Watopia Flat Forward workout course sync issue

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1

Hi, I’m new to Zwift and really enjoying it so far! I’m looking into the racing workouts and have tried the “Watopia Flat Forward” workout a couple of times but have noticed that my road position doesn’t match the workout text and possibly the workout efforts - eg the workout text talks about the finish line and I’m ~5km past the finish line…

Not sure what I’m doing wrong to get so out of sync. My process is :point_down:

  1. Select the workout
  2. Select the route
  3. Push ride
  4. Start the warmup in the direction I land in the game and, boom I’m out of sync from the get go… :man_shrugging:

Thanks in advance and sorry if its a rookie mistake!
Mike

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Hi @Mikey_C, you aren’t doing anything wrong. The workouts are time based, so you spend 5 or so minutes in the warmup, and then each interval is 10 seconds to 20 minutes in length. These are not based on where you are on the course, but that would be nice for the new race workouts that Zwift recently released.

Since everyone will travel at different speeds based on many factors; weight and height, in-game bike and wheels, power/watts, etc. the race specific workouts will never match up to the actual course, unless it is purely coincidental.

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3

Thanks for the reply @Mike_Rowe_PBR

This work out seemed like it was a race simulation, it was trying to teach you how to race Watopia Flat route. It mentions in the workout notes at the start it will do it best to keep you in position (something like that)?

Will try it again today a couple of time and see if a u-turn at the start for the warm up helps. That may move the effort banners

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So using the key words “race simulation” I’ve found some other Zwifters that are having the same problems…

These race simulations are a great idea for newbies like me that want to learn the course - racing is so much fun! But the implementation of these race simulated workout vs virtual racing could do with some fine-tuning.

The main issue seems to be the warm-up and the time taken to do said warmup, it puts you out from the get-go.

Improvements:

  • Start/warmup on a trainer - like in a meetup (as the others have noted)
  • Efforts are based on distance, not time
  • Have the effort gates at fixed positions accounting for speed and w/kg differences, reflecting the efforts required in the actual race
  • You could have a ETC countdown for your efforts like you do when you are approaching the finish of Aple du Zwift

A Different approach:

  • Move the starting position for the warmup 7 minutes away from the current position
  • Adjust the virtual speed algorithms so that you don’t past the start line before the first workout effort.

I’m sure there is some form of virtual speed adjustment already in play in these race simulation workouts. It could be adapted easily to give some quick wins for overall user experience while they work on a race simulation feature enhancements.

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