This week Zwift announced a set of test events for the community to put a new FutureWorks feature through its paces. Currently called “Hardware Requirements”, the big idea is that Zwift wants to be able to restrict who can participate in certain events based on the devices (trainer, power meter, heart rate monitor) they are using.
There are currently 5 possible event configurations:
- No rules; the event is open to all hardware types
- Smart Trainers/Power Meters only allowed
- Smart Trainers/Power Meters + Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) only allowed
- zPower (classic trainer + speed sensor, spin bikes, etc.) only allowed
- zPower + Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) only allowed
See upcoming Hardware Requirements events >
This is considered a FutureWorks feature, which essentially means it’s in public beta.
What It Does… and Does NOT Do
Zwift has informed us that their Hardware Requirements feature isn’t meant to restrict events to a particular make or model of device (like having a race just for Tacx NEO users). Rather, it’s to differentiate between people with and without a heart rate monitor, as well as those using a classic trainer (sometimes called zPower or virtual power) vs those using a smart trainer/smart bike/power meter.
Zwift says, “In other words, that means smart trainer/power meter-racers will race with fellow smart trainer/power meter-racers and zPower-racers with race with fellow zPower-racers.”
While we don’t see classic-trainer-only events ever taking off (there just aren’t enough racers on classic trainers) we definitely could see race organizers choosing to disallow classic trainers from racing, since the virtual power computed from classic trainers+speed sensors is notoriously inaccurate.
Category Enforcement has moved “zPower Rangers” out of the lower categories for the most part, but that just means they’re racing in the A category, which isn’t exactly fair to legit A riders, either. While the vast majority of Zwift Racers use a smart trainer or power meter, the implementation of Hardware Requirements should be able to stop a few race flyers, improving the experience for everyone else.
Will Hardware Requirements fix all power inaccuracies? Of course not. Riders in the smart trainer/power meter category can still calibrate their wheel-on trainer cold, then get a wattage boost as their tire warms up (or loses air). And many direct-drive trainers and most power meters can be miscalibrated or configured improperly so they over-read power. This is just one of many potential steps Zwift can take toward more fairness in racing.
One Gotcha
Rolling out Hardware Requirements as an event option will be a positive development for Zwift racing. But there’s one thing about this new feature which I think Zwift needs to fix, and that’s this: if you’re in a Hardware Requirement event and you go to the pairing screen, you are only allowed to pair the same hardware you joined the event with.
(Although we haven’t tested it yet, Zwift assures us that if you entered the event with, say, your Wahoo KICK paired via ANT+, you could re-pair the KICKR via Bluetooth and that would be allowed, since it’s the same device. That’s good.)
But what about riders running two power sources (such as the popular combination of a smart trainer + power pedals), and one of those power sources keeps dropping out? You should be able to pair your other power source and finish the race, since it still meets the requirements of the event. But that’s not possible with this iteration of Hardware Requirements.
Similarly, we’ve all hard heart rate monitors crap out mid-ride. If it’s an HRM-required event you will be entirely out of luck unless you can put a new battery in your HRM. (Having a backup HRM won’t do you any good, since you can’t pair that new hardware mid-event.)
While the trainer power drop and dead HRM situations aren’t common, they do happen (I’ve had both happen, multiple times). It would be a pity of riders had a replacement device on hand that still met the event rules, but were unable to pair that device and instead had to take a DNF.
Availability for Community Events
Zwift hasn’t said when Hardware Requirements will roll out for use by community race organizers. The forum post says, “After our initial testing phase from 2-9 Aug, we hope to have Hardware Requirements rolled out as soon as possible, though we can’t say for certain when that will happen.”
More Info
See the Zwift forum topic, which includes lots of additional details and a helpful FAQ. (Nice work as always, Flint!)
See upcoming Hardware Requirements events >
Your Thoughts
If you participate in one of these Hardware Requirement events, Zwift wants you to fill out this form to share your experience.
Got further thoughts? Feel free to share below!
My HRM has quite a few drop outs during a ride. Yellow Garmin one, battery is fresh, PC has class 2 BT dongle… I’m curious how that would be handled during a HRM mandatory event?!
Since there’s no battery-level monitor on the TICKR telling you when to recharge and it holds about 40-50 hours on a charge, one might expect an ill-timed dropout every month or two. Also, I forgot to put my power meter in travel mode when flying across three continents last month . . . 30 minutes into my first ride, I had to pair to the trainer instead.
The comments will be FILLED with people that say “oh my power meter drops out so I use zpower and this is unfair” and “why do I need to buy more equipment to use zwift these people are elitists!”
Folks, this is the point of these changes. People don’t want to “compete” against all the shoddy equipment out there. Plenty of events without hardware requirements will be out there still (or even just free ride!), but you will need to have good equipment to have good competition.
Hi guys I think Zwift has got this slightly wrong …. instead of excluding ppl from events why not give us a filter so we can filter ppl out of are view that.. say are not on zwift power or have a smart trainer etc …so we would be racing against ppl in say zwift power and there for just ppl in the ” points” so to speak and with that every one can be in the same event ..how many times have you sprinted to chase some one down only to find after the event they are not in… Read more »
I sort of like that. Kind of like the hide others not in your category toggle that event organizers can turn on or off. I’d love it if they could toggle so hrm/power meter/smart trainer people could only see people with the same equipment class (or as you say, Zwift Power people with that equipment could only see other people like themselves) and then zPower people could either see everyone or just other zPower people. I just did a race today, which was quite hilly, that had 2 people in the front back that were using zPower (no lightning bolt).… Read more »
Because everyone will not have the same filter on and those riders will still affect the dynamics of the race
switched from lap top to AppleTV because of lag time signing in. AppleTV only really supports two blue tooth signals and won’t consistently pair my heart rate. What’s our option?
You can use the Companion app as a bridge. See the Zwift support article titled “Using the Zwift Companion App”
I can’t wait until heart rate monitors are mandatory.
I’m always surprised to do a race and see a couple of the top people without hrms in the Zwift leaderboard at the end of the race, and just think to myself, “oh well, they won’t be there when I go look at Zwift Power” only to go over to Zwift Power and still see them in the standings.
Ditto, sometimes I wonder what is going on at Zwiftpower.
I had to point out to them a serial offender who was racing an e-bike over a couple of months but was in the results on Zwiftpower.
This is great. Tired of being beat by a miscalibrated wheel-on trainer and when you check out their account on Strava it is some chunky dude that you know wouldn’t be able to hold that w/kg in real life. Heart rate is plus! For those concerned with HR monitor dropping, ditch the chest strap and get an arm band. Chest one as you sweat starts to slide/loose contact. I got rid of my Garmin after many years and never looked back!
my wahoo chest works great, never slips. just gotta tighten it correctly. but i have heard that the arm ones are pretty good alternative for garmin
i agree with your first part; but my garmin doesnt have an issue
i used to suffer a lot of dropouts with my Tickr HRM, upgraded to a Polar H10 a few months ago & not had any dropouts or disconnects at all, seems to be a much more stable device, time will tell i guess.
Would be good for Zwift to be able to pair to Ant+ and BLE for the same decice and chop autonomously between the two to avoid drop outs.
What’s the point?
To get rid of ZPower rangers in races, I would guess. And make it easy to require HRM for entry.
My life fitness IC8 in not smart but does have a pwoermeter.I use a HRM too. Does that mean that I can compete in all of these categories?
Yep!