Zwift Chat

[Norry1]

Under the current Zftp/Zmap way of categorising riders, Cat B has got a lot harder as it now includes a lot of riders whose FTP would have previously put them in Cat A when the cats were based on 20 minute power- so I assume this is the case in Cat C (and D) as well. If you look at your race results and the profiles of people who finished ahead of you in your Cat C race you may well find some of them have 20 minute power well over the old Cat C limit of 3.2w/kg (I think that's what it was?). This is why the addition of "Development" categories in ZRL was so welcome as joining a B race in ZRL now feels like joining an A Cat race used to!

As always when Cat limits change this suits some riders (who remain at the top of a lower cat instead of getting upgraded) and makes life tougher for others

Cheers, makes sense.

It sort of suits me as I seem to be top 20%ish of Cat C which means I should be near the front but having to work very hard to stay with the leaders.

 

[CXRAndy]

Martin, soon a ZRS was adjusted last. I almost instantly dropped into D category. Seems on the face of it, average level racers dropped down a division. Those who stayed in their category were then faced with riders coming into their division from above- making their races tougher

 

[Whorty]

Martin, soon a ZRS was adjusted last. I almost instantly dropped into D category. Seems on the face of it, average level racers dropped down a division. Those who stayed in their category were then faced with riders coming into their division from above- making their races tougher

I'm selective about the races I do. I'll look at the contenders and if I think I won't get dropped in the first few minutes I might join, but if the others are too strong I'll pass.
The old cats were more easily understood, you knew who would be in there and that in the main no one would rip the race up. Now it's a farce, anything from 2.4 w/kg riders to 4 w/kg in what used to be old cat C races. Barmy situation.
ZRL still seems logical thankfully, but then they still use the old cat system

 

[mjd1988]

View: https://www.youtube.com/live/9Za_fAay-fU?si=pLmFRaajLHZHNw3n


This was fun- Rob is an old team mate from a winning Dirt racing team. Happened to be in the same crit and he's coming back into fitness so he kind agreed to attack on the last lap a couple of times to soften up the pack for me, then he recorded it and analysed the finish.

Don't expect anyone to watch the whole thing but he has a good channel

 

[CXRAndy]

I've watched a few of his races. Seems to suffer with knee problems from time to time.

 

[alex_cycles]

Cheers, makes sense.

It sort of suits me as I seem to be top 20%ish of Cat C which means I should be near the front but having to work very hard to stay with the leaders.

It's still October. All the people who haven't got up-to-date metrics in the system are underrated still. There's only been 4 ZRL races and one of them was a TTT. Nobody's setting a 5m power record there. We did have one race with a 5m effort and 3 people went up out of 50.

Next round should be interesting though with NY KoM fwd and reverse and Fox Hill x2 I think we'll see a lot of people having 'adjustments' there.

 

[alex_cycles]

View: https://www.youtube.com/live/9Za_fAay-fU?si=pLmFRaajLHZHNw3n


This was fun- Rob is an old team mate from a winning Dirt racing team. Happened to be in the same crit and he's coming back into fitness so he kind agreed to attack on the last lap a couple of times to soften up the pack for me, then he recorded it and analysed the finish.

Don't expect anyone to watch the whole thing but he has a good channel

I know Rob from Discord.

 

[CXRAndy]

Had a good race this morning, despite feeling flat. I think it's the wife running central heating too high. Anyhow, felt much better in a cool shed. Zwift unlocked Stage 4 Spininfinity(new course) around New York. I liked it despite the long drag where the main packed dropped me. I clung onto pack 2 and we gradually swept up a few others dropped off the leaders.

Despite not having great average numbers, I can still muster a fairly reasonable sprint, which I did to win my group of 9 finish.

Zwiftyboy YouTuber was promoting his channel , so I did my best to keep him my screen

View: https://youtu.be/T5tjlPiAJt8?si=CS2VS9QYTce1C5Nm

 

[bridgy]

Martin, soon a ZRS was adjusted last. I almost instantly dropped into D category. Seems on the face of it, average level racers dropped down a division. Those who stayed in their category were then faced with riders coming into their division from above- making their races tougher

I think you might be confusing the two different Cat systems in place Andy - Martin was talking about a Cat C race based on the "Category (Pace Group)" system which you see as A,B,C or D on your Zwiftpower profile . ZRS is completely different and has no affect on it (ZRS just uses the A,B,C,D pens to separate riders)

 

[bridgy]

I'm selective about the races I do. I'll look at the contenders and if I think I won't get dropped in the first few minutes I might join, but if the others are too strong I'll pass.
The old cats were more easily understood, you knew who would be in there and that in the main no one would rip the race up. Now it's a farce, anything from 2.4 w/kg riders to 4 w/kg in what used to be old cat C races. Barmy situation.
ZRL still seems logical thankfully, but then they still use the old cat system

The system ZRL use is the same cat system Martin was querying - it now includes riders in Cat C with much higher 20 minute power than the old 3.2w/kg limit they used to have for Cat C.

In Martin's race, he was beaten by Cat C riders with 20 minute power as high as 3.46w/kg who wouldn't previously have been in Cat C. I've seen Cat B riders in my Cat B ZRL races with lower 20 minute power than that. Hence why Martin noticed Cat C races being harder than he remembered.

 

[CXRAndy]

Ah yes Paul, stand corrected

 

[alex_cycles]

The system ZRL use is the same cat system Martin was querying - it now includes riders in Cat C with much higher 20 minute power than the old 3.2w/kg limit they used to have for Cat C.

In Martin's race, he was beaten by Cat C riders with 20 minute power as high as 3.46w/kg who wouldn't previously have been in Cat C. I've seen Cat B riders in my Cat B ZRL races with lower 20 minute power than that. Hence why Martin noticed Cat C races being harder than he remembered.

It's because zFTP isn't the same as 20 minute power. It's CP - what zwift calls "roughly what you can do for 40 minutes" which is obviously going to be lower than what you can do for 20. So yes. They literally ARE harder because you can do well over 3.4 for 20 and not get booted out, but in the days of ZP Cats you couldn't.

As someone who can do about 3.1 for 20 at the moment, I think it sucks

 

[Dorset Boy]

Did the long Stage 4 of Zwift Unlocked tonight. 31st, It's a tough course when at the sharp end

 

[Whorty]

View: https://www.youtube.com/live/9Za_fAay-fU?si=pLmFRaajLHZHNw3n


This was fun- Rob is an old team mate from a winning Dirt racing team. Happened to be in the same crit and he's coming back into fitness so he kind agreed to attack on the last lap a couple of times to soften up the pack for me, then he recorded it and analysed the finish.

Don't expect anyone to watch the whole thing but he has a good channel

Classic sprinter finish

 

[mjd1988]

Classic sprinter finish

Only move I have!