From KISS Zwift Races Headquarters – New Zwift group drafting feature made available to KISS races on ongoing basis.
Zwifters love the cerebral stimulus offered by Zwift racing competition. We keep coming back to push our limits and ride against our comrades forged in fitness. When the person that dropped you on the Epic KOM last week rocks up to the start line at this week’s flat criterium race, you save your energy to roll her/him in the bunch sprint. You’re a sprinter after all, not a climber. A great rivalry is born.
We are excited to take the tried-and-true Zwift racing stimulus to the next level on an ongoing basis for all KISS races. Working closely with Zwift HQ, we will use an alternative Zwift draft (Draft 2.0, TruDraft, Full Draft) effect to bring Zwift racing even closer to the real life experience.
When the dev team originally set up the drafting physics in Zwift, they actually ratcheted down the benefit that you'd get in the real world behind a rider of a given size. The decision was made to scale back drafting for a few reasons:
1) One is that there's no ability to position one's avatar left and right on the road. And there's no braking. So the ability to really fine tune your position is a challenge.
2) The main reason is that most people riding indoors are doing so because they want a quality workout. Picture yourself in the Tour de France. The peloton is moving in excess of 50 kph with most riders sitting in the draft at less than 200 watts. That's great on the road if you have to ride 3,000km. But if you're trying to make the most of an hour on the trainer, it's not ideal.
Racers still want a quality workout from a Zwift race, but not to the detriment of the intense mental stimulus Zwift racing has to offer. Attacks mid-race are hard to justify if rolling in the bunch only offers Zone 3 or Zone 4 for recovery. Ouch. Breakaways, one of the best features of real life racing, are few and far between. Rolling courses, mountainous courses, and flat courses almost always come down to who has the most w/kg in the finishing sprint. This is the Zwift racing we all know and love, but it’s about to get better.
Let’s look at breakaway riding as an example. Strong riders who are working less in the main group will have more reserve energy to attack the group. Attacking power is not equal among all racers and thus the likelihood of an attack sticking is increased. Once established that breakaway group also benefits from Draft 2.0 and therefore will have actual respite. This recovery is converted into more power to drive and extend the breakaway gap. It opens up more options giving riders more energy to work with. Are you the Mark Cavendish in the chasing peloton waiting for the bunch kick? It will only come back if you can convince the Tony Martin in the group to pull on the front to bring back the breakaway move. More variables and opportunities. Not less. We hope this will lead to increased tactics, added teamwork, and fresh strategic opportunities.
