In late July when Zwift took over responsibility for the operation of ZwiftPower, there were a lot of questions surrounding what this may mean for ZwiftPower moving forward. Just a few days ago Zwift posted an update on their forum. You can click to read that discussion, but here’s my summary and comments.
New ZwiftPower Support Team
Zwift has set up a dedicated support email for all things ZwiftPower: [email protected]. If you have questions about your ZwiftPower race results, want to report someone else’s performance, can’t get connected to ZwiftPower, etc, this is the place to go.
Zwift says:
Additional personnel have been added at Zwift HQ to serve the racing community. This specialized team is best able to help you, and can be emailed directly at [email protected]
Additionally, ZwiftPower’s Facebook group and private messaging have been disabled. This was where ZwiftPower’s creator (James Hodges) used to interact with Zwifters, but since Zwift has taken over the support role it makes sense to disable these tools and provide users a clear path to finding support. (Notably, a link to the Facebook page still exists on ZwiftPower’s homepage, and I can’t find any links to the new support email… yet).
No Big Changes Coming Soon
Zwift’s update says that ZwiftPower’s functionality and racing rules won’t be changing anytime soon. That’s good news.
They did mention a couple of minor updates which should happen in September:
- Adding course profiles for France and Paris maps
- Adding Sprint and KOM segments for France and Paris maps
Long-Term Changes
Zwift’s forum post included this rather cryptic final note:
Long-term changes (timing TBD)
Better race data-crunching integrated natively within Zwift
“Better” means different things depending on your POV across a broad spectrum of interests as a race organizer, club owner, and/or racer. As you add your comments, please provide that context for how you use ZwiftPower.
Reading between the lines, I’d say Zwift has no clear goals/vision for further development of ZwiftPower’s features at this point. Instead, they plan to keep the site maintained and functional while developing more “native” race features – effectively replicating some of ZwiftPower’s functionality on Zwift.
We shouldn’t be surprised by this – it makes sense for Zwift to focus on improving the functionality of their own platform and avoid investing major resources in a site developed by a third party. And in the end, isn’t that what we want: for Zwift’s native functionality to include robust features for racers, such as category enforcement, sandbagging controls, and more tools for race organizers?
The questions are: what functionality will Zwift bring to their platform? What improved “race data-crunching” will they prioritize? And when will it happen?
They’re asking for input, and some key racers and event organizers have already shared very useful ideas. If you have thoughts on how Zwift can best support racing with new features on their platform, I’d encourage you to post on the forum topic. I know I’ll be doing that soon.
Questions or Comments?
Share below!
This is semi related comment. I’ve always wondered about some of the scheduled races on the calendar. Specifically are these actually managed on a week to week basis? The 3R races (of which there are lots) seem to be the same course and length each week and annoyingly always have each category starting together – are these ever reviewed by anyone to see if they could be improved?
I manage the KISS races, which are not as frequent as the 3R races but once a month I send in a spreadsheet for all of the courses and all of the races for the next month. During the month sometimes I make changes to the courses but try to keep them varied week to week.
Thanks. It’s probably wrong and unfair But I get the impression that someone set the 3R races up ages ago and then moved on.
Matthew, thanks for that! I’m loving the Kiss races and course selection!
Agreed, I’m not a fan of all categories racing together. It’s bag enough getting blown away by sandbaggers in my own category but seeing cat D’s fly by is even worse.
For the moment things for me are going worst then change.
For example tour off the maap was done without GC of stages, when behind we have look it on etape do tour and tour for all.
Would be great for race organisers to be able to restrict people entering races at a lower category than they are at e.g. a Cat C or B rider entering a Cat D race … I have seen in both D and C races how this can influence the racing element of the event and deter the correct Cat riders from challenging? Maybe in time this could be more possible if Zwift create their own version of ZP built into Zwift as the individual racer Cat is currently maintained in ZP and the race is managed in Zwift??
Respectfully have to disagree (but with a possible compromise) :-). The problem is understood but there needs to be a different solution than “entry restriction”. I ride/”race” lower categories 80% of the time, either as recovery rides, rides with buddies or simply cause its a cool crowd. I for one cannot ride at ftp threshold every ride or find pleasure on joining an A ride just to sit alone at the back, riding Z2. I sometimes finish 180/200 riding in a lower cat, why would you want to prevent me from doing that, minding my own business, just looking for… Read more »
Hi Carl … I appreciate your point and I might have done the same in the past! My issue is not with your type of entry it’s the ones who enter a lower cat and then race. I have seen this too often in both D and C races and it gives the mid to lower end less chance of staying with the front group. You could say it’s dog eat dog in racing but if you want to race then stick to your own group … I have done the exact same as you but made a point of… Read more »
Carl, I have the impression you are talking about rides, in which you can of course sort into whatever category you please, and stick to the prescribed pace, or lower.
As for races, I think category enforcement is the only way forward. It’s ofcourse perfectly possible to enter your correct cat and simply finish at the back of the bunch, or drop until you are caught by a lower cat. I don’t see why one would dismiss category enforcement based on your argument?
The only issue with CAT enforcement for me is that I can come top 25% in CAT B up to around 30km, after that I can’t sustain the power for longer races. But, I guess I’d just have to try harder!
If that’s what it is, then so be it.
Hi Carl, I disagree with your argument. If it is a race, then why would you join a lower category and ride Z2? I believe there are plenty of rides you can choose from to ride at your comfortable pace. The issue with category enforcement is that people are not always getting stronger. In event of sickness, injury, increased commitment or simply aging, a previous A rider may not be able to sustain the effort in a B or even a C race. Unless there is a mechanism to “downgrade” a rider, which I don’t think existed yet in ZP,… Read more »
I’m enjoying the Zwift experience immensely! I would prefer if the categories are changed from the present structure ( eg. More variations of the range)! 🤓
It seems to me the community infrastucture created around Zwift (including sites like tis one and ZwiftPower) are a key factor in its success. I can see why Zwift might want to take on ZP but not why they would do it without a long term plan and with seemingly minimal support e.g. why are France / Paris sprint segments still not available ?
bcos they booted out the creator and they prolly have no idea how he designed it in the first place so now they gotta hire new ppl to unravel the code :3
Yeah, nah…
I would love to see a calendar for leagues and Series on ZP so I can actually try and join the week 1 as some are multi week I dont really want to join on week 7 of 8. If this exists and I have`nt seen it please point 🙂
This!! Such a simple thing.
Call it tentative so Zwift don’t get scared about committing to future dates.
ZP can already show leagues and series just fine (except for signups for events more than a day or two in the future for whatever reason). The problem is that most series seem to be implemented simply as a single event repeating weekly, and the details (route, distance, race rules etc.) are updated to match the week’s event at the last minute if we’re lucky (this past spring I’ve done several races where this didn’t happen, either the route didn’t change or a supposed mass start was run with TT rules (no drafting)). You can look e.g. at the Crit… Read more »
hope they’ve got an army on the other side of that email address ^_^
Hi Eric, any news on the UI update that was “ready” but not yet rolled out as when they wanted to do this COVID happened, which gave some urgent issues because of the big increase of users. Now all is back normal, but no news in the UI… Do you have an idea?
The million dollar question… What everybody is waiting for!
If that was the explanation, then logically it would need to be prior to when northern winter officially kicks in and numbers rise again. I would expect late October after we the Giro or more likely early-mid November.
I really would like the tools of Zwiftpower in Zwift itself. 1 place to see the results, which are category inforced. That would make ‘real’ results, where right now only 50% or less of the racers are registered. And I personally like to see after the race the primes and KOM Times compared.
Zwift should enforce HR to all A and B races. Most races said the HR monitor mandatory, but a lot of winners and top 3 on races dont wear a HR monitor and dont get disqualified. Even there is one that is top 20 on Racing ranking and he never use a HR monitor. To be fair the rule should be the same to all, no exceptions.
Zwift should enforce rules in general. It’s just not fun to have people averaging 4w/kg in a race for 2.4 and below. If the developer doesn’t care, why should the community.
Zwift do not and will not enforce anything out of principle if those rogue members are paying to play. It would be bad for business. Your experience is being diminished because it’s a better economic trade off for them.
ZP is not only about racing, categories and results, but also about performance and improvement. IMHO this functionality definitively has to stay in any ZP replacement to keep Zwift interesting for non racers.
My problem is. If i whanto link into a race how kan i see the km and the assent before the race .now i have to go and get in the race. then i can see how far and assent .then i decide its not what i want. Then have to go all the way back and start ofer again. A bit incoviniant
Zwift gaining control over zwiftpower.com can mean only one thing: Disaster!!!
Have markers above riders heads saying what group they are…A,B,C or D. That way you know who you are racing. Also it should be a no brainer to not let those in a higher group join a lower one. I mean you have all they info right there before they even join. More fair equals more fun and more fun means more riders.