My understanding it it's purely visual. Your avatar doesn't do that from the perspective of other people. And everyone thinks their own avatar does it. I could be wrong, though, I'm not a Zwift expert.

Whenever I’m a race I accelerate the corners / seems to be a common place to drop folks. Maybe you’re just notnpedaling hard enough ?

Trainer definitely matters.

I have never been able to match my power going from KICKR1 to Neo1.

The 20-60 minute power is only 10-15w lower despite similar training load and within the realm of reason for a mid 300w ftp.

The sprint power is several hundred lower. 900-1100w is a good sprint on my Neo but feel kickr1 gave like 1300-1400 for that effort

Fairly sure it does have some inertia calc as i go backwards relative to the group irrespective of powering into the corner. London 180 degree turns show this clearest.

My earlier point though was that I can either choose to be upset at the physics being possibly squiffy, or can just use Zwift as a training tool and embrace that to make me push fractionally harder.

Is that the uphill corner ? Have you tried to pedal harder?

Agree that heavier riders are penalized a bit on flat routes as zwift overrewards w/kg compared to pure watts in their drafting model. That said, smaller riders are at a disadvantage in races w w/kg limits. If you are pushing up against 4 w/kg in the b category, you are much better off being at 4 w/kg weighing 80 kg vs 60 kg. Not relevant to the “a” group w no limits.

On related note, zwift had something called “double draft” for a while that made the drafting model a bit more like real life when race organizers wanted to use it. It made sitting in the pack much easier, but racing less exciting. I think it’s still around, but I haven’t done a race using it in a while.

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one! I figured my avatar just didn't know how to corner.

Yep double draft is used for group rides sometimes, I did a 105KM with it on last night and it makes a big difference, though if you get dropped its game over

could it be it reports watts faster to the computer than other trainers? for instance currently I used a dumb trainer with power pedals to ANT and any move I make has a 10 second delay. So yea i get dropped a lot easy

Ok so 'mvenneta' was right about drafting technique - turns out I must be pants. I did the same race today and finished in exactly the same time (20:18) but averaged 367W instead of 395W. Achieved through:

1) sitting further back in the pack
2) easing off more when I was in a good drafting position
2) making sure to gradually make my way up the back instead of putting in 500W-600W mini efforts in response to falling back slightly

Net effect was a much better sprint (even on knackered legs). Maybe the drafting isn't ideal, but there is a stronger skill component than I appreciated. Thanks for thoughts all.

200 lbs isn't that big depending on your height. So that power should be pretty darn usable.

I would say, I don't ride "A+" in real life. I would say it is only cat 3,4,5 folks. Nobody can do 400 for 20min at any weight I ride with. Either way, I do notice IRL the bigger boys have a freaking hard time drafting off the little guys. Hence, the sitting in the pack you may notice in Zwift. Not sure how accurate their algorithm is there. Same goes for repeated hill surges around town on the hammer ride. Eventually, w/kg wins out over watts only. It has to be pretty flat and surge like to not go that way.

Personally, I feel like Zwift isn't really accurate in the flats for me as a skinnier rider. So I feel the opposite! I do TT rides in Zwift and am routinely about a whole mph slower than IRL. And IRL I'm in my road helmet and kit instead of full TT getup. So pretty much 2mph slower.

Now, on the road bike in Zwift? It's a clown show of speed. Other night I averaged 22mph at 100 feet per mile elevation riding road bike solo in it. Enough folks to draft off of once in a while I suppose. Real life similar? No freaking way. I'd only be like 19mph same ride.

I guess just figure out how to play the game best with your body style. Sounds like you're on the right track!