But then you could have someone in the same age group who maxes out at 170. 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. You should do much better at your actual weight in that case. 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. Im 170cm and currently 61kg with an ideal triathlon racing weight of 59kg. Last week I did the prl full and Uber pretzel and tried to get #1 by weight on those segments. Race specific phase: 3x10min 50-60rpm intervals with . The only trouble is the downhill doesnt take as long of course, so the light advantage is obviously better. I havent even used my road bike outdoors since 2012. As far as my weight goes the only thing I care about is being as accurate as I can to get accurate results. Zwift Insider makes a small commission on purchases made from these links, so please shop through them to support our efforts. Look at ZP results. Think of ZwiftPower, then, as something similar to Strava, only entirely Zwift-focused, and free! I just we had a better system than category limits, racing license anybody? 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. Zwift now allows for hiding Zwift automatically connects If you don't own power meter pedals, Zwift's non-contract pricing for a Zwift cycling membership is $15 . I started zwifting about 2 1/2 months ago.I did the ftp test and put in the correct weight.Ive no idea how precise my trainer is tho.what i do know is,Ive managed to go from cat c to a. Adjusting Difficulty Before Your Workout. Id be super interested in the timing you set your weight. But theres one problem: this puts you into the B category, and you dont want to race the Bs. Context, Tim, context! This afternoon, Zwift posted a follow-up message on the forum. 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). We remain committed to protecting the health and well being of the broader Zwift Community, and we look forward to enacting additional measures in the future. I am alleging that weight cheating is endemic in zwift, especially among those who care about winning. But It doesnt mean that that person is going to be the person riding the bike on the trainer during the race does it. But without any hard and fast rules, we cant say anything is illegalat least for certain races. 2022 Race Like A Pro. Would love your thoughts, please comment. Prior to joining the team, he had written for most major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly, Rouleur, and CyclingTips. This covers name changes as well as weight/height changes during an event. With Zwift control is difficult (in getting Zwifters to enter their accurate) wait. It points to the need for a results-based categorization system, which I discussed a month ago in the final post of my race category series. Currently trying to convince a friend who is new to Zwift not to reverse weight dope. Todd_S (Todd S) March 12, 2015, 3:09am #4 I'm new to the app. bottom line for me, its a virtual training world, a virtual hammer isnt the same as a real hammer. As long as the button to enter a lower cat is active, riders will Press It. How Do I Change My FTP On Zwift? But I will, and Ill get hammered and hopefully improve. 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. All lists are full of 190cm lads weighting 65kgs. And this is why reverse weight doping is a thing. Last week we announced Zwifts plans to remove rider height and weight from ZwiftPower, among other changes (read the full post here). 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. 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. 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. Contribute a post, shop through us, make a donation, advertise on this site. This community-driven site is maintained by Eric Schlange and a team of Zwift enthusiasts. Have you considered drinking during a race? How big of a problem is reverse weight doping? When you're in the game, click "Menu". Since we know that lighter weight=higher virtual speed, this is a very easy way to cheat the system on Zwift. I have to say I weigh myself most mornings in the buff (just my glasses on so I can see the numbers)! Even if Id ridden at threshold a little over 4 W/kg, I wouldnt have been able to hang onto the front in a D race, it seems. I rode outside last night, and Im sure I will again soon. Theres also fitnesssyncer.com that is free up to 4 sync services. Not sure why its hard for you to believe that there are a lot of riders under 70kgs. There is no progression from lower to higher categories through placement. Then weigh yourself, and open Zwift, and see if it reflects the change. In spectacular and shocking fashion. I know a woman who is 5 feet tall and almost 200lb. 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. The categories are power to weight divisions. (Same effect in a sprint, just harder to isolate). And besides, my main goal on Zwift is to not get dropped in the hills during Team Cryo-Gens more hardcore Saturday rides! Totally agree with you. I am racing in the Cs finishing in the 40-50s but there are 30 + racers ahead of me posting watt/kilo of A, and strong B racers. 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. Just from riding regularly I went from 166 FTP to 187 in 800 miles over a 2 1/2 months. You'll receive a four-digit code, which you'll then have to add to your. Other than that, I rarely look at weight unless some results are very weird. Im new to Zwift and its racing and what I like notice is how well I do compared to theRead more , This is not just about cheating. Zwift posted a follow-up message on the forum, 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 does being heavier help a cyclist? you may ask. My performance IRL then probably looks pale compared to when Im racing in Zwift, I use the same power meter on Zwift as I do outdoors and I only push it outdoors during FTP tests and during closed road events (i.e. Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Zwift excessively rewards the athlete for being light and small. For example the threshold for cat B is FTP over 200 watts and over 3.2 w/kg. If youre a 300-pound dude who wants to go a little faster uphill as a virtual 200 pounder, have at it. I once made myself much heavier so I could compete against my 11-year-old son in a head to head Zwift climbing race. Some Zwifters go so far as to social-stalk other riders, comparing their photos to their Zwift weight and calling them out for weight doping. If someone dopes so they do 4w/kg then they should be racing with other people who do 4w/kg. Great drafting skills!, Heres the thing: I probably am a fairly efficient racer, when I want to be. But the vast majority do not. The six-digit number highlighted in bold will be your Zwift ID. Or are you looking for a participation trophy on every race as well? I just got upgraded to CAT A according to zwiftpower. His favourite races are Strade Bianche and the Volta a Portugal, and he rides a Colnago C40. Leave the setting unchanged and climbs often feel challenging. I dont think it can all be attributed to weight; it appears that some hardware tweaks can scale up the reported power output. Updating Your Public Profile Zwift takes your physical measurements into account for things like leaderboards, speed, and your avatar's physical appea. She can crank but her w/kg is low. Daniel Ostanek is production editor at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired as staff writer. Other planned changes communicated last week, including plans to improve the reporting features in Zwift will be rolled out as planned. In order to ride with him I have to drop my weight to allow me to keep up. I am 65 kg with FTP of 270 W, which equlas 4,15 w/kg. It's harder than real racing. Heres how it works. If they keep riders from competing in categories below their ranking, it will reduce the number of sandbaggers and cruisers. I should mention: many Zwifters have lied about their in-game weight for perfectly acceptable reasons. Yes, but hopefully the system would be designed so, if drop a category then begin doing well, you get upgraded again! The book Fast After 50 is a good read on how masters athletes can train more effectively. Enforce race category entry and youll fix much of the problems with Zwift racing. 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. What you see a lot are riders who are (claiming) to be really light with decent but not exceptional watts. You must be a much better person than me, because thats something I will Never make peace with. Zwift Insider makes a small commission on purchases made from these links, so please shop through them to support our efforts. How do I get started on Zwift? Would love your thoughts, please comment. 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. I mean youve both got a point. So what! Maybe with a KICKR Climb it might be possible. Mate youre a legend. Whatever your answer, some people will never like it, but there has to be a clear, credible answer for the majority to support. My last ride I spotted 35kg lad who last week was 56kg. Have you ever compared numbers for calories burned, power output and even elevation ridden for a Zwift ride uploaded to Strava? I wont do and will rather try my very best to compete with the As. On one occasion I entered a flat race (Laguardia Loop) following my ZP category (class C), finished almost three minutes down (though since it was a small field I still got third place), and then was disqualified for averaging 3.6 w/kg and 206 watts. Blaming Zwift for eating disorders is not sensible. Whilst this might be the case, as Eric implies in flat races light weight riders have to work harder to stay in touch with the heavier riders in the bunch. I have no idea. Mike, Great article as ever Eric. He argues hes not gaining an advantage. Additionally, well be moving forward on hiding height and weight from Zwift Companion and Web. Someone with my FTP should be CAT B, regardless of weight. Great article, Eric. At least I can be best in one thing on zwiftpower. Hes not looking for a trophy every race. its only cheating myself, instead I would prefer to spend that 2 painful hours doing something honestly and feel proud of it than zooming through it in sub 60m and not reap the same benefits (or in my case, pain). People can be far to either direction im 25 and my max that I have hit is 217. I now know of over 20 category D zwift users that have said theyre not going to bother with the Zwift races anymore. Im in the same boat. I love reading it. thanks for the help with the graphs. Taking weight out of the equation you could just make everyones avatar moving forward by holding down the up arrow on their keyboard. yes, but you are missing my point. Why can we just all race together and the fastest person wins? Im more concerned about the guy who finished 5th with 144bpm. We can name and shame these few. Terms of Use/DMCA Copyright Policy Plus imagine how bigRead more . heavy riders have an advantage on flat courses.. https://zwiftinsider.com/wkg-tests/ plus 60-70kg is perferctly normal body weight for adult cyclists, nothing worth complaining about. This is why for a while I was ranked as a C even though my w/kg was higher than 3.2 since my watts werent over 200. Even at my age I still plan to compete in MTB races when the world gets back to racing. The first way is to head into your profile. Everything you need to know about the third-party Zwift results and analysis website. 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. ), So what is reverse weight doping? Honest mistake on my part and one I wont make again, so fair enough to be filtered outRead more , Related (and apologies if the answer is obvious but Ive only done one Zwift race), really what is the point of the categories? My 3.9w/kg (a new PR!) I have been light and I have been heavy. I have been frustrated with the GC results in the current Tour of Watopia series. It this fair? Yes thats completely unacceptable, you should never be at a disadvantage at any time in your life, just as your mother raised you. Finally, just head back to ZwiftPower and click 'Connect to my Account'. Im 70 inches tall and 156 pounds right now vs 166lb on Jan 1. I dont think so. (ignoring that it evens out and you have the advantage on the hills but lets ignore that because its all about you and you should always podium in every race in your life, because mommy told you that you were special and big mean Zwift is making you work so hard on the flats). Either these racers need to calibrate the trainer or they are sandbagging big time. 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. 2 yr. ago. 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. I do find it amazing, funny and sad that IRL at several Ironman events me, a C rider, beat many A riders in the cycling segment. Maybe also add weight change limit 2kg per week? There is no reason I should be gettingRead more , Sounds like its time to start racing the Bs, @guest_35522! Id never do this as my Zwift Power is an accurate log of weight and power but it does make me wonder how much easier itd be to be bigger. It's a bit more complicated than most website sign-ups, but now you'll be all ready to get started. As others have said, your higher weight helps on flat courses. Same reason there are categories and age group races outdoors! Joining ZwiftPower isn't the most straightforward series of steps, but we've broken it down so you can get started as soon as possible. Heres an idea: Take weigh out of the equation. This raised concerns within the Zwift Racing Community regarding fairness in racing. Hahahahaha. On a flat ride I would beat every sub 60kg cat B rider too. Skinny guys get DQd if they match heavies on the flat for power so they can NEVER win, even in the mountains. This is especially true if you are trying to ride with riders you possibly know locally or otherwise. How does it work? We really like the sound of this: In the future, well continue to bring potential product ideas and changes to members of the Zwift Racing Community, with the hope that youll embrace this as a collaborative effort to help shape the experience. In fact, if in a long ride your weight could change by more than 1kg over the course of that one ride!!! Some people are clearly living in a fantasy on zwift. This site contains affiliate links to Amazon, Wahoo, and other brands. Zwift can wipe your Zwift Power profile and give you a clean slate to start over if you want, but I think you will lose all past data. 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). Ill remain skeptical until I see some actual changes. IfRead more . Case in point: in the A race I mentioned, only one rider was heavier than my 85kg dad bod. However, insecure Freds jumpingRead more , I am new to Zwift, but I do wonder how it is youll see a bunch of people finish at the front of a D race at 4-5 W/kg. 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!!! there seems to be a lot of variability in power products and what people are using to feed into zwift. 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. Not true, at least not absolutely. On a tablet or smartphone, you can download the. Check out this FAQ for some of our frequently asked questions: Q:&. But many people (including myself) prefer categorized races because we want to have a chance to actually battle it out for a win. If the categories are split using purely w/kg a lighter rider doesnt have any advantage up the climbs at all. It impacts the Group Rides and as you said the performance statistics individually. I have climbed well and I have suffered on climbs but also sprinted well. 5x5min, 4x8min but definitely never longer than 8 minutes. I am 42 years-old with a HRmax of ~169 bpm. He lives in Northern California with his beautiful wife, two kids and dog. Noob question though, whats the etiquette around weighing with kit on or off. My power to weight ratio would be the same, but Id get the benefits you get from being a heavier rider. As soon as I start pedaling Im pretty much into threshold (around 170bpm). How do you actually update your weight on ZP?? I dont care anyway. Garmin sets your zones based on your maximum heart rate, while Zwift defines it as 76 to 90 percent of your Functional Threshold Power (FTP), which is the highest power you can sustain for 20 . Secondly, Zwifts statement says they agree there is a need for tools that deliver greater transparency to Zwift racing. Thats good to see, and we completely agree! Maybe they should display and categorise HR as a %age? We mentioned categories earlier as one of the ways in which you can search through your results and statistics, but they're also a method by which you get sorted into races. this is how it is in real life , big ian stannard putting in hard fast miles on the front for (was) team sky , while all the small guys tuck in the peloton getting drafted along saving energy for later on in the race , because they can`t compete on the flat with the big boys .