I know… and I also perfectly know there are many different ways to evaluate a ftp.
I was just answering about the fact that Zwift headquarters changed their evaluation, right now this evaluation is very very low, and keeping me in B cat whereas my zwitracing.app puts me in platinum, any other ftp evaluation is between 245w and 265w, and most important my lab evaluation (with vo2max) is identical to the xert evaluation (260w).
What’s interesting is that my lab vo2max is 65 (so a real one, with real life measurements), my Zwift vo2max too, so it seems this evaluation can be correct (garmin gives me only 62…)
Would Zwift consider explaining how this is calculated? ZP had ways people could game the system a bit, but it was very transparent about how it was calculated. It’s really helpful from a training perspective to understand this. E.g. do FTP Tests contribute to this?
Every ride in the game contributes to it. But a ramp test won’t significantly affect 20 minute power unless the overall 20 minute power during the test improves your 20 minute PR. A long FTP test probably will though, if you perform well.
I agree this change should have been communicated in some fashion.
Makes sense – in the ZP days, for example, one could do a race for 19 minutes at 5w/kg and it wouldn’t (to the best of my understanding) affect your categorization because it used 20 or 60 minute efforts. So at a basic level, I guess I’m wondering how 5, 10, 20, 60 minute efforts are taken into account to determine FTP. Time trials for me are my go-to benchmark, but then, I’m a time trialist by nature. There is no way I’d ever average over 4wkg in a race of any length unless I was pulling the whole time due to weight – unless it were a sprint up the Alpe or Bologna TT, but those are “TT’s in disguise” due to climbing. Hoping Zwift provides some details.
They’ve provided plenty of detail, both in the forums and on official support pages. Category boundaries are based on zFTP and MAP, where zFTP is a CP-based calculation that uses the full power curve to estimate inputs.
Some of my best 5min performances have been from ramp tests… I’m a low end b, those high end top of cat riders doing a ramp test might get close to the zmap threshold when doing them.
ZP used 20 minute PRs from events (group rides, group workouts, races). CE uses all rides in the game to derive a “zFTP” magic number from a curve that is used to set your categorization.
That level of detail hasn’t been shared. We do know that riders with a relatively flat power curve (eg, TT rider) will tend to have a higher zFTP, and it may be well above their actual FTP. As a TT rider, you may find that focusing on setting PRs for the MAP values will lower your zFTP. (Try it!) That may be fair when it comes to assessing FTP from the data, but for race categorization in Zwift it’s (in my opinion) silly because higher MAP values will almost certainly improve your odds of winning the typical Zwift race which is typically short and does not include extended threshold efforts.
This is the main change we made because of the number of inflated zFTPs we were based on a single power metric.
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I’ve seen this before and never understood why. Any reasoning from @James_Zwift for this?
This has always happened in Zwift events. My only plausible explanation is that it’s a point after the pens have all joined together.
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Is there a reason you can’t set it to record power at 0:01?
No idea I’m afraid.
This has always frustrated me as zwift it records the correct time as it shows it after the event. You finish the event then 2 seconds later it displays it on the results with the time added.
Any chance it can be raised for somebody to look at @James_Zwift it can only be a display issue as the time of a race is correct at the finish based on when they left the pen.
The only scenario i see where you would not want that is a mass start race between different pens where there might be a second or two advantage being front pen but i could be wrong but i don’t think Zwift accounts for this in finish times.
That’s also my assumption.
Hi
Has something happened with the cat enforcement algorithm in the past week or so. I know plenty of people who have had their zftp. Bumped down to weirdly low levels. Not half of ftp or anything but maybe 80 to 90 percent of what they have recently done for 40 to 60 mins.
This or an unrelated event has also pushed down some people with massive short term numbers down to B. One example has been a 10wkg 1min guy now racing in B legitimately under the cat enforcement algorithm. There are a few like that who weren’t in that position 2 weeks ago
Thanks
David
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Just seen that my point above has been touched on earlier in the thread where an update is mentioned.what I still think is happening is that a lot. Of the zftps just look really low now and it’s put people in some clearly incorrect cats
Of course without knowing exactly why zftp is, it’s hard to make the statement that the numbers are incorrect, they just seem to have become lower in many cases to the extent that they are beneath 60 min power.
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why do some users on ZP not have a zFTP value. e.g ZwiftPower - Login
or ignore that think as only just done a race and needs a refresh or next event.
i wonder if it has something to do with ZP consent to display HR Data, etc.
‘‘I give consent for zwiftpower.com to display my heart rate as part of the full results service and for this information to be used for performance monitoring.’’
I don’t believe that has anything to do with whether or not zFTP will show. But if anyone has an example I’m happy to look.
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Is it not the case that the pen restriction and zFTP won’t display the current info unless the rider clicks “refresh profile” on zwiftpower?
The rider themselves can visit their The at Home Cycling & Running Virtual Training App (zwift feed link) to see their own status and play mind games with others taking a peek at their zwiftpower profile.
For more clarity, it would be much better if zwiftpower automatically updated pen restrictions and zFTP after each event shown on zwiftpower for all riders, as well as change the 5sec/1min/5min/20min to reflect the last 60 days rather than the old system of 90 days.
But that takes time to code and I thought I read that the plan is for the Zwiftpower site to be ditched altogether.