Racing on the Zwift virtual platform has only increased, with the professionals getting in on the act, too, via the Zwift Tour for All, the Virtual Tour of the Gila, and e-races organised by Team Ineos. Context, Tim, context! Eric runs Zwift Insider in his spare time when he isn't on the bike or managing various business interests. I would say 1kg or more is more normal. It lets Zwift racers and race organisers track results and check out all the details of the races they've participated in, as well as monitoring and analysing their data. 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). He lives in Northern California with his beautiful wife, two kids and dog. Is a very strong rider for his age and trains hard. Using your Mac or PC, you can do it online on the Zwift website. 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 . 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. 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. Tour de Zwift events were races? Theres also fitnesssyncer.com that is free up to 4 sync services. I got my 100kph badge on the Bologna course. However, I was able to navigate to the settings page by doing the following. Even some of the regulated weight rides will give 2kg leeway. Perhaps if you post a W/kg in excess ofRead more , So thats why I could easily keep up with a 3-3.4wkg group yesterday whilst keeping my wattage at some 2.5-2.7just my 107kgs.the rest were probably featherweight category :) Hopefully ZHQ will take a harder look the changes that have been proposed over the past year or so. A good rule we follow is to take our FTP divide it by 3 and then put that in as our weight (in Kilograms). I mean youve both got a point. Hes asking for a fair race. Unless a youth rider, height is generally going to remain the same. People still rode at B level pace in a C group. Privacy Policy, How to Race on Zwift (Setup, Strategy, and More). Find out more about how we test. I have wondered about this subject on a few occasions. Well, its adding weight to gain an advantage. I rarely race, don't care. However, I have a lighter and faster son that smokes me head to head. IMHO, enforcing in-category entry for races will be a quick, easy and effective change. Ive lost 2.2kg over a 6 hour ride due to carb loading before, and burning that and hence losing a lot of water weight during the ride. I dont really race so I am OK and any workouts are harder this way. Just the fact that you need a third party (ZP) to validate race results really says it all. Eric runs Zwift Insider in his spare time when he isn't on the bike or managing various business interests. All rights reserved. Thanks Note how he wins races while his max HR is around 30 beats below his maximum. I think the Zwift algorithm is quite relevant because it implies a good workout in any race for any kind of rider (and thats what we are looking for). I agree Paul great idea. My IRL time and my Zwift time are almost the same. Whatever your answer, some people will never like it, but there has to be a clear, credible answer for the majority to support. If they keep riders from competing in categories below their ranking, it will reduce the number of sandbaggers and cruisers. Why try to force IRL parameters that can not be enforced. https://zwiftpower.com/profile.php?z=697996. Dont worry about your weight fluctuating through the week and remember you gain 0.5kg by drinking a half-litre bidon and lose it again through sweat (and by going to the toilet). Otherwise I stand by my comment. As some others already mentioned, the bodyweight tends to oscillate over the week and even the day. His 150 or 160 is not comparable at all to what mine would be, I have been Zwifting for a couple of years now I can honestly say I am completely addicted to Zwift. Yes, but hopefully the system would be designed so, if drop a category then begin doing well, you get upgraded again! This is pretty timely for me as my FTP is 283 and my weight is currently 71.2kg. Maybe also add weight change limit 2kg per week? Not sure why its hard for you to believe that there are a lot of riders under 70kgs. Heres how it works. I once made myself much heavier so I could compete against my 11-year-old son in a head to head Zwift climbing race. I have no idea. however 2 riders at the same w/kg, heavier riders have the advantage on flats & descents: https://zwiftinsider.com/wkg-tests/. You do you. The categories are power to weight divisions. Level 50. How do you actually update your weight on ZP?? Great drafting skills!, Heres the thing: I probably am a fairly efficient racer, when I want to be. If you gave the power, it will come out. As far as my weight goes the only thing I care about is being as accurate as I can to get accurate results. What anyone wants in any game or competition is to feel its fair, and as they look to make changes going forward, I hope people at Zwift always keep asking themselves this question: How can Zwifters see these races are fair?. 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. Thats a good thing. 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. I may try it just to see what difference it makes. If the categories are split using purely w/kg a lighter rider doesnt have any advantage up the climbs at all. ), You say at the end..you do you, it doesnt affect anyone. 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. I think he is referring to the 2021 Haute Route GC (or lack thereof), Sorry, thats right, it was the Haute Route 2021 events. I have been cycling since I was a kid and now close to 50. First, it shows that theyre listening to the community. Zwift power usually looks at numbers vs the category race he entered. What is that!?! I dont think so. Plus imagine how bigRead more . Take one of our four FTP tests to determine your FTP. How many cyclists do you see in real life who are 65kgs, but they are ten a penny on Zwift. Do you believe weight doping (reverse or otherwise) is a big problem in Zwift racing, and if so, what can be done about it? The rule set for the categories is so simple yet Id bet >99% dont understand it, to my knowledge cyclingRead more . Think of ZwiftPower, then, as something similar to Strava, only entirely Zwift-focused, and free! 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. They CANNOT win. Hi Using HRM is difficult as well as you max HRM changes with age mine is 159 flat out but I am over 60. Whats the cheaters solution? To change your profile to have to log in on the Zwift website and then edit the profile there. For the time being, height and weight will remain visible on ZwiftPower. Zwift should offer a Validated Racer package for a slight premium over normal membership. The only trouble is the downhill doesnt take as long of course, so the light advantage is obviously better. ZwiftPower FAQ We're sure you have several questions about ZwiftPower and what it is. I agree with your idea. Leave the setting unchanged and climbs often feel challenging. Some Zwifters go so far as to social-stalk other riders, comparing their photos to their Zwift weight and calling them out for weight doping. In fact, you can change a workout on Zwift about as fast as you can U-turn a bicycle on a real hill. But then you could have someone in the same age group who maxes out at 170. Yes, we need to be categorized by our race ranking, not power. the lighter rider has to ride much harder to stay in the groups with a few big guys cruising along. Would love your thoughts, please comment. Terms of Use/DMCA Copyright Policy Response to our post as well as Zwifts own post in their forum were resoundingly negative from members of the Zwift racing community. 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. Now head back to ZwiftPower, click 'Connect' at the top of the page, then enter your Zwift ID in the box when prompted. Todd_S (Todd S) March 12, 2015, 3:09am #4 I'm new to the app. 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). Completing this first step means that you've given permission to share your results and activity history with ZwiftPower, so now all of your performance and race data can be transferred across to the website. In the many B races i have done it was more fun because i was competitive. Whether w/kg is the appropriate way to categorise races is anotherRead more , As a 92kg rider, with a w/kg FTP of 289 (or 3.14 w/kg) I wholeheartedly agree. Good question. Certainly it impacts the accuracy of race performance and results. This covers name changes as well as weight/height changes during an event. Their hr should also correspond, which they often dont. Great article, Eric. For example the threshold for cat B is FTP over 200 watts and over 3.2 w/kg. I think that point based system is an improvement, but it doesnt address the weight issue. You only change it in Zwift and it should get picked up with regular backend processing periodically (maybe overnight). 1 - Manually Set Your FTP Let's say you already know your FTP, then you can go into Zwift and manually change it to whatever you'd like. I have climbed well and I have suffered on climbs but also sprinted well. I have tended to notice that a significant number of powerful zwifters real world Strava performances pale in comparison to their online achievements. 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. The easiest way to qualify for a higher category is to cut weight. 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. Race specific phase: 3x10min 50-60rpm intervals with . Prior to joining the team, he had written for most major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly, Rouleur, and CyclingTips. Withings scale that automatically updates your Zwift weight, a month ago in the final post of my race category series, https://smartscalesync.com/?utm_source=tr, https://zwiftpower.com/viewtopic.php?f=68&t=5528, https://zwiftinsider.com/how-does-zwift-calculate-my-speed/, Zwift x UCI To Host Cycling Events for the Olympic Esports Series 2023, Race London ZRacing March Series Details, Notable Zwift Events for the Weekend of March 4-5. I wouldnt personally do it since it throws off training metrics and just isnt true. I think theres another more interesting angle than just trying to stay down a category. Your voice is important to us. They do however have a disadvantage on any flat or downhill. This calculates that this heavy rider would take 23:14 to do the distance a justRead more , Everyone has a sweet spot for weight. triathlon). Exactly. I was told that was possible but I couldnt see how. Once you have a number for your FTP in watts, divide it by your weight in kilograms. Privacy Policy, How to Race on Zwift (Setup, Strategy, and More). LOL. 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. Sandbagging is pointless if winning means youre going to move up (unless you want to take 3 months off after your win. But without any hard and fast rules, we cant say anything is illegalat least for certain races. It all has to do with the way Zwifts racing categories work. You should do much better at your actual weight in that case. The COVID-19 lockdown period, now in its third month around the world, has seen an unprecedented boom in virtual cycling. 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. Fluctuations of a few percent would be tolerated and percent change would be displayed on ZP. 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. It's harder than real racing. light guys categorically do NOT have an advantage on the flats vs heavier guys, assuming both riding at same w/kg, heavy guy WILL be going faster on Zwift. are clay hart and sally flynn still married; composite chart 12th house; tupperware party points; st francis of assisi school jobs The other race, events, and activities are needed to display that data. The six-digit number highlighted in bold will be your Zwift ID. Some weight dopers are obvious and blatant other times its much less egregious. 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. Most of my ZwiftRead more . Wow, cheating !! Frankly I struggle to believe these are real. I am currently 145kg and have not experienced any bullying so far. 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. Generally weigh myself once a month. As we said in the first post, Assuming race organizers can access the data via ZwiftPower, and the site includes simple tools for spotting potential weight or height dopers (perhaps flagging those who made dramatic changes recently), then hiding weight and height data from the public should work swimmingly.. 2.5w/kg (215Watts) is hard for me to hold for extended periods but I keep trying. It's possible to check just about any kind of Zwift result using ZwiftPower, with the website sortable by leagues, race series and segments. 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. Im not sure Id say the algorithms help heavier riders in descents. Ive been on a mission to get back to my racing weight in 2020. Living at 5,900 ft. adds a performance restriction on me, I get it. Why can we just all race together and the fastest person wins? Zwift Insider makes a small commission on purchases made from these links, so please shop through them to support our efforts. Absolutely impossible. But I get beaten by lots of other zwifters, even on flat courses. Zwift excessively rewards the athlete for being light and small. Connecting to ZwiftPower Before you can start using ZwiftPower, you'll need to create an account. The Tour de Zwift events this year were much moreRead more , Wait. for example,Read more . How big of a problem is reverse weight doping? It this fair? I hopeRead more . 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