Why so many 'A' and 'B' riders race in C category rides?

Probably because ZP was setup for racing and not group rides. In races everyone should be in the allocated category so there’s no need for a second column.

I suppose, maybe another thread to ask this question. Events even such as the TdZ coming up, I think it’s well known that many treat these stages as races – I can see appeal of evaluating how you do against others in your own category, even if these aren’t technically races. (TdZ categories are all distance-based and nothing to do with wkg ability).

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Just to clarify. It’s a C rated main ride with 3 options for the last 3rd (After Party). Either an “open” race, B-C grade “chase” that the Leader leads, or a C-D “cruise” that the red beacon leads. This is explained in the pen, at the start of the event & just before the 3rd part (After Party). For the 1st 2/3 of the event (Main Ride) people are very responsive & polite, and generally stay with the group (at C Grade pace), whether it is easy or hard for them. The high averages would include the racers. Anyone ahead of the yellow beacon at the start of the After Party section is excluded from Zwift Power results.
This event is one of the very oldest on Zwift & we have always run it this way.

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Thanks for all the replies. I am still puzzled why, when I do one of the rides I have an example about and I log into Zwiftpower after, all the riders have a C next to their name instead of their ZwiftPower rating. It just seems odd that everyone has a rating of C when many were not C’s in their actual label rating nor did many people average C level power. I thought the rating for the ride would show at the end or their actual rating would.

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Zwiftpower results show the category you completed the event in whether its a race or group event. I’m a Cat B rider but I can enter Cat A in a race for example. At the conclusion of the race, I would have A next to my result because thats the cat I entered. If you looked at my profile, you would see my actual Cat. Same applies to group rides. I did a group D ride this evening and I have a D next to my result because I entered Cat D.

Zwiftpower entry lists will show what the rider’s ZP cat is vs the Cat they have entered. Handy for races but meaningless for group rides given group ride cats can mean anything (like different route, an age band etc). Here’s an example of an entry list for a Cat D group ride…

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Probably the other thing to note is that Zwiftpower was developed for racers so the fact that it captures group ride data and uses that data to help assess riders race capability is a bonus.

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Because it was a C grade group ride It was not a race so in reality it should not even be on the same page as the races. ZP ratings are for races not group rides.

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That’s the question though. Why doesn’t the Results page include the ZP Cat of each rider, just like their entry page? Users can decide what’s meaningless and what isn’t. Race results don’t include either – why not?

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The live tab shows this information.

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Cool hadn’t noticed that tab, but only shows ZP cat for Races, not Rides. I’d say let the users decide for themselves if they think there’s value seeing the ZP cats in a Ride. Hasn’t it been said that many will actually treat the TdZ stages as races – especially since there’s no ‘leader’ to upset by going off the front in any stage?

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So I can kinda see why some event organisers want their group rides to appear in Zwiftpower but I don’t really think they should do.

I think they further muddy the categorisation issues - the number of events I run where I’m trying to work out whether or not to allow entries from people whose category is based on essentially group rides.

I’d say some rather than many. There’s a whole stack of people who just do these as social events. But yes, there are absolutely also those that treat them as races.

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As I said before RIDES are not races the Rider Zwiftpower Category has ZERO meaning in a group ride.

Comparing results in a group ride is meaning less. What is the point in saying you beat 7 A+ riders in a group ride when they were only doing Z2 easy recovery ride.

There is also no point to put a riders ranking in Race results because after filtering and DQ’s they will all be in the correct category.

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Except I’d say that your claim that there’s ZERO meaning applies to only yourself and some rides. Read Tim’s account of how he’s structured their AH rides that include races for the last 3rd of the ride. How would you classify a mass-start IRL Fondo that has times and placings at the end?

Still not really an explanation as to why ZP has stripped off the ZP categories from the Results (or Live) pages. If its of interest to see this in the ‘entries’, should be same or more interest to see these after the conclusion of the event.

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Consider that maybe the backlog that the developers had included tidying up group ride data, but maybe they handed over the capability without finishing what they started and maybe Zwift got busy getting after features and fires that significantly impact people more.

Its kind of futile banging on about what is/appears broken - maybe focus on just understanding the current capability and helping people with the way it works, nuances and all.

A post was merged into an existing topic: Tour de Zwift 2022 FAQ

But the ZP cats do show for Races. So the ask is only they use the exact same format for Rides as well. That should be less effort than creating separately designed webages based on type of event.

Then make a feature request for it.

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Even if there is a Sprint or mini race at the end of the Event it is still a group ride setup with group ride rules. It is basically just a free for all race to the line. Like I explained to you it is just like a group of friends sprinting for the town line. Some will go all out and others will just go along for fun. Comparing results in that situation is totally meaningless. If you want to race and compare results then enter a race.

You don’t need the ZP ranking in the results if you enter the C pen and you are a B Cat rider then you won’t be in the results, you will get a DQ or UPG therefore the C results page will only have C riders. No point to have a second column showing everyone is C.

I’ll simply agree to disagree here. I can’t claim to know what is meaningless to any and every other rider. For the example being discussed, I don’t think though for those rides with races at the end, that the participants find how they did as meaningless. In reality all of Zwift is meaningless from standpoint that there no prizes. Define what does and doesn’t have meaning.

I was referring to rides, not races. There is no DQ for rides and there’s no ZP cats shown for rides.

Ok, but I understood that the ZwiftPower Community forum is where ZP requests should now reside. https://forums.zwift.com/t/zwiftpower-discussions-now-hosted-here-january-2021/527645

I think This question was answered already in the beginning of the post.

To Conclude: Group rides is open to any rider of any ability ( A,B,C or D) except if it is specifically stated in the instructions that only a certain rider level will be in the results.