Originally Posted by
spelger
did another event last night, something easy. joined via the companion app 20 minutes prior. started riding and 6 minutes before the event still no join button in the game. had to use the companion app to unjoin then rejoin. immediately the join button in the game popped up. this is just buggy in my opinion. i doubt that this only happens to me.
as an aside, i did an easy recovery ride just to ride but be easy, only 1.3-1.7 w/kg. it is hard to be easy. the group split into two: fast riders and riders riding the advertised limit. it was so hard to not go fast. eventually i found myself in the middle with none of the draft and at times pushing 4.0 w/kg trying to catch the fast group. it is hard to be easy.
Interesting. Like others here I have participated in literally 100s of events (races, social rides, workouts) and never have a problem joining. I always sign up for an event on the companion app and have it running on the same wi-fi as my laptop while on the bike. I actually find the "join" event pop-up annoying because I get several prompts to join the events starting I think 30 minutes before the event starts.
Even with "easy" social rides I usually do a warm up of at least 10 minutes in-game. Sometimes it might take a minute or two to change worlds but it always gets me there. The last few weeks I have not been feeling well but on average I do 4 or 5 events per week. My set up is a Kinetic wheel-on smart trainer, Wahoo HRM, cadence sensor, Dell laptop windows 7, a no name dongle, companion app on an iPhone 6, apple music using blue tooth buds. The companion app and laptop are on the same wi-fi connection, my laptop also runs Discord. I have my Zwift account linked to STRAVA, Training Peaks and Zwift Power. The only complaint I have is I will sometimes get a dropout in the middle of an event, it will self-correct usually I lose about 10 seconds.
At the end of an social ride or event a screen will tell you your place in the event which is never right. If I get out in front of the fence, which I do a lot, i seem to get dinged because I can finish say 10th and the final results will show me 100. I don't really care though. Official race results on Zwift are posted on Zwift Power which is a good reason to link your account to it. If you are not linked to it I think it's as if you didn't do the event. I think some races require it.
A lot of people cheat in Zwift, that is just the way it is. Joining and linking to Zwift power will weed out some of the cheaters not all. I highly recommend that you link to Zwift power, it will tell you what class you are in. If you go by only your FTP you will get stomped. I think it takes your best 3 efforts in the last 90 days to calculate class. My FTP calculates to 3.3 W/kg but I legally ride in C and even there I'm generally in a semi-competitive race a middle of the pack finisher. If you haven't already been on Zwift Insider now is the time. Lots of information there as well as the Zwift users forum.
I do a lot of events run by The Herd. Overall a great bunch but the leaders will usually ride at the top of the advertised power. I have done so many of these rides I feel as if I personally know most of the regulars, leaders and sweepers. As an aside I follow 710 Zwifters and have 550 followers. This is good because I get a steady stream of ride-ons which helps boost my stock pile of drops. I currently have 7.6 million drops. I do very little zwifting in the summer so my level isn't very high (level 39) and I have more bikes and bric-a-brac than I need so the drops keep adding up for no real reason but I do get them. I have all the standard goodies, the Tron, lightweight millies, climbing frames galore and 7.6 million drops. Usually I sign up for an event a day before, if not at least an hour before.