This week we move to a new course New York Park Perimeter Loop. We are testing the same tweaks to the peloton(“blob”) speed on a course with a few more opportunities to create the quick breaks we have seen. We are also taking out Double Draft. Double Draft was on to see if and how extra energy may impact the ability to race well with more risks and rewards. We may add it back next week, but want to see how the peloton behaves.
All of the feedback has been amazing and taken to heart. We are moving feedback here to Zwift official forums for more visibility across all Zwift users.
Just the fact double draft is off makes things more interesting as mentally we know we have a chance to be rewarded from an attack…
As I said during the broadcast, you can still recover pretty well within 3m to the rider in front of you. And the rider in front has to do a bit more work than usual which makes the experience more real in my opinion.
Still I would love to see that kind of race with a bigger group
Thanks for the effort you do to make racing more interesting. I like that attacking and breakaways get rewarded. And I hope the chaising groups have to push harder to close the gaps. Today was fun without DD.
PU I have mixed feelings about. I think that in big races they should be off. It feels more natural. But I also like using them kind off like a mind game to the other riders.
Morten.
Hey guys love the effort in improving the game and racing! For the re-live experience I had an idea that might be interesting with the move towards e-gaming/racing and the big races Classics and Nationals
Since zwift is a game, would it be possible to re-live the game and be able to switch through the different avatars? See their HR, Watts, tactics, positioning etc. Basically reload the whole data that was available to anybody in the race? Get the commentary of Nathan and switch to your favorite riders or people in the back from your team etc.? would be fun!
#3 was my second ZCL event in the A group. Historically, I’m on the low end of the A’s, finishing events between 4-4.1 95% net power. With that said, the combination of the NewYork PP course, relatively small group and no double draft, I suspect any rider in my power range was hard pressed to find any recovery opportunities. So that lead to almost and entirely reactive racing experience for me. It was still a ton of fun and without a doubt incredible training. Given these conditions, the Z power guys were a problem in the group’s dynamics. When you are sitting on the razor’s edge and you have z power riders sling-shooting back and forth through the groups - well that’s just unnecessary. Overall, the ZCL has been a much needed experiment and I am all for being a rat for the good of improvements in Zwift racing events.
I favor double draft because it does give me an opportunity to recover a bit more at times during the event.
I don’t think Z power is the issue (exept for the A cat). If they just start in the correct starting pen then they can’t spoil the race. That is one thing Zwift should be working on, auto assign starting pens.
Just had a thought…I know we are looking for the right formula to make the races exciting, but maybe it’s the weekly changing of the formula that makes it more exciting. Something to think about.
Change can make it exciting. Maybe add wind, so fo the whole race the wind will come from a the same random direction. when riding right into the wind it will be hard for the break away except if the bunch does not want to work then the power houses can go. We don’t need steering for wind just a change in wind resistance depending on the angle of attack.
That will make racers thing about were to attack, do you go into the wind before a turn so you can create a gap.
Do you feel the draft or the blob is problem to attacks? Is the objective close to real life with race dynamics? Or a good workout? I ask because the zwift racing debate blends well with real life. Road racing at the amateur level is beautiful because the strongest rarely win. Even at the pro tour level, you hear of guys that can’t figure out how to turn w/kg into results. In this discussion as in real life, w/kg doesn’t entitle or guarantee results. But I do agree, there isn’t much reward to try breaks or solos in the current state. In real life, breaks fail but usually someone has to do to the work.
I don’t agree, since position is even more important in the wind. The game is just as likely to put you in an advantageous sheltered position as one out in the main wind. Just look at how it behaves in corners for example, where it’ll happily push someone from the inside to the outside of the bend, costing them 5 metres.
With some of Zwifts weekday-bigger events taking place on Tuesday (FUSION ECT Racing League) and Thursday (WTRL TTT - always over 100 riders) - what about Wednesdays for the ZCL test Labs? Would make for a much happier hump day!!
Definitely felt yesterdays Test Labs #3 settings felt much more realistic.
Yes I do agree position is important, but I am sure with some creative programming it can be done without steering. Don’t get me wrong I am ready to have steering implemented.
