ThatRead more . I am currently 145kg and have not experienced any bullying so far. Most of my ZwiftRead more . This covers name changes as well as weight/height changes during an event. Privacy Policy, How to Race on Zwift (Setup, Strategy, and More). It's a bit more complicated than most website sign-ups, but now you'll be all ready to get started. Zwift doesnt like this and disqualifies him on Zwift power. There was a problem. .Personally I one of the outliers on height and weight. 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? 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. People still rode at B level pace in a C group. Not knowing what to pick and with minutes until the my first race, I selected the C group and was thus filtered out of the Zwift Power race results when I then posted a 4.00w/kg over the 28 minute race. I was going flat out the whole race, and by no means cruising along watching my watts. would that be cheating then ? 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. It doesnt appear that people are abiding by the categories. The categorization system is, like you say, fundamentally flawed. Congratulations John on your retirement and Zwift is a great retirement present. How about simply showing a percentage variance. But for most riders watts per kilo rules the day, determining which category you race in Zwift. BA1 1UA. 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!!! All this makes me laugh. Updating Your Public Profile Zwift takes your physical measurements into account for things like leaderboards, speed, and your avatar's physical appea. Yes, but hopefully the system would be designed so, if drop a category then begin doing well, you get upgraded again! You do you. I have tended to notice that a significant number of powerful zwifters real world Strava performances pale in comparison to their online achievements. My FTP/kg is 3.88, which I now know would make me a B racer (3.2-3.9). While the benefits of being light fully kick in while climbing a mountain (as it is easier for smaller guys to achieve certain w/kg), the benefits of being a tall and strong guy dont fully apply in the flats. Goodness. He lives in Northern California with his beautiful wife, two kids and dog. Hi, very impressive w/kg at 65. You weigh 80kg and have an FTP of 248 watts, which works out to 3.1 w/kg. How does being heavier help a cyclist? you may ask. Would depend entirely upon the bike geometry, how much weight is over the front wheel and how much over the back. In some cases this even happens unfairly. But youre training and racing and getting stronger, and eventually your FTP improves to 260 watts, which is 3.25 w/kg. Hi Using HRM is difficult as well as you max HRM changes with age mine is 159 flat out but I am over 60. 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. Would love your thoughts, please comment. 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. My last ride I spotted 35kg lad who last week was 56kg. You only change it in Zwift and it should get picked up with regular backend processing periodically (maybe overnight). 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. Weight would be updated as normal throughout the month. Not too many people actually want to see other peoples height or weight except to be able to verify race results are reasonable. Good heavens man, the sentence before You do you says If its not done during a competitive Zwift event, I dont see it as a problem. Obviously weight doping in races is cheating and not acceptable. Yet the lesson is clear if you want to win, even on flat courses, have or claim a very low weight. A strict w/kg classification isnt perfect. yea but realistically is it worth it for them to dedicate the resources to that $$$$$$$, Well, thats good news. If you need to cheat to get the results you want then why even bother. Youve got people putting out 5+ watts/kilo atRead more . there seems to be a lot of variability in power products and what people are using to feed into zwift. To change your profile to have to log in on the Zwift website and then edit the profile there. 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. Frankly I struggle to believe these are real. Level 50. That gives me more hope for the future of the platform than any announcement from Zwift ever could. On the flats and descents she crushes her w/kg field. Contribute a post, shop through us, make a donation, advertise on this site. Prior to joining the team, he had written for most major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly, Rouleur, and CyclingTips. ZwiftPower FAQ We're sure you have several questions about ZwiftPower and what it is. I got my 100kph badge on the Bologna course. Honest and goal driven. Login Required The Zwift Engineering team is focused on improving security for ZwiftPower users. What is that!?! Zwift should offer a Validated Racer package for a slight premium over normal membership. 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. 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). Blaming Zwift for eating disorders is not sensible. So am I a super-drafter, the king of indoor efficiency? Two months ago he had a magic weight loss on zwift. I never thought i should weigh myself with my kit on. 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. I hopeRead more . Too light and watts go down as does watts per kilo. 5 year age categories and incredibly competitive a in most age groups, Thanks so much for your helpful comment. 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). It impacts the Group Rides and as you said the performance statistics individually. I dont think any of my shorter (under 5ft10) running or cycling friends weights more than that. Tough to recover after attacks in a race when youre always near maxing out. On Zwift, weight dopers seek to gain an advantage by entering a lower-than-life weight into their Zwift profile. I am not in the least bit interested in competition cycling, so no point in doping in either direction as i would only be cheating myself. 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. Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Zwift is great just to ride around and it has lots of good training sessions which you can do. The only way for complete cheat free racing is in the zwift Pro race which is all done in a single room with all riders together. I would suggest a free (for now) virtual race license that would outline racer behavior with consequences. Cyclingnews is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. 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. Have you ever compared numbers for calories burned, power output and even elevation ridden for a Zwift ride uploaded to Strava? I should mention: many Zwifters have lied about their in-game weight for perfectly acceptable reasons. I rode outside last night, and Im sure I will again soon. Find out more about how we test. First, it shows that theyre listening to the community. However, I was able to navigate to the settings page by doing the following. Too heavy watts are up but watts per kilo goes down. Had assumed I just rode inefficiently. 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 so, that makes sense to me and I can absolutely see the point of that. 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. How doRead more . Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). Zwift is full of cheaters and thats not going to change now. Thats the reason why a results category would be more interesting like Erics suggested in his topic. Now you'll have to head over to ZwiftPower.com and register there. 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?. Its going to take a certain amount of calories for a certain person to perform a given amount of work in a given time. yes, but you are missing my point. 2022 Race Like A Pro. 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. I am 65 kg with FTP of 270 W, which equlas 4,15 w/kg. If other people want to obsess about my weight thats up to them but I wont. 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 . I think a once-weekly weigh-in is acceptable. either a) ur starting ur sprint way too late or b) ur leading him out. Would achieve the same thing. Great drafting skills!, Heres the thing: I probably am a fairly efficient racer, when I want to be. i was just having a similar discussion with my old lady about watts and weights, etc. Is it doping though? Are you efficient, or just heavy? 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. Im surprised that (off wheel) smart trainers dont have the ability to weigh the rider when they get on the bike. It would be easy to deny it was intentional. also interesting about this equation are the: wattage data points and the zwift computations of W/Kg. I dont really race so I am OK and any workouts are harder this way. As a Triathlete, I have a different perspective when racing and riding on Zwift because the vast majority of Zwifters (according to Zwift and Strava) are only cycling; whereas Im also training by Running and Swimming. 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. This is especially true if you are trying to ride with riders you possibly know locally or otherwise. However, I definitely recommend entering some races. All lists are full of 190cm lads weighting 65kgs. Zwif: your ultimate guide Blaming Zwift for allowing cheaters is the system problem that gets more people frustrated, upset, etc. This is pretty timely for me as my FTP is 283 and my weight is currently 71.2kg. people need to stop taking Zwift racing so seriously. 2 Likes _Jynxy_EVO (:)) October 1, 2021, 1:41pm #8 thxs mike, 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. Why try to force IRL parameters that can not be enforced. All the emphasis on physical metrics makes sense for putting together how speed is calculated but not how one can race. LOL. You must be a much better person than me, because thats something I will Never make peace with. 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. The algorithms very much help heavier riders in descents, which gets forgotten when all we discuss is climbing. SoggyAlbatross2. Do some races have split out start times so you are only racing with those of similar ability? Work over time is work over time. Zwift doesn't need a fancy code fix, they don't need special anti-cheat software, special post race investigations, and they don't need to change anything other than when the game updates personal attributes. Food for thought. It's possible to check just about any kind of Zwift result using ZwiftPower, with the website sortable by leagues, race series and segments. If thats the norm, then I really dont see theRead more . (I dont recommend this approach, but it proves the point that weight doping is an issue that concerns many Zwift racers. I was just naturally heavy and it put me at the top of the C class in w/kg. EDIT Found my answer: 250w, Theres a chart about halfway down this page: https://zwiftpower.com/viewtopic.php?f=68&t=5528. That's it! If it still doesn't work email [email protected] and they should be able to sort. Im quite heavy, at about 85kgs, but also 183cms tall (and 52 years old). People can be far to either direction im 25 and my max that I have hit is 217. The first way is to head into your profile. Why can we just all race together and the fastest person wins? Terms of Use/DMCA Copyright Policy Since strava is all that matters of course. I love reading it. Best Zwift setups: Indoor cycling setups to give you the competitive edge. 1. was the lowest of top 15 riders. Read on for our guide on how the app works, how to get set up, and how to analyse your racing. Why not ride to your strengths? 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. Ill remain skeptical until I see some actual changes. 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. You lose 10 liters of sweat during a medium long ride? Other planned changes communicated last week, including plans to improve the reporting features in Zwift will be rolled out as planned. Head to http://my.zwift.com/ and hover your mouse cursor over the 'Download' button under one of your activities. Can someone answer why we need the different categories? As Ive posted elsewhere, I like having weight available at my fingertips so I can use it to plan the TTT rotation (I like going heavy/light/heavy/light to avoid the big guys pulling away on flats/descents or the little guys pulling away on climbs, plus one category of rider tends to get exhausted on any given route if I plan my pull times incorrectly, so its nice not having 2 people in a row suddenly need to skip a pull). Problem solved! More of an issue than thisRead more . Im not sure Id say the algorithms help heavier riders in descents. With racer categories? My power is often in the top few. 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's a real community hub. With Zwift control is difficult (in getting Zwifters to enter their accurate) wait. On the other hand, I am extremely anti-weight doping and agree with the post pointing out there is no incentive or even reason to be heavier. Maybe they should display and categorise HR as a %age? . Racing the As resp. I have to say I weigh myself most mornings in the buff (just my glasses on so I can see the numbers)! Think of ZwiftPower, then, as something similar to Strava, only entirely Zwift-focused, and free! nothing more. And flags height and weight changes if they go up or down alot. My power to weight is decent at about 4w/kg. I dont care anyway. Fluctuations of a few percent would be tolerated and percent change would be displayed on ZP. 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. the lighter rider has to ride much harder to stay in the groups with a few big guys cruising along. I have just accepted that at my height I will always be heavier than the average cyclist. This site contains affiliate links to Amazon, Wahoo, and other brands. Though our intent is to protect potentially vulnerable users by removing labels that can trigger unhealthy behaviours, we also hear the concerns of the racing community. Or are you looking for a participation trophy on every race as well? As soon as I start pedaling Im pretty much into threshold (around 170bpm). Im assuming you should weigh just before getting on the bike with all kit including shoes and not just before stepping into the post-ride shower (shorn of all kit and approx 1kg of sweat). As a lighter racer 136lbs it pisses me off to see cheating. In a race not in Zwift it is very easy for people to recongize who I am. But what exactly is ZwiftPower and how does it work? 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. If they keep riders from competing in categories below their ranking, it will reduce the number of sandbaggers and cruisers. The guy who got first weighs 106kg on strava but 45kg and only 411 on zwift. I know a woman who is 5 feet tall and almost 200lb. Yes, we need to be categorized by our race ranking, not power. Finally, just head back to ZwiftPower and click 'Connect to my Account'. But it highlights a bigger problem, and that is the fundamental flaw of using watts per kilo for race categorization. Same reason there are categories and age group races outdoors! Race them if you want, but Rides like Tour de Zwift are not based on rider category, they are based on distance. Unless a youth rider, height is generally going to remain the same. , Myself being a lighter rider who fluctuates some 2kg during a week I tend to always use my upper weight giving me a lower Wkg. . I have seen riders weighting 56 kgs and week later they are 35 kgs. Now I know it is a thing. Why not only require weight and height for entry to A and B races? I still have no sprint kick so Im never winning anything anyway. If the categories are split using purely w/kg a lighter rider doesnt have any advantage up the climbs at all. 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 . However, I do understand Kens point. Sandbagging is pointless if winning means youre going to move up (unless you want to take 3 months off after your win. Thats why there are no top 40 Cat C riders in 70-75Kg range. I agree WTRL ZRL races dont feel like they have cheaters. 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. Otherwise I stand by my comment. His favourite races are Strade Bianche and the Volta a Portugal, and he rides a Colnago C40. 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. Last week I did the prl full and Uber pretzel and tried to get #1 by weight on those segments. 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. 2.5w/kg (215Watts) is hard for me to hold for extended periods but I keep trying. Makes me happy to see that the community is able to speak with one voice if necessary. They are not, and never were, skill classes of any kind (ie. Tour de Zwift events were races? Or weight bonuses for completing events that last for a set amount of days or even hours. 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. What stone have you been living under? Any thoughts on verifying? In IRL there is a double draft. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. 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. 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. True, but not necessarily in the way you think. 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 am a long time racer in NorCal and cheating is cheating. Im more concerned about the guy who finished 5th with 144bpm. for example,Read more . 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. Why we are treating this differently from actual racing? seeing a riders weight in ZP and any changes made to the reported weight may help internet stalkers feel better about their poor race performance but it doesnt actually help identify cheats. 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. 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. Nailed it. 2022 SNOW Sprint Series Incrasing virtual weight would probaly downgrade me to B again. First, you need to sign up for an account. 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 am about to hit the four year mark on Zwift. Sure, easy! I think Im just heavier than my competition. On a flat ride I would beat every sub 60kg cat B rider too. He had fun laughing at fat dad, but I pipped him at the line! Additionally, well be moving forward on hiding height and weight from Zwift Companion and Web. We like this move from Zwift. I dont think it can all be attributed to weight; it appears that some hardware tweaks can scale up the reported power output. Knowing when to go hard and having the fitness to do so are also vital skills.). But youre not affecting anyone elses experience. Introducing a horrible measure that addresses a problem that doesnt exist, and subsequently retracting it following mass protest is not exactly what I would call revolutionary change. Theyre only cheating themselves and it all comes out in the wash eventually. Taking weight out of the equation you could just make everyones avatar moving forward by holding down the up arrow on their keyboard. This raised concerns within the Zwift Racing Community regarding fairness in racing. EZ and self regulating. There's a forum, too, so that users can discuss ongoing race series, find out about upcoming events and have any queries answered and problems solved. What I think your articles miss to point out, though, (Im sure you are well aware of the problem), like people have mentioned already, is exactly how many cheaters there are that manage to stay in lineRead more . As long as youre being honest with yourself I wouldnt worry about it too much. I have no idea. Im about to end up in the same situation (last races at 3.99, 3.98 and 3.99 W/kg) and Im not really worried about being promoted to A. Im 70 inches tall and 156 pounds right now vs 166lb on Jan 1. Im 170cm and currently 61kg with an ideal triathlon racing weight of 59kg. Hopefully when it comes time to hide height and weight from public view on ZwiftPower, Zwift will have some really useful tools in place which help race organizers do their jobs more quickly and effectively, while promoting wellness in the racing community. 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. 0.5kg discrepancy either side is actually quite small. But theres one problem: this puts you into the B category, and you dont want to race the Bs. Future state can add a nominal cost to said license to support clean racing via Zwift tech updates. Its more fun and engaging that way, for me at least. Lucky forRead more . 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. IRL I am 85kgs and cant pretend to be 65kgs. In fact, if in a long ride your weight could change by more than 1kg over the course of that one ride!!! Hopefully ZHQ will take a harder look the changes that have been proposed over the past year or so. If you've already created an accountcheck out the s. Hes asking for a fair race. Why no monitoring on this? Zwift excessively rewards the athlete for being light and small. And as well as your race results, you can check your distance ridden, total metres climbed, power peaks from one second up to 75 minutes, and more besides. Good question. I know its just virtual but my godi hope they enjoy their lies. 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. 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. My solution would make everyones chances equal, while yours would strongly favor heavy riders. plain and simple. Keep it on. 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. Its only a bit of fun at my level (solid B with the odd podium). Hes not looking for a trophy every race. Even at my age I still plan to compete in MTB races when the world gets back to racing. Just like the CEO promised us rowing years ago, right? What particularly annoys me is being beaten by light but moderately powerful riders doing individual time trials on flat courses. And atRead more . (Its not the only part, of course! I once made myself much heavier so I could compete against my 11-year-old son in a head to head Zwift climbing race. Riders weight will rise and fall but under normal circumstances within a range. All rights reserved. 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). 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.