At least I can be best in one thing on zwiftpower. As others have said, your higher weight helps on flat courses. But many people (including myself) prefer categorized races because we want to have a chance to actually battle it out for a win. A great challenge for those looking for those training gains. Have you ever compared numbers for calories burned, power output and even elevation ridden for a Zwift ride uploaded to Strava? There is no cat C rider at 58kg who has a hope in hell of beating me in any race. I am racing in the Cs finishing in the 40-50s but there are 30 + racers ahead of me posting watt/kilo of A, and strong B racers. Im new to Zwift and its racing and what I like notice is how well I do compared to theRead more , This is not just about cheating. I suffer from excess sweating and will easily lose 10kg in a race on Four Horseman, for example (although Im certainly not the norm, but to say no one is untrue). the lighter rider has to ride much harder to stay in the groups with a few big guys cruising along. I think it would be best if there was a separate cat system for flat routes (based on watts) and for hilly routes (based on w/kg), My understanding is that Zwift still applies real world physics to this situation, and maybe the article doesnt allude to it, in that on the flat Zwift wont use w/kg to drive speed but your pure watts. That a cat rider may win a d race but on zwiftpower they will be DQd for not riding an A race. EZ and self regulating. Sandbagging is pointless if winning means youre going to move up (unless you want to take 3 months off after your win. I agree with what you say Eric but the weight doping does negatively impact the casual rider if they are following other riders in a casual/social ride. Just short of my 68th birthday I still dont see any point in cheating. Zwift should offer a Validated Racer package for a slight premium over normal membership. Why can we just all race together and the fastest person wins? Totally agree with you. Whilst this might be the case, as Eric implies in flat races light weight riders have to work harder to stay in touch with the heavier riders in the bunch. That was my first thought when a fellow Zwifter commented on my recent race, Somehow you always get your w/kg down. Honest mistake on my part and one I wont make again, so fair enough to be filtered outRead more , Related (and apologies if the answer is obvious but Ive only done one Zwift race), really what is the point of the categories? Why try to force IRL parameters that can not be enforced. Tough to recover after attacks in a race when youre always near maxing out. Find some hilly races As a result your suggestion of the watts vs w/kg different systems is already baked into the game physics in a way. Great drafting skills!, Heres the thing: I probably am a fairly efficient racer, when I want to be. That guy who weighs 300lbs and gets 1st place in Cs for a month straight should be automatically upgraded to Bs and Bs to As. Yes us heavier riders have the downhill advantage definitely. Frankly I struggle to believe these are real. I think with a results based system would help as it would the sandbaggers, but it wont eliminate the weight cheats entirely, those that just want to gain a little more w/kg by losing a few virtual pounds. Why no monitoring on this? Enforce race category entry and youll fix much of the problems with Zwift racing. In fact, the only riders at or below my w/kg were minutes off the back. As a 96kg, 51 year old with an FTP of 317 and a resting HR of about 48 (and a theoretical maximum HR of 174) Im not sure why my lower HR during an event should seen as suspicious. As long as youre being honest with yourself I wouldnt worry about it too much. It would be easy to deny it was intentional. We may call it sandbagging or reversed weight doping but its legal . My solution would make everyones chances equal, while yours would strongly favor heavy riders. 2 Likes _Jynxy_EVO (:)) October 1, 2021, 1:41pm #8 thxs mike, Garmin sets your zones based on your maximum heart rate, while Zwift defines it as 76 to 90 percent of your Functional Threshold Power (FTP), which is the highest power you can sustain for 20 . As for the weight, I weight 190lbs, (86Ks) I put in 190lbs. This afternoon, Zwift posted a follow-up message on the forum. people need to stop taking Zwift racing so seriously. points based), riders can win by any margin any number of times and remain in their category so long as they do not exceed category limits. Many riders is talking about cheating, when someone enters a lower category but it's not, in my opinion. But maybe Im just thinking like a lady its hard for me to imagine a lady voluntarily gaining weight, even virtual weight. Yes, smaller riders have less frontal area, but the difference in CdA isnt that much. If Zwift can be seen to be doing that then very little need toRead more . Zwift power usually looks at numbers vs the category race he entered. Someone with my FTP should be CAT B, regardless of weight. I may of course be wrong, and these are all true weights, but Id be very surprised if that were the case, in the races where this matters, riders have to submit a private youtube weigh-in video <2 hrs before the race. I have been frustrated with the GC results in the current Tour of Watopia series. My IRL time and my Zwift time are almost the same. Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. what does help identify and stop cheats is formalizing race series and having them use an organization like Zada (whether effective now or not, this is the correct path). I guess I could play the same game and pretend to be 65kgs (350/65 = an impressive 5.38w/kg), This is where Zwifts scaling of CdA on height and weight gets out of whack with reality. Zwift should take accountability for what matters most to start with and thats the cheaters. Im 170cm and currently 61kg with an ideal triathlon racing weight of 59kg. Zwift can wipe your Zwift Power profile and give you a clean slate to start over if you want, but I think you will lose all past data. If you are on the lighter side, try picking some climbing races. Well, imagine youre a strong C racer. It is obviously a stupid thing ( weight doping) and why a rider would do this is beyond me but pride and quasi Strava bragging or Zwift Power bragging is a thing. Prior to joining the team, he had written for most major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly, Rouleur, and CyclingTips. I got my 100kph badge on the Bologna course. Case in point: in the A race I mentioned, only one rider was heavier than my 85kg dad bod. We are taking an iterative approach to the ongoing upgrades to the back end of the site. Thats why there are no top 40 Cat C riders in 70-75Kg range. Because narcissistic people want to get validation from somewhere/someone that theyre special/different and if they cant get it legitimately theyll lie, cheat, and steal to do so. Just the fact that you need a third party (ZP) to validate race results really says it all. Contribute a post, shop through us, make a donation, advertise on this site. I rode outside last night, and Im sure I will again soon. I should mention: many Zwifters have lied about their in-game weight for perfectly acceptable reasons. 8 months ago I was 96kg, but didntRead more , As a light (58kg) rider racing in the Bs it is very frustrating on flat routes where since the main thing that matters is raw watts and not w/kg I would have to put out well over 4 w/kg to keep up with the heavier guys and therefore I pretty much always get dropped before too long. I completely agree with the last paragraph here. To change your profile to have to log in on the Zwift website and then edit the profile there. Its a huge problem. IMHO, enforcing in-category entry for races will be a quick, easy and effective change. But I will, and Ill get hammered and hopefully improve. Ugh! Zwift doesnt like this and disqualifies him on Zwift power. The Tour de Zwift events this year were much moreRead more , Wait. I am alleging that weight cheating is endemic in zwift, especially among those who care about winning. Its only a bit of fun at my level (solid B with the odd podium). Theres a bit of a fuss on the ZP forums at the moment about this form of sandbagging where people deliberately ride within the w/kg limits but are riding well below their potential ability. Ive seen many A Riders with 300 FTP on Zwift who I beat by a HUGE MARGIN at triathlon events, including the cycling portion. Or weight bonuses for completing events that last for a set amount of days or even hours. Well Eric, my weight is plummeting, and Ill probably be taking a break from Zwift over the summer, so Im sure the upgrade is coming very soon!!! https://zwiftpower.com/profile.php?z=697996. Riders weight will rise and fall but under normal circumstances within a range. this is how it is in real life , big ian stannard putting in hard fast miles on the front for (was) team sky , while all the small guys tuck in the peloton getting drafted along saving energy for later on in the race , because they can`t compete on the flat with the big boys . Why not ride to your strengths? To move up to the next rank, ZwiftPower will take 95 per cent of your 20-minute average w/kg figure from your previous three races. In the many B races i have done it was more fun because i was competitive. It all has to do with the way Zwifts racing categories work. What if you are super committed and gain the weight in real life just so you can stay in the category , Excellent posts on perhaps the most serious non-hardware problem in Zwift right now. They are not, and never were, skill classes of any kind (ie. How Do I Change My FTP On Zwift? Im a heavy rider at 102kgs and 193cm tall I once reverse doped my weight at the top of the radio tower to try and achieve the 100km/HR badge It had the opposite effect in that I was actually slower than when descending at my actual weight lol I dont race other than against myself so Ive never weight doped as such My observations recently however have created an awareness of how many stick insects ride bikes on zwift . In reality no under 12 is competing with a decent 2nd or 3rd cat (UK system) Ive ridden with enough talented youth riders that this is fact so letting young kids crush half decent amateurs on zwift would be unrealistic. Zwift is full of cheaters and thats not going to change now. I climbed the Alpe last night for Stage 3 of the Tour of Watopia, missing my target of going under an hour by just over 12 seconds (Aargh!!). As a low to mid-cat rider, ImRead more . Here it is in its entirety: Last week we outlined a number of planned changes to address harassment and further safeguard the health and wellbeing of the Zwift Community. As Zwift racer James Eastwood so aptly put it, The community dont want to see peoples weight they want fair racing.. Manually change your weight in Zwift by adding 10 pounds. You could attend races where all categories go together (same start, all riders visible) for a while if you find that to be more fun Knowing when to go hard and having the fitness to do so are also vital skills.). Hide the weight who cares let them upgrade all the way to As where you have strict reporting requirements. Category systems are complex beasts, of course, I agree, people can have fun with weight doping and such aslong they dont enter competitive races. I put my real weight 95% of the time. Joining ZwiftPower isn't the most straightforward series of steps, but we've broken it down so you can get started as soon as possible. Blaming Zwift for allowing cheaters is the system problem that gets more people frustrated, upset, etc. Im in the same boat. I do find it amazing, funny and sad that IRL at several Ironman events me, a C rider, beat many A riders in the cycling segment. Nice work! I dont mind the low HRs but the low power and high w/kg really irk me! Ill remain skeptical until I see some actual changes. I understand if someone has a banner day or just bumped up out of upper C to lower B. It points to the need for a results-based categorization system, which I discussed a month ago in the final post of my race category series. That gives me more hope for the future of the platform than any announcement from Zwift ever could. . IRL cycling pros are not exactly heavy weights and lean-ness is highly encouraged. Login Required The Zwift Engineering team is focused on improving security for ZwiftPower users. Seeing someone race cat A/B on Zwift and then be at the back of the age group pack in a local tri/ bike race canRead more , I understand what you are saying, but the average racer who can legitimately churn out x watts/ kilo for minutes on end will be doing more with that than just being a zwift warrior (if they are getting onto the road to really ride and not just commute), and, traffic lights or not, their real-world rides will at least give resemblance to their zwift output, even if only for certain segments at a time. My FTP/kg is 3.88, which I now know would make me a B racer (3.2-3.9). We mentioned categories earlier as one of the ways in which you can search through your results and statistics, but they're also a method by which you get sorted into races. Im 70 inches tall and 156 pounds right now vs 166lb on Jan 1. He lives in Northern California with his beautiful wife, two kids and dog. if someone is entering a fake weight on their Zwift profile, the only person they're cheating is themselves, cos they're going to get destroyed out on the roads where it really matters. I have a Withings scale and in the Zwift Settings, it shows up as connected. I have been light and I have been heavy. Even at my age I still plan to compete in MTB races when the world gets back to racing. Conserving energy is a key part of successful bike racing. Skinny guys get DQd if they match heavies on the flat for power so they can NEVER win, even in the mountains. Living at 5,900 ft. adds a performance restriction on me, I get it. ur allowed +/- 5% weight for pro zwift races so +/- 0.5 kg is not going to make a difference :p. add weight if u want to stay in D. lower weight if u wanna move to C. up 2 u. Some people are clearly living in a fantasy on zwift. The key phrase is assuming both riding at the same W/kg, so for the same watts, if I claim to be 10kgs lighter than I really am my W/kg will increase considerably. I think you can force it with the Refresh Profile button in your ZP Profile but again, not sure if that triggers it immediately or overnight. It must be very hard to do with many, many lines of code to implement otherwise it wouldve been done by now, In reality these changes would not (will not) impact cheating. Do some races have split out start times so you are only racing with those of similar ability? When a rider can change categories by modifying their virtual body weight, thats an issue. Mike, Great article as ever Eric. Heres how it works. It doesnt appear that people are abiding by the categories. What stone have you been living under? (ignoring that it evens out and you have the advantage on the hills but lets ignore that because its all about you and you should always podium in every race in your life, because mommy told you that you were special and big mean Zwift is making you work so hard on the flats). However, I definitely recommend entering some races. I think a once-weekly weigh-in is acceptable. I have to say I weigh myself most mornings in the buff (just my glasses on so I can see the numbers)! See how you can support Zwift Insider! 2022 SNOW Sprint Series Gain a few (virtual) pounds. Not everyone has the same HRmax. So I dont expect to be as competitive vs. a pure cyclist. Im surprised that (off wheel) smart trainers dont have the ability to weigh the rider when they get on the bike. Since we know that lighter weight=higher virtual speed, this is a very easy way to cheat the system on Zwift. This is done by separating riders based on their FTP (functional threshold power) a wattage test you can take part in on Zwift over a 20-minute, 45-minute or 1-hour period. Absolutely impossible. I use my average weight but I feel; guilty because my weight tends to fluctuate by 0.5K or more during the week depending on how much I eat during the day really interested to learn that there is a scale that auto updates Zwift. Light guys have the advantage on the hills, in the sprints, and because they have a higher w/kg, the flats too even if my absolute watts are significantly higher. If you're on Zwift and planning to get racing, then signing up to the third-party app ZwiftPower (opens in new tab) is an essential step. The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox! Mate youre a legend. He had fun laughing at fat dad, but I pipped him at the line! Yes, but hopefully the system would be designed so, if drop a category then begin doing well, you get upgraded again! We really like the sound of this: In the future, well continue to bring potential product ideas and changes to members of the Zwift Racing Community, with the hope that youll embrace this as a collaborative effort to help shape the experience.
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