between Category A and B in terms of duration.
Category E features the Rookie Rides, geared towards newcomers and will follow the same B route.

The only problem is that women are the only ones that can take advantage of all three rides in each category. Men are limited to 2 out of 3 for each of the 5 stages, so men cannot ride 5 of the 15 rides. So men can only ride 2/3 of the total rides. This is foolish, and is something Zwift could easily fix.

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However you don’t need to complete all routes of each stage, just one of them. So this doesn’t really matter, and to say that men can’t ride 1/3 of the total rides is not really accurate.

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So? There are women-only races we can’t enter either (and no men-only races). So technically there are more races for women. Is it really a problem?

We can’t use the Souplesse kit either. Does that matter?

So women have some things we men don’t. I don’t personally think it’s a big deal. There are far larger imbalances in Zwift. If you’re using a hand cycle for example, you have no representation. If you are missing a limb, you can only use a fully-limbed avatar.

Of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but this isn’t something I’ll lose any sleep over.

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You’re welcome to come up with a better term…

That’s what I’m saying, that the fair thing to do would be to provide the same opportunity to both genders.
I would think and say the exact same thing if I was a woman :slight_smile: