I am getting more and more depressed when it comes to this racingthing on Zwift. If it isn’t Alpe Du zwift, Innsbruck, Ven or some other megaclimb I just try to go with the pack just to get ****** at the finish. Let’s say there are 10 people in the group before the finish then I will be dead last, and I will be it after everyone in the group seems to magically become supermen, aren’t people tired at the end, I mean I am. The only good conclusion I can draw is that everyone in these races comes superfresh to the finish. Don’t ask me how but they have to. Zwiftracing is just one big sprint?
Also, are you intended to get rest in a race? To me it always feels like a full out effort, they say you are supposed to rest when you are descending and everyone around me are but I can’t do that, then I will be sooo dropped sooo quickly. I weight 64 kg but I see other who weight the same and they are even finishing in the top with less effort. They can do 4.1 while I do 4.7.
So even if Zwift is extremly focused on your sprint (and that is very unfair because a stationary bike is best in this aspect) I do wonder what else I am missing?
Well! You can say that. But then you atleast have to do it for day after day and you can’t just turn on your computerscreen and suck some wheel for an hours notice and then wa** yourself to the podium.
I am obviously mad beause I suck at sprinting, but I hope (and actually think) that everybody deep down is repulsed by it, by this sprintcompetition which is Zwift. Atleast “Critrace” is an honest description for it, all other races not so much.
I think that you lose in the same way in both real world and other E-RACE.
Because your 1min PWR and 5 min PWR is lower.
your 20 min PWR 4.98 is Cat A+ level.
But 5 min PWR 5.65 and 1 min PWR 6.95 is a high rank of category B.
In other words, somebody Cat A rider hits the Jab(1min for 5 min max power) in a hill.
You lose when you do not give a punch.(1min for 1 min max power).
It is this repetition.
You cannot win.
You can win downgrading race.
It is traveling alone utilized the high FTP.
It is equal race, and you cannot win.
It is the end if attacked at a turning point in a match.
There are two paths you should take.
One is to concentrate on TT and Hillclimb using high FTP.
Another one it is to overcome a weak point in workout.
These workout will be good.
GCN/Power Climbs Hill Attacks
Less than an hour The Wringer
Less than an hour The McCarthy Special
GCN/Power Climbs Steeper & Steeper
GCN/Flat Out Fast「SUPER Fast
You are not the only one, my sprint is also my weak point. But with Zwift I can train and get my sprint better. Then when I go outside I will have a a better sprint.
I am not sure my answer will become a quote. Thank you for your answer. The number on Zwiftpower is not my records, If you look in my results you will find a 5.9wkg on my 5 min and I have done a 6.15 outside (!). I did the same effort on Zwift but that one isn’t recorded on ZP.
You are basically right. My 1min power outside is not very good, and I did it on a good day when I was fresh. I have a really hard time pushing power when I have grinded a race.
I think I suck at racing and I am very badly disciplined, when I feel good I just go to the front, I want to be the hero.
I have no sprint, my 5 sec max is absolute trash, 14 at best.
I suck at racing.
I will never ever go to B-races, I find that very unfair to the people in B. I am very happy I have the ability to race in A because all the other categories are a mess. I will reread your message and take your advices. Thanks.
My experience seems similar to yours. My stats put me in A, I guess, but I struggle a lot due to my weak “punch”. My races look like this:
Start with A (but feels like I’m pushing it)
Hang with A (with wrong Cat B and C) until there’s a hill, then lose ground because I’ve overexerted myself
Maybe I can keep up on the first hill, but there’s no recovery because I’m still struggling to keep up
Wonder how ALL the A group is doing it
Get seriously dropped on the next hill because I’ve nothing left
Drop back a group or two and race with B/C
Continue to struggle because many of the B/C are in the wrong CAT
Finish the race and wonder what is going on
Examine results and wonder how all those B racers that finished ahead of me are still in B
Conclusion… need to work on sprints/intervals, but that’s a long path with uncertain results, especially as I age.
Other option is to stop trying to keep up at the start, which would probably get me downgraded to B eventually, but then it feels like I’m not doing my best.
I raced today (even if I shouldn’t I think) and I did better. I atleast have been so frustrated in the past with racing I have pushed and pushed, just to get dropped when I just couldn’t do it no longer. I think it’s good to be less paranoid. I have always turned the pedals when it goes downhill (raced the radiotower today) but now I just let the other guys be the paranoid ones and I went into supertuck, turns out you have to stop pedaling to do so. This way I had power left at the finish and I actually went over the finishline first in the group of four. Turned out that it actually went faster went I stop pedaling and I had more later on.
And then there is this drafting-thing, if you draft right the other people will do the work. Before I thought you always have to do the same effort (even more wkg as a lighter rider) but turns out you can cheat the system with so much as 50-75 watts just by drafting, which means that you don’t have to push it. I changed from the Tronbike to another bike just to see when I actually draft and learn more about it.
Soo there is 1. having a bad punch/variability and 2. Tactics and learning about all the functions in the game. I guess you can get so strong you can ignore all the tactics in the world but better do them both.
I do think the people who finish first actually are the strongest, because when you look at the NP they are the ones turning out the most power but I also think that you can do yourself a big disadvantage if you play it bad. And it sucks to always see that you do let’s say 4.0 when the other gets away with 3.6wkg
Definitely cool to see a speed increase in supertuck while just coasting. I think the consensus is that the downhills are best spent recovering rather than pushing.
WKG is interesting, I suppose, but raw watts is probably better in figuring out exactly what is happening. Sometime (maybe soon) I will “click” on some other A racers to see how many watts they are producing going uphill. This data could perhaps also be gleaned from Zwiftpower through some interpretation.
I can punch up a hill and keep up with the group, but after that I’m spent and need more recovery than is available before the next hill hits. Then I get dropped.
I’m on a Wahoo Kickr and my trainer difficulty is at 100%. I tried lowing it to see if that would make a difference, but it really didn’t matter. That makes sense because you have to do the work to get to the top of the hill. That said, I take “trainer difficulty” to mean the challenge of finding the right gear at the right moment… i.e. efficiency. Not as easy as it seems.
Fredrik_Parnefalt i think you need to consider that there are not many race winning sprinters that are 64kg. Sprinting is a game of absolute power and this usually suits riders who are heavier due to more muscle mass.
Lets look at some examples of sprinters who win (or have won) races;
Caleb Ewan - 67kg
Mark Cavendish - 69kg
Marcel Kittel - 86kg
Andre Greipel - 78kg
Dylan Groenewegen - 70kg
Fernando Gaviria - 70kg
John Degenkolb - 78kg
Riders of your weight usually win atop hills or very hilly races as this is when the heavy guys suffer.
Work on your sprint and 1 minute power but maybe it is better to concentrate on races with climbs. Make sure you push that power on the hill and make the heavy guys hurt!!
”that’s a long path with uncertain results, especially as I age.”
If it is called it, the FTP training is over, too.
Even an old man can improve VO2MAX and muscular strength.
The improvement of the ability that did not training is easy.
It is very easier than improvement of the ability that it has been trained.
True… never too old to try (train). My thoughts on age are mostly rooted in max heart rate, which appears to steadily decline with age. That said, I’m working on some sprints and intervals. It’ll take time.
I feel that if there were more shorter races ending in summit finishes it may improve the balance for different kinds of riders.
Instead, it seems that almost all the short races tend to be on relatively flat circuits like Crit City, and it’s only the longer ones (which I struggle to find the time for) which take in hills.
We can all suck in different ways in Zwift races. I tend to go for the flat races (Crit City is a particular favourite) and am borderline C/B, but still “officially” a C according to Zwift Power.
As a heavier rider, the flat out effort in the bunch followed by a sprint suits me quite well, but I suffer from a chronic inability to put myself close enough to the front of the pack when the pace picks up in the last half lap, meaning my sprint has too much to do … I have won one race more by good luck than good judgement.
Being 50% heavier than you my wattage is likely higher but my wkg lower.
Worth thinking about us poor “average” A riders with FTP a little over 4W/kg racing against 5W/kg+ A+ riders! I’ve given up on Oh My Crit races with hills because I’m guaranteed to be out the back on the first proper hill. I race smart, stay off the front, etc., but I’m even less likely to be competitive than someone racing (in the correct) lower categories where the spread of FTP is more limited.
Sure I can work on my numbers for sub-5min intervals as these matter more than FTP, but I have zero hope of being competitive in most races regardless of what I do (I know my limits having raced IRL for a number of years).
For purely selfish reasons I’d like to see A and A+ categories split.
I’ll be honest … Before I started racing regularly, I thought the whole categorisation thing was a big fuss over nothing, but there clearly needs to be some serious work done on making it more appropriate.
The more I look at it the more it makes sense to categorise riders on their results rather than power numbers.
It is only going to take a couple of races running at a slightly higher speed than the ones I have done recently to push me into B … In which I have no doubt I would struggle badly.
And to be fair, those are guys who win sprints within a race that goes up mountains. There are other very good sprinters who weigh a little more but can’t compete in those races. And even for those guys it’s still all about staying in the draft until the right moment.
