Personally i think zwift need to change the category system for racing. There is a huge jump between c and b class. They almost need to introduce a level in-between like c+. Because there are so many riders on zwift i think they need to seriously think about overhauling the entirenthing as even c cat is very competitive nowadays

Spot on Max, I feel exactly the same whenever I race in cat b races. I find them brutal! Good effort

First time coming across your channel mate and a "tip of the cap" great effort sir,.

Before I got ill lmast year I did move up from C to B and I feel your pain... 10min with the front group was the maximum I could stay with them on. Congratulations for the HUGE effort mate! 💪💪💪

Haha, can’t wait to try it…I got pushed into Cat B last week after a silly little TT ride…savage watts!

I tried doing a whole month of zRacing in Cat B a while back, it was not pretty, lol! You're better than me though, so keep pushing and eventually the time you can stick with them will be long enough that you can enjoy some of the more restful periods and downhills etc

A lot of races last year (SISU Climb specifically, where there was a long straight stretch before a climb), as a C rider I would jump in with the A/B groups from the start (all groups started together). I could keep up with them on the flats (and separate myself from the rest of the C riders). But I find the biggest difference, is when there's a bump, or worse, a climb. That's when it's most apparent the difference between the Bs and Cs (sprints as well, but never got into a sprint with a B before).

Racing in B will definitely be a good fit soon enough. Looks like you have the wattage in you. Anyway, pushing yourself to stay with the pack is a great workout - and the Z races are flatter in July, so definitely give them a go. Longer races you’d probably also do well in. Or if you want a more relaxing start, try an A race. They usually don’t storm out the gate like they do in B cat 😅 Looking forward to following your adventures in new cat! 💪

Ive been category enforced from a C to a B for the last 2 months. I was a bigger fish in the C races. I could finish top 3 if I wanted to most of the time. Im definitely a small fish in a big Cat B pond. This weekend was the first time I finished in the top half of a race rather than the last quarter. I stayed with the lead group as long as I could before getting dropped. That gave me a sufficient lead to defend from the chasing packs behind me. I nearly burst a lung doing it though!

Very short races will always be a bit manic! Looks like you’re headed in the right direction though - I do the Gorby workout once a week to build up resistance to hard surges - it’s not fun but it’s time efficient 😅

Hi, nice clip and certainly a good effort. I am an average B (ride most TT), and I know some B-races have A's in them. If you know you'r powerzones by heart, than you can train/race more efficient, if you want to make steps. Try to improve your powerzone 5/6 for these races (avoid zone 7). And over/under training programs in Zwift are a good start for these

It is always a hard effort to go to a harder category. Good job! Small advice: It is a little better if you switch to km/h instead of mi/h. You will get more XP with the km/h (20XP per km or 30 XP per mi). Higher lvl means access to beter frames and wheelsets.

Your defo capable of racing Cat B. My suggestion would be for you to chose a longer distance race next time. The shorter ones are mega spicy, the longer ones tend to settle after the first 2-3 minutes and then ramp up on hills and towards the end...

Awesome video !

Just found this vid and it made me feel a bit better about myself actually. I recently picked up Zwift again after 5 years of hiatus. It still had me on my old racing fitness so I got thrown straight into an A race - needless to say I got absolutely destroyed. I’ve since updated my FTP but I’m still in B, and it does not feel a lot easier. I’ve done a lot of long distance cycling in the past few years and just don’t have the top end to even stay with the group on climbs, let alone contend for the win.

Keep it up and it get easier!!! 🤙🏽 We’ll line it up one day! Edit. I JUST SAW MYSELF so we have lined it up already!

Cat D rider (me) eyebrows raised. Wish I could get anywhere near those numbers. Good job.

I am 50. Zwift recently bumped me to B just before the Zwift games. I'm more of a spicy group ride guy. Without the Zwift Games events, I would not have been racing. My experience was pretty similar to yours. It is making me stronger, but it is not fun. I have never been so tired. I used to ride 5-6 days a week. Now I can only ride 3 days because my legs are so sore and I have no energy. I haven't mastered spinning as fast as you and my heart rate quickly gets out of hand when I spin over 85rpm. I am more comfortable at 65-70rpm. I've climbed the Alpe du Zwift 17 times and my fastest time was 1:02 until stage 5 of the games. I stood for most of the climb chasing a couple riders and managed 51:33. I never thought I would get the Liftoff badge. But it turns out if you chase stronger riders long enough, you will actually get stronger. Now the games are complete, I can get back to chilling with Coco in zone 2.

I've been racing against my own best times on the climb. portal, but I decided to join a random race for variety last weekend. I was surprised to see that Zwift had bumped me to Cat A for category enforced events. I was dropped in the first two minutes. Reminded me why I don't typically race. Excellent 20 to 40 minute power doesn't help if you can't stay with the group at the start.

I had the same situation with self promotion from D to C. Hard work.

Good effort. Tough pace to maintain. I think the transition up the categories is rough. Just because you belong in a cat B race doesn't mean you will be able to win or stay with the front group. Some people say it takes a year at a new category to be competitive

Based on this performance you ARE a Cat B. Just because you didn’t win or stay with the main group etc doesn’t make you NOT a Cat B. Looks like you’ll enjoy the experience with fewer riders perhaps… Racing against stronger riders is your quickest route to improving your fitness, so no more Cat C for you, Sir! Great work 💪 See you in Cat A soon 😘 (I can assure you it feels exactly the same stepping up again!)

You hung mid-pack for 10min and were still ahead of 30 people when ypu bailed, looks like the right category to me.

Like this honest video..

Dude ! I feel your pain as I’ve just moved up from C, I think where you’ve gone wrong is entering a race with an 8-10 minute climb, avoid these races like the plague until you’ve got your Cat B legs , stick to flat shorter races initially as you’ve gone from near the top of C to the bottom of B, you’re now going to suck badly at B, as you found out the speed is very different, also look at what type of rider you are and pick your race accordingly.

Pretty high cadence, that will be hitting your HR a little I think. I am not saying pedal at 70 rpm but maybe a little more torque at 90-95 may help you out here a bit. ( Sure, spin to win at high powers >300w etc) Welcome to B and 270 not shabby at all!! These short races are a full thrash so you are going to spend a lot of time over threshold. At the point where you bailed is the point where everyone settles into their FTP w/kg for the climb, up until then the ride had been dominated by bigger B cat guys with 350w+ ftp at 85 - 100kgs... very fast on slight rises and flat. They will have been pushing to ride the 'reserve' out of the climbers. Getting to the climb is a skill with your energy preserved in itself. The trick is getting comfortable with a over threshold effort in to a sustained threshold effort, or just under, composing then sitting at threshold for the climb. There was at least one rider in there, older lighter and way less power than you that got to the hill in that pack. ( Team mate ) Master draftsman ..... it can be done!

Welcome to 🐝 racing. You’re gonna love it here.

I ride Cat A on Zwift and, whilst the hard efforts are much harder (1min @ 7w/kg...5min @ 5w/kg), the transition sections in races will often be ridden at below 3w/kg. Much more about conserving energy for the big efforts, rather than trying to rip everyone's legs off all the time. The B in Cat B definitely stands for "Brutal".

"I'm in complete dismay at how you get to this level of cycling" - After taking about 6-7+ years off from riding/competing and just getting back in to things, I feel this to my CORE as I'm finishing cat D races feeling like I'm going to pass out lol

FTP isn’t much of an indication for category, to race cat B you need to have 5 min W/Kg of 4.6+ or you will get blown away in the selection, typically a climb.

Hey mate, good effort, try flat Cat B races, or longer events, the stinger is smaller.

Gives you an indication of the insane level of any professional sport. Watching on TV gives you zero idea of what pros do whether it be tennis, football, cycling or even darts!

Last sommer I was winning a fair bit of cat. B races at 3.95w pr kg. And then there where some family stuff that kept me from cycling for over a month. Now I'm struggling not to get dropped if there's more than one small hill. My ftp is around 3.5 now. I still have a fairly good sprint but I'm just done if I manage to stay with the group and everyone is just sailing past at the finish line 😅

That looked very painful. While I stay by what I said that 3.5W/kg is definitely Cat B territory, I also stay by the other thing I said that if I were you I wouldn't necessarily race in Cat B unless Zwift forced me to. While the boundaries are officially 3.2-4.0W/kg for Cat B I think Zwift only moves you up if you have demonstrated an effort (any free ride will count in addition to races) which shows an FTP of over 3.4W/kg. So just coming out of a ramp test with that ftp doesn't count as at that stage it is just a derived value. While the widely accepted way to get to that demonstrated effort is to use the best 20min effort and taking 95% of that I believe that Zwift is doing something similar but with your best 12min effort. There is also a minimum raw wattage limitation which means that some very light riders are in a category lower than they otherwise would be, but that doesn't apply here. What that shows me however is that you have to be very careful what you wish for as my goal is to move up into Cat A and I foresee a similar thing happening there in that I would get totally destroyed at every corner in particular as Cat A does obviously not have any bounds.

3.5 is Cat B all day. maybe just a bad day or a stacked race. try some Cat B crit races on the Bell Lap course. you'll be fine.

On the wrong side of 50 and race b and A races, would like too drop down to c, but enforced too b.

did you make sure you were on the right bike? I joined a group ride the other day and couldn't understand why I couldn't stay with my group without putting out insane power, and realised I was still on a gravel bike from my scotland hill climb race. definitely a big jump between the categories though. I still struggle to stay with the front group in catC after being cat restricted out of D a couple of months ago.

I have the same problem when I race Cat C. My ftp is supposed to 225 watts, but if I can't always average 200 watts on a hour ride . Never had a top 3 placing and zwift will not let me ride group D. So I decided to ride group and free rides until I get stronger.

Just wondering - how much of a warmup did you do? I think you had at least 15-20 more bpm on the heart rate to give. Maybe you were fatigued as you said? But anyway - good effort.👍 Keep at it, it doesn't get any easier 😉

I'm very similar to you in power and being able to win a few cat c races. Biggest difference between the 2 cats is hills. They just power away. Pick a few cat b flat races

U have a amazing power to catB (if you have sub75kg) making around 250w and pushing very times to 350w with space to improve with your fc 150 and can going to 170/180. Amazing men ! Whats your ftp? 🔥

Race craft and skills is important, in Zwift as in real life. Don‘t be ashamed to race C when you feel like it, especially if cat B races is a cross-eyed sufferfest for you where you don‘t learn much. After all Zwift is a game, and fun is important. People have their opinions and judgements, but you just do you 🙂

Ride with riders faster than you are, refuse to give up, keep showing up, and you will get faster. It won't be easy though.

does Zwift simulate aero draft etc. ?

Do you find your FTP of 272 accurate? I did my first test last week and got 201, however, there’s no way I can do that wattage for an hour.

Your 3,5 W/kg is in fact Cat B. I am 3,56 W/kg and I am riding Cat B races and am finishing in the frontpack most times. So ride on!

if you wanna win a cat B race do you need to be able to do a cat A effort? and same with all other categories? I can imagine there are always a few people doing categories they should not be doing.

Cat B needs pack filler too, everyone cant be up top!! just enjoy your ride, you typically lump up with other guys that are otb and have your own mini race. (i know well!)

what zwift suggest you to race with ?

Keep riding youll get there I was ranked UK 6th as a kid and I am just cat b. Check Marc Cav...

I race in Cat B and the first thing I noticed is your cadence. I keep my cadence at around 82. You will struggle to keep control of your heart rate with a cadence near 100. You will go faster for longer at 300 watts with a cadence just above 80 than you will at the same watts with a cadence of 100. I know it seems easier running an easier gear with a high cadence but you won’t survive long like that.

Can anyone give me info on ftp I'm at 200 age 55yrs ? Love zwift been so consistent for year,,,,hopefully push on to 250

honestly, the 5-6w per kilo at the start in zwift races is just ridiculous

Do the zwift racing training program. And i think you should have finished either way.

I Tried the same thing It did not go well for me either 😅 Got dropped at almost exactly the same point

Man i am so curious what your gears are, ive never seen such a consistent 100rpm.

Not saying this is you but people seem to move up category and expect to comfortable. It's a big jump and remember, there will be guys who should be Cat A leading Cat B races making it really hard, its just the way it is. It's taken me a year to become comfortable in Cat B and I'm still nowhere near the strongest guys in ZRL. Too many people expect to be successful in these virtual races when they have no clue who is who. Best way is to race ZRL where the parameters are massively better and you're pretty much safe in the knowledge people are racing against legit riders in the right category. You're definitely Cat B IMO.

Not an easy course to make this try! Sometimes you are spinning too much maybe, especially downhill, so you have your bpms to the stars.

272w and 3.5wkg ftp is definitely cat b numbers. I have those exact numbers and I don't even consider racing cat c. Makes no sense. Just go there to try to win? I don't see a point in that.

Each to their own but you should use your gears better, cadence is very high.

Trying to race in the wrong class is suecide...there is a bunch of 4-4.4 guys in the b class often...(that should be forbidden)

Congrats on lasting that long… cat b is full of sharks

Wonder how many people cheat?

I will let you into a secret… What you describe here everyone in zwift feels when moving category. For over a year I have been a really good B rider - every time I move into an A race I leg destroyed. It’s hard to keep dusting yourself off every time but I’m sure one day we will make it stick!

lol, keep shifting. try to find the gear that doesnt hurt.

90% of B's use guff cheapo Smart trainers and are 50kg and 5ft 3".

also you're overthinking/misinterpreting FTP at 1:40 & 2:40 & 4:32. Your real time momentary power compared to your FTP has no relevance in a sub-30 min race. don't think of your FTP as a limiter to your performance. if you're smart and drafting well most of these races will be at or below 3.5 w/kg.

I dont get the logic here, you are a cat B but you cant win it so you are going to cat C and destroy people below your bracket? If you got 3,5w/kg you have to stick to cat B.

people cheat in zwift racing