This week, community race organizer turned Zwift employee James Bailey posted a notice on the Zwift Riders Facebook group to let everyone know that, moving forward, Zwift-owned races will not be allowing virtual power users.
Let’s dig into why this decision was made, and what it means for Zwift racing.
Virtual Power Basics
As explained in our “Virtual Power Basics for Zwifters” post:
Zwift only needs to know your wattage in order to get you moving in game, and supports several methods for transferring your efforts into avatar momentum. The most accurate method (and also the most expensive) is to use a smart trainer and/or power meter. But Zwift also supports most non-smart (aka “classic” or “dumb”) trainers when coupled with a speed sensor (a simple device which counts your wheel rotations).
Basically, there are two ways to get your avatar moving in Zwift:
- Send power data directly via a power meter, smart trainer, or smart bike.
- Select a dumb trainer model and send wheel speed data. Zwift will compute your power based on the power curve Zwift has stored for your trainer model.
While power data from power meters or smart trainers/bikes can be inaccurate, “virtual power” from a speed sensor + dumb trainer is notoriously inaccurate. Yes, it’s possible that a rider could have their virtual power setup dialed in and working fairly accurately. But it’s also very easy to do it wrong, and the results can blow apart races as riders fly around the course at superhuman speeds.
Zwift’s New Rule
Zwift’s new hardware requirement begins June 3rd, and disallows virtual power in the following Zwift-owned race events:
- Monthly ZRacing
- Zwift Hill Climb Racing Club
- Zwift TT Racing Club
- Zwift Crit Racing Club
- Zwift Epic Races
- Zwift Women’s Racing Series
This means you’ll need a power meter, smart trainer, or smart bike paired as your power source to join the start pens for these events.
It should be noted that Zwift is far from the first race organizer to implement this hardware requirement for their races. In fact, if you remove Zwift’s events from the equation, the majority of races on the platform now have this requirement. Let’s look at those stats a bit…
Race Statistics
As of May 29, 2024, there were 896 races (see on ZwiftHacks) coming up in the next 7 days on Zwift (this includes events tagged as a race, TT, or TTT). 301 of those have disallowed virtual power (see on ZwiftHacks), so it would seem like 37% of races in the next week are disallowing virtual power.
But that percentage is artificially low due to most of Zwift’s races allowing virtual power until June 3rd. Remove all of the Zwift races from that figure, as well as WTRL TTT events (which have their own hardware enforcement rules) and suddenly 59% of upcoming races disallow virtual power.
Zwift tells me that “less than 1%” of riders participating in the recent Zwift Games races were on virtual power. With so few racers on virtual power, and virtual power being notoriously unreliable, I imagine we’ll see more and more races disallow it to improve race integrity and experience. We’ve banned virtual power in the Tiny Races since the early days of the series, and have never regretted the decision.
Affected Categories
While in theory this change affects all race categories, the riders who will notice the biggest change are A-cat racers. Why?
Because riders with inaccurate power end up being forced to race the A category due to their inflated power numbers. For example, if you’re riding with an unsupported trainer (and anyone can choose this option when pairing their dumb trainer), you’ll be capped at 400 watts. That’ll get you updated to A quickly, where you’ll find yourself at the front of the pack or breaking away from the peloton on a regular basis.
Hopefully, this change will make A-category races more competitive and realistic.
Your Thoughts
Do you agree with Zwift’s decision on virtual power in races? Share your thoughts below!
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