Zwift Chat

[bridgy]

This is my race - not sure I'll feature in the video though becaus this guy finished a fair bit ahead of me in 63rd having hung on to the insanely fast front group for a bit longer than I could!

View: https://youtu.be/AR-0D8RxKQU?si=L3EweZmublZQcNLd

 

[CXRAndy]

Blimey Paul, I hadn't realised many A cats were dropped back into B. That will make for some tough competition.

 

[CXRAndy]

This is my race - not sure I'll feature in the video though becaus this guy finished a fair bit ahead of me in 63rd having hung on to the insanely fast front group for a bit longer than I could!

View: https://youtu.be/AR-0D8RxKQU?si=L3EweZmublZQcNLd

As it happened I watched that this morning. He has come on very well since riding as a C not too long ago. He looked really strong first lap, blew up second lap kom.

 

[bridgy]

Blimey Paul, I hadn't realised many A cats were dropped back into B. That will make for some tough competition.

Yeah, the old system of just 20 minute power alone was very flawed, but the new system has definitely had the affect of keeping a lot more riders in Cat B who would previously have been upgraded. It might actually be a very good move by Zwift as Cat B is obviously a very popular category and the step up to Cat A is a very big one as there's no upper limit on ability there, so they're probably keeping a lot of their good Cat B customers happy!

Out of interest has anything similar happened within Cat C? Have you noticed it being harder for riders to get upgraded to B, or has it stayed relatively similar to before the Category calculation changes?

 

[bridgy]

As it happened I watched that this morning. He has come on very well since riding as a C not too long ago. He looked really strong first lap, blew up second lap kom.

Yeah he did really well - you can see how hard he had to go on that first lap just to stay with the group

 

[CXRAndy]

Out of interest has anything similar happened within Cat C? Have you noticed it being harder for riders to get upgraded to B, or has it stayed relatively similar to before the Category calculation changes

Yes I think I have, I've noticed lighter riders knocking out decent W/kg for climbs and still ranked as C.

It's not really a problem overall, it keeps me on my toes for those more rolling events.

What I don't like is when a small group of unknown Bs join an event push the pace, crushing the C pack.

ZP mostly filters them out unlike Zwift itself.

As you say it is getting better.

I like the events Alex rides where there are several grades within a category, so you know where you are within the category.


Im a High D cat on Zwift racing beta

 

[Norry1]

As it happened I watched that this morning. He has come on very well since riding as a C not too long ago. He looked really strong first lap, blew up second lap kom.

I watch this guy as well. We were very similar when he was moving from C to B and early B days - he's left me now though.

He's also training for an ultra marathon (run)

 

[bridgy]

Yes I think I have, I've noticed lighter riders knocking out decent W/kg for climbs and still ranked as C.

It's not really a problem overall, it keeps me on my toes for those more rolling events.

What I don't like is when a small group of unknown Bs join an event push the pace, crushing the C pack.

ZP mostly filters them out unlike Zwift itself.

As you say it is getting better.

I like the events Alex rides where there are several grades within a category, so you know where you are within the category.


Im a High D cat on Zwift racing beta

I assume you're meaning https://www.zwiftracing.app/ and the grouping of those categories Alex uses for his races?

I just looked at that and no surprise - the top 5 in that race I did last night were all in either the 1st or 2nd category on Zwiftapp so would be Cat A in Alex's races. I'm not going to look at everyone obviously but I wonder how many others were too!

 

[bobinski]

I watch this guy as well. We were very similar when he was moving from C to B and early B days - he's left me now though.

He's also training for an ultra marathon (run)

To be fair he is a quite a bit younger.

 

[13 rider]

I been followed David Hivey now cat B on YouTube ,he's had 3 goes at loop de loop and gets spat on the climb everytime , On yesterday's ride he averaged 3.4wkg which he's said was his highest every ,yet I'm racing Cat C who average over 3.5w/kg up a climb for 20 mins
Hivey keeps dropping comments about people calling him a sandbagger in C 😂,

 

[alex_cycles]

I like the events Alex rides where there are several grades within a category, so you know where you are within the category.

I like the zwiftracing.app categories. I have stabilised at low to middling amethyst, having not ridden any CE events since October (apart from one or two hill-climbs and an iTT).

But this morning was all about a different kind of fun. We did an Omnium on indieVelo. Huge fun.
Like a set of tiny races but each one a different format...


View: https://www.youtube.com/live/jbWK6WIVlfo?si=4ZRf6F92bgcKDtvy&t=392

 

[bridgy]

I been followed David Hivey now cat B on YouTube ,he's had 3 goes at loop de loop and gets spat on the climb everytime , On yesterday's ride he averaged 3.4wkg which he's said was his highest every ,yet I'm racing Cat C who average over 3.5w/kg up a climb for 20 mins
Hivey keeps dropping comments about people calling him a sandbagger in C 😂,

He also did the same race as me last night! He came 87th - 47 seconds ahead of me. He's definitely Cat B level!

In hindsight I can see I should have dug much deeper on the first ascent of the KOM so I would have got dragged around by a faster group rather than be on the wrong side of a split - I actually went quicker up it on the second lap so clearly I wasn't tryinmg hard enough first time

 

[Whorty]

I been followed David Hivey now cat B on YouTube ,he's had 3 goes at loop de loop and gets spat on the climb everytime , On yesterday's ride he averaged 3.4wkg which he's said was his highest every ,yet I'm racing Cat C who average over 3.5w/kg up a climb for 20 mins
Hivey keeps dropping comments about people calling him a sandbagger in C 😂,

I watched his 3rd attempt yesterday too, and as you say he was dropped by a big group on the KoM. They seemed to be climbing at 6+ w/kg for the majority of the KoM, which does seem a little insane for a B race

 

[alex_cycles]

I been followed David Hivey now cat B on YouTube ,he's had 3 goes at loop de loop and gets spat on the climb everytime , On yesterday's ride he averaged 3.4wkg which he's said was his highest every ,yet I'm racing Cat C who average over 3.5w/kg up a climb for 20 mins
Hivey keeps dropping comments about people calling him a sandbagger in C 😂,

He's a sprinter. He SHOULD get spat on climbs longer than a minute if he's riding in the right category.
Just as you, a lightweight will struggle to stay in the main pack on a flat route.

The problem is that Cat B is so wide. You get people all the way from Gold/Platinum to Ruby and Diamond in B. It's nonsense having such a wide range of abilities in one category, which is why I don't bother with it.

The only Cat B races I can win are the short hill-climb segment-only races if nobody really good shows up

 

[Whorty]

Out of interest has anything similar happened within Cat C? Have you noticed it being harder for riders to get upgraded to B, or has it stayed relatively similar to before the Category calculation changes?

Having restarted riding again, and coming through D, I saw it there. Riders who I'd assume to be C are still smashing up the D races and not getting upgraded. Now I'm back in C but only pushing 2.8 w/kg I can't say too much about the top end of C, but my assumption is the ripple has come down - which will probably mean someone like me who was border C/B 15 months ago will struggle now to get numbers into the new B cat (unless I stop eating the pies and lose 15kg )
Doesn't change that much for me personally though. I ride for the fun, any wins are purely secondary. It's an extra challenge now and that's all part of the fun