Originally Posted by Eric F

Are you talking about the riders that have what looks like a TV screen in front of their bikes? Those are people doing structured workouts. It's an indicator to the rest of us that they aren't just free riding. The color of the screen also indicates the intensity of their current effort.

Originally Posted by Eric F

Especially on Fuego Flats, it's not uncommon for groups of people free-riding to build around someone doing a long steady effort structured workout. I know some people get ruffled by it. If I'm doing that kind of workout, it doesn't bother me at all to be someone's pace bot, if that's what they want to do.

Originally Posted by Ed Wiser

right also groups doing meetup rides will show up on the road. An they do not even see you. As they only see each other. So many people is Zwift are not free riding and are doing things that are not actually free riding. They don’t even see you riding in many cases. But you see them flying by. I had a meetup ride with afrrind the other day and a rider doing a workout would pop in and out of our ride for a half and hour before she finally disappeared.

Originally Posted by Eric F

So you tried a Zwift race one time, got dropped, and are now making generalizations about problems with the platform? Hmmm...okay. You might consider that there is a learning curve to racing effectively in Zwift that is a little different than IRL (many people have done videos discussing things to expect, tactics, etc.) Just like racing in IRL, there are subtleties to being efficient and effective that come from experience.

The typical pattern for Zwift racing is an all-out sprint from the gun before setting down after a few minutes of complete suffering. If you go out of the gate easy, or even at a solid tempo pace, you probably won't ever see the front of the race again. Knowing this ahead of time will make a big difference.

If you don't enjoy that kind of insanity, try group rides or one of the pacer bots. They're good places to get familiar with the pack-riding skills of Zwift, which aren't quite the same as IRL.

Originally Posted by msu2001la

When someone creates a meetup on Zwift, they have the option to select "Meetup-Only View", which hides all other riders outside of meetup participants from view. This can be useful for informal races, and also good for keeping groups together. In this mode, riders in the meetup do not get any draft from riders outside of the meetup, but riders in the meetup are still visible and available for drafting to all other riders. You can also do a meetup and not select this option, which keeps all other riders visible and available for drafting just like you'd see normally on Zwift.

If you wanted to not see any other riders on Zwift, you could set up your own meetup using "Meetup-Only View" and then ride solo within that meetup without seeing any other riders.

Originally Posted by unterhausen

zwiftpower requires you to have a working heart rate monitor right? My tickr is really unreliable.

Originally Posted by spelger

so zero in on one comment that i made about categorizations and ignore the first post i made where i stated quite clearly that "i don't race." i was merely agreeing with another poster when i wrote "i'd agree with better categorization for races in zwift." my agreement really had nothing to do with why i started the topic in the first place, this thread just diverged in that direction on its own. i only wanted to know what the deal was with the metric. i was not bashing zwift or making any generalizations, sorry you took it that way. if you are a racer then kudos to you, it is just not my thing and it never really was, curiosity got to me one day, that's all.

Originally Posted by unterhausen

zwiftpower requires you to have a working heart rate monitor right? My tickr is really unreliable.

Originally Posted by Eric F

Interesting. My Tickr has been my most reliable measuring device.

Originally Posted by genejockey

Yeah, I hooked onto a pair of riders going down the other side of the Innsbruck climb yesterday. Made for a really fast descent, since they were putting out something like 2.5w/kg or more.

Originally Posted by spelger

this is an interesting idea. i might try it and see how it is. it would be more like my real life rides. i suspect that i would not perform as well because i do like to push myself trying to catch up with someone that is going harder than myself. i know it is blind competition and i am not competing but it does give me some incentive. i use CycleMeter when out on the road and it shows my position relative to my best from prior rides and that would be a neat feature for zwift.

Originally Posted by msu2001la

When someone creates a meetup on Zwift, they have the option to select "Meetup-Only View", which hides all other riders outside of meetup participants from view. This can be useful for informal races, and also good for keeping groups together. In this mode, riders in the meetup do not get any draft from riders outside of the meetup, but riders in the meetup are still visible and available for drafting to all other riders. You can also do a meetup and not select this option, which keeps all other riders visible and available for drafting just like you'd see normally on Zwift.

If you wanted to not see any other riders on Zwift, you could set up your own meetup using "Meetup-Only View" and then ride solo within that meetup without seeing any other riders.

Originally Posted by himespau

If they were "only" putting out 2.5 W/kg going down, you (and they) would be better off supertucking (though you don't get any drops that way).

Originally Posted by Eric F

I apologize. I probably came across a little strong. People making judgements after one experience tends to rub me the wrong way. In my experience and observations,

Originally Posted by Ed Wiser

right also groups doing meetup rides will show up on the road. An they do not even see you. As they only see each other. So many people is Zwift are not free riding and are doing things that are not actually free riding. They don’t even see you riding in many cases. But you see them flying by. I had a meetup ride with afrrind the other day and a rider doing a workout would pop in and out of our ride for a half and hour before she finally disappeared.

Originally Posted by burnthesheep

Mine was reliable until the silly snaps broke off from the strap and unit. They should have used a little hook on the strap like the Garmins do. The over and over snapping the strap on and off destroyed it.

So, one year essentially and into the trash. Just out of warranty.

I just didn't feel like leaving it snapped on and trying to put it on that way every time like a circus contortionist act.

Originally Posted by Thomas15

Based on my ftp I'm just under 3.1 w/kg. I do a few races not a lot and not well advertised races and I'm not even remotely a "racer". But I race in C class and my ZwiftPower results usually come in with a race average of about 3 w/kg.

Still, I get my ass handed to me all the time. Where I'm at I should be at the top of C class. I have not come close to making the podium. I don't really care though, I enter races for my personal enjoyment and the excuse to push hard. Having said that I'm going to do an ftp test in about a week and I expect to get a boost that will put me at at least 3.3 w/kg, B class in most races. At that point I will go from getting my ass handed to me to having my ass served with a side of mountain oysters.

Originally Posted by surak

It's designed to be twisted off, that's why the contour around the battery compartment is shaped the way it is.

Originally Posted by unterhausen

I'm a bit curious about this assertion. It has snaps. If it comes off by twisting, that's still pulling the snaps apart.

Originally Posted by spelger

I am not fully clear regarding this metric used. i don't race but i do see the race categories in zwift and they are separated by a W/Kg range.

Originally Posted by surak

I only mention this because it wasn't obvious to me until someone else mentioned it, but did you detach the sensor from the strap properly by twisting it, or pulling it to pop it off? It's designed to be twisted off, that's why the contour around the battery compartment is shaped the way it is. I've been using my Tickr for 3 years, detaching and rinsing the pod and strap after every use, it's still working great.

Originally Posted by tomato coupe

One can imagine Strava offering both W/kg and W as racing categories in the future, much like "real" bike races offer CAT, age, and CAT+age categories.

Originally Posted by surak

There's little leverage when pulling, which puts an excessive amount of stress on the plastic ends. Twisting takes almost no force and detaches easily.

Originally Posted by La Tortue

Zwift power breaks it down very well for any race while there are many zwift cat specific races in almost any category ine can dream up.