As indicated above, the Tour-de-Zwift rides are categorized based on length of the event and not level of riders.
Even "winning" the shorter events will require some real efforts from strong riders.
Regarding your cat. To me it actually seems you're a strong B-rider (top of cat wrt FTP)
jumping to A is possible for flat races I guess however be prepared to dig deep in anything remotely hilly (you propably need to be able to do > 5.5Wkg for 5min to just stay with the lead group on shorter climbs)

I raced for over a year as C before moving up to B. I don't think I ever won a race. I came 2nd or 3rd once or twice. I've never won at B either, although I can get close to the front occassionally when the race suits me.
Point being, the categories are not permission to rig a win. They're a way to try and make it competitive and enjoyable. It can't work properly as long as people cheat. But why do some people feel the need to cheat? Unless they've got a remarkably fragile ego and the ability to pretend they deserve credit for performances based on cheating, I don't know what they gain.

Like I said, it's training. If I want to do tempo, I do Cs. If I want to do sweetspot, I do Bs. Ever once in a while if I want to just go for a slugfest, I'll do the As. But eh, not particularly my cup of tea on the trainer.

I made a comment to someone who's never even done a race and you try to jump down my throat as if you know anything about my training or racing.

Perhaps if you're this upset about it you should petition Zwift for results-based categories? That'd be a much better use of your time, because you're for sure not doing anything on here to change my mind.

So Z lets you choose A B or C races? Interesting as I thought most of the races had like a prescribed watts range, etc. Or do you "manipulate" your power numbers to get into each racing category?

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

It's a subscription-based virtual training game. You choose whatever you want. Only a very minute fraction of people actually thinks the whole Watopia world comes crashing down if they can't win a B or C race. The reality is that most everyone there is just training or playing.

That's why there are dozens of events every hour. You can hop in and out of events at any time of day to meet whatever training outcomes you're after.

That's always been the allure of zwift, ever since the early days on Jarvis Island. Makes the indoor hours pass more easily.

I guess what I'm asking is, I just read up on an article that said the races have "category boundaries". So how do you get around those boundaries? I'm not debating what you are saying, I'm more curious to note how one jumps around in the category races when they have boundaries. Is it again a case of simply changing your numbers to get into each race category (not judging the action, just wondering if that's what is happening in your case).





From this page: https://www.zwift.com/...ycling-race-category

Once you know your FTP w/kg, selecting a category is easy. These are the most common category boundaries:

• A = 4.0 w/kg and above
• B = 3.2-3.9 w/kg
• C = 2.5-3.1 w/kg
• D = 2.4 w/kg and below

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

One can indeed choose which cat you sign-up for regardless of your abilities **
However if someone consciously starts in a lower cat (aka sandbagging) they always are ruining the experience for riders that actually do belong in that cat.
No matter how someone tries to justify this, in the end the misplaced riders will always do some harder efforts that mess up with the actual race!
So if you want to train instead of race, either seed in the proper cat or go check a groupride (like Tour du Zwift ;-) ) or ride with one of the pace-bots.

** this is NOT the case for the Tour du Zwift group-rides though as these are categorized on duration only and not ability (and maybe some women only possibly?)

Because they're not boundaries. Zwift is not a race organization. There aren't licenses or categories. You can do any event you want. You can do a D race at 1:00 and do an A race at 2:00. Whatever fits your schedule and training needs.

It kinda sounds like it's the best of both worlds. You say they aren't categories but yet Z itself has "suggested boundaries" for each category. It allows people like you who want to float around and do it based on their training needs, while also having people who actual take it seriously and follow the "prescribed" boundaries. I guess it sorta crashes in the middle when your beside someone "taking it serious" and your not, etc. Not necessarily saying your wrong, because apparently Z allows you to do that. And again these races don't actually mean anything other than Z stuff right?

I would just think it will eventually destroy the end user experience if you allow users to sorta do a free for all platform. But I guess the other side is that the "serious" racing likely has boundaries set, and your more referencing the "free play" races/events of Z.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

No, they don't mean anything. As soon as you cross the finish line the results pop up and then disappear forever and you move onto the next thing. Like I said, only that "minute fraction" take it as some egregious assault on their riding. The other 20,000 people on Zwift just get on with their rides.

It is a free-for-all platform. If it were a competitive platform, there'd be results-based categories rather than fairly arbitrary w/kg designations.

Everything is what you make it. That's what's nice. Again, it passes the indoor training time.

Anyway, it's definitely interesting and something different to try out if you're confined indoors for a while. And the events and races are all together different as well. That's about all I have to say about it! Cheers!

Zwiftpower sorts out the results afterwards, but that still doesn't do any good regarding how the race actually plays out. I'm just a solid D, but find myself racing against Cs, Bs, and even As most of the time. I'll place mid-pack, but then the Zwiftpower results usually disqualify nearly everyone ahead of me. But until then, I don't know who I'm legitimately racing against. In a recent race, I crossed the line in 8th, 4:55 behind the "winner" and 3:01 behind 7th. W/kg for the riders ahead of me were 4.18, 4.01, 3.96, 4.28, 3.94, 4.42, and 3.30. So I'm overcooking myself trying to hang on to people that it turns out I'm not actually racing...

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"I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 10, and I don't know why!"

Just my opinion on it, but if your sandbagging events simply because it's not specifically illegal to do so, your the problem in all of this Z debates (just my opinion). But again apparently because it's not specifically wrong to do, I just kinda think that's part of the whole issue. So the other gentleman who's using C races as "tempo workouts", is part of the problem...but again it's a Z issue not an individual rider issue, that we can agree on.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II