My W/Kg has gone from 3.76 to 3.97 without me really improving my FTP. Response to our post as well as Zwifts own post in their forum were resoundingly negative from members of the Zwift racing community. I averaged between 300 and 310 watts for all segments and my heart sat pretty consistently between 140 and 144.Read more , saying x number of watts per kg at xxx hr is flawed anyways max and resting hr can vary alot. ZwiftPower - Login Please update your Zwift ID on the connection page to complete registration. I never reverse weight doped. But without any hard and fast rules, we cant say anything is illegalat least for certain races. Id be super interested in the timing you set your weight. Great article, Eric. I was wondering is it possible to get the graph at the bottom of the screen that shows youre power and other stuff on a normal ride and not doing a FTP test or workout. The categories are the cycling equivalent to weight classes in boxing. As a lighter racer 136lbs it pisses me off to see cheating. 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. 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. However, insecure Freds jumpingRead more , I am new to Zwift, but I do wonder how it is youll see a bunch of people finish at the front of a D race at 4-5 W/kg. As Zwift racer James Eastwood so aptly put it, The community dont want to see peoples weight they want fair racing.. SoggyAlbatross2. Put simply, ZwiftPower is a community-driven website that complements the Zwift app. You will receive a verification email shortly. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. My IRL time and my Zwift time are almost the same. ThatRead more . Its only a bit of fun at my level (solid B with the odd podium). Plus imagine how bigRead more . Why no monitoring on this? 2 yr. ago. So its not Zwift putting you at a disadvantage but the situation itself, just as you would be in the real world in that situation. Eric runs Zwift Insider in his spare time when he isn't on the bike or managing various business interests. Exactly, although As arent that regulated, unless you hit the premier class, which is a very small section of A riders. If you gave the power, it will come out. They CANNOT win. Or theyll ignore leaders instructions and ride off the front of a group (flyers). 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. Ive seen many A Riders with 300 FTP on Zwift who I beat by a HUGE MARGIN at triathlon events, including the cycling portion. people need to stop taking Zwift racing so seriously. I dont think it can all be attributed to weight; it appears that some hardware tweaks can scale up the reported power output. This can be seen by comparing Zwift physics with real life physics (calculated by websites likeRead more . nothing less. ZwiftPower FAQ We're sure you have several questions about ZwiftPower and what it is. No race Chester worth their salt pops in and changed weight ahead of a race, what they do is post the wrong weight and leave it there. It just makes a mockery of the whole system. Too heavy watts are up but watts per kilo goes down. Thanks As long as the button to enter a lower cat is active, riders will Press It. 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. Prior to joining the team, he had written for most major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly, Rouleur, and CyclingTips. 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. Hes not looking for a trophy every race. Actually no, sorry, I was wrong. I have wondered about this subject on a few occasions. He lives in Northern California with his beautiful wife, two kids and dog. I dont know why this is, but i dont care one bit if people are cheating. You'll receive a four-digit code, which you'll then have to add to your last name back in your Zwift settings (you can change it back after the process is completed). Ive been on a mission to get back to my racing weight in 2020. As far as my weight goes the only thing I care about is being as accurate as I can to get accurate results. Frustrating to someone who tries so hard to compete in my weight class to get beat by cheaters. But I will, and Ill get hammered and hopefully improve. 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). Why not only require weight and height for entry to A and B races? I am in the 5 percentile of height and weight at 52 and 130lb with my lowest weight of 118 lbs in my racing career. I guess I shouldnt be surprised. Read on for our guide on how the app works, how to get set up, and how to analyse your racing. People with eating disorders, or a proclivity toward extreme dieting. Share your thoughts below! either a) ur starting ur sprint way too late or b) ur leading him out. Gain a few (virtual) pounds. Hi, very impressive w/kg at 65. BA1 1UA. The license would be needed to participate in ranked races, however if you dont have a license, other races would be available to participate in. I am about to hit the four year mark on Zwift. 2. Im 170cm and currently 61kg with an ideal triathlon racing weight of 59kg. There is no reason I should be gettingRead more , Sounds like its time to start racing the Bs, @guest_35522! If you're putting out enough power, then you can make your way up the ranks and keep on racing. Updating Your Privacy Settings in Zwift Companion To update your default privacy settings, sign in to the Zwift Companion (ZC) app on your iOS or Andro. The guy who got first weighs 106kg on strava but 45kg and only 411 on zwift. 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. I started zwifting about 2 1/2 months ago.I did the ftp test and put in the correct weight.Ive no idea how precise my trainer is tho.what i do know is,Ive managed to go from cat c to a. A thank you to Zwift HQ for listening to the feedback from the racing community and taking action. 5x5min, 4x8min but definitely never longer than 8 minutes. Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Just sign up for A races from now on. I hope they learn from this and are more careful with things like that in the future. Skinny guys get DQd if they match heavies on the flat for power so they can NEVER win, even in the mountains. For example, if a rider has an FTP of 210 watts and weighs 75 kilograms, that means the rider's FTP is 2.8 w/kg. All rights reserved. Hes asking for a fair race. Good question. Privacy Policy, How to Race on Zwift (Setup, Strategy, and More). I put my real weight 95% of the time. Thats the reason why a results category would be more interesting like Erics suggested in his topic. Race specific phase: 3x10min 50-60rpm intervals with . Some of the reasons Ive never pushed as hard on a real ride include: Stopping / slowing for junctions Traffic / pedestrians / other hazards Appreciating the view No watt meter on my real bike I dont race in real life I dont do workouts in real life Changing wind Threat of a headwind on my home journey And the biggest: WantingRead more , Agree with the above. I was going flat out the whole race, and by no means cruising along watching my watts. Thats why there are no top 40 Cat C riders in 70-75Kg range. I completely missed these as I reinvented the wheel, trying to stir up the hornets nest on the Zwift forums the other day. This is pretty timely for me as my FTP is 283 and my weight is currently 71.2kg. People still rode at B level pace in a C group. Weight would be updated as normal throughout the month. 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 . Zwift Insider makes a small commission on purchases made from these links, so please shop through them to support our efforts. Maybe with a KICKR Climb it might be possible. Daniel has reported from the world's top races, including the Tour de France and the spring Classics, and has interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars, including Wout van Aert, Remco Evenepoel, Mark Cavendish, Demi Vollering, and Anna van der Breggen. This clearly shows the power of the Zwift blob it impacts more than just drafting. I used to live next to the Alpe and later, next to the Ventoux. Honest and goal driven. 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. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). I rode outside last night, and Im sure I will again soon. So I dont expect to be as competitive vs. a pure cyclist. Among the communicated changes were plans to hide the visibility of height and weight from ZwiftPower in an effort to encourage individual health and wellness. It's a bit more complicated than most website sign-ups, but now you'll be all ready to get started. Ive connected my garmin scale with this app https://smartscalesync.com/?utm_source=tr 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. Although does WTRL encourage reverse weight doping? Ugh! Totally agree with you. I agree WTRL ZRL races dont feel like they have cheaters. What is that!?! yes, but you are missing my point. If I lose 1 more pound Ill go to 4.0 and its a daunting thing to think of going to As when I am often cruddy in the Bs. Everything you need to know about the third-party Zwift results and analysis website. 240W 50kg riders (4.8W/kg) beat 380W 95kg riders in B category Tempus Fugit time trials. How does it work? Keep answering that question and youll keep most people on side. The default position is midway between "Off" and "Max," or 50 percent of the grade resistance you'd find while riding the same grade of hill in the real world. Not everyone has the same HRmax. You make a good pointthere isnt a published race ruleset that clearly states that riders are 1) required to use accurate weight and 2) enter the correct race category. Tie that together with not letting people race in a lower (but letting them race in a higher) cat, and youll have fixed a number of the issues. Next up is the most finicky part of the process finding your Zwift ID in order to connect your accounts. I think he is referring to the 2021 Haute Route GC (or lack thereof), Sorry, thats right, it was the Haute Route 2021 events. All this makes me laugh. As an ambitioned A Racer with no smart scale, I stick to the higher end of the spectrum when setting my Zwift weight once a week. Most of my ZwiftRead more . 2 Likes _Jynxy_EVO (:)) October 1, 2021, 1:41pm #8 thxs mike, You must be a much better person than me, because thats something I will Never make peace with. hanging with the front group is very though for me because i am exactly at the bridge between A and B. Im older heavier and relativily fit. When I go outdoors I go on a trail bike and bring a backpack full of food and drink for a several hours ride. Thats not what I recall at all, everything is a race, even if you werent aware . 2022 Primr RWB League - Cycling Ireland eRacing Winter League. Is it doping though? The first way is to head into your profile. Connecting to ZwiftPower Before you can start using ZwiftPower, you'll need to create an account. Everyone races at the same weight/height. Had assumed I just rode inefficiently. Why you can trust Cyclingnews document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Im not too concerned about weight doping really. The six-digit number highlighted in bold will be your Zwift ID. On one occasion I entered a flat race (Laguardia Loop) following my ZP category (class C), finished almost three minutes down (though since it was a small field I still got third place), and then was disqualified for averaging 3.6 w/kg and 206 watts. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); The best solution would be for Zwift to actively monitor all racing for people cheating. I was just naturally heavy and it put me at the top of the C class in w/kg. Would love your thoughts, please comment. The algorithms very much help heavier riders in descents, which gets forgotten when all we discuss is climbing. At all. otherwise no way in hell hes beating you. Why we are treating this differently from actual racing? As soon as there is a single bit of flat cheerio! IRL cycling pros are not exactly heavy weights and lean-ness is highly encouraged. Terms of Use/DMCA Copyright Policy Cyclingnews is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. I mean youve both got a point. Also a really frustrating thing is why doesnt Zwift autoRead more , is he riding in the right category? Ride On. Lucky forRead more . Unless a youth rider, height is generally going to remain the same. 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!!! Doing this will bring up a box at the bottom of the browser showing a web address something similar to: https://s3-fit-prd-uswest2-zwift.s3.amazonaws.com/prod/000000/a2e1b7f8-27610843. Hopefully ZHQ will take a harder look the changes that have been proposed over the past year or so. Yet the lesson is clear if you want to win, even on flat courses, have or claim a very low weight. (Image credit: George Marshall / Zwift) The first thing you notice when the flag drops, is Zwift racing is so much harder than your run of the mill bike race . I may try it just to see what difference it makes. This is especially true if you are trying to ride with riders you possibly know locally or otherwise. With my question answered as to what I should pick for my next race, Id delete my original post if I could, but I cannot figure out how. I once made myself much heavier so I could compete against my 11-year-old son in a head to head Zwift climbing race. below this level you just have to take people's word for it. If I am racing I want to be able to look across at the guy/girl next to me (ie on the Companion app) and get an idea if they are going to kill me on the next hill, or not are they a 185cm/90kg guy versus my 172cm/74kg. Certainly it impacts the accuracy of race performance and results. The 33-pound Hub is 14 pounds lighter than the 47-pound Wahoo Kickr, even though the two trainers are almost exactly the same size. Heres an idea: Take weigh out of the equation. If someone on zwift holds an avg power at a given heart rate, then goes out on the road and holds that same heart rate but cannot sustain even close to that power, I am sorry, but that isnt physiology; that is hardware. Hide the weight who cares let them upgrade all the way to As where you have strict reporting requirements. As well as original reporting, news and feature writing, and production work, Daniel also runs The Leadout newsletter and oversees How to Watch guides throughout the season. No one is going to lose or gain 5kg overnight or shrink a 1cm. If I get down to 52 kilos I can climb well but my sprinting is terrible. Eric runs Zwift Insider in his spare time when he isn't on the bike or managing various business interests. 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. Either these racers need to calibrate the trainer or they are sandbagging big time. angels stadium covid rules. In IRL there is a double draft. I did on one and second on the other. Its more fun and engaging that way, for me at least. Zwift should offer a Validated Racer package for a slight premium over normal membership. Well, imagine youre a strong C racer. But I get beaten by lots of other zwifters, even on flat courses. 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. My weight is showing orange everytime. Zwift doesnt like this and disqualifies him on Zwift power. it's a good training tool. for example,Read more . But I also did it because I knew it was great practice! To change your profile to have to log in on the Zwift website and then edit the profile there. Current system means that heavy weight top of cat riders climb at the same speed as skinny guys with same wpk but can have 60% more power on the flats. 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 . bottom line for me, its a virtual training world, a virtual hammer isnt the same as a real hammer. In the many B races i have done it was more fun because i was competitive. For me its the most fun to see the progress I make on strava, new PR on climbs or on flats (hanging in on the back of a group) If I would lie about my weight I throw off my goals to Improve atleast make them near impossible for the coming time in the End I dont see the funRead more , I reversed dopped by mistake when I first started Zwift putting my height as my weight and weight as my height. 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. See how you can support Zwift Insider! That a cat rider may win a d race but on zwiftpower they will be DQd for not riding an A race. I have long ago earned all of the challenges and levels. Please refresh the page and try again. Im in the same boat. While most Zwifters seemed to understand and even appreciate the intent behind the change, there was concern that removing this information would result in increased height/weight doping. Some big Zwift races have specific rulesets, etc. So am I a super-drafter, the king of indoor efficiency? The race categories end up looking something like this (taken from the current Tour of Watopia race events): ZwiftPower, home of official race results for community races, adds some pure wattage breakpoints to the above list to help lightweight riders stay competitive. Zwift lets you adjust the difficulty of your workout, before or even during your ride. However, I have a lighter and faster son that smokes me head to head. You weigh 80kg and have an FTP of 248 watts, which works out to 3.1 w/kg. How about simply showing a percentage variance. I have no idea. Living at 5,900 ft. adds a performance restriction on me, I get it. Weight doping is a key challenge for cycling esports to overcome, and its one reason why many big races (e.g., those with prize money) require riders to show up and weigh in on-location in a supervised environment. I am 65 kg with FTP of 270 W, which equlas 4,15 w/kg. Heres how it works. Youll move a little slower with the added virtual weight, but youll be able to hang with the front of the Cs instead of getting shelled off the back of the Bs. I disagree with you on this point. Case in point: in the A race I mentioned, only one rider was heavier than my 85kg dad bod. Incrasing virtual weight would probaly downgrade me to B again. The race I did had all categories racing together with a mass start, so the categories felt arbitrary as my place was not within my chosen category but across the whole field anyway. IMHO, enforcing in-category entry for races will be a quick, easy and effective change. (Its not the only part, of course! Now in A i get dropped all the time. If you've already created an accountcheck out the s. And atRead more . Have you considered age category racing. In fact, you can change a workout on Zwift about as fast as you can U-turn a bicycle on a real hill. The winners are almost always people with recorded weights sub 70kgs, more typically 65kgs, even 59! I said if its not done during a competitive Zwift event, its not a problem. I would include chasing Strava Zwift KOMs as a competitive event (but I could see how what I said could be interpreted otherwise. A recent Crit City A Race is a very good example of this: I finished in the front pack, sprinting it out for 9th place. The COVID-19 lockdown period, now in its third month around the world, has seen an unprecedented boom in virtual cycling.