Last week’s big Zwift update included several new “hidden” features which will be tested in private events in the coming weeks. One exciting feature already being tested is called the “Ride Leader Fence”. Here’s what we know about it…
Why a Fence?
One common complaint from social ride leaders and participants is fliers. Those pesky riders who join a group ride which states a specific pace, then proceed to drill it off the front and never ride with the pack.
Nobody knows why fliers do this. Obviously, they don’t care about keeping the ride together. Perhaps they are new cyclists and they don’t even realize it’s a big party foul. Perhaps they’re proud sociopaths who want to show everyone how strong they are.
Regardless of the reason, fliers never improve a group ride, and ride leaders have been asking for features to control them for a long time.
How It Works
When enabled, the beta fence feature puts a semi-opaque “fence” a certain number of seconds ahead of the ride leader (beacon). The number of seconds is configurable.
Clearly, Zwift has put some real thought into this feature even in its early stages. As riders get closer to the “fence” it becomes more visible, meaning if you’re sticking with the ride leader the fence is hard to see or perhaps completely invisible. Start getting too close, though, and it is visible as a warning.
If you ride through the fence then it’s quite visible behind you, and you receive a message stating you need to go back inside the fence or you will be auto-booted from the ride. The message is very clear: “Return to the group to stay in this event, or keep riding to quit this event.”
As a ride leader myself, this all makes great sense. It doesn’t force ride leaders to manually boot fliers, but cleans them off of the ride if they choose to stay off the front. This should also “train” habitual fliers to stop joining group rides when they don’t want to ride at the planned pace.
See It In Action
Watch Martin Björgvik’s recording of yesterday’s test of this feature, led by Zwift staffer Wes Salmon:
When?
Zwift is only testing this feature among other ride leaders at this time, to see if it’s even worth incorporating in the live game. So it’s possible this feature will never see live action. It’s also possible we may see it live in the near future. Who knows?
Your Thoughts
What do you think of this feature? Is it needed? Does it function in the best possible way? Comment below!
Joined my first group ride today with a fence. I really liked it but after reading about it I realized I shouldn’t just be behind it, I should not have seen it. Now I will ride further away. Thanks for the info. Excellent resource!!
I find this whole situation fascinating, amusing, and dumb. First let’s remember that everyone is in their own room on their own stationary bike. Nobody is any more or less “with” anyone else regardless of what some figure on a screen says. Now note that if all that is happening is everyone is riding in a large group at fixed power, that there is no simulation dynamics; there is no game; there is just you pedaling at a constant power with a screen filled with supposed representations of people you are still not actually with. But what about the draft? Ah.. you get to “go faster” if you stay in a group, ie a number on a screen says you cover more distance. Amazing, right? Does that get you in better shape? But you “feel bad” if you get dropped and ride “alone,” Why? What has changed? Are you stuck out in traffic away from home with trucks going by and nobody to rely on if you get a flat? No. But now there are no cartoons of the other riders on your screen? And?
I just don’t get it. I think most fliers are just people who want to feel a bit of the game dynamics. Maybe they just feel spunky for a few minutes and want to break out with another rider and do some drafting, bridge some gaps, chase someone down, actually race for a few minutes, then maybe drop back to the group eventually, or not. At least it’s SOMETHING to add some game to the game. I just can’t understand how or why people feel hurt by this. But then people are very good at feeling hurt in modern times, probably because they don’t have enough real problems, and apparently they don’t see how this is actually just harassing other people for doing nothing to you at all. The whole thing is rather amusing. Zwift seems like Twitter with pedals.
To be complete though, the fence option is good, because it seems this attitude does exist, people do like it apparently, and this way no arguments are needed. People can join these fenced rides or not. Don’t mistake this for me crying about it.