Hello all.
I wanted to look at trying a race for the first time.
My FTP is 172 and Zwift will not let me choose anything below a Cat B race with the category enforcement rules.
There’s no way in hell that I’ll be able to compete, let alone keep up, in a Cat B race.
How can I get Zwift to let me choose Cat C or D?
Just enter a C or D race, I am Cat B and do it all the time for warm ups and if I want to juts cruise around but not go into the Red. Zwift should not block you from racing , just that the results will not be shown or you will be DQ on results
Congratulations on spoiling all those races for the real Cs and Ds.
Sarcasm noted, I sit at the back and just remember it is not real and I am 57 and still manage to race at |Cat B so maybe you should get your self fit or just give up winging. I was trying to give you a solution
Unless your turbo has given you some inflated numbers in the last 60 days, you (OP) have put at least one performance rated as B anywhere on Zwift, not just races., if only A and B are available.
You won’t be able to do that for races where the new CE rules are in force. There are a diminishing number of races where the cats are based upon the old ZP best-3-FTP rankings. The CE system was partly designed to overcome blatant sandbagging.
If you sign up for ZwiftPower, you may get some insight into why Category Enforcement thinks you belong with the B group. Unfortunately Category Enforcement was rolled out without providing any visibility into why Zwift thinks you are at a certain level, so you’re left guessing and reading tea leaves. You’re not alone in being confused by this - it is confusing. CE looks back at 60 days of rides, so if there is something anomalous in your power readings for some event, it may time out in a couple months. In the mean time, I recommend “racing” Fundo events or joining races that don’t have CE enabled if you don’t fancy getting crushed from the start. You can find Fundo events via ZwiftHacks’ events app:
You may wish to review your activity from 8th June and decide if you possibly had a trainer misreporting power. I notice that on this ride you averaged 207 Watts for 45 minutes and also hit all the power badges from 800w to 1200w, which, IMO, is generally unusual. As you have only done 4 recent rides since Nov 2021 I think it is this one ride which is putting you in Cat B or above for CE races.
What is Zwift working on now?
Improving fairness in racing through:
I’m not sure where Zwift Support actually are at the moment but it might be worth reaching out to them.
This ride was an anomaly.
I was using Zwift on a cheap tablet that was misreporting Bluetooth power numbers.
I’ve gotten it solved since then.
Do I just wait until this drops off on Zwift Power?
Smells like a StagesBike SB20…
No, you were pointing out that you regularly spoil races for those in cat C. Not cool. And telling those in cat C they just need to get fitter is stupid. If you’re a B then race B. If you want a warm-up, then go warm-up elsewhere.
Personally I don’t think you have to wait for this to drop off your Zwift (not ZwiftPower ?) record, which will take 60 days for Category Enforcement races.
Your last serious riding was the back end of 2021 and as you say your FTP was 172. If you are around 70kg you are between a D and C cat racer.
I believe you have tried to enter Category Enforced controlled races and your anomaly readings on 8th June are showing you as a B cat under CE.
As others have said there are plenty of non CE races in Zwift which I believe you are able to enter. Why don’t you try entering one of those if you are sure you have fixed your dodgy tablet and Bluetooth connection.
If this is going to be your first race please be ready for a fast start for a minute or so and then race should slow down to a more sensible pace.
May I also suggest you register for ZwiftPower if you have not already done so as your races, and any group rides you do, will then be recorded and used to assign you a ZwiftPower race category which may well be different from your current CE race category.
At least it’s heavy so it will sink quickly when I drop mine in the ocean… 
BooX
Look at
I’ve read it, but you still have to guesstimate what your values are. There is no visibility into how their calculations have been applied to a given rider (ie, the output of the equation for you, and which inputs were selected) or when your CE category minimum changes. This is especially confusing for people unfamiliar with it, and especially since the category info that is revealed is on ZwiftPower, which is frequently different from their CE minimum. To the unfamiliar, it just looks like race signup is broken and they wander into the forum asking what happened.
No guessing, Zwift will do the calculations and limit you to the lowest category you can join . Category Enforcement FAQ
I disagree. The number of forum posts (including this one) and replies (over 1300 on How is my category calculated) proves that it hasn’t been properly communicated, and the lack of visibility (show your work) means that people don’t understand or trust the decision. Which values resulted in the decision? You don’t find out the result until you fail to sign up for an event. No information about why it happened, it just fails. This is an area where trust is important, and that won’t exist until Zwift reveals how it arrived at each individual rider’s category and surfaces the decision at signup. The CE101 document says this, too. User communication is on page 10, unresolved, but should have happened before enforcement. Furthermore, the question “what is my category?” properly has exactly one answer, which is not the case now. The confused forum posts (aka disappointed customers) will continue until each rider’s category math is communicated proactively.
Ok, one more try.
Popular links: Critical Power and W’ Explained For Cyclists (inc. Critical Power Calculator) — High North Performance
1300 answers do not surprise me - after years Zwift actively opposes sandbagging, a strong reaction was to be expected. Most users asked for rules (you know this one -with >3600 posts - Anti sandbagging and other areas that need development and communication).
There are some rules now. Hopefully there will be more in the future.
The problem is not Zwift, but users like this
I’m probably in the minority here, but I think a degree of opacity regarding Zwift’s CE “workings” is a good thing.
Personally, I think it would (should) be sufficient for Zwift to simply display two Cat ratings on ZP in the short term; one for the historic FTP-based system and another for the CE system.
Currently you have the ZP ranking on ZP and the Zwift CE ranking in the companion app.