Zwiftpower has just “upgraded” me to Cat A, so if I continue to race CAT B I will be DQ’ed from races 
Currently on Zwift I am FOP CAT B, but only been top 3 once, going to CAT A, I will be BOP and have target written all over me… especially for those CAT C riders who want bragging rights
My last 3 races I have averaged 4.04 w/kg, I am really bad at Zwift tactics, spending too much time on the front and not enough conserving energy.
Rules are rules Matthew!
So I still couldn’t manage this properly tonight, I signed up for a short race in London in C cat, got to the start and it put me in A Cat!! They’d disappeared after about 4 seconds, any reason why it would set me to that?
Jeff
Hi, my first post on the new forum!
I’m all in when it comes to Zwift. Probably 90% of my riding/racing on it. Race for team, and been in a $10k event.
Started out with iPad on table in garage. Over 18 months, as I realised the fun/addiction, I tried Apple TV, then laptop, then finally had my brother custom build a PC especially to handle multi scree, 4k and live streaming to YouTube at same time.
Large TV for zwift, smaller for any other business (zwift power, streamlabs, netflix, etc), ipad for zwift companion ap (on tripod by bars for easy use) and discord. IMO best combo.
You’re certainly committed to it Daz!
Best bit is all those guys in Cat C doing 4w/kg average in races 
Before being excluded from results on Zwiftpower. I was excluded on a couple of races in a period when my FTP was increasing.
Hey mate!
Yeh there’s a lot of that going on. At least, if you use Zwift Power it imposes DQs on people. That’s your official results, ranking, event reference.
System not perfect. Some new people don’t realise they are going in too low a cat (although ZP now covers that with a NEW marker) , as well as badly calibrated machines. At least the higher profile events and partic those with cash prizes now require direct drive, hrm, cadence and even secondary power recording in some cases. You also have to be invited in through a team. Reduces cheating right down, but not 100%
Have you raced IRL?
Ha yes I did a short duathlon sunday. The interesting thing is Zwift has turned me into more of a puncheur, sprinter. I struggle to TT now. So on Sun I was forever getting out of the saddle attacking the hills 
These are now typical races for me on Zwift - Youtube /dazcarter73
Short, hard, watching attacks and a sprint at the end. Good fun, but not much use for long outdoors or TT events
BTW, remember Towel? (not sure he’s still posting on here?) He races more than me on Zwift, same team.
I certainly think it’ll get bigger. A lot of issues to iron out on the way though!
That is so weird, Maryka’s feedback on zwift racing is that it’s totally TT-esque, no freewheeling you just go a bit above or a bit below TT like watts, exactly as you’d pace a hilly TT and absolutely nothing like road racing at all.
my experiences are all out for 3 or 4 minutes at start, then speed is depending on distance but just about sustainable with a sprint at the end. Very little happens in respect of breakaways due to the blob effect and the only real thing to split people up are “hills” . Most people race on 25% “realism” so the hills dont affect your trainer making it even more TT like.
Yes, it just feels like a long threshold effort to me with a bit of under/over. Maybe for monsters, there’s more variability?
100% “realism” on a tacx neo just means you get dropped on the descents I think, even though the zwift realism is an absolute joke it’s a realistic CDA of a fat giant sat up on a dutch city bike, but that’s still enough to mean you can’t match the watts of someone with the inertia of a dumb trainer to fight against.
It’s not to knock it as training of course, just as anything similar to road racing that might make you more of a “road racer” type rider surprises me.
I love how a 2s gap is almost impossible to close if you’re only 2-3 people behind a pack. Totally unrealistic (the draft algorithm).
You guys seem to have a different experience of Zwift. It may be because ive been in a-cat team events where attacks are common. Agree flat courses there is little chance of an early attack working but anything like the innsbruckring leg snapper or various NY courses and you need to be able to hit hard for 30-60sec to stay with the blob…if you want to finish near the front on your cat. I can’t remember last time I was in a race of sustained effort. If I’m in a group then I’m either chasing an attack or sitting near the back taking micro rests. Theyve recently been testing out a weaker draft for racing, so perhaps will will; get harder later on
Right. Wifi adaptors arrived on Sunday. They’ve been tested all day in the top room as i work. Managed to get admin rights to my laptop (so i can install 3rd party rubbish) by hiding the request to IT helpdesk inside another legitimate one! 
Zwift downloaded on laptop and companion app on phone. It’s slow to open and load, and i’m on a brand new i7 HP Elitebook. Though i clearly won’ t have a super graphics card, not sure if this will impact or not. Would the ipad (think it’s about a year old) be better as the ‘main’ Zwift hub do you think?
As i mentioned before, me bike is broked. But i’ll give it a go tonight and see if i can get some sort of enjoyment out of it at least. The initial interace is very messy and confusing with all the training options, rides starting etc etc. Don’t like that at all! But i’ll muddle my way through and see what happens i guess!
Is there a Cat G?
I use an iPad - need a Bluetooth heart rate strap I’d you go down that route.
Look on gpLamas YouTube page. He’s got loads of really useful Zwift setup videos
The Zwift interface isn’t that user friendly and there are loads of mistakes to be made for newbies.
