Just did the same and signed up for their Sunday test event.
I was supposed to be doing some work but got distracted by the chat about this system. Looks interesting!
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Just did the same and signed up for their Sunday test event.
I was supposed to be doing some work but got distracted by the chat about this system. Looks interesting!
So it looks like of the people it picks up under Cyclechat team (not sure why it doesn't pick up all of us although me is because I changed my primary team to DIRT ready for their new series) the zwiftracing.app ranks us as below - in ranking order with current ZP rankings in brackets.
I suppose the interesting ones are me ranked above two Cat A's, Carl ranked above two Cat Bs and Joffey above 5 Cat Cs:
GOLD 1
@bridgy - 1744 (B)
@berty bassett - 1730 (A)
@<Tommy> - 1707 (A)
GOLD 2
@mjd1988 - 1570 (B)
@Peter Salt - 1509 (B)
@Whorty - 1479 (C)
@IrishAl - 1415 (B)
GOLD 3
@Rich A - 1357 (B)
@alex_cycles - 1252 (C)
SILVER 1
@bobinski - 1086 (C)
@CXRAndy - 1055 (C)
SILVER 2
@Brusgaard - 997 (C)
@Joffey - 990 (D)
@steverob - 962 (C)
Philip Plummer - 935 (C)
John Constable - 876 (C)
@Norry1 - 863 (C)
@DCLane - 860 (C)
I suppose the interesting ones are me ranked above two Cat A's, Carl ranked above two Cat Bs and Joffey above 5 Cat Cs:
GOLD 1
@bridgy - 1744 (B)
@berty bassett - 1730 (A)
@<Tommy> - 1707 (A)
GOLD 2
@mjd1988 - 1570 (B)
@Peter Salt - 1509 (B)
@Whorty - 1479 (C)
@IrishAl - 1415 (B)
GOLD 3
@Rich A - 1357 (B)
@alex_cycles - 1252 (C)
SILVER 1
@bobinski - 1086 (C)
@CXRAndy - 1055 (C)
SILVER 2
@Brusgaard - 997 (C)
@Joffey - 990 (D)
@steverob - 962 (C)
Philip Plummer - 935 (C)
John Constable - 876 (C)
@Norry1 - 863 (C)
@DCLane - 860 (C)
Probably factors in sexiness, hence us being higher than people in the Cat above...
I noticed that too. I would guess mine is my power output - on that B TTT I rode at 295 watts for 20 mins (then died) which is the 5th highest out of the 'board regulars' when checking on ZP. But I am also the fattest of the board regulars. I certainly couldn't sustain that power level over a 15 mile race though. I would need to moderate my effort to get me to the end without blowing up.
That TTT performance ended up being over Cat D limits and I am now 'Almost C' but until I lose weight I don't think when racing in D I'll ever get bumped up as I don't ever need to push that power in the races. That is why, I suppose, this rating system is good as it would make me ride against C riders when the old system would allow me to win the majority of races I enter in Cat D.
In the New Year I'll start taking fitness more seriously and see if I can get back up to the top end of C again. I'm currently one of those riders right on the limit of the boundary and it took me racing 2 cats up and holding on to the tails of a B Train to nudge over the limit - on current fitness I probably wouldn't even get bumped if I raced C. It's weird how it all works.
Forget all of that... it's obviously sexiness.
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<Tommy>
Illegitimi non carborundum
- Location
- Camden, London
😌
alex_cycles
Veteran
- Location
- Oxfordshire
As the rankings didn't mean anything (until now) I joined a couple of Tiny race series to get a big jump in ranking points. With 4 short (less than 7 mins) races one after another on a Saturday morning and being full of top 'ranked' riders it's fairly easy for a sprinter to get big ranking points.
So I've gamed myself into a higher category
In a race I'd definitely expect to be behind both Al and Rich ... if a climb of some kind involved I'll be way behind. If a flat race with a sprint finish then I'd hope to be competing for the win.
But this is where any ranking will struggle I think ... we all choose races that best suit us, so we rank higher in some races compared to others. If I was to choose only races with a hill (even volcano), then my ranking would be dismal.
It is what it is though .... I'll continue to race flat, sprinty, short races and if this flatters my ranking then it means when I have to race a hillier course I'll get a kicking as may be placed in the 'wrong' category for that type of race.
Good that work is going into this at last
<Tommy>
Illegitimi non carborundum
- Location
- Camden, London
Probably factors in sexiness, hence us being higher than people in the Cat above...
😁
I’m definitely sensing you’re high
alex_cycles
Veteran
- Location
- Oxfordshire
It starts with your compound score which is absolute power (w) x relative power (w/kg) for a given duration.
Then it tweaks according to your relative position to other riders in every race you do.
So if you do better than expected you get + and - if worse. I was told any jumps of 10 points or less are effectively no change.
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alex_cycles
Veteran
- Location
- Oxfordshire
As the rankings didn't mean anything (until now) I joined a couple of Tiny race series to get a big jump in ranking points. With 4 short (less than 7 mins) races one after another on a Saturday morning and being full of top 'ranked' riders it's fairly easy for a sprinter to get big ranking points.
So I've gamed myself into a higher category
That's why we call them W
I looked at my CE stats yesterday and found it really interesting that all my results were either from ZRL or Tiny Race efforts. So those must be where I'm working the hardest.
Good that work is going into this at last
What's REALLY good is that Zwift are making noises about doing something towards this.
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<Tommy>
Illegitimi non carborundum
- Location
- Camden, London
Honestly it stills sounds a little flawed. Do you know what the given duration is Alex?
In the end I think a lot of people think if they’re not competing at the front then they’re in the wrong category.
Personally I don’t just pick one type of race. I don’t always pick the races that best suit me. My main criticism of the current system is that it’s only based on 20 min power. Maybe I’m simplifying it but any system needs to allow for varying types of race?
alex_cycles
Veteran
- Location
- Oxfordshire
5 or 6 minutes. I can't remember exactly.
Well these guys have been really surprised quite how 'accurate' the compound score seeding is to begin with. Way more than a single-point W/kg at 20 minutes.
i think the varying types of race comes into play in the results scoring. It's never going to be perfect, but it's a ton better than ZP w
Is that even possible?
<Tommy>
Illegitimi non carborundum
- Location
- Camden, London
Ah that’s interesting. I can see this easily turning into an argument so I’m going to be careful what I say here! Because what I’m going to say is a more general point rather than aimed at anyone in particular. But the new system does seem to put people in a more accurate position.
<Tommy>
Illegitimi non carborundum
- Location
- Camden, London
I don’t know Martin to be honest.
At the moment though it’s polarised isn’t it. 20 minute w/kg only has a meaningful bearing on a small number of zwift races. So if you internationally or unintentionally avoid those races the cat system doesn’t really reflect where you’re at I don’t think. So in that sense if they can incorporate more than one metric to catch both sides of the scale then it’ll be a more accurate system. So I guess if you are going from power numbers that should include the numbers that effect the majority of zwift races.
My personal preference would be a points based system rather than a power one. But they can’t seem to find one they find workable. Or they’re too worried about putting a proportion of the zwift demographic off racing?
Brusgaard
Über Guru
- Location
- Skive, Denmark
Festive 500 is done between December 24th and 31st. I finished mine last year on 31st at 5 PM - 45 minutes before the guests showed up.
This year, we will be home for Christmas, so I hope to finish it earlier this time around!!
