MinnMan

So tonight on Zwift, this guy, "i.ro" blows by me at 5.8 watts/kg. Not a flicker to his power - not 5.7 or 5.9, but dead on 5.8. Some time later, he laps me, and he's still exactly at 5.8 w/kg. And i notice that he's 125 miles into his ride.

c'mon, that's not a human doing that. Or if it is, it's Colin Strickland or his equivalent.

UmneyDurak

In theory zwift monitors for these kinds of things. Not sure how well it works in reality.

MinnMan

context- both times I was riding in relatively empty roads, which means that his info was visible for quite some time. Probably I could see it for about half a mile each time. Maybe he was doing intervals and ha lower power at other times- I have no way to know- but who does intervals on a 120 mile ride, and who holds power so perfectly that their w/kg never varies even as much as 0.1 W/kg?

UmneyDurak

Well for the last part in ERG work out mode that's quite possible.

WhyFi

Uh oh - did I forget to give you a "Ride on!"? It was a recovery day and I was reading an ebook while riding, so I might have missed you. Apologies.

Voodoo76

Could be one of the old AI riders got loose & was doing some laps?

phenry24 

This is correct, doing a workout with ERG will hold your power very steady. You can see if someone is in a workout (may be using ERG or not) if there's a bar graph on the left side of their name banner.

As for the higher than average w/kg for a longer than average ride, it doesn't take anything but a few keystrokes to shed weight in Zwift. It's best to just ignore what other people are doing on there most of the time.

MoAlpha

Now, weight doping should only provide an advantage uphill, right? I seem to get zoomed about .7 times per ride by people like WhyFi doing sustained 5-8 W/kg on essentially flat ground. How they do that?

firebird854

Botting in Zwift is pretty stupid, it's essentially cheating yourself. The only real reason to do it is to get the best TT and racing bikes and race, however, it's been shown that Zwift is ready and willing to drop the ban-hammer if that is found. Also, the best bikes are only very very marginally better than their starting counterparts, just sayin.

HOWEVER, I do get super annoyed with botters who steal a KOM jersey I'm wearing or put up a clearly impossible time on one that I am actively going for. But then I'm also annoyed at literally anyone who is using Z-power to take them too... Ah well, it's not like I'm not going to steal KOMs with a skinsuit, TT bike, a 20mph tailwind, and perhaps a truck in front of me in real life... at least in my head that's different.

Thomas15

Most races are reported to Zwift power and require a heart monitor. If ZP doesn't see a hear rate, if the rider is in a class below their Strava class or Strava segments look out of wack or even it the rider is not reqistered in ZP then either the time will not be reported in the standings or if the racer cheats they will be DQed and even suspended from Zwift power.

As others have said it is dumb because who really cares? Even IRL people will cheat and some will get away with it but so what we are not in most cases losing anything.

Dan333SP

True. I did a Zwfit race this morning and came in 24th out of about 140 total riders, but on Zwift Power it has me in 11th overall, 2nd in B, the 13 others were dropped from the results because of various power/weight/HR discrepancies. Seems like people riding outside their category is the most common, there were a couple C riders in the top 10 who averaged 4+ w/Kg for a 35 minute race.

MinnMan

This wasn't a race. Just free riding the London course.

I didn't and don't care. I was doing my workout and having this guy fly by me had no effect on what I was going to do - no different than anybody else on the course, fast or slow. But generally when there is somebody really strong on the course, I am impressed (wow, look at him/her pour out those watts - good for them!) or (Hmmmm, I think somebody must be cheating?)

sdmc530

I am on Zwift a lot in the winter. I see high numbers blow my doors off and low numbers blow my doors off. Couldn't care less. I don't race but I do just ride for exercise in the off season and only worry about me. I don't care what others are doing online.

Stressing about others is just a waste of energy.

Iride01 

Maybe they've got it under control and the media blows it out of proportion, but I was under the impression that it is rampant in the competitions for money. Couldn't find the article I read about it a while back but this adds some ...... https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/r...-racing-434487

MinnMan

Scolding people about stressing, when no stress has been expressed, is also a waste of energy.

sdmc530

You got me I just like to sir the virtual pot!

colnago62

It might like guy who shows up to a group ride on an ebike. They just want to be able to be like the cool kids. 😅😅

OBoile

Were all 13 dropped, or have some simply not signed up for Zwift Power?

jbell_64

especially when e bike guy planned the route so he can take off from the pack every climb...

surak

Was doing the March Fondo and a rider zoomed by at something like 18 W/Kg. The username ended in "(10 years old)."

Edit: Found him. https://zwiftpower.com/racereport.ph...81063137292111

MinnMan

uh, so he weighs 30 something kilos and his FTP is 200 watts? but I thought Zwift has a minimum weight of 45 kilos?

surak

Think Zwift lets kids under 15 play for free. Could be that there aren't restrictions, or the limits are lower for those.

Athens80

The 45kg weight minimum applies to all Zwifters, regardless of age.

Cypress

I got passed by a guy while on a recovery ride last night that looked "odd" so I switched to watching him. Their power was rapidly bouncing back and forth in a distinct pattern between the same 4 numbers between 207W and 400W all at 70 rpm.

guachi

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I also did the March Fondo - Medio at noon Eastern. I started strong but faded because I was fatigued. The one benefit of finishing mid pack, 120 of 257, is that no one near my results looked like they were cheating.