The Water Cooler, Scuttlebutt, Chit Chat Thread
04-16-20, 10:00 AM
#4651
out walking the earth
Holy ****. I have no idea what any of that means :/
There's a world I might need to stay out of.
There's a world I might need to stay out of.
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04-16-20, 10:42 AM
#4652
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The physics engine in Zwift is an interesting thing. I've had to "coach" one of my friends through the Zwift racing world, even though I only have one event under my belt. He's a smaller dude and got DQ'd for having too much power in a B event, but he's never won a race against the huge guys dumping watts. At the end of the race, his average W/kg is huge compared to the guys that won and it bothers him that he's getting beaten by "weaker" "fat" riders. Now that he's getting DQ'd in the B's, he has to race in the A's where he'll get mauled.
I do think Zwift Power's category guidelines are a bit skewed. Dudes that can't crack top ten in cat 3 races or top 20 in Strava leaderboards are winning Zwift B races. Then there are guys like my friend that are routinely top 10 on Strava, and can't podium a Zwift B race to save his life, but are getting DQ'd for having too much power.
I do think Zwift Power's category guidelines are a bit skewed. Dudes that can't crack top ten in cat 3 races or top 20 in Strava leaderboards are winning Zwift B races. Then there are guys like my friend that are routinely top 10 on Strava, and can't podium a Zwift B race to save his life, but are getting DQ'd for having too much power.
Around town, if it's uphill, I'm top 10 leaderboard. Now, it's short 1 to 5min little hills, but it's what we have. But, just to sit in with the huge massive riders I'll be averaging a 4.0 or more at 20min at some point. I threw out 6.1w/kg for 2min the other day to tie a local hill KOM, a new PR for that time range.
I think it should be absolute power based also, not just w/kg. W/kg matters squat in the flatter lands.
But, it's a video game and I still have fun riding solo and doing group workouts or the "z1/z2 cruise but sprint the sprint KOMs".
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04-16-20, 12:04 PM
#4653
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The physics engine in Zwift is an interesting thing. I've had to "coach" one of my friends through the Zwift racing world, even though I only have one event under my belt. He's a smaller dude and got DQ'd for having too much power in a B event, but he's never won a race against the huge guys dumping watts. At the end of the race, his average W/kg is huge compared to the guys that won and it bothers him that he's getting beaten by "weaker" "fat" riders. Now that he's getting DQ'd in the B's, he has to race in the A's where he'll get mauled.
I do think Zwift Power's category guidelines are a bit skewed. Dudes that can't crack top ten in cat 3 races or top 20 in Strava leaderboards are winning Zwift B races. Then there are guys like my friend that are routinely top 10 on Strava, and can't podium a Zwift B race to save his life, but are getting DQ'd for having too much power.
I do think Zwift Power's category guidelines are a bit skewed. Dudes that can't crack top ten in cat 3 races or top 20 in Strava leaderboards are winning Zwift B races. Then there are guys like my friend that are routinely top 10 on Strava, and can't podium a Zwift B race to save his life, but are getting DQ'd for having too much power.
Also 80% of the events are designed for big guys....group rides neutralize the hills and us light guys get dropped on descents with comments like, 'you're not trying hard enough'. I have to do 300w to keep up on a descent!
Its also fair to bear in mind its a global platform and even though someone is a big fish somewhere, Zwift is a much bigger pond.
You'd probably do well and enjoy it. I'd at least try out the free demo (I think its the first 100k is free).
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04-16-20, 12:16 PM
#4654
Senior Member
These are entrants in a recent C race I jumped on during a workout. Several pro level guys here lol
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04-16-20, 12:17 PM
#4655
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It's fun/sad to read the comment sections of the guys that hold Zwift KOM's on Strava. Those are the guys "averaging" 620W up the Epic KOM while only putting in 3 hours a week split between their daily commute and the weekend "big ride". I'm convinced that the top 500 peeps on the Zwift leaderboards are due to spurious data.
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04-16-20, 12:22 PM
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So the weight is just whatever number you plug in? And the w/kg is an algorithm using that weight plus whatever other questionable data you provide?
04-16-20, 12:22 PM
#4658
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04-16-20, 12:25 PM
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04-16-20, 12:33 PM
#4661
Senior Member
I have no clue about that first person, that doesn't jive with the power. I was way off the back, I had a NP of 241 and finished in 29min
04-16-20, 12:36 PM
#4662
No matches
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That data is so bonkers all over the place it's worthless.
I have to say, averaging 6.4 W/kg for over 21 minutes, without even pushing the HR (159 HR), someone get that guy a contract.
And he didn't even come close to winning somehow?
04-16-20, 12:49 PM
#4663
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Well the winner was at 2.9
04-16-20, 01:31 PM
#4665
Nonsense
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I try to take into consideration that it's the whole world of fast cyclists that use Zwift. That said, the record on alpe du zwift is 28 minutes. I have done 4.8 up it and was 42 minutes, so...
04-16-20, 01:43 PM
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And that's only 10 mins faster than when Pantani did the real deal. We've come a long way, baby.
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04-16-20, 01:46 PM
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Here's the secret:
https://twitter.com/LeXXiAlexx/statu...404723714?s=20
https://twitter.com/LeXXiAlexx/statu...404723714?s=20
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04-16-20, 01:47 PM
#4668
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It's said Chris Hoy could hit 27 w/kg at peak sprint power.
04-16-20, 02:14 PM
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Well, I have a bluetooth scale that submits my weight automatically, so, assuming our scales are properly calibrated, some of us have our accurate weight. Nothing to do about whether people are honest about height though. Or use a powermeter/trainer that makes sense. To be honest, it's been years since I've done anything to try to make sure my powertap is calibrated, but I have to assume that's more accurate than people using a dumb trainer with no power meter and just assuming they have the wheel clamped down hard enough.
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04-16-20, 02:16 PM
#4670
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This alone tells me not to ever bother.
That data is so bonkers all over the place it's worthless.
I have to say, averaging 6.4 W/kg for over 21 minutes, without even pushing the HR (159 HR), someone get that guy a contract.
And he didn't even come close to winning somehow?
That data is so bonkers all over the place it's worthless.
I have to say, averaging 6.4 W/kg for over 21 minutes, without even pushing the HR (159 HR), someone get that guy a contract.
And he didn't even come close to winning somehow?
04-16-20, 02:18 PM
#4671
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Here's the secret:
https://twitter.com/LeXXiAlexx/statu...404723714?s=20
https://twitter.com/LeXXiAlexx/statu...404723714?s=20
04-16-20, 08:00 PM
#4672
Cat 2
Zwift is just a video game and reading the posts on zwift racing / slowtwitch are funny as a kid who grew up playing "real" video games. You learn to ignore the cheaters / hackers / trash talkers and move on real quick. The real competitions happen in environments where those kinds of things don't fly.
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04-16-20, 09:15 PM
#4673
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2nd place is interesting, international level lightweight rower that does a ton of volume and pushed I believe over 400w (and does so outside regularly as well)
04-17-20, 06:41 AM
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But why are any of them racing in C?
04-17-20, 07:15 AM
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For real road riding I sill find that NP and AP don't give the whole story of a ride sometimes. I got home after doing 30mi last night at a solid roll. It was using a lot of neighborhoods to link up parts of town. Decent little rollers, 66 feet per mile elevation.
Then I looked and due to the rollers in spots, I had a total of nearly 5min with zero power and 7.5min under 100w. Tossing the average. I think based on the type of ride I need to see how I can flatten out the route a touch if that's what I'm after.
Then I looked and due to the rollers in spots, I had a total of nearly 5min with zero power and 7.5min under 100w. Tossing the average. I think based on the type of ride I need to see how I can flatten out the route a touch if that's what I'm after.