Took me a couple races to understand this, but I've learned just make sure you are really warmed up and ready drop the hammer for the first 90"...

I've accepted it's just the way racing on zwift works, so I know that no matter what, I need to cover the early break. It almost always comes back down to earth within 3-5 min, but it is a good way to create early separation and it usually succeeds in splintering the group.

Yeah, I didn't realise this was what was happening at first. I thought there were just loads of guys who routinely put themselves in the wrong category, and they were much, much stronger than me despite having seeded myself correctly versus my estimated FTP. I got dropped at the start of every race. Then I realised that most of them weren't so much stronger than me, they were just going all out at the start, while I was at or a bit below threshold.

Indeed very frustrating when you first start off, gradually you get used to the fast starts but it did take me some time
If there was a fixed threshold for the first 1-3 min i believe there would be less dropouts and better action during the whole race
Going all out for 1min and then steady for 100min is not for everyone, especially us tri ppl

As much as I'm not a fan of the sprint starts, I'm not sure adding artificial and rather arbitrary limitations is a good idea either. Zwift could end up chasing every "undesirable" trend in user behaviour so that races end up the way they think they should go. The sprint start is a legitimate race tactic, albeit one that doesn't suit everyone.

I agree it is a legitimate race tactic, but only because of the exaggerated draft benefit for group riding in Zwift... you shouldn't have to ride >1w/kg more than the rider at the front to gain on the group.

Helpful hint for the start... when you go on Zwift for an event, ride a bit of the course first before joining. You'll keep any power ups you pick up just for riding over the start line, and take them to the start of the race with you. Nice to have a draft or aero boost for that first sprint. Total cheat though ;-).

Good thinking.....but shame on you ;)

I know! :-)

Thing is, I'd seen other riders flying off the start line with aero boost powered up and wondered how they did it, until it clicked..

Maybe the exact reason people continue to do it is to drop "tri ppl". Seems like a strange request: "Please make other people race in such a way as to play to my strength instead of theirs."

After the first few races I noticed the hammer start as well... I did one race where I properly seeded myself ("C" group here) and pretty well dropped the hammer at the start. It was sort of fun to mix it up on the front for the first 5-10 minutes, then reality kicked in. Most of us slowed down and traded efforts at the front, with the occasional attack. Then some of the slower "B" riders came back to us and shattered the group as they would pull off the front harder, some guys would go with them, but myself and others didn't have the gas.

Yes I realize that's racing, but took some of the fun about racing in a group of 5-7 riders that were right at my level, tactically working to gain a bit of an advantage, but no one really strong enough to go off the front on their own for long. Put a B rider in there and some can hang on and pull away.

I've seen the same thing in outdoor group rides too when the fast group goes first, then a slower group second. Inevitably a few guys get dropped off of the fast group and come back to the slower group, but proceed to spend the rest of the ride "proving" to the rest of the slower riders that they really don't belong back here, which blows up the slower group.

Must agree with you here,becoming a bit selfish .I wish i did have a strength on the bike (think name says it all here)
Back to the drawing board, maybe better warmup ,speed sessions & high cadence drills

I did the KISS race this morning and the A group had a 5 minute head start on 3 loops of the Jungle Circuit. They passed me on my first loop going 4.5-5 W/KG consistent. All I can say to myself this is impossible.
I never seen pro's on Zwift go that hard.

I base all my results off of the ZwiftPower.com standings. I was doing the D group most of the winter until 1 month ago I started averaging 2.5-2.7/W/KG according to zwiftpower and results were not counting.
So I started doing the C group.

Since I use Zwiftpower, when in the D group I was always in first place because people either were too strong, or actual D group riders. We all stuck together until I would go hard at the end.

In the C group I noticed the fast start and I always get dropped in the beginning, but I know in the end the majority of the riders ahead of me there results will count on Zwiftpower. They all end up averaging higher than 3.1 W/KG.

I am still conflicted if I should stick with D and have other riders to stay with but not have my results count on Zwiftpower. Or continue with C group and stay mostly alone, but know my results count on Zwiftpower.

Yeah I find the blasting out of the gates a minor annoyance, but the result is typically that a small(er) group is established which I kinda like. I do the ZHR masters races and they seem to have a pretty good system of verifying people and their abilities (although by no means perfect). I wish they'd both a) bring back the 'burrito' power up (which stops anyone drafting you for a short period of time) and b) fix the 'blob' that makes it so hard to get/stay away or catch back on if you get gapped by just a few seconds. Racing on Zwift this year has definitely made me stronger.

What you meant to say is 'impossible for you'... there's plenty of people that can hold 4.5-5.0w/kg for plenty long enough to ride a zwift race.

For those who don’t like the fast starts, look for races where they stagger the start for the different categories. The kiss races typically do this. The starts are still spirited, but calms down much quicker than when everyone is going off together and you have b and c riders trying to maintain contact w the leaders. When it’s a mass start w all categories you have no hope at a podium if you don’t hang on as long as possible. The key is to drop off before completely exploding and with a group of strong (but not too strong) riders. All of my good results as a b are when I hung with the main “a” pack for a while and got dropped with a small group that never gets caught by the main “b” pack.

For group rides it would be. After all, defeats the purpose if people just splinter at the very beginning.

For races, it's sort of a just-roll-with-it situation. In real life, I hate those type of races that requires immediate blasting off and have never done well in those. Worse yet, in real life, you have to clip in, and I always manage to mess up the clip in somehow... To negate this somewhat, I learned to line up real early. Crits with more tranquilo starts, I don't mind at all.

Didn't you know, anyone faster than you is cheating and anyone slower than you just isn't working hard enough.

I would agree.

Yes blasting off at the start is predictable and doesn't suit many triathletes who are more 'steady state' athletes. But that is the unique character of zwift racing and anyway I think there are a lot of training benefits learning how to cope a 1-3min Vo2 effort and then 'recover' into at or just below threshold.

Personally I quite enjoy an occasional Zwift race and see a place for them in training, especially when motivation to do long extended efforts at or just near threshold isn't that high. On tuesday I did 3 back to back Zwift races (10mins separated race 1-2, 55 seconds between 2-3). In total (with 20min w/u and 20min C/D) I had 2.46hrs for 212tss I'd very much struggle to do that by myself on the road.

As someone who rides and uses the power from a NEO (reads 2-3% below my SRM) I find most of the numbers for A-Grade possible, although I do feel there are a few people with 'optimistic' weights and generous PM numbers, but all in all it's a great workout. I generally finish with the lead group but get pumped in the sprint with an FTP (TrainerRoad Ramp Test on the Neo) at 4.7w/kg.

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