Eric runs Zwift Insider in his spare time when he isn't on the bike or managing various business interests. Tough to recover after attacks in a race when youre always near maxing out. Why try to force IRL parameters that can not be enforced. I take issue with the weight doping is okay in none competitive events because of strava. Next up is the most finicky part of the process finding your Zwift ID in order to connect your accounts. With Zwift control is difficult (in getting Zwifters to enter their accurate) wait. Most of my ZwiftRead more . Chip on the shoulder there or what? But many people (including myself) prefer categorized races because we want to have a chance to actually battle it out for a win. 0.5kg discrepancy either side is actually quite small. It would be easy to deny it was intentional. 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 dont mind the low HRs but the low power and high w/kg really irk me! The other race, events, and activities are needed to display that data. IMHO, enforcing in-category entry for races will be a quick, easy and effective change. Youre having fun winning (or nearly winning) C races! The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox! Im glad you wrote about this. My HR numbers are almost identical to yours. Then everyone would know who is legit or at least somewhat legit. Choose a Zwift workout, but before you start riding look at the workout breakdown on the left side of the screen. The categories currently used in most Zwift events are based on your FTP watts per kilothat is, your FTP in watts, divided by your weight in kilograms. Example: have you ever purposely avoided weighing yourself (especially you who have a Withings scale that automatically updates your Zwift weight) because you know youve put on a few pounds over the weekend? In spectacular and shocking fashion. As long as the button to enter a lower cat is active, riders will Press It. Okay, I now see in ZP where it has my minimum racer category (B) in my profile based on my last race, so I can choose B or A going forward. A strict w/kg classification isnt perfect. Or theyll ride races 1-2 categories below their actual W/kg so they can still win and feel like that theyre legends. Zwift posted a follow-up message on the forum, 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. How many cyclists do you see in real life who are 65kgs, but they are ten a penny on Zwift. Ill remain skeptical until I see some actual changes. indispensabile essere sinceri nel dichiarare il proprio peso , per se stessi e per il rispetto degli altri . Totally agree with you. 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. There could be Zwift level weight bonuses instead of another pair of socks. 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. I have just accepted that at my height I will always be heavier than the average cyclist. I dont care anyway. When a rider can change categories by modifying their virtual body weight, thats an issue. 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. How does being heavier help a cyclist? you may ask. 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. There is no progression from lower to higher categories through placement. I know its just virtual but my godi hope they enjoy their lies. Id never do this as my Zwift Power is an accurate log of weight and power but it does make me wonder how much easier itd be to be bigger. Thats not what I recall at all, everything is a race, even if you werent aware . I have been light and I have been heavy. 5x5min, 4x8min but definitely never longer than 8 minutes. I have been frustrated with the GC results in the current Tour of Watopia series. On a flat ride I would beat every sub 60kg cat B rider too. 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. Do some races have split out start times so you are only racing with those of similar ability? Now I know it is a thing. How big of a problem is reverse weight doping? 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. If thats the norm, then I really dont see theRead more . 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. If you set your weight high enough that you fail to do well you will drop in the categories. Someone sandbagging will get promoted out of category and will not be allowed to reg for lower categories. 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. The bottom line is that in any competition there will always be someone who wants to cheat to win.Read more . If other people want to obsess about my weight thats up to them but I wont. If you gave the power, it will come out. I mean youve both got a point. Thats the graph. Keep hammering the point and finding ways that Zwift can improve controls. A good portion of that weight difference is in the Hub's 10.3 . How does it work? Future state can add a nominal cost to said license to support clean racing via Zwift tech updates. (better than any bike upgrade i could afford) Yes its great to win,but as long as you improve yourself who cares what anyone else does.You will always get cheaters,dodgy equipment and so on so just enjoyRead more . Makes me happy to see that the community is able to speak with one voice if necessary. 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. 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 :) It's also possible to filter results and data by categories, such as different age or power ranges. Context, Tim, context! 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. You will receive a verification email shortly. Included with this license agreement can be the approval to show height and weight. 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. Even if Id ridden at threshold a little over 4 W/kg, I wouldnt have been able to hang onto the front in a D race, it seems. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. 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? I am 42 years-old with a HRmax of ~169 bpm. As a low to mid-cat rider, ImRead more . It certainly didnt feel like I had taken it easy when IRead more . Taking weight out of the equation you could just make everyones avatar moving forward by holding down the up arrow on their keyboard. You enter a real race,out in the world, you are ready to finish in the top 20 for your best result of your life,then out of the blue a dirt bike rides past you goes tabletop and crossesRead more . ZwiftPower use 95% of your best 20 minutes during the whole race, so it does not matter if the race is 21 min or 3 hours, you will still be categorized the same way. This raised concerns within the Zwift Racing Community regarding fairness in racing. As a lighter racer 136lbs it pisses me off to see cheating. Currently trying to convince a friend who is new to Zwift not to reverse weight dope. Too light and watts go down as does watts per kilo. Login Required The Zwift Engineering team is focused on improving security for ZwiftPower users. plain and simple. I got my 100kph badge on the Bologna course. Had assumed I just rode inefficiently. I have long ago earned all of the challenges and levels. Just like the CEO promised us rowing years ago, right? Maybe with a KICKR Climb it might be possible. It's harder than real racing. Yes thats completely unacceptable, you should never be at a disadvantage at any time in your life, just as your mother raised you. In some cases this even happens unfairly. I agree WTRL ZRL races dont feel like they have cheaters. Zwift excessively rewards the athlete for being light and small. Thats a good thing. 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. 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 told that was possible but I couldnt see how. for example,Read more . Zwift is full of cheaters and thats not going to change now. A good rule we follow is to take our FTP divide it by 3 and then put that in as our weight (in Kilograms). Too heavy watts are up but watts per kilo goes down. 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 someone dopes so they do 4w/kg then they should be racing with other people who do 4w/kg. The easiest way to qualify for a higher category is to cut weight. LOL. In a race not in Zwift it is very easy for people to recongize who I am. however 2 riders at the same w/kg, heavier riders have the advantage on flats & descents: https://zwiftinsider.com/wkg-tests/. Thats hilarious. We are new to Zwift and My son Whos 12 has used it to race to make up for his list u12 crit season. As such, we have agreed to pause this change while we develop tools that deliver greater transparency to Zwift racing while promoting wellness. 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. (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 . The categorization system is, like you say, fundamentally flawed. Riders weight will rise and fall but under normal circumstances within a range. Bikecalculator suggests not Go to http://bikecalculator.com/ enter an 85kg rider, riding on the drops for 16.2kms (ie an ITT) leaving all else unchanged. But theres one problem: this puts you into the B category, and you dont want to race the Bs. 2.5w/kg (215Watts) is hard for me to hold for extended periods but I keep trying. Cheapest Zwift setup: Everything to help you onto Zwift for the first time It all has to do with the way Zwifts racing categories work. It's a real community hub. Whats the cheaters solution? Have you considered drinking during a race? 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. Other than that, I rarely look at weight unless some results are very weird. Even some of the regulated weight rides will give 2kg leeway. 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. Great drafting skills!, Heres the thing: I probably am a fairly efficient racer, when I want to be. On the flats and descents she crushes her w/kg field. 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. If you need to cheat to get the results you want then why even bother. I am currently 145kg and have not experienced any bullying so far. So I dont expect to be as competitive vs. a pure cyclist. 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. They CANNOT win. Manually change your weight in Zwift by adding 10 pounds. 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. 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. Eric runs Zwift Insider in his spare time when he isn't on the bike or managing various business interests. 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. Contribute a post, shop through us, make a donation, advertise on this site. Absolutely impossible. Click on the Settings button and you'll find the Trainer Difficulty slider. As long as people are using reasonable weight/height and arent cheating or changing it drastically all the time (my scales autoupdate my weight, so mine changes once a day, but by small increments), Im much more interested in being able to see the weight of my teammates so I can properly plan my TTT lineup than I am the weight of my competitors. That a cat rider may win a d race but on zwiftpower they will be DQd for not riding an A race. 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 Forerunner 265 series watches have become Garmin's lowest-priced AMOLED display endurance sports-focused watch, coming in at roughly half the price of the Garmin Epix series launched a year ago - but here with full multiband GNSS support on all Forerunner 265 units, while also adding in Training Readiness - a major Garmin endurance sports focused feature. The guy who got first weighs 106kg on strava but 45kg and only 411 on zwift. would that be cheating then ? Goodness. That gives me more hope for the future of the platform than any announcement from Zwift ever could. Hide the weight who cares let them upgrade all the way to As where you have strict reporting requirements. Blaming Zwift for allowing cheaters is the system problem that gets more people frustrated, upset, etc. I am alleging that weight cheating is endemic in zwift, especially among those who care about winning. Everyone races at the same weight/height. However, I definitely recommend entering some races. And one cheater leads to another and its an arms race of gaming the game. I agree Paul great idea. Weight would be updated as normal throughout the month. 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. I think that point based system is an improvement, but it doesnt address the weight issue. Hopefully ZHQ will take a harder look the changes that have been proposed over the past year or so. 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. The algorithms very much help heavier riders in descents, which gets forgotten when all we discuss is climbing. Why you can trust Cyclingnews Why can we just all race together and the fastest person wins? We remain committed to protecting the health and well being of the broader Zwift Community, and we look forward to enacting additional measures in the future. bottom line for me, its a virtual training world, a virtual hammer isnt the same as a real hammer. 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. Lucky forRead more . Its funny, I was talking to one of my work colleagues who also Zwifts about AdZ and how because Im heavier (125kg / 276lbs) I would never be a sub 60m AdZ rider (I reckon Im looking at sub 2 hours, if lucky), Ive never once considered weight doping, sure I know I could but why would I? otherwise no way in hell hes beating you. I may try and snag a couple of cat C golds before taking the break, but definitely wont be reverse weight doping to do so the upgrade to B will be a bigger prize than any gold medal. 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. This is how racing is supposed to work. Some people, I think, just have a lower HR. The Tour de Zwift events this year were much moreRead more , Wait. Why dont you start self-regulating then? Daniel Ostanek is production editor at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired as staff writer. This can be seen by comparing Zwift physics with real life physics (calculated by websites likeRead more . Why we are treating this differently from actual racing? 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. I was going flat out the whole race, and by no means cruising along watching my watts. How do you actually update your weight on ZP?? You do you. 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. 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. Food for thought. Their hr should also correspond, which they often dont. What you see a lot are riders who are (claiming) to be really light with decent but not exceptional watts. Exactly, although As arent that regulated, unless you hit the premier class, which is a very small section of A riders. See how you can support Zwift Insider! 2 Likes _Jynxy_EVO (:)) October 1, 2021, 1:41pm #8 thxs mike, Youve got people putting out 5+ watts/kilo atRead more . stop worrying about whatRead more . All this makes me laugh. I think theres another more interesting angle than just trying to stay down a category. ), So what is reverse weight doping? I was just naturally heavy and it put me at the top of the C class in w/kg. But what exactly is ZwiftPower and how does it work? If you were to meet meRead more . This would cover submission and review of a private video showing height and weight which would result in a check mark on ZP showing this rider was height/weight verified. Adjusting Difficulty Before Your Workout. There is no disqualification for going over your w/kg limit. 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 . Are you efficient, or just heavy? How doRead more . Incrasing virtual weight would probaly downgrade me to B again. 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. Im older heavier and relativily fit. 5 year age categories and incredibly competitive a in most age groups, Thanks so much for your helpful comment. When you're in the game, click "Menu". This is especially true if you are trying to ride with riders you possibly know locally or otherwise. I rarely race, don't care. If its a big hill, well then w/kg has us equalised. 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. 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. As soon as there is a single bit of flat cheerio! As soon as I start pedaling Im pretty much into threshold (around 170bpm). Bath MyRead more . Stick a few more kgs on to stop you getting upgraded, would that get you a ban? This is why for a while I was ranked as a C even though my w/kg was higher than 3.2 since my watts werent over 200. triathlon). 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. if youre on zwift and intentionally cheating to get whichever fake virtual badge or win whichever fake virtual place in a race, then youre real-life literal loser. My power to weight is decent at about 4w/kg. Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, But youre not affecting anyone elses experience. Zwift Insider is independent of Zwift corporate (www.zwift.com), although Zwift does provide funding to help defray site costs. This site contains affiliate links to Amazon, Wahoo, and other brands. Best turbo trainers: Smart trainers to improve your indoor cycling experience 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. Not true, at least not absolutely. They are not, and never were, skill classes of any kind (ie. Zwift Insider makes a small commission on purchases made from these links, so please shop through them to support our efforts. Level 50. 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. Theres also fitnesssyncer.com that is free up to 4 sync services. I have tended to notice that a significant number of powerful zwifters real world Strava performances pale in comparison to their online achievements. However, I have a lighter and faster son that smokes me head to head. Finally, just head back to ZwiftPower and click 'Connect to my Account'. (Example: if your FTP is 300 watts and you weigh 75kg, your FTP w/kg would be 300/75, or 4 w/kg.) Its ridiculous. 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. 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. Yes us heavier riders have the downhill advantage definitely. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Maybe they should display and categorise HR as a %age? Not sure why its hard for you to believe that there are a lot of riders under 70kgs. Other planned changes communicated last week, including plans to improve the reporting features in Zwift will be rolled out as planned. I rode outside last night, and Im sure I will again soon. IRL cycling pros are not exactly heavy weights and lean-ness is highly encouraged. But it highlights a bigger problem, and that is the fundamental flaw of using watts per kilo for race categorization. Bob, what on earth is that all about? Since we know that lighter weight=higher virtual speed, this is a very easy way to cheat the system on Zwift. 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. Someone with my FTP should be CAT B, regardless of weight. I just we had a better system than category limits, racing license anybody? The categories currently used in most Zwift events are based on your FTP watts per kilo- that is, your FTP in watts, divided by your weight in kilograms. SoggyAlbatross2. Also a really frustrating thing is why doesnt Zwift autoRead more , is he riding in the right category? 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. there's a million and 1 reasons why it is not a legitimate sport. The only trouble is the downhill doesnt take as long of course, so the light advantage is obviously better. 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. 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 . Last week we announced Zwifts plans to remove rider height and weight from ZwiftPower, among other changes (read the full post here). They do however have a disadvantage on any flat or downhill. Zwift should take accountability for what matters most to start with and thats the cheaters. If it still doesn't work email zwiftpower@zwift.com and they should be able to sort.
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