Add a user profile setting that governs whether or not another user out of the blue can latch on to your ride. It’s quite rude to hook a faster rider during climb and sprint stages. My works sets their PR LOL. More aggravating, it breaks my concentration/rhythm. Allow riders to not allow ANYONE to latch on.
You get a vote from me but don’t expect many to support this. I don’t have a problem with it at all for Robopacer rides but everything else you need the option to stop the free tow. I’m not even a fast rider, bottom of C Cat at best, but the Coffee break is as annoying as hell. Cannot imagine how pissed higher CAT riders are getting with this “Cheat”. It can be a slider in the settings, however if you enable the block it obviously also BLOCKS YOU from all the coffee breaks as well.
oh no someone is using a feature as intended, how dare they!
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Robopacers are one of the few times where there is absolutely no need for the coffee stop as you can just teleport back to them once you have done whatever it is you needed the break for.
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The complaint is that they aren’t using it as intended though. Unless I’m wrong & Zwift set it up to allow lazier riders to cling onto faster/fitter ones while going up mountains of course.
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But you will lose the x2.5 drops if you do.
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In recent times, since Strava introduced an AI autoflagging, I’ve had a few robopacer rides flagged because of speed bursts during multiple teleports to approx 40mph.
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Of course this scenario was one of many for which Zwift intended the coffee break to be able to be used. Why would anyone think it wasn’t?
i personally think you should, that multiplier is for how long you have been riding with the robopacer, if you have to stop the timer starts again in my opinion. I know i’ll likely be in the minority but it is how i feel about not breaking streaks if you have weeks off. kind of defeats the whole point of it if you ask me
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It is easier for people to make a single button press every 30 minutes on the dot or hold out just a little longer for the next hill.
Correct the intended use is to give you the chance to get off the bike and go to the bathroom if you need to, not hit that button every 30 minutes on every ride or worse still in a competitive group ride event where you are trying to get the best placing possible.
Just what was intended?
Every 30 minutes hitting the coffee button to keep getting more distance with zero watts (along with misuse of another feature).
I don’t think getting 50km+ with 0 watts is intended use, but that’s what has been happening.
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Is it in keeping with “the spirit of the game”? 
I hate when people take a coffee break but don’t drink even virtual coffee.
Surely we have to assume that the way it’s been coded matches the intent. If someone is doing something that the game lets them do but you don’t agree with, it becomes a “don’t hate the player, hate the game” situation.
I’d prefer coffee stops to be limited to followers only. I don’t think you should get credit for the distance, climbing etc while you’re using a coffee stop. I think the drops multiplier should reset. I’d prefer the icon to be much less obtrusive - on the riders nearby list or on the back like the climb portal icons.
But I’m not going to begrudge anyone using what zwift has built in the way zwift has built it.
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If you want to treat group rides as a competition then you need to remember that you are playing a computer game. You are supposed to use all of the tools provided by the game makers to do the best you can. If you’re not using all the tools provided then you shouldn’t expect to do as well as those that do.
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Group rides arent competitive. You make them like that in your mind. There are races for that.
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So you’re saying it was set up with the view of letting people cheat?That seems a bit odd to me, then again I always think cyclists that cheat the system are odd. Why bother in the first place if all you’re doing is cheating yourself?
It looks like a design assumption is that it’s not cheating. And taking a break during a ride is not cheating your fitness either. It’s fine. If you look at it as “not cheating” then there’s nothing to do here. I’m glad it’s not available in races but otherwise it helps people stay motivated to get to the end of a group ride that’s at the edge of their ability, and that is good for their fitness. If you force them to ride alone they are more likely to stop.
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It’s not cheating to use all of the features provided by the game makers. Those who aren’t using all the provided features just aren’t playing the game as well as they might.
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It’s not cheating, full stop. Group rides aren’t supposed to be competitive, so there would be no cheating, just riding.
There are no coffee breaks in races, where it would be cheating. Hence why it is not present as a game function in races.
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