I'm not near any of these limits - I think? Where are you seeing if you fall into higher category?
Or are you just doing your own calculation
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I'm not near any of these limits - I think? Where are you seeing if you fall into higher category?
Or are you just doing your own calculation
alex_cycles
Veteran
- Location
- Oxfordshire
So there are differences. This is looking at all your Zwift activities over 60 days except workouts.
It's also looking at CP (rather than FTP), VO2max and MAP. They tell you to go to intervals.icu to calculate these things. I've been using it for a few months and it's really a very good site. If it's not the CP or VO2max that's getting you Carl, it must therefore be the MAP Maximum Aerobic Power (which is a bit of a new one to me).
alex_cycles
Veteran
- Location
- Oxfordshire
If you go to any category enforcement race in the Zwift Companion app, categories you can't sign up to will be disabled. Currently I'm allowed in C, but back in May I wasn't (my VO2max is right on the 50 threshold (49.6) at the moment so as soon as I do a well-rested Maximum 5 minute effort it will go above 50 and disable C.)
Doing that too, on intervals.icu It's really VERY good. I use it for fitness/freshness/form as well as really good power profiling.
No, I'm basing it on current 5 races in the past 90 days. I'd be very surprised if any of these put me anywhere near B but if someone can highlight which numbers are B I'd love to know as these are not even top C (using old measurements).
Hopefully if leg holds up I'll get back into B soon, but it's still not right. Doc thinks I may need an op but I haven't got time for that yet so I'm trying to be as careful as I can with it. I really did bugger it up!
<Tommy>
Illegitimi non carborundum
- Location
- Camden, London
I was a little surprised they’ve not been introduced into ZRL this coming season. DIRT having already incorporated their own system now too of course. You’d have to assume it’s only a matter of time wouldn’t you.
I’d not heard of that site before thanks Alex.
Below are my rides the past 90 days ... not convinced any of these would put me anywhere near B, but as I've no idea how to calculate the above I could easily be wrong
<Tommy>
Illegitimi non carborundum
- Location
- Camden, London
Yes, I think you’re using the old measuring stick to define the categories rather than the new. I think we’ll all have to go onto the site Alex has highlighted to try to work out the new measuring stick.
What would also be useful is if the ZP cat was updated to represent the new system so everything is aligned .... then put cat enforcement as default on every race and it's easy peasy.
Start a season in a cat, stay in that cat irrespective of if someone improves during the season ... so long as they don't 'improve' race 1
But, as i said before, the positive is they are finally taking racing seriously and trying to eliminate sandbagging
bobinski
Legendary Member
- Location
- Tulse Hill
MAP is a huge indicator for accurate ftp. If you do the full fitness test in Sufferfest / wahoo system it will flag if your map suggests you are holding back or underperforming on your ftp.
No, I get that, but if my numbers are 'B', and these are nothing special in a C race, then there aren't going to be many C riders left.
The C/B boundary is so close that maybe that's what's needed, a 'B-' category for all those of us who aren't B, can hang on to a C group but not good enough to influence a C race.
<Tommy>
Illegitimi non carborundum
- Location
- Camden, London
What would also be useful is if the ZP cat was updated to represent the new system so everything is aligned .... then put cat enforcement as default on every race and it's easy peasy.
Start a season in a cat, stay in that cat irrespective of if someone improves during the season ... so long as they don't 'improve' race 1
But, as i said before, the positive is they are finally taking racing seriously and trying to eliminate sandbagging
I think they’re running two systems on zwift at the moment. The new system is on a trial basis. So I guess to that end it’s hard to have one defined system at this point in time. I’m only assuming here, but my assumption is that at some point hopefully in the near future, it will only be one system with enforced boundaries also enforced.
I set 'season' from 1st July as that's when I was riding again and interesting that VO2 max is 51 ... so based on that single stat I'm a B
All other stats would be in C ... so seems like there will be no leeway ... exceed just one of the stats and you are upgraded? Could make B cat races very busy
Edit: eFTP has me at 3.32 so that is interesting as that is B even though my 'real' FTP is C
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<Tommy>
Illegitimi non carborundum
- Location
- Camden, London
To be honest I don’t think it matters where an individual rider lands within a category. When the boundary lines are defined, whatever the metric they use, then it is the same for everyone. And that’s the category you should join.
It’s the people at the extremes of each boundary that at the moment are the most likely to try and game the system in my opinion. They normally do it avoid being at the back of the cat above basically in most cases. The category they should be in.
Will the C category be less populated as a result? I don’t know. I know from my recent experience of racing in A cat that a lot of those races are very sparse. But maybe they’re about to get a major influx from historical B racers. So perhaps it’ll balance out across the categories?
alex_cycles
Veteran
- Location
- Oxfordshire
I set 'season' from 1st July as that's when I was riding again and interesting that VO2 max is 51 ... so based on that single stat I'm a B
All other stats would be in C ... so seems like there will be no leeway ... exceed just one of the stats and you are upgraded? Could make B cat races very busy
Edit: eFTP has me at 3.32 so that is interesting as that is B even though my 'real' FTP is C
View attachment 659117
Yeah - that'll be it then. As soon as I do one of my 5 minute MAX races I'll be joining you
The other thing I like about intervals.icu is it lets you do the power graph and filter on indoor/outdoor so can separate Zwift and 'real' bike performance. This is useful as I find my outdoor peak power figures are higher (particularly for sprinting).
<Tommy>
Illegitimi non carborundum
- Location
- Camden, London
On a side note, and it goes back to what @berty bassett was alluding too earlier I think. I think the category system can really stifle fitness gains.
It’s totally up to the individual what they want to get from zwift. If you care more about ‘winning’ a race than fitness progression, then at present you can easily game the system to race in a category lower than your true level.
From what I can make out this new system makes it a lot tougher to sand bag. So ironically even though the sandbaggers might fight against it in principle. It should make him / her generally fitter as a consequence. As they’ll be racing in tougher races and reap the reward of that.
Winning isn’t always crossing the line first…
It’s totally up to the individual what they want to get from zwift. If you care more about ‘winning’ a race than fitness progression, then at present you can easily game the system to race in a category lower than your true level.
From what I can make out this new system makes it a lot tougher to sand bag. So ironically even though the sandbaggers might fight against it in principle. It should make him / her generally fitter as a consequence. As they’ll be racing in tougher races and reap the reward of that.
Winning isn’t always crossing the line first…
