Apparently Stage 5 has been changed from Muir&The Mountain to another criteriumish event on Seaside Sprint. I don’t go on The Book of Face much and almost never for my Zwift news so I’ve completely missed this. Can anybody fill us in on the rationale?
I was looking forward to some sustained pain, I mean climbing and “getting” to do another flat race where the entirety of my 66kg is put to the test against the 85kg bruisers is somewhat less than appealing.
Yes I was unaware too for same reason . Its not entirely clear why the change was done but it appears to be primarily down to some view that this was “too hard” a course for some riders. I was similarly looking forward to a course that I as a low VI, high w/kg rider would have been able to compete quite well on . Seems this series is just for those who have no endurance but high VI . A load of other excuses were discussed second hand but with no official annoucement its been a a bit of a typical Fleece Book discussion which decends into the normal divisive back and forth . Needless to say split between those that are disapointed and think this was a negative move , and the other camp who dont care , think its good and in some cases think you shouldnt feedback about it and be eternally grateful that we have an event at all , Best to ignore .
Sadly I would have ridden the event as it now is set because I wanted to support a worthwhile bit of testing . I dont think I would enjoy it now , and as a result will find another event for Tuesday , ideally a race that does something similar to Muir.
I even went to the extent of refreshing my memory of the route by riding it last week, only to find its been changed to YAC (Yet Another Criterium).
Good one. Sorta like the Rio Olympic Road Race course was called too hard. It’s frickin racing! It’s supposed to be hard.
The Richmond UCI course was too hard for me but that’s because I ended up in C2 with a bunch of 85kg High B riders. I think it would’ve been perfect for 2 laps with my peeps in C3 though.
If they want to figger out this categorization with different races process then M&tM would be a good one to create some selection IMHO. But then as near as I can tell from the cats I’ve been lumped in, they’re just flailing around with this.
Zackly so.
At least I’m C3 in this one. Probably going to have the usual 5 or so racers out of cat so the rest of us get shelled like a regular Zwift race.
Perhaps I’m in the minority, but I’m glad to see another flat-ish course with multiple laps. Three out of the four races so far have been on what I’d consider hilly courses.
I recognize that what I might think of as a “hill” might be thought of as mostly flat by those who love to climb, but I think having diversity in the course selection is a positive thing.
I don’t think the issue is whether either of the choices passes a popularity test. Those who enjoy flat courses with be happy , those who don’t will not.
Its the fact it was changed from what was intended, As the unforeseen circumstances are not being shared the only thing we have on why the decision was made is the “few concerns”. I can only speak for myself but I wouldn’t now enjoy this week so I am out . If it had been the course from the start I dare say I would have entered .
Its only a beta test event anyway I am not loosing any sleep over it or anything. I can go do the Muir any time I like , and there are races on it all the time . It would be a different matter if this happened in a series or something that mattered. (Hope at least that has been observed and assimilated from reaction)
It is perhaps a concern that the decisions are not that transparent , no official announcement, instead I had to visit Facebook and …well that’s a different and very perverse universe. I don’t know who the few are , and where the forum was to raise those concerns? All I know is what I saw on Facebook which was a don’t you dare ask questions or complain be thankful you have an event at all , which was pretty disturbing to be honest and makes me realise why you need to avoid that medium . It showed how toxic that place is over over such a trivial item as this .
its also not clear what unforeseen circumstances could be . Is there a problem with categorising an event on this course , what are the implications for the wider project?
Seaside Sprint is a fun course. If you haven’t had a chance to race it before, perhaps you might reconsider your decision.
I agree with you that there could have been a bit more information about the course change - especially for folks avoiding the toxic environment of Facebook. The email from WTRL Race Control mentioned the course change but didn’t provide any details. My understanding is there was a concern that a mountain course might be too much of a time commitment on a Tuesday night.
It may simply be that WTRL didn’t realize how much a course change matters to participants. I find that I prepare for a virtual race in similar ways as I would a race in real life- I review the course profile, ride a portion (or all of it) ahead of time and plan my warmup based on whether it’s more of a sprint or a climb. If the stage was originally Seaside Sprint and was changed to Muir I’d probably be a bit frustrated.
I feel WTRL is really trying to make racing in Zwift fun and fair and didn’t have any negative intentions. I’ve shared feedback with them directly in the past and felt it was welcome and appreciated.
Seaside is a fun course. It’s just if they’re looking for data points, it’s another circuit race with a coupla little hills in it that doesn’t create selection for the climbers from the big boys. Really not a smart move on WTRL’s part.
