Now I know it is a thing. 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. Privacy Policy, How to Race on Zwift (Setup, Strategy, and More). I ride B category races & never podium but have been puzzled as I always seem to have a higher w/kg than most of the other riders in the race. 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 Hide the weight who cares let them upgrade all the way to As where you have strict reporting requirements. Would love your thoughts, please comment. Response to our post as well as Zwifts own post in their forum were resoundingly negative from members of the Zwift racing community. 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. triathlon). LOL. Its ridiculous. Then weigh yourself, and open Zwift, and see if it reflects the change. Have you considered drinking during a race? https://zwiftpower.com/profile.php?z=697996. Or weight bonuses for completing events that last for a set amount of days or even hours. The six-digit number highlighted in bold will be your Zwift ID. Eric runs Zwift Insider in his spare time when he isn't on the bike or managing various business interests. Monthly weigh ins arent perfect but they are better than no weigh ins. 2022 Primr RWB League - Cycling Ireland eRacing Winter League. So its not that easy for light people to hide in the pack and benefit from the draft in Zwift, which is half the reality (in many ways its easier IRL). Whats the cheaters solution? How does it work? How big of a problem is reverse weight doping? I guess I shouldnt be surprised. Most of my ZwiftRead more . It does not stop cheating at all. Thank you for signing up to The Pick. Remember - Zwift is a trainingplatform.. and if a rider feels his/hers motivation to ride, is higher when entering 'wrong' it's ok with me..AND obviously with Zwift too. Once I hit 185 its either sit up and catch my breath of fall of the bike. Yes us heavier riders have the downhill advantage definitely. As a 59/60kg rider who always seems to have a higher w/kg than the people I finish around, Ive been curious about adding 50% to both my weight and http://ftp. Or are you looking for a participation trophy on every race as well? 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. See https://zwiftinsider.com/how-does-zwift-calculate-my-speed/, I think if a racer doesnt want to cat up in order to keep winning in their current cat, she or he would likely just go the traditional sandbagging route (as others have suggested here). 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 . otherwise no way in hell hes beating you. My best race results as a Zwift B are on flatter routes, and I find my watts per kilo are consistently lower than most of the riders around me. Its a huge problem. The categories are the cycling equivalent to weight classes in boxing. That a cat rider may win a d race but on zwiftpower they will be DQd for not riding an A race. 1 second per 1 km on the AdZ dowhill (after losing minutes going up it) is literally the only place in the game its beneficial and the IRL advantages on the flats over light riders is excessivelyRead more . Is a very strong rider for his age and trains hard. I should mention: many Zwifters have lied about their in-game weight for perfectly acceptable reasons. Everyone else in the race is riding flat out (your own HR was 174bpm) but these guys are just cruising along watching their watts and are then able toRead more , Not sure its that simple I am a heavy category C racer, and (funnily enough) finished 5th in both my recent Crit City races with average HR of 153 and 150. 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. In the 2 months Ive been on Zwift Ive become a stronger rider than ever, because Zwift encourages me to push myself harder than I do in real life. Just from riding regularly I went from 166 FTP to 187 in 800 miles over a 2 1/2 months. The other race, events, and activities are needed to display that data. Manually change your weight in Zwift by adding 10 pounds. However, I definitely recommend entering some races. Someone sandbagging will get promoted out of category and will not be allowed to reg for lower categories. There was a problem. 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. Especially for the C and D groups but even for the Bs albeit to a lesser degree. Same reason there are categories and age group races outdoors! heavy riders have an advantage on flat courses.. https://zwiftinsider.com/wkg-tests/ plus 60-70kg is perferctly normal body weight for adult cyclists, nothing worth complaining about. Yes, we need to be categorized by our race ranking, not power. For the time being, height and weight will remain visible on ZwiftPower. Hitting G on your keyboard will do it, or swipe up on iPhone or iPad, etc then tap the graph button. Thats the reason why a results category would be more interesting like Erics suggested in his topic. (Example: if your FTP is 300 watts and you weigh 75kg, your FTP w/kg would be 300/75, or 4 w/kg.). Ive seen many A Riders with 300 FTP on Zwift who I beat by a HUGE MARGIN at triathlon events, including the cycling portion. England and Wales company registration number 2008885. Sandbagging is pointless if winning means youre going to move up (unless you want to take 3 months off after your win. Since strava is all that matters of course. Bob, what on earth is that all about? Not everyone has the same HRmax. Honest and goal driven. 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. All lists are full of 190cm lads weighting 65kgs. But youre not affecting anyone elses experience. In IRL there is a double draft. If I wanted to win I just drop my weight to 65kgs 350w/65kgs is a lot better than 350w/85kgs, of course 350w/65kg is better than 350w/85kg, its a massive increase in w/kg. The issues with e-racing remain the same, and largely ignored for years now. I would thought with how sensitive the sensors are they could place another one somewhere on the unit that simply does the job and takes away all the manual input. I have tended to notice that a significant number of powerful zwifters real world Strava performances pale in comparison to their online achievements. Daniel Ostanek is production editor at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired as staff writer. Which brings me to todays topic: reverse weight doping. I think a once-weekly weigh-in is acceptable. The rule set for the categories is so simple yet Id bet >99% dont understand it, to my knowledge cyclingRead more . 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. Prior to joining the team, he had written for most major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly, Rouleur, and CyclingTips. 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. It doesnt appear that people are abiding by the categories. But youre training and racing and getting stronger, and eventually your FTP improves to 260 watts, which is 3.25 w/kg. Zwift should take accountability for what matters most to start with and thats the cheaters. Last week we announced Zwifts plans to remove rider height and weight from ZwiftPower, among other changes (read the full post here). Thats not what I recall at all, everything is a race, even if you werent aware . We are both lighter riders and find the w/kg categorisation system frustrating (unfair even) but its what we have at the moment I think most people feel like they have a right to be competitive but this simply is not the case and ifRead more . IRL if your weight is 85kg, itll take you longer to climb the Ventoux than if your weight is 65. If I were to drop say a kg obviously the watts required would not change to keep at the speed of the group andRead more , Youll go faster at a lighter weight on the flats. What particularly annoys me is being beaten by light but moderately powerful riders doing individual time trials on flat courses. Other than that, I rarely look at weight unless some results are very weird. I think theres another more interesting angle than just trying to stay down a category. 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. I have been cycling since I was a kid and now close to 50. Youd think theyd be the same but when Zwift and Strava dont even agree on stats for the same ride, Ill take any other comparisons with a big pinch of salt. Im glad our collective voice was heard on this one, 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.. USA Cycling has categories that are based on experience and performance. Im not heavy (68kg), have a typical climber/TT phenotype (no short sprint but good FTP). Maybe with a KICKR Climb it might be possible. And atRead more . I rode outside last night, and Im sure I will again soon. look at the article. So what! Someone with my FTP should be CAT B, regardless of weight. They CANNOT win. Racers who get top 1,2,3 more than a few times get upgraded period. SoggyAlbatross2. Zwift lets you adjust the difficulty of your workout, before or even during your ride. Im more concerned about the guy who finished 5th with 144bpm. I dont mind the low HRs but the low power and high w/kg really irk me! It's a real community hub. 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. As a lighter racer 136lbs it pisses me off to see cheating. So am I a super-drafter, the king of indoor efficiency? Heres how it works. Youre having fun winning (or nearly winning) C races! Taking that info away further depersonalizes the platform, and and may be fine in group rides, but it is a step closer to racing against bots. 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. 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. Its going to take a certain amount of calories for a certain person to perform a given amount of work in a given time. i was just having a similar discussion with my old lady about watts and weights, etc. And flags height and weight changes if they go up or down alot. I wouldnt personally do it since it throws off training metrics and just isnt true.