Was race 3 of 3 and I didn’t realise. Apparently there was small print mentioning this. So much fun reading a contract in the 3 minutes before you ride.
But 9 of 15 got DQ’d in Zwiftpower. That’s ridiculous. If that many got DQ’d then the restriction is pointless.
There has been a “no sniping” rule for Zwift Insider races for months. It’s on Eric’s site previewing the weekend races and is in the race description at Zwiftpower…
"3 Races, 4 Rules:
No skipping then returning. If you skip race 1 or 2, but finish a later race, your later result(s) will be annulled.
You must have an active ZwiftPower account
Heart rate monitors are required for podium positions
Smart trainer or power meter must be paired as your power source in order to join the races."
How many of the DQ riders were happy to be there and didn’t care what happened afterwards in ZwiftPower? They may have fully understood the rules and chosen to join anyway to have some fun and cause pain for people doing the series. I see nothing wrong with that. The DQ is not a black mark, it’s just rule enforcement.
I think this is a good example of why everyone should read the event descriptions prior to singing up for a ride or race. The description isn’t meant to be “fine print” that sneaks in rules and regulations that no one is aware of, it is meant to be read and understood by everyone. We need to have clear rules, especially for races, so that everyone is operating on the same playing field.
Zwiftinsider organizes the Tiny Races each weekend, so next weekend you now know to sign up for all 3 or 4 events to be included in the final results.
The alternative would be to prevent them from entering the pen for a race in which they would get an automatic DQ. But would that be better than letting them ride, enjoy the race, and be excluded from results?
Yes, it’s not currently a feature. If it were, would it be a good idea to use it here? I can see how it would be useful, but I’m not sure it’s what the people affected by this DQ would actually want.
This is where I was going. I think this is a Zwift failing relating to design and management.
There should be no rules that rely on small print. They should all be automated. You can’t join a race that is a lower category than you. Why not this rule? Or at least a warning pops up. This is 2023 and anything else is poor design.
One part of Zwift let me join the race (app) and another part of Zwift (Power) said no. That embarrassingly bad management and communication.
I’m going to assume that because you are new to the forums you are also new-ish to Zwift, so some historic perspective might be welcome.
Zwiftpower originally started out as a 3rd party website created by two passionate Zwifters who were a big part of the racing community. Racing on Zwift wasn’t even a thing for many years, it was the community and sites like Zwiftpower that eventually convinced Zwift to create events, have race pens, different categories, and TTT conveyor belts. Racing on Zwift has come a long way in the past 6 plus years. Zwift took over Zwiftpower in July 2020 and has “kept the lights on” as it is still a great tool for race organizers and racers.
You have a valid point, it should be just one system, and to give Zwift credit they have made some good changes in the past year around category enforcement which is still relatively new and moving closer towards a results based system.
I posted this in another thread. It is almost on topic for this thread. Zwift monthly racing as opposed to ZwiftInsider Tiny Races.
Zwift Monthly Race series, this is what Event Description says right down near the bottom of a lot of text:
“Please note: for your results to show up in ZwiftPower you must use a heartrate monitor (HRM) and be riding on a smart trainer, smart bike, or using a power meter.”
This is not in the Event Rules with only CE as a rule.
Seems odd to me that Zwift has introduced Hardware requirements facility but actually doesn’t use them in their own monthly race series ?
I understand they may wish to make racing accessible but how many people are then annoyed when they are DQ’d?
I think it’s a bit of humour suggesting that the Zwift gods may punish him by bumping up his virtual weight for carrying on about getting a DQ. It would be a brilliant but sadistic move. 10kg in one hit may be noticeable, probably better to incrementally increase it over time.