Originally Posted by rubiksoval

Zwift races are definitely easier than real life races if you're racing certain categories in real life versus Zwift.

For example: A races in Zwift are really goofy and absolutely nothing like a real life race. In Zwift, you sort of sprint off the line (600-700w for 20-30 secs), hold 350-400 watts for another minute or so, then ride sweetspot for most of the rest of the time.

In real life, you either go nuts from the gun at 1000w+, then coast, then repeat, or you go super chill for a while, then go nuts, then rest, repeat. You actually coast in real life, but you also go really, really, really hard. A lot.

In zwift, you just plod along at sweetspot or tempo, maybe with a few 600-700 watt efforts here and there if there's a hill. You also get stuck having an avatar that can't corner for anything, so all of your real-life skills that make racing fun and nice and exciting are erased and you're left with trying to figure out why your avatar is so enamored with riding in the wind and losing 20 spots on every corner.

Anyway, zwift is different. There's a learning curve. It's tough in that I see some really awful real life bike racers riding much better than they do in real life, but then I remember it's a video game for training, so there's always that.