As far as my weight goes the only thing I care about is being as accurate as I can to get accurate results. Now you'll have to head over to ZwiftPower.com and register there. The categories currently used in most Zwift events are based on your FTP watts per kilo- that is, your FTP in watts, divided by your weight in kilograms. 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. Manually change your weight in Zwift by adding 10 pounds. A good portion of that weight difference is in the Hub's 10.3 . Once you have a number for your FTP in watts, divide it by your weight in kilograms. Now I know it is a thing. I dont mind the low HRs but the low power and high w/kg really irk me! Two months ago he had a magic weight loss on zwift. IfRead more . How many cyclists do you see in real life who are 65kgs, but they are ten a penny on Zwift. Just the fact that you need a third party (ZP) to validate race results really says it all. Thats the reason why a results category would be more interesting like Erics suggested in his topic. Why dont you start self-regulating then? Thats the graph. So its not that easy for light people to hide in the pack and benefit from the draft in Zwift, which is half the reality (in many ways its easier IRL). 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. https://zwiftpower.com/profile.php?z=697996. Blaming Zwift for eating disorders is not sensible. Thanks It all has to do with the way Zwifts racing categories work. Zwift should offer a Validated Racer package for a slight premium over normal membership. Because narcissistic people want to get validation from somewhere/someone that theyre special/different and if they cant get it legitimately theyll lie, cheat, and steal to do so. As others have said, your higher weight helps on flat courses. It's harder than real racing. Im in the same boat. But theres one problem: this puts you into the B category, and you dont want to race the Bs. But youre not affecting anyone elses experience. You'll receive a four-digit code, which you'll then have to add to your last name back in your Zwift settings (you can change it back after the process is completed). It just makes a mockery of the whole system. bottom line for me, its a virtual training world, a virtual hammer isnt the same as a real hammer. If the categories are split using purely w/kg a lighter rider doesnt have any advantage up the climbs at all. As a low to mid-cat rider, ImRead more . Not true, at least not absolutely. I understand if someone has a banner day or just bumped up out of upper C to lower B. I have heard women admit on social rides that their zwift weight is their goal weightRead more . But I also did it because I knew it was great practice! Is it doping though? I am always passed by everyone on the way up but can usually catch up on the way down (190cm/93kg). On Zwift Power categories have both a wattage requirement and a w/kg requirement. If you've already created an accountcheck out the s. If you're putting out enough power, then you can make your way up the ranks and keep on racing. If you gave the power, it will come out. (Its not the only part, of course! Your voice is important to us. Not knowing what to pick and with minutes until the my first race, I selected the C group and was thus filtered out of the Zwift Power race results when I then posted a 4.00w/kg over the 28 minute race. Nice work! Youll move a little slower with the added virtual weight, but youll be able to hang with the front of the Cs instead of getting shelled off the back of the Bs. Cyclingnews is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. 5 year age categories and incredibly competitive a in most age groups, Thanks so much for your helpful comment. Heavy riders not only have a huge advantage on down slopes (the steeper the more advantage); they also have an advantage on the flats; its only when it gets to above 5%+ you can start to break a heavier rider. Finally, just head back to ZwiftPower and click 'Connect to my Account'. Current system means that heavy weight top of cat riders climb at the same speed as skinny guys with same wpk but can have 60% more power on the flats. A strict w/kg classification isnt perfect. As a 59/60kg rider who always seems to have a higher w/kg than the people I finish around, Ive been curious about adding 50% to both my weight and http://ftp. Additionally, well be moving forward on hiding height and weight from Zwift Companion and Web. I suffer from excess sweating and will easily lose 10kg in a race on Four Horseman, for example (although Im certainly not the norm, but to say no one is untrue). Sandbagging is pointless if winning means youre going to move up (unless you want to take 3 months off after your win. Taking weight out of the equation you could just make everyones avatar moving forward by holding down the up arrow on their keyboard. Had assumed I just rode inefficiently. If you are on the lighter side, try picking some climbing races. I wouldnt personally do it since it throws off training metrics and just isnt true. 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. Then weigh yourself, and open Zwift, and see if it reflects the change. Most of my ZwiftRead more . points based), riders can win by any margin any number of times and remain in their category so long as they do not exceed category limits. If its a big hill, well then w/kg has us equalised. 0.5kg discrepancy either side is actually quite small. Exactly. The COVID-19 lockdown period, now in its third month around the world, has seen an unprecedented boom in virtual cycling. I am alleging that weight cheating is endemic in zwift, especially among those who care about winning. If I am racing I want to be able to look across at the guy/girl next to me (ie on the Companion app) and get an idea if they are going to kill me on the next hill, or not are they a 185cm/90kg guy versus my 172cm/74kg. If thats not something that needs fixing then why run any races? I never thought i should weigh myself with my kit on. I know Ive done it! As an ambitioned A Racer with no smart scale, I stick to the higher end of the spectrum when setting my Zwift weight once a week. 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. The Tour de Zwift events this year were much moreRead more , Wait. I have a Withings scale and in the Zwift Settings, it shows up as connected. See how you can support Zwift Insider! Please refresh the page and try again. seeing a riders weight in ZP and any changes made to the reported weight may help internet stalkers feel better about their poor race performance but it doesnt actually help identify cheats. 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. If someone dopes so they do 4w/kg then they should be racing with other people who do 4w/kg. I did this because I had a particular effort level planned for my workout that day, and didnt want to exceed it. Someone sandbagging will get promoted out of category and will not be allowed to reg for lower categories. Why not ride to your strengths? I lost some weight during these few months and gained on FTP Now facing going to C and not getting any good results within the category, Eric, thanks for bringing this to light. ZwiftPower FAQ We're sure you have several questions about ZwiftPower and what it is. Why not only require weight and height for entry to A and B races? Choose a Zwift workout, but before you start riding look at the workout breakdown on the left side of the screen. ZwiftPower use 95% of your best 20 minutes during the whole race, so it does not matter if the race is 21 min or 3 hours, you will still be categorized the same way. 2022 SNOW Sprint Series They are not, and never were, skill classes of any kind (ie. Fluctuations of a few percent would be tolerated and percent change would be displayed on ZP. I may try and snag a couple of cat C golds before taking the break, but definitely wont be reverse weight doping to do so the upgrade to B will be a bigger prize than any gold medal. The categories are power to weight divisions. nothing less. Theres also fitnesssyncer.com that is free up to 4 sync services. I hope they learn from this and are more careful with things like that in the future. I ride B category races & never podium but have been puzzled as I always seem to have a higher w/kg than most of the other riders in the race. I wont do and will rather try my very best to compete with the As. My power to weight ratio would be the same, but Id get the benefits you get from being a heavier rider. The first way is to head into your profile. We would like to thank the community for your passion and feedback. Maybe also add weight change limit 2kg per week? Monthly weigh ins arent perfect but they are better than no weigh ins. If someone on zwift holds an avg power at a given heart rate, then goes out on the road and holds that same heart rate but cannot sustain even close to that power, I am sorry, but that isnt physiology; that is hardware. True, but not necessarily in the way you think. 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. 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. She can crank but her w/kg is low. I just we had a better system than category limits, racing license anybody? Everyone races at the same weight/height. He had fun laughing at fat dad, but I pipped him at the line! Also a really frustrating thing is why doesnt Zwift autoRead more , is he riding in the right category? If someone on zwift holds an avg power at a given heart rate, then goes out on the road and holds that same heart rate but cannot sustain even close to that power, I am sorry, but that isnt physiology; that is hardware. Whatever your answer, some people will never like it, but there has to be a clear, credible answer for the majority to support. You have lowered your weight and skewed your power graph so it is inaccurate. Makes me happy to see that the community is able to speak with one voice if necessary. For example, if a rider has an FTP of 210 watts and weighs 75 kilograms, that means the rider's FTP is 2.8 w/kg. Todd_S (Todd S) March 12, 2015, 3:09am #4 I'm new to the app. We may call it sandbagging or reversed weight doping but its legal . Whats the cheaters solution? MyRead more . nothing more. Leave the setting unchanged and climbs often feel challenging. 1 second per 1 km on the AdZ dowhill (after losing minutes going up it) is literally the only place in the game its beneficial and the IRL advantages on the flats over light riders is excessivelyRead more . Or are you looking for a participation trophy on every race as well? I dont care anyway. I mean youve both got a point. Skinny guys get DQd if they match heavies on the flat for power so they can NEVER win, even in the mountains. I would thought with how sensitive the sensors are they could place another one somewhere on the unit that simply does the job and takes away all the manual input. If thats the norm, then I really dont see theRead more . In IRL there is a double draft. 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. As we said in the first post, Assuming race organizers can access the data via ZwiftPower, and the site includes simple tools for spotting potential weight or height dopers (perhaps flagging those who made dramatic changes recently), then hiding weight and height data from the public should work swimmingly.. 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. Zwift should take accountability for what matters most to start with and thats the cheaters. Although does WTRL encourage reverse weight doping? (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). Find some hilly races As a result your suggestion of the watts vs w/kg different systems is already baked into the game physics in a way. Or theyll ignore leaders instructions and ride off the front of a group (flyers). The categories are the cycling equivalent to weight classes in boxing. In fact, if in a long ride your weight could change by more than 1kg over the course of that one ride!!! 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. Thats hilarious. What if you are super committed and gain the weight in real life just so you can stay in the category , Excellent posts on perhaps the most serious non-hardware problem in Zwift right now. It must be very hard to do with many, many lines of code to implement otherwise it wouldve been done by now, In reality these changes would not (will not) impact cheating. I have long ago earned all of the challenges and levels. Cheapest Zwift setup: Everything to help you onto Zwift for the first time 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). And besides, my main goal on Zwift is to not get dropped in the hills during Team Cryo-Gens more hardcore Saturday rides! See how you can support Zwift Insider! They do? I am about to hit the four year mark on Zwift. Mike, Great article as ever Eric. (and dont do organized rides for fairness) so I dont have resistance changes and sometimes zwift reports extraordinary power readings for a ride. 1. There is enough variation in power profile to make it interesting without weight, what makes racing fun is trying to create tactics that favour yourRead more , Interesting & well reasoned article which answers a lot of things which were puzzling me. 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? Riders weight will rise and fall but under normal circumstances within a range. Think of ZwiftPower, then, as something similar to Strava, only entirely Zwift-focused, and free! I agree WTRL ZRL races dont feel like they have cheaters. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); The best solution would be for Zwift to actively monitor all racing for people cheating. For example the threshold for cat B is FTP over 200 watts and over 3.2 w/kg. What I think your articles miss to point out, though, (Im sure you are well aware of the problem), like people have mentioned already, is exactly how many cheaters there are that manage to stay in lineRead more . Yes us heavier riders have the downhill advantage definitely. Introducing a horrible measure that addresses a problem that doesnt exist, and subsequently retracting it following mass protest is not exactly what I would call revolutionary change. There could be Zwift level weight bonuses instead of another pair of socks. Youve got people putting out 5+ watts/kilo atRead more . This is how racing is supposed to work. It lets Zwift racers and race organisers track results and check out all the details of the races they've participated in, as well as monitoring and analysing their data. Light guys have the advantage on the hills, in the sprints, and because they have a higher w/kg, the flats too even if my absolute watts are significantly higher. Most of the time, this will be what you use to figure out your race category. You make a good pointthere isnt a published race ruleset that clearly states that riders are 1) required to use accurate weight and 2) enter the correct race category. In fact, the only riders at or below my w/kg were minutes off the back. Shame I cant edit my post for the horrendous spelling and autocorrect gaffes. Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, .Personally I one of the outliers on height and weight. As a relatively light 69kg rider, I often feel at a disadvantage in the flatter races, of which there are many more than hilly ones. How does it work? The license would be needed to participate in ranked races, however if you dont have a license, other races would be available to participate in. Everything you need to know about the third-party Zwift results and analysis website. What you see a lot are riders who are (claiming) to be really light with decent but not exceptional watts. The book Fast After 50 is a good read on how masters athletes can train more effectively. While the benefits of being light fully kick in while climbing a mountain (as it is easier for smaller guys to achieve certain w/kg), the benefits of being a tall and strong guy dont fully apply in the flats. USA Cycling has categories that are based on experience and performance. So I just bumped myself up to the B group and went faster overall simply because there were faster people to draft off of. Some big Zwift races have specific rulesets, etc. Do some races have split out start times so you are only racing with those of similar ability? If you're on Zwift and planning to get racing, then signing up to the third-party app ZwiftPower (opens in new tab) is an essential step. Any thoughts on verifying? At least I can be best in one thing on zwiftpower. If so, that makes sense to me and I can absolutely see the point of that. I am in the 5 percentile of height and weight at 52 and 130lb with my lowest weight of 118 lbs in my racing career. In fact, you can change a workout on Zwift about as fast as you can U-turn a bicycle on a real hill. Keep it on. No race Chester worth their salt pops in and changed weight ahead of a race, what they do is post the wrong weight and leave it there. Zwift Insider makes a small commission on purchases made from these links, so please shop through them to support our efforts. Blaming Zwift for allowing cheaters is the system problem that gets more people frustrated, upset, etc. Perhaps if you post a W/kg in excess ofRead more , So thats why I could easily keep up with a 3-3.4wkg group yesterday whilst keeping my wattage at some 2.5-2.7just my 107kgs.the rest were probably featherweight category :) On the other hand, I am extremely anti-weight doping and agree with the post pointing out there is no incentive or even reason to be heavier. I use my average weight but I feel; guilty because my weight tends to fluctuate by 0.5K or more during the week depending on how much I eat during the day really interested to learn that there is a scale that auto updates Zwift. Racers who get top 1,2,3 more than a few times get upgraded period. The other race, events, and activities are needed to display that data. I am not saying that everyone with a low weight on zwift is cheating, but I am suggesting that there are many who are because zwift favours light riders, and people do like to win. yea but realistically is it worth it for them to dedicate the resources to that $$$$$$$, Well, thats good news. I am 42 years-old with a HRmax of ~169 bpm. Zwift Insider is independent of Zwift corporate (www.zwift.com), although Zwift does provide funding to help defray site costs. Last week I jumped into my first race and it was at the last minute on a whim because I was getting tired of my training ride. I hopeRead more . 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). ThatRead more . Why you can trust Cyclingnews Goodness. That gives me more hope for the future of the platform than any announcement from Zwift ever could. What stone have you been living under? Click on the Settings button and you'll find the Trainer Difficulty slider. Racing on the Zwift virtual platform has only increased, with the professionals getting in on the act, too, via the Zwift Tour for All, the Virtual Tour of the Gila, and e-races organised by Team Ineos. They CANNOT win. We are both lighter riders and find the w/kg categorisation system frustrating (unfair even) but its what we have at the moment I think most people feel like they have a right to be competitive but this simply is not the case and ifRead more . Tough to recover after attacks in a race when youre always near maxing out. IRL I am 85kgs and cant pretend to be 65kgs. How come I get beat in sprints when a 60kg guy puts out 700W, when I put out over 1000W at 76kg? I havent even used my road bike outdoors since 2012. Yes thats completely unacceptable, you should never be at a disadvantage at any time in your life, just as your mother raised you. The algorithms very much help heavier riders in descents, which gets forgotten when all we discuss is climbing. This is especially true if you are trying to ride with riders you possibly know locally or otherwise. Thats a good thing. Heres how it works. Some of the reasons Ive never pushed as hard on a real ride include: Stopping / slowing for junctions Traffic / pedestrians / other hazards Appreciating the view No watt meter on my real bike I dont race in real life I dont do workouts in real life Changing wind Threat of a headwind on my home journey And the biggest: WantingRead more , Agree with the above. Currently trying to convince a friend who is new to Zwift not to reverse weight dope. The race categories end up looking something like this (taken from the current Tour of Watopia race events): ZwiftPower, home of official race results for community races, adds some pure wattage breakpoints to the above list to help lightweight riders stay competitive. Hopefully ZHQ will take a harder look the changes that have been proposed over the past year or so. Im quite heavy, at about 85kgs, but also 183cms tall (and 52 years old). Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. EDIT Found my answer: 250w, Theres a chart about halfway down this page: https://zwiftpower.com/viewtopic.php?f=68&t=5528. IRL cycling pros are not exactly heavy weights and lean-ness is highly encouraged. On a tablet or smartphone, you can download the. 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. Here it is in its entirety: Last week we outlined a number of planned changes to address harassment and further safeguard the health and wellbeing of the Zwift Community. You must be a much better person than me, because thats something I will Never make peace with. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. As for the weight, I weight 190lbs, (86Ks) I put in 190lbs. In theory (at least) weight dopers could game the results based categories as well. Plus imagine how bigRead more . Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. 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. But what exactly is ZwiftPower and how does it work? Take one of our four FTP tests to determine your FTP. Find out more about how we test. It's possible to check just about any kind of Zwift result using ZwiftPower, with the website sortable by leagues, race series and segments. What anyone wants in any game or competition is to feel its fair, and as they look to make changes going forward, I hope people at Zwift always keep asking themselves this question: How can Zwifters see these races are fair?. This calculates that this heavy rider would take 23:14 to do the distance a justRead more , Everyone has a sweet spot for weight. High intensity: 30/30 and 40/20sec Rnnestad intervals like 3x (10x40/20sec). We can name and shame these few. Zwift excessively rewards the athlete for being light and small. Privacy Policy, How to Race on Zwift (Setup, Strategy, and More). Some races (many, in fact) on Zwift work exactly like that. I have been light and I have been heavy. ), You say at the end..you do you, it doesnt affect anyone. Im 170cm and currently 61kg with an ideal triathlon racing weight of 59kg. I have tended to notice that a significant number of powerful zwifters real world Strava performances pale in comparison to their online achievements. stop worrying about whatRead more . I just got upgraded to CAT A according to zwiftpower. Zwif: your ultimate guide In spectacular and shocking fashion. 2.5w/kg (215Watts) is hard for me to hold for extended periods but I keep trying. It is obviously a stupid thing ( weight doping) and why a rider would do this is beyond me but pride and quasi Strava bragging or Zwift Power bragging is a thing. Dont worry about your weight fluctuating through the week and remember you gain 0.5kg by drinking a half-litre bidon and lose it again through sweat (and by going to the toilet). I agree with what you say Eric but the weight doping does negatively impact the casual rider if they are following other riders in a casual/social ride.

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