I know when I am riding on Zwift, I rarely have any interest in racing. I want to ride to burn calories, chat with people and that's about it. Congrats on finishing 9th out of 335, very impressive!
@@ahnilatedahnilated7703 Thank you. And true most zwifters are for the social aspect. However it is still jarring for me coming out of a ZWIFT race with 4 people into Watopia proper and seeing hundreds of people there.
@@davidbacon2726 Yeah, that is my annoyance too. I see that on the roads also. I went for a KoM on a climb not far from my house. It is short and 8%. I got 20 seconds, so tied for 8th place. Then I look at the others above me, their wattage 775-950, and the leader has 250 at 15 seconds. There is another person, same time and 951W. There is no way someone is doing 275W climbing that hill and doing 30 mph without cheating.
ZRS B has imploded as the top-end ZRS B's are A+ riders. My first race after promoting to 520+ ZRS there was a dude with 5.7 watt/kg 20 minute power. He took 3rd. In addition to ToW, ZRS needs major recalibration
FRR Tour of Britannia is going on this week plus Tour of Watopia and that makes for some competition for rider's time for sure. I've still found ways to race a couple times each week in the ZRS community events plus ToW. I do wish they'd bring back the "Epic Race" versions of ToW - even though the front of a ToW ride is always a race, I did like when they designated specific time slots of it as an actual mass start race.
@@RideWithGerben Actually, looks like it was Tour de Zwift 2024 that did it: EVENT DESCRIPTION The Tour de Zwift Race Series features epic-length races, which use the long route from every stage of this year’s Tour de Zwift. Race them for the win, race them for a high-quality workout, or race them to prepare for the Epic Race in this year’s Zwift Games. However you race them, these events will also count towards your overall progress in Tour de Zwift 2024. Either way, wish they did those for all the Tour of / Tour de mass group events.
Probably because it was Monday no? 12 years ago- I bought a Sufferfest training plan for CX. Just a generic canned plan. Day 1 was "Monday- wash your bike and clean your kit- RECOVERY DAY". Because most people can ride both days of the weekend, often with a hard group ride on one of the days and a high volume ride on the other.... so Monday is almost always a recovery day for everyone on a plan??
There's a post on the zwift Reddit forum about this, consensus seems to be tow are making the numbers low elsewhere. Tow certainly seems to have high numbers.
@@RideWithGerben I think the bigger issue is that Cat I is even smaller than Cat A used to be. There are almost 20 times as many riders in Cat II than Cat I in your case ... and that is representative of what I have seen before and during ToW as well. There was also a big difference between Cat A and B but it wasn't a factor of 20 (or 18 to be precise). Unless you go for specific races these days which ensure that riders are drawn in (e.g. when a prime-time race gets broadcast on the Zwift youtube channel) the pens are almost always less than 10, often less than 5. And then if you do those specific races you get thrashed by a throng of Cat A+ riders and lose loads of race score. Stuck between a rock and a hard place.
@ This is a very point you are making. And running a big event like the Tour Of Watopia doesn’t help either. You really have to pick and choose, because racing on your level round the clock is indeed over.
I agree. Thank goodness for TOW because the former A cat races are not well attended. We'll see after TOW, but I'm a little concerned. Plus people don't seem to be getting upgraded very quickly.
@@brianwakem7258 I guess they could, but really the category that is effected by low numbers is A and really only at certain times of the day. I mean at certain times, you'd have C ability in with A ability. I'd love to hear the complaining then.
Maybe real racers (who don't like cheating and other Zwift problems) are already in TrainingPeaks Virtual? Seen a lot of new names there lately, compared to indieVelo times.
I know when I am riding on Zwift, I rarely have any interest in racing. I want to ride to burn calories, chat with people and that's about it. Congrats on finishing 9th out of 335, very impressive!
@@ahnilatedahnilated7703 Thank you. And true most zwifters are for the social aspect. However it is still jarring for me coming out of a ZWIFT race with 4 people into Watopia proper and seeing hundreds of people there.
With you on that one. Too many cheats puts me off zwift racing. Guys supposedly the size of a hill climber with the power of a track sprinter 😂
@@davidbacon2726 This is a problem indeed. :D
Thank you! Ride on!
@@davidbacon2726 Yeah, that is my annoyance too. I see that on the roads also. I went for a KoM on a climb not far from my house. It is short and 8%. I got 20 seconds, so tied for 8th place. Then I look at the others above me, their wattage 775-950, and the leader has 250 at 15 seconds. There is another person, same time and 951W. There is no way someone is doing 275W climbing that hill and doing 30 mph without cheating.
Looks like all the A’s are doing the TOW stages instead of other events for the double XP.
Great race again Gerben 👏
Must say the double XP is very! attractive indeed! 😂
Back in the days i used zwift, the Tour of Watopia had stages with 2000 guys riding all together :) Now you got 200, time has changed
Pandemic ZWIFT was legit something else indeed. Full pens all the time. Big racing calendar. Crazy.
ZRS B has imploded as the top-end ZRS B's are A+ riders.
My first race after promoting to 520+ ZRS there was a dude with 5.7 watt/kg 20 minute power. He took 3rd.
In addition to ToW, ZRS needs major recalibration
This⬆️ 5.7 is just nuts!
FRR Tour of Britannia is going on this week plus Tour of Watopia and that makes for some competition for rider's time for sure. I've still found ways to race a couple times each week in the ZRS community events plus ToW. I do wish they'd bring back the "Epic Race" versions of ToW - even though the front of a ToW ride is always a race, I did like when they designated specific time slots of it as an actual mass start race.
There where "epic" race versions? Wow. I would love to have that back again!
@@RideWithGerben Actually, looks like it was Tour de Zwift 2024 that did it:
EVENT DESCRIPTION
The Tour de Zwift Race Series features epic-length races, which use the long route from every stage of this year’s Tour de Zwift. Race them for the win, race them for a high-quality workout, or race them to prepare for the Epic Race in this year’s Zwift Games. However you race them, these events will also count towards your overall progress in Tour de Zwift 2024.
Either way, wish they did those for all the Tour of / Tour de mass group events.
super strong race again.
Thank you Roeland!
Probably because it was Monday no?
12 years ago- I bought a Sufferfest training plan for CX. Just a generic canned plan. Day 1 was "Monday- wash your bike and clean your kit- RECOVERY DAY".
Because most people can ride both days of the weekend, often with a hard group ride on one of the days and a high volume ride on the other.... so Monday is almost always a recovery day for everyone on a plan??
Then almost every day is a Monday this month, with so few racers in the top category. I like the sufferfest approach though 😊
@@RideWithGerben I thought it might explain why it is worse in the higher cats too maybe. The higher you get, the more likely you are to be on a plan?
There's a post on the zwift Reddit forum about this, consensus seems to be tow are making the numbers low elsewhere. Tow certainly seems to have high numbers.
TOW is massive indeed!
@@RideWithGerben I think the bigger issue is that Cat I is even smaller than Cat A used to be. There are almost 20 times as many riders in Cat II than Cat I in your case ... and that is representative of what I have seen before and during ToW as well. There was also a big difference between Cat A and B but it wasn't a factor of 20 (or 18 to be precise). Unless you go for specific races these days which ensure that riders are drawn in (e.g. when a prime-time race gets broadcast on the Zwift youtube channel) the pens are almost always less than 10, often less than 5. And then if you do those specific races you get thrashed by a throng of Cat A+ riders and lose loads of race score. Stuck between a rock and a hard place.
@ This is a very point you are making. And running a big event like the Tour Of Watopia doesn’t help either. You really have to pick and choose, because racing on your level round the clock is indeed over.
1st event for stage 2 (earliest slot) had close to 1000 riders on the long route....that's going to drain every other event out there....
@@i_just_dont_care_anymore True!!
I agree. Thank goodness for TOW because the former A cat races are not well attended. We'll see after TOW, but I'm a little concerned. Plus people don't seem to be getting upgraded very quickly.
Or people don’t want to get upgraded anymore. If upgrading means racing in empty fields. But indeed what you said we’ll need to see after TOW.
The simple answer is to move the category boundaries so there are equal numbers in each.
@@brianwakem7258 I guess they could, but really the category that is effected by low numbers is A and really only at certain times of the day. I mean at certain times, you'd have C ability in with A ability. I'd love to hear the complaining then.
You mean I could have finished on the podium in a A race just riding Zone 2? 🤣
Yes! I’ve seen that happen over the past few weeks. A races so slow and still a podium 😂
Congratulations for the 8th place, could have been a podium with a true sprint if legs had allowed it.
Not a sprinter, no legs for it 😂
Maybe everyone is doing FRR Tour?
That one is quite busy too indeed!
TOW is very popular, always has been.
Yes! Love it. One of the best events on ZWIFT!
Maybe real racers (who don't like cheating and other Zwift problems) are already in TrainingPeaks Virtual? Seen a lot of new names there lately, compared to indieVelo times.
Hmmm. Good point worth to take a look!
New category system is shit. I hate racing with few people. Many races with almost no one in A
The answer is more mass start events. Maybe?
@@RideWithGerben Yeah or better selction. I hate doing workouts etc. Got to have somebody to compete with