James Bailey and friends have continued with their weekly testing and tweaking of Pace Partners to dial in the best mix of bots, paces, routes, and events.
This week Pace Partners are modulating their wattage a bit better than before, all while heading to France for le Tour and leading Chase Races! Let’s dig into the latest Pace Partner news…
This Week’s Ride Routes
Riding routes for each Pace Partner have been changed this week, and Makuri Island Pace Partners have moved to France to watch le Tour:
Watopia:
- Anquetil (4.2) – Flat Route
- Brevet (3.3) – Beach Island Loop
- Coco (2.5) – Hilly Route
- Daniela (2.15) – Tempus Fugit
- Diego (1.8 ) – Sand and Sequoias
- Diesel (1.5) – Tick Tock
- Dorothy (1.15) – Volcano Circuit CCW
France:
- Bernadette (3.8 ) – Tire-Bouchon
- Charlie (3.0) – Petit Boucle
- Denise (2.0) – R.G.V.
- Eddy (1.0) – Douce France
Smarter Power Modulation
Before this week, Pace Partners were modulating their power on inclines and declines to help keep the pace more natural; increasing power by 10% when the gradient hit 3% or more, and decreasing power by 20% on a negative gradient.
Power modulation will be a bit more “fine-grained” beginning this week, which will hopefully make the bot-driven pacing feel even more natural:
- Uphill
- 1% gradient = 3% more power
- 2% gradient = 6% more power
- 3% gradient or more = 10% more power
- Downhill
- -1% gradient = 6% less power
- -2% gradient = 12% less power
- -3% gradient or more = 20% less power
Pace Partner-Led Chase Races
Zwift has been testing Pace Partner-led events for the past few weeks, and this week we’re seeing something novel – Chase Races where each category is “led” by a Pace Partner!
Pace Partner Chase Races are scheduled for multiple timeslots Tuesday to Thursday on France’s R.G.V. route. A Pace Partner will appear as the beacon in each of the 4 categories, riding at 4.59w/kg, 3.99 w/kg, 3.19w/kg, and 2.49w/kg.
- Group D (2.49 w/kg) will take off first, on the hour
- Group C (3.19 w/kg) starts 3 minutes after D
- Group B (3.99 w/kg) starts 4 minutes after C
- Group A (4.59 w/kg) starts 2 minutes after B
See upcoming Pace Partner events >
Zwift Insider reader Jim Haysom sent us this live stream recording of his first Pace Partner Chase Race. He wrote “… great concept, you and fellow category riders play domestique to get your pacer bot to the finish before the others. Our Cat Bs tonight (10pm BST) we’re about 31s from the win I think.”
Running Bots on the Volcano Circuit
Run bots are warming up on laps of Watopia’s Volcano Circuit (and Volcano Circuit CCW) this week, with plans to change the featured route each week. There are 11 run bots at a wide range of paces, so if runners want a bit of company, there’s a bot available:
- Michael Midsole: 10:00/km
- David Doubles: 9:00/km
- Tracey Trot: 8:00/km
- Albert Amble: 7:30/km
- Sarah Stride: 7:00/km
- Benito Bounder: 6:30/km
- Hettie Hare: 6:00/km
- Brendan Bolter: 5:30/km
- Rebecca Rocket: 5:00/km
- Stuart Speedster: 4:30/km
- Patricia Pacemaker: 4:00/km
Share Feedback
James is looking for feedback on all things Pace Partner. He requests that you share feedback (and any questions) in one of these spots:
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