Trying to follow Coco yesterday. 95% of riders were in a big blob a few meters ahead of the PP.
Pace partner was cruising at 2.6w/kg (195w) but i had to average 2.9w/kg (210w) to stay alongside the pace Partner. It was easier to sit in the front group.
Then i got dropped (playing with my phone) had to put in 3.5w/kg (262w) to hold steady a 40m gap to the pace partner.
Not really a pace partner is it?
If my friend runs at 10kmh and i run at 10kmh we run together. Thats a pace partner.
It all falls apart when you throw drafting into the mix. If a group of riders putting out 3.2w/kg decide to ride with coco then coco drafts them and becomes very hard to follow.
Whilst we are here. How can a road bike draft a TT bike but not the other way around. Riding around on a TT and seeing a group of heads bobbing around the bottom of the screen looks so silly. TT should have no draft interacting with road bikes, only TT bikes.
It will never happen because “fun is fast” right!
But when I need to do a Z2 ride at a certain effort I try and ind a partner to follow but depending on the day and time the effort changes due to size of blob.
Coco is set at a “fixed” power, so she can only go so fast, so if Coco get behind a big group and you are behind her then you get the same draft benefit as she does, but if Coco is alone in the front and you are behind her you get some draft benefit that she does not.
Zwift did break the pace partners when they introduced dynamic pacing where the pacer would increase speed when going up hill.
The TT bike is made to have no draft effect from other bikes so that you can do a TT effort without being impacted by other riders on the road.
I had a really weird experience with a pace partner recently. I rarely ride with them so I only have one data point, but I joined right before a descent with a group of around 50 riders, Miguel on Castle to Castle. As we went down the hill the pacer drifted to the back of the group, then about halfway down the hill the pacer went shooting through the pack to the front in a second or two, getting a small gap on everyone. Then as the descent continued the pacer went straight to the back of the group in a second or two and then was completely dropped by the entire group. When the pacer was 40m+ behind everyone I stopped pedaling for a while and then tried to sweep the pacer to put the group back together, but most of the riders just kept going and never returned. Gradually a new group formed around the pacer on the flatter roads.
I ride PP pretty much on a daily basis and the draft is defiantly an issue
Yesterday with Constance, the group was 30 or so riders and on the desert flats…holy moly!!..the pace is absolutely unrelenting because there is so much draft on that part of the map.
Not only from the PP group but all the other riders on that section too
Sometimes the draft is just ridiculous
I like it as hard as possible so just get on with it but sometimes the draft effect on the PP just feels a bit overboard
I’d been debating this cuz I’ve started seeing it again, since the last time the pace partner were adjusted. It’s same as it was then - the pack is forming ahead of the PP, speeds are up. Not as noticeable in smaller groups cuz less draft. Sometimes it feels like the PP isn’t doing pace, it’s just doing Coffee Break without the icon, chasing/latched to someone ahead