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Feb 2021
10:57am, 25 Feb 2021
144 posts
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Fopp
Just reading back, that's the same course Big G, that hill. is a tough finish and I was draped on my bike afterwards almost unable to unclip!
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Feb 2021
11:20am, 25 Feb 2021
9,510 posts
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jda
A lot of "B cats" are A cat physiologically in that they could do 20 mins at 4.21 W/kg or more (so 4.0 at 95%), they just haven't produced this in a race. Some of them are very careful to make sure they don't do this as they prefer to win B cat races than lose in A cat, I've actually seen one check their average power at 18 mins and literally stop pedalling to make sure the 20 min number was low enough (he streamed his race). The race had lots of points for primes that he'd already cleaned up on at that point.
However I think for a lot it's just a function of the way the system works and they may not even realise quite how strong they are, since they aren't necessarily winning B cat races and riding with the front pack generally won't put a reasonably heavy rider over the limit.
A guy in my club had been carefully protecting his B cat status and raced a tour de zwift ride up the Alpe that he mistakenly thought wouldn't be ranked on zp. He did 4.5W/kg  He's now riding comfortably in A cat where he belongs, not winning, but competing just fine.
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Feb 2021
11:29am, 25 Feb 2021
718 posts
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Big_G
Fopp, yeah, sounds like we did the same course. I found the 5 loops "okay" in terms of that I could maintain a consistent effort/pace, but I found that last climb brutal. Well done on your race though.
jda, regarding weight, I did see on ZP that a clubmate of mine has dropped 40kg in a week! Not sure what all that is about, but he didn't race this week. Maybe he's been testing Zwift to see the effects of different weights and just hasn't set it back to his usual 90kg. He'd be DQd if he raced at that though, surely. I'll move up when I have to after the next race, on the assumption that racing with better riders will help me in the long term, even if at the time it may not seem that way! In organised group rides I'll probably stick to C for easy rides (I don't/won't fly off the front) as I don't care if I'm DQd for those in any case.
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Feb 2021
11:41am, 25 Feb 2021
9,511 posts
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jda
Some of these large weight changes can be down to people sharing accounts - my wife's avatar appeared to be rather burly on a few occasions early in her zwifting career when I was testing it out. You also get people forgetting a decimal and appearing as 700 or even 7000kg, but they usually don't make that mistake more than once
By the time I'd barely hung on through those 5 sprints in the ZRL I didn't have much left for the final climb (which was far too short for me anyway). Was never going to be my sort of race and I didn't know I had a spot until the day before so had raced really hard on Sunday too.
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Feb 2021
11:41am, 25 Feb 2021
73,343 posts
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Gobi
Fopp - I have done 70 odd seconds up Libby and been dropped, she is a harsh mistress.
JDA - there are definitely some williy dogs out there staying in B cat carefully :¬)
That said there is a chap who races a lot of open races and wins as he has very good sub 5 minute and sprint numbers and I thought he was a very canny "sandbagger" until he raced with us up a 20 min climb and was unceremoniously dropped by a group of us riding 4.8wkg. It must be a hard place to be when you are on the cross point of B/A and mentally being smashed week in week out hurts your head.
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Feb 2021
11:45am, 25 Feb 2021
17,263 posts
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Chrisull
So as a Zwift race virgin, cat C in theory, where should I be looking to start? Or should I be looking at a club first?
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Feb 2021
11:53am, 25 Feb 2021
73,344 posts
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Gobi
enter a dolphin crit , it is a good intro to how racing on zwift works
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Feb 2021
11:58am, 25 Feb 2021
9,512 posts
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jda
Yes Gobi certainly a spectrum of power curves out there. The guys I really feel sorry for are the lightweight aerobic types without much of a spurt who get promoted just from trying to hang on to the pack and don't stand a chance when they go up a cat. It's not that much fun riding round alone at the back (of course once or twice is no problem but week after week...) and I've known plenty basically get pushed out of racing as a result, at least until they drop back down.
Chrisull, no need to rush into a club, you can just pick the sort of race that looks interesting. However IMO the ZRL is the most fun to be found on the race scene and you have to be in a team for that. Also the Thursday TTT is a lot of fun, likewise. Wonder if there are enough solo riders here to enter a team?
I also particularly like the ZHR masters which is a bit of a different style where all cats race together, and that's just an individual-based event. But there are crits, alpe climbs....you name it.
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Feb 2021
12:02pm, 25 Feb 2021
73,346 posts
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Gobi
I TTT but not doing ZRL , Tuesday evening doesn't work for me as I train then :¬)
I have done some ZRL races and depending on the course inevitably a Aplus riders break us all one by one :¬)
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Feb 2021
12:18pm, 25 Feb 2021
9,513 posts
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jda
I do mornings to avoid clashing with my wife (also means I can DS her team). Easier when working from home and it helps being a morning person
3 events per week is too much though and I'm going to have to sit some out.
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