I would like to know the wats/kilo needed for the KOM rider to get the crown, to know if I have a chance and I would like to see if the leader is a super human, genetically gifted tour de france candidate.
Sadly you don’t have a hope in hell if you’re riding with a properly calibrated power meter.
I use a Wattbike and, at 57kg, not many can beat me on climbs in the real world where I have plenty of actual Strava koms. In Zwift world however, I can’t get anywhere near the top 10…
@sTTu Davis, the reason you have real world success on the bike is because all the truly fast riders only ride Zwift with Zpower. I jest. The Zpower superstars kind of ruin it. They get all the KOMs.
Is there a vast difference between prop calibrated power meters and those that haven’t? I had noticed that some of the guys seem to be unrealistically quick but thought that perhaps zwift just attracts some super human riders 
Hi Liam. I became KOM on the Richmond KOM hill climb, with a power to weight ratio of 5.3w/KG.
Liam i use a stages power meter, which i calibrate every ride and use a classic elite turbo trainer, so i’m a legitimate rider, so there’s hope for many riders.
Hi Phil - I wonder if you are confusing the Polkadot jersey at the time of riding to the actual Strava kom?
I’ve taken the kom jersey in Zwift myself, being the fastest of the current selection of some 250-300 riders at the time.
The Strava KOM however, well, lets just say to even get near the top-ten you’ve got to ride it at 25+mph at 6+% gradient - that’s sub-24 minute 10 pace. There’s not a Pro anywhere that will do that outside of the virtual world.
A quick check shows the actual Strava KOM was ridden at 33mph up the 6% climb. That’s a TT pace that would elude all but the world best elite riders…on the FLAT
It was only winning the pokadot jersey, not strava KOM, sorry for the confusion.
No worries! The only real confusion is how these rides even get to be included on any leaderboards - Lol.
Keep in mind… your rider weight is on the honor system which plays a HUGE part in how Zwift treats your in game speed… regardless of estimated or measured power output. I have a PowerTap meter and can crack off 1,200 Watts on a sprint easy enough… but I also currently weigh in at 185 lbm. If I cheat the system and enter my eight as only 90 lbm… that’s a huge change in power to weight ratio. I’ve seen too many fly-weight riders with sprint/polka-dot/overall jerseys to put any faith in the leader boards until they break it down by weight class.
Exactly right Craig. I weigh 227 right now. Outside I exceed 1500 ws, and do have outdoor sprint koms.
Inside I have a lemond revolution, and its calibrated by zwift such that it takes me many seconds to exceed 1000 and I am passing out by the end of a sprint. So far I have only hit 1100 + and don’t know if I will ever see 1200.
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and my goal is to be better next outdoor, so I look upon this as a handicap. I don’t worry about the leaderboards, cos I can’t. If I can get in the top 10 - 15% on a sprint effort I am pleased.
And don’t ask me about climbs.