Ok bought my zwift hub in September. Entered into a few C cat races and was enjoying them. Didn’t win any but I was generally in the mix at the pointy end of the race. Then in its infinite wisdom zwift decided to bump me up to B cat. No way am I a B cat rider. Every time I enter a B race I get dropped within the first few minutes. Every time. Ive gone on training programmes to improve my performance but nothing works. I’m 51 and you can bang on all you like about how you can improve at any age but personally I think there’s an element of bullshit to that. I’ve now stopped racing on zwift which is a shame as it was really good fun. Is there any way you can get put back to C cat?
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To find out why go to your profile page on zwift.com and you’ll find your power stats. If you take a screenshot or two and post them here hopefully someone will be able to explain.
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Welcome to the wonderful world of zwift category enforcement.
It rewards sandbaggers and punishes those who give their all (well, kind of).
There might be a better system available zoon… or there might be another system available zoon
There are different category system races available, look up zwift racing app or split category races like TFC Monday night…
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Ok here are my zwiftpower stats. Sorry I can’t Photoshop, it’s beyond me
Level 26
Refresh profile
Strava profile
Race Ranking 388.90 pts in 20,899th
Info
Category (Pace Group)
75 races
Info
ZPoints 5,824 pts in 12987th
Country United Kingdom Team
ZFTP 262w
Weight 74kg
Age 50+
30 Days
Year
Total
Distance
265 km
1,690 km
4,211 km
Climbed
1,880 m
16,306 m
41,408 m
Longest
100 km
100 km
100 km
Highest
545 m
1,709 m
1,709 m
15 sec
6.94 wkg
1 min
5.34 wkg
5 min
4.00 wkg
20 min
3.64 wkg
15 sec
521 watts
1 min
401 watts
A
5 min
300 watts
20 min
273 watts
Is there any way you can get out back down to 4th cat?
My zFTP is way out as well. It’s around 230w at present
Could I just do so badly in the B races it will put me back into C?
Thanks for all the replies by the way
Yes, but you’ll have to wait for any B-class results to get more than 90 days old so that they won’t be used.
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3.54wkg for zFTP puts you firmly into B territory whilst wkg is parameter to split categories.
Unfortunately it’s not even on the border of C cat, so might have to suffer for a while.
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That sounds like a plan to me. It’s crazy given my power figures that I can’t enter C cat races. It’s not like I’m going to dominate them
So why do I get my backside kicked so badly in b cat races? I literally get dropped in the first couple of minutes every time
As it’s a broad category - people at the top end will have 4.2wkg zftp and 5.1wkg 5-6 min efforts.
When you are at the bottom of a category it is a tough place to be.
Genuinely it csn be disheartening - I was there for a long long time.
We meant to log in to Zwift.com, the click on My Profile, then scroll down to your fitness stats. Not Zwiftpower.com.
I’m 64.4kg. Zwift’s estimate of my FTP and my max aerobic power (MAP) are 217W and 295W, which translate to 3.37 and 4.58 W/kg. The category enforcement system will put you in B if either your MAP is above 4.1 W/kg or your FTP is above 3.36 W/kg. In my case, both conditions trigger.
Also, the zFTP is Zwift’s estimate of your FTP from the critical power model used to estimate your zMAP. Yes, the zFTP number can be different from what you think your FTP is and from the FTP slider you use to set workout difficulty. My measured FTP was 224W about a month ago, and I believe it’s now between 224-230W. So, mine is higher than the model thinks. I’ve been doing structured training and no racing, so I haven’t got any longer-duration max efforts in the data.
If you’re dissatisfied with the status quo, you could race gran fondo type events. Seriously, people do that, and there’s nothing wrong with it. Your power numbers don’t tell the whole story, but Zwift sets its racing categories based on power to weight numbers because that was what they had. People have been clamoring for them to move to a results-based system for years. They have … not done so, yet. To be fair, it’s not as simple as setting things based on power numbers.
It’s pretty demotivating. I’ve basically given up. Could zwift not split this category up? Or allow b cat racers to enter C cat races if their power figures aren’t too high?
I tell you im nowhere near these figures normally. Zwift worked then out when I changed my tacx trainer to a swift hub
Anyhow thanks for all the helpful replies, it’s much appreciated
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Your power numbers are “too high”. Why would C category riders want people with B category power in their races? Would you like low A category riders in your B events?
You still have some options for races:
- Enter mass start events and race whoever is near you
- Enter races that have all categories visible and have faster categories starting before slower categories. If you get dropped from the B group, the C leaders will probably catch you and you can ride with them.
- Enter TFC Mad Monday or VirtuSlo Split Cats races
- Enter zwiftracing.app events that use their vELO category system. If you are interested in team events, the Club Ladder and DIRT Racing Series both use that system.
- Enter team time trial events where your stronger teammates have a goal of keeping you in the group as long as possible.
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Dude I’m telling you these power figures are inaccurate. No way I’m near these figures except in short bursts. Every time I enter I a B race I get dropped in minutes as I can’t hold the pace. Conversely when I was doing C cat races I got a few top 10’ s so I’m caught in no man’s land. I’m not the only one either.
In the real world racing is way more flexible - 2nd cat riders can enter a variety of different races.
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Try as suggested a VirtuSlo event. There’s one coming up in a few hours.
Here’s a list of mass-start races (all cats go together) – fix the gap in https:
ht tps://zwifthacks.com/app/events/?key=65882f7a7299f
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Well your power numbers are whatever your trainer said they are. If you think they’re not right then look to the trainer. If you can correct it you can ask Zwift to invalidate prior activities, if you can’t then it is what it is. Zwift is nothing like real world racing since real world categories are based on results or age, not power. The zwiftracing.app category system also incorporates results, so have a look at that. If your results are not great then you will not be racing against top Bs in terms of power. I am a C category rider and my vELO ranking is above yours, so you would definitely be racing some Cs in those events. There are a couple on the schedule. They’ve also had Sunday races recently but I don’t see any on the calendar at the moment. Keep an eye on this:
Zwift have also said they are working on a results based category system that will probably be released or at least publicly tested in 2024.
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