I joined Zwift in December 2018, after getting a Wahoo Kickr Snap as an early Christmas gift from my wife (best Christmas gift ever). At the time I felt I was a decent biker… well, really a decent triathlete with a good bike leg. I had raced in all kinds of triathlons from sprint distance up to full distance, including some of the Age Group National Championships races run by USA Triathlon.
All this is to say that I felt fairly good about my bike. I knew I wasn’t the best biker, but I felt like I could generally hang with most anyone. I joined a random Category D race in January 2019 and was totally dusted. I didn’t know how to race, I wasn’t fit enough and finished probably in the bottom 10%.
In triathlon having ~190 watt FTP (2.4 w/kg) is good enough to keep you at the front end of most local races, but apparently it wasn’t even enough to keep up in the lowest category on Zwift! To say it was disheartening was an understatement. About a month later I tore my ACL and although I got back on the bike within a few months, I felt very hesitant to even think about a Zwift race, even after feeling like I was fully recovered from my injury.
For basically all of 2019, whenever I entered a race it was just to ride whatever course the race was on and never really to try for a placing. However, reading Eric’s “How the Race was Lost” post about racing with the Cat A’s inspired me to get a Zwift Power account and give racing a shot again.
Route and Bike Choice
I chose a Crit City “Bell Lap” Category D race. I chose it because I feel like Crit City is the place where people go to race, not just get a good ride in under the guise of a race event. Up until this point, I had never even ridden in Crit City before (I’m now a level 18 Zwifter) because I had been too shy about racing.
Additionally, I don’t have a ton of virtual bikes to choose from. My only real aero bike is my TT bike, so I went with my Chapter 2 Rere bike which has 3 stars each for Aero and Weight (so I guess that’s good?) with my Zip 808s.
The Beginning
I knew from reading Eric’s posts that I could count on two things in this race: 1) a fast start, and 2) a bunch of sandbaggers. More on #2 later, but I decided to go all out to make the front group no matter how much it cost me later, hoping the pace would eventually calm down.
I knew it was important to get a good warmup in and get to the pens early. Too bad I have no idea what I’m doing in terms of how to really warm up for a bike race! Instead of heading to Watopia or some other world to warm up, I just headed to the pens “early”. I got there 11 minutes before the race and was probably the 5th person in the pens so I got a “good” warmup in and got a good starting position. I mostly just soft-pedaled except for one strong 30-second effort, but I knew immediately I was having a good day.
Read tips for pre-race warmups >
By the time the gate opened there were about 55 D Category racers heading out on the Bell Lap course. I knew the start was going to be fast, but OMG, it was so fast! My Zwift FTP heading into the race was 191 Watts and I weigh 78.2 Kg for an FTP of 2.42 w/Kg, but I had to go massively into the red just to make the front group.
I had 1-minute power of over 280 watts and although I did make the front group of about 25 riders, my heart rate was already 180+. I knew I wasn’t going to make it through 8 laps in the front group. However, I also knew that probably a decent number of the people in this front group weren’t truly Cat D racers.
I was finally unhinged at the beginning of the 3rd lap.
The Middle
I ended up in no-mans-land for a bit before joining up with 2 other racers and then being caught by a larger chase pack to form a rather large “group 2” on the road. During the next 3 or 4 laps we caught a few more people that had been spit out the back of the front group.
My group ended up consisting of places 17-27 in the race when it was all said and done. It looked like most everyone in the group was on the limit, so I started thinking about a sprint because I knew I didn’t have the energy for a sustained attack. I don’t even know if I’m a good sprinter and I felt a bit weird thinking about sprinting for 17th place but hey, I was here for a race, wasn’t I? So starting in the 5th lap I began thinking about the last few corners and when I would use my aero powerup (praise the random number generators).
The Finish
In the last lap a few people went off the front on “attacks.” Really, they upped the power just a bit and nobody (I guess really just me since I was on the front of the pack at this point) had the energy to chase. A few of them ended up coming back to the group in the end, but a few also stayed away.
As we hit 1 km to go, I dropped to the back of what was left of the pack in about 24th place and began to wind up a sprint. I ended up hitting almost 600 watts (my highest ever on Zwift) and passed most of what was left of the second pack to finish in 20th place.
See my ride on Strava >
See my ride on Zwift >
See race results on ZwiftPower >
The Aftermath
It may seem silly to say, but I was pumped about the result. I have never gone so hard or so deep on my bike. I thought I was going to pass out as soon as I hit the finish line. I averaged a heart rate of 184 for 25 minutes and had a max heart rate of 195. I felt like I raced the best plan I could given my legs. I got in the front group, held on as long as I could, waited for a large chase pack and then took a good placing out of that pack. I also increased my Zwift FTP from 191 to 201 Watts, proving that sometimes you need a race to get the best performance out of you.
I also totally underestimated how much I would enjoy actually racing. Because I knew that there were a bunch of sandbaggers ahead of me, I was able to pretend I was racing for first, even though I was in 20th place. I was able to think about racecraft and strategy when my heart was about the explode. Trying to manage when to use powerups, when to attack or cover other attacks, and where to start my final sprint was thrilling. It made biking as much of a mental exercise as a physical one and added a whole new dimension to indoor riding.
Now returning to the point of sandbaggers… I placed 20th in a category D race with about 55 riders. I averaged 2.7 watts/Kg for 25 minutes during the race for an estimated FTP of 2.545 w/Kg. So technically I was marginally over the category D threshold even though I finished in 20th, 2 minutes behind the winner!
Now, I will say that Zwift Power does a nice job of cleaning up these deficiencies. There were 13 of us in the race registered on Zwift Power and in the unfiltered results I was 6th place, however in the official results I was 2nd of 8 official racers because 5 were filtered out (I’m guessing for being above categorization limits, but honestly I’m not sure how Zwift Power does that).
But sandbagging is a big issue. There are a lot of people on Zwift who are between 1.75 and 2.25 w/kg FTP, but if they race in Cat D, they might as well just ride for enjoyment, because they are going to end up dropped in the first 5 minutes. Eric mentions this problem a lot from the Cat B perspective, but I think the problem has even more impact for category D riders because like me a year ago, many first-time racers think they are racing against a field of peers when they are not, so when they finish in the bottom half many will just decide not to race seriously ever again.
I think the best way to sum up the problem is: in order to feel like I could participate in Cat D races, I had to be able to put out Cat C power.
Takeaways
Three takeaways from this race:
- Get a Zwift Power account. It can totally change your mentality about racing in Zwift and make you feel like you have a chance, which makes the experience so much more fun.
- Go like hell from the gun, you can’t win the race if you don’t make the front group so you might as well give it everything you have. It’s not like you have to save energy for the ride home!
- Racing on Zwift is a ton of fun. If you have tried it in the past and had a bad experience or don’t feel like you are strong enough, give it another shot. You may surprise yourself.
What About You?
Are you a Cat D racer? How have your Zwift race experiences lined up with mine? Share below!
I enjoy reading Eric’s and now your race reports so thanks for sharing. I agree with you on the mental aspect of racing – so much more fun than just an exercise bike. I got bumped up to C in the fall and my current problem with Zwift categorization and sandbaggers is figuring out who my “real” competition is in a race. There’s no point me trying to race against the folks who have B level power. It wastes energy and I get dropped anyway. A bit like your strategy above, I have to find the second group (or sometimes the third) and pretend that is the front of the race. Sometimes it is after ZwiftPower filters! Either way its a lot of fun and through the Zwiftpower stats I can see I’m gradually improving.
Excellent story Scott, thanks for summing up every Cat D race I’ve been in. Sounds like you’re hooked, I know I am. Good luck in all your activities!
Congrats on a great race and nice write-up too. As for the sandbagging….it’s tough because in a race of 55 people you are only going to have one winner and 3 on the podium. 52 people leave with nothing.
If you have a perfectly matched group of 55 that you race with every week you’re looking at a single win over the course of a year on average. I think most people expect to be in the lead group or podium….and obviously that’s just not realistic.
The up side is, as you say, you’re racing with the people immediately around you. As somebody who has won a race IRL and also been lapped IRL and everything in between….I can tell you the racing is pretty similar regardless of where you are. So there’s that 🙂
Joe, that’s an interesting perspective. I agree that sometimes people (like me) need to manage self expectations. I will say that I didn’t expect to win or even do well in my first race, but I didn’t expect to be lapped, but as you say sometimes that happens IRL if you loose the draft. I think that most beginners feel that even if they are dropped they will end up a 2-5 minutes behind in a 20-30 minute race, not 8-10 minutes behind (put another way, even though most people don’t expect to win, everybody expects to be in the top half, which isn’t possible) and that realization is harsh. That increased gap relative to expectations has a lot to do with drafting and group dynamics on the road, but also to high performing riders pushing the pace of the lead group and lots of other riders just hanging on for dear life. Thanks for the comment.
I think we can all agree, that there can only be one winner in a race.
But it seems to me, that you think it’s completely okay that many riders with and FTP above 2,5 w/kg sign up for D-races. I think it’s a major problem!!
Yesterday’s ‘Crit race’ at 15:45GMT was an absolute disgrace. Some of the riders in the B-category were above 6 W/kg, some of the riders in the C-category were above 5 W/kg and some of the riders in the D-category were above 4 W/kg. And I think that more than half of the riders in the B,C and D category ended the race doing wattage above the category limits. It destroys the races!! And I feel sorry for those D-riders with an FTP around 2 W/kg and the C-riders around 2,6 and the B-riders around 3,3 – they get dropped after 20 seconds. I am obviously aware that even if everyone complied to the category limits someone would get dropped after a while. But that is how it should be.
I think that Zwift should address this issue and enforce riders into the right category. I am aware that a D-rider with an FTP around 2,7 W/KG doesn’t exactly destroy the races but there needs to be limits, otherwise it will be a “race to the top”.
I race B at 3.3 w/kg so that race sounds pretty bad….what can I say, I hope this changes too.
I have been racing in the C category and placed as high as 10th and as low as 40th. I race outside for real as a category 4 and have won some and lost some, but hold my own. I do not like the sandbaggers, but they are what they are. I use it as a means to an end. If I am out of the race, I pick a group to hang with and treat that as my final sprint. I use it as training and yes I would like to win, but sometime there are things stacked against you. In real life there is so much more than just hammer down for 28 minutes. With that said, I think it prepares me to be a stronger rider outside. Where else can I go that hard for 28 minutes and more than likely I will not need to do that in a cat 4 race. Ride On.
I totally agree here. I have a FTP of around 2.8. when I race I start as hard as I can, and when groups form, I focus on the group that I am in. And try to stay in that group without getting dropped. And when I Sprint and manage to become 2,3 of 4th in that group, I am really proud of myself! Every race I go all-out. It’s the best training, and so much fun!!
Hi Scott, great article! Your experience is typical, unfortunately. I remember when I felt like you did after your first race, DADurday. Holy cow I was dropped at the start, rode by myself until I got lapped and then dropped again, and again. Wasn’t fun. I posted on FB about my experience and my DIRT brothers encouraged me to keep returning and I would get faster. They were right.
Having Eric’s series has helped my racing quite a bit and although I have never taken a podium that I can remember I am now a low C cat racer and now I get dropped by faster guys.
Anyway, thanks for sharing your experience and I hope to see you in Watopia!
I am a D racer. According to Zwift Power I am ranked 14th overall for D racers. My best finish ever was an 8th place according to Zwift however and that race was small, so I’ve never even podiumed. But on Zwift Power I get credit for mostly 1st place finishes, mostly because I’m the biggest person in each race (230lbs). That would likely change if I raced courses I was bad at but with the selection of races available every day I enter the ones I’m best suited for (Crit City, Central Park, Flat Watopia Races, etc) and when I want hills I usually opt for group rides. Like you, I’ve lost by 2-3 minutes in very short races. And like you, once the dust settles and the pack I’m in is established, my race consists of trying to catch stragglers and beat everyone else is that pack…that’s my race. And it’s fun!
Great advice! My HR went up just reading about your “D” race!
Nice writeup Scott. I’ve only done one Crit City race and it quickly became about staying with the second group as the sandbaggers took off. I can really relate to the mentality. Knowing full well that there was no chance to win, I felt really good staying with the second group and least competing with that group for the alternate win.
As a cat c racer it is exactly the same, I did the tdw stage 5 race this morning and their were people putting out 8wkg + for the first lap, the first 18 in the results were all over the 3.1wkg limit at the end of the race. However I find that by just going as hard as I can for as long as I can I have improved from being nowhere in cat d to mid pack cat c
as a decent D rider,
my proposal is
1.races with only zwift power members
2.if the start is with all categories at the same time, different jerseys for each category
3.category per segment, sprinter,climber, etc so you can compeet as a sprinter with other sprinters in a climbrace, now you don’t have a chance to get a good result in a race which is not made for your skills. I like to climb but i’m not good at it, bad results is really demotivating
Tim, That’s a nice simple way to do things. My ideas involved Bayesian regression with unknown priors to account for people with no previous results, but honestly that is to technical to ever work in reality. I think your idea is a great one. I’m guessing that Zwift is against the idea of events that not everyone can join, but if the jungle and the Alp are off limits until you get to certain levels, an argument could be made to add some races as only for people with Zwift Power accounts.
I think your proposal number one would be great. But unfortunately, it seems like Zwift has this mantra “Zwift is for everyone”. Including sandbaggers. And also those (In my honest opinion) outrageous sandbaggers with an FTP at 1 W/KG or more above the category limit of the race that they race in.
Perhaps Zwift could allow some race organizers an option to “only allow riders signed up at Zwiftpower and enforce riders into the category assigned by Zwiftpower”.
I’m a woman racing in D, although I was briefly in C last year until I was ill (C in women FTP <150 and 3.1 W/kg). I agree totally about all of the sandbaggers in D. It’s crazy and even being at a reasonable level makes it impossible to race with men in B and C. And these are just the individuals I see on Zwiftpower. The problem is these people change the race dynamics and blow it up right from the beginning. I think races would be much more enjoyable if you weren’t doing 5 W/kg in the first minutes!
I’m a sandbagger.
I raced ToW Stage 5 cat C today. I finished at place 31 with 3.7 W/kg avg. My time was faster than the winners time on Zwift Power (except the 4,9 W/kg guy – why does he show up in the list?) https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=356980
So there were more than 30 sandbaggers in this race…
As a realtive light rider @Kevin kg it’s hard to race in flat races against the 80+ kg guys.
As a realtive light rider at 73 kg it’s hard to race in flat races against the 80+ kg guys.
I think it’s wrong, but I can somehow understand why you don’t want to race in the B-category with all their sandbaggers.
Let’s say Zwift allowed more categories, made a “B2-category” starting at 3,4 W/KG and limited at 3,8 W/KG and only allowed racers signed up at Zwiftpower. Would you then sign up for that “B2-category”?
I also do not like it. But I also like to be in the top 10. And I think it’s impossible in B. Splitting up B would be a good idea. But would be there enough paritipants? – I don’t know. I race for fun. But I can also see that I mess up the race for the others. Perhaps I should just accept not placing in the top 10 and/or selecting races which suit my capabilities better (more hills). But on the other hand it’s fun to go fast on a flat course – even if it’s only in virutal reality…
I know the exuce that everyone is doing it is a bad one.
Events where only ZwiftPower users can start would be a good idea.
Might have misread, but using a TT bike means you can’t draft off the people in front…so you made life waaay more difficult for yourself!
Alistair, Perhaps I wasn’t clear in my writing. I was saying that my only real aero bike is my TT bike, but since I know you lose the draft if you chose that I chose my Chapter 2 Rere bike (it was cheap in the drop shop and had decent star ratings so I bought it a while back)
Thanks for sharing Scott. I think that your experience mirrors that of most of us who started racing in D category. I consoled myself by thinking that ‘somebody’ must finish last in any given category and didn’t let it bother me if that ‘somebody’ happened to be me. Like you I found racing fun. Racing pushed me to test my limits again and again. I considered a personal best a “win” regardless of where I placed in Zwift or Zwift Power.
When I finally got on the podium and even ‘won’ a D category race my numbers were now good enough for Cat C. I’m currently ‘sweeping’ the back of Cat C races, testing/pushing my limits and enjoying myself.
Keep persevering (and racing) gals and guys. Height/weight dopers, sandbaggers will do what they do; don’t let it discourage you. You’ll get fitter and that is the true WIN.
Ride On!
I am 60 years old and race in Cat D, I have the exact same problem you mentioned, I feel I am a competent Cat D rider but can never get anywhere near the front of a race
I’m a D cat rider, and it keeps me just on the limit of what I can do. I get in a group and focus on helping the group catch up on stragglers from the groups in front. Often I’m in a bunch of 4 or 5 and we are egging each other on. I know I won’t win but it is just as satisfying to out sprint the group I’m in at the line!
I’m an old guy and I make the top 85-90% possible. I’ve shown up for so many outdoor group rides that ere promoted as 15-17 mph that immediately take off the 19-21 mph and leave me in the dust.
HOOAH!
Excellent! I suffered very similar fate, did my first race and was 36 out of 39. Kept at it, loved racing, tracked a few people at my original 2.3 watts per kilo level and messaged them to form a little team so that I would have somebody to draft with. I learned to draft, stand on my pedals comfortably on my trainer and got stronger zwifting, I was recovering from a complete knee replacement. Now I am happily mid level C at about 3 watts per kilo. Thank you Zwift, I love racing!
Nice reading, relevant and all relative in the end. I have seen possible adjustments and improvements in beta tests and are looking forward to these, trying to make racing more competitive and fair. There are many different factors, w/kg probably the biggest contributor, however I am wondering and don’t see age playing a role in the classification of riders? Surely this could make racing even more competitive and fair?
I finished 6th in the end of race results and in ZwiftPower I finished 4th. This was my first race and I had fun. I don’t really understand the finish results but I’ll take 4th or 6th for a first race!
Great story and I can totally relate. I’m relatively new at zwift and I do look forward to racing at least twice or thrice a week. This early I’ve learned to live with sandbaggers. Of the gate if I notice that they can maintain 3.1 and above w/kg for quite a distance I don’t bother to hold on and just stay with a group on a 2.5 average. Had a great time with a 75 minute race yesterday even if I just finished 4th on a split second lost for 3rd. We where the second group and up until the last half km we where all helping each other taking turns leading the group and on the last 150 meters all 6 of us went full throttle to the finish line, it was very close. In as much as there are disappointing races there is this 1 race that can makes up for it. See you in the races 🏁