Burrito - Get rid of it. The only power-up that affects other riders. Produces feelings of animosity in the pack directed at the rider deploying the burrito.
Ghost - Get rid of it. The Ghost power-up evolved from a cheat: Racers were disconnecting from wifi so they disappeared from the race, then making a sprint to get away, and then re-connecting wifi. The Ghost is the authorized version of that cheat.
Steam Roller - Perhaps should reduce CRR by a fixed percentage, not all the way to “pavement”.
Anvil - Should be in effect regardless of the slope. Use it on a short downhill with an uphill to follow at your peril.
Truck - Leave as is.
Feather - Increase duration to no more than 30 seconds.
Aero - Previously was 30 seconds. Reduced to 15 seconds some years ago. Leave it as it is.
Don’t Zwifters need to have a keyboard or mouse or companion app or touchscreen available to activate the power-up? Any of those could also trash it, correct?
Based on the general themes from this thread, your suggestions see fair.
I’d go with maintaining the Truck at 30secs as this keeps the clean 15 or 30secs durations across the PU’s.
The one comment I personally don’t agree with is around the Anvil. I cant help but think this is a bit of a ‘soft’ stance. As mentioned above, activating a PU requires access to some device (keyboard, mouse, companion, atv remote etc.) and surely, with some clear comms, people will be aware, or will soon learn that the Anvil needs to be used in the right places again! It’s the one powerup that can give an element of risk/reward and needs thought in terms of where it is deployed. I like that and think it should be ‘non-smart’ again.
Surely to activate a PowerUp you need the companion app or keyboard, so you can also ditch a PU if you want. Plus Anvil is event specific and only usually in races with downhills. Even your own description says to use on a downhill.
I use an iPad Pro, and tap the ipad screen to deploy a powerup. So, no, you don’t need the companion or the keyboard. The iPad Pro’s keyboard isn’t actually supported, so it’s good you can deploy from the screen for folks who don’t use the companion app.
Yeah but you still have the option on iOS to get rid of power ups from the pop up control bar at the bottom. Same as give flick elbow, wave or adjust workout up and down.
Correct, but to be fair, I didn’t know that option existed until I read it on the forums. I would imagine many folks don’t know that ditching a power up is a thing.
Judging by the number of people I see using a feather on a downhill or a steamroller on tarmac, I’d say a lot of people don’t know what the heck they’re doing with powerups. But that’s fine. The information is out there if they want to get better at racing.
That might be fine for the rest of the power-ups, but for the burrito it’s a bit different because it’s hard enough to expect a peleton full of Zwifters to understand how the burrito works (given how rarely it’s used in events to begin with) let alone how to discard one if they don’t want to use it, so what you end up with is lots of folks randomly using the burrito, and that tends to upset the folks around them.
With PU’s being revised. I think this is also an opportunity to address comments like this that @Alex_Eames mentioned (which I think is - unfortunately - true)
A pop up box or screen (thinking like how the FutureWorks Steering overlay used to pop up) while in the pen showing an overview of PU’s would be a great way to reach the masses, vs a forum post or Zwift Insider article (which works, but doesn’t reach everyone)
I say index the power of the Aero and Feather to the rider’s weight. The heavier you are, the more the Feather helps you, and the lighter you are, the more the Aero helps you
I know. I’m saying the feather should help heavier riders more. In theory, reducing everyone by the same percentage is helping everyone at the same rate. I’m saying help bigger riders more with the feather, and lighter riders more with the aero. Make it a range, 10%-20%, indexed to weight.
Ah I get that now. Interesting idea. Don’t like it though. With aero it would have to be size as well and it’s all a bit messy and “unfair” (bit like powerups )
It would absolutely be unfair, yep I see it as leaning into the notion of powerups in the first place. My last race, I got nothing but EXP through every banner. Other races, I’ve gotten nothing but Feathers on courses with 20m of vert. It’s only fair in that everyone gets the same odds of being put at a disadvantage
Maybe they could make these available in the same way that Double Draft can be selected? Keep the Feather and the Aero, but allow race organizers to select SuperAero and SuperFeather instead if they want to. I don’t see a real problem with having to include size too, just one more factor for the algorithm. Or just not include it, and only go by weight, I don’t think it would matter all that much to the end result. A different group getting a slightly different advantage/disadvantage.
I see it as leaning into the notion of powerups in the first place. My last race, I got nothing but EXP through every banner. Other races, I’ve gotten nothing but Feathers on courses with 20m of vert. It’s only fair in that everyone gets the same odds of being put at a disadvantage