Wahoo SYSTM now, but was Sufferfest. I am rather enjoying the training from it and suits me better then races as I can get on it straight after work and just do the suggested workout.
They banned the weight doping whistle-blower this week. But I also think they could have done a much better job by automatic ranking players with placement results in mind, rather then the auto-cat by w/kg. It will mean I can never participate in a close matched city race with my weight being 62KG.
Might be quite interested in trying out SYSTM if anyone ever spots a free month/intro deal. I always loved traditional Sufferfest and then rode during their beta when they first did the app. Although I love Zwift am starting to get into RGT now and can see the merits...
Yup, what a fiasco with Luciano! But Zwift thankfully backtracked and seem to have put things right. But lots of riders confidences have been knocked... They are now offering up a 'bug bounty' to anyone who reports anything - better than shadowbanning them for 30 days lol
But do think you could be talking cross-purpose and getting yourself confused with the mention of auto-cat and ranking. Zwiftpower 'recommended' Cat is purely based on your race results reported on Zwiftpower. It is technically owned & run by Zwift, but it used to be a separate entity exterior to Zwift (and still is). It was run by a group of admins/teams/developers who are now not involved. Race admins have tools to 'filter' results and make them 'official' after races, rather than just the on-screen 'in game' (which is unfiltered). Zwift 'own' Zwiftpower and it's still running, the engine of it hasn't changed for several years, but there are parts of it broken (segments, primes etc) which will never be fixed and at some point Zwift will just pull the plug on it. What I'm trying to say is... The 'recommended' Cat on there, is nothing more than that. Although you can enter any Cat to race, the 'result' shown on Zwiftpower will likely be very different to the result shown on Zwift itself, or on WTRL. Zwiftpower also have a rider 'ranking' judged from results...
WTRL again, separate entity, with Cat enforcement. They access the Zwift API the same way that Zwiftpower does, but then do their own calculations and results from the data. Some of their segments and stuff are different to those shown on Zwift and in Zwiftpower ('win' a sprint in game, you might not win it in a WTRL event!). They are still run by the same team who started out, but are now Zwift owned and supported. They're more like 'contracted' and employed by Zwift to run the Chase/ZRL/WTRL-TTT and other stuff that's traditionally pushed racing 'forwards' before Zwift themselves became more serious about it (then threw money at them). The rider 'data' they hold may not exactly match what is against rider records on Zwiftpower, but should be pretty close. The way their events work are heavily administrated with private event links (Racepasses) to assign riders to specific teams, events and pens to try and eliminate cheating/sandbagging etc.
Zwift themselves have operated several 'anti-sandbagging' events (FutureWorks). Tweaking settings and rules to try and categorise riders better. Different teams and admins (like above) have also done their own in their own series (TFC and FRR being the most notable, but both based on Zwiftpower data) to try and make racing more fair and competitive. The last update from Zwift also introduced their own 'auto-cat' tools, which are based on a combination of things. I think nearly all of the others are based solely on riders FTP's, some of them with race results, but the new Zwift one takes FTP as well as w/kg over 20 mins alongside MAP to split and categorise riders more accurately. It's still in testing so not available to anyone running events, but it will be there soon - very likely in a WTRL event (Case then ZRL).
Had another 75 mile ride this morning (only ever done 6 and 2 of those have been in the last two weeks!) but this one was a little weird. I stopped at a friends (who had ridden with us) with 11 miles to go. We sat and chatted for almost an hour, I had a Luchos Dolitto energy block but quite early after arriving. When I set off, I felt very odd... not like a bonk... but almost light headed... almost like an outer body experience. Rather wobbly, my legs just kept turning but I almost couldn't feel anything... After about 5 miles, so 6 to go, I stopped and had my second energy block and I started to feel more normal, just very tired now. The ride had been a 2 cake stop ride, so I'd taken on board reasonable fuel. Never had that feeling before, was quite un-nerving tbh.
Sounds just like a bonk, just an extended one over the period you where stopped that didn't really 'hit home' until you went to move again. The light headed/wobbly/disassociation sounds more like a blood sugar related issue. The energy block was just consumed and any energy boost generally had eased off before you rode. It topped your depleted system/sugars up, but they where still really low when you resumed your ride. Also that long a stop, I don't know the sciences of it, but you body had entered 'recovery mode' and was using it's energy for that, taking it a while to switch back over to riding (along with the extra food which helped it).
Yup, beautiful day here, although a bit cold. Actually made it back out with the club, outside! Although typical the 'return ride' I choose we end up going 10+ miles further, an hour longer and a much hillier route than I needed/planned/intended. Was pretty gassed by the end and eating my last food nearly 20 hours before I got home made the return a 'bit of a slog'... But good to know I had the fitness to just spin it and 'get me home' without bonking.
https://www.strava.com/activities/6740582175
I should have known when the 13 starting riders, 6 of them choose a 'shorter & easier' route with a guy who always does a shorter ride from half way...! Later the Ride Leader (Linda) setting the rest of us a 'Challenge' when we got to Colwall - to do the
whole 'Wyche' climb, while she turned off half way, then we'd meet back up. Of course we all joke about 'not being that stupid' - then all rode it anyway!
Then someone punctured on the way back down...
Twice!
it was an old tyre so going to junk it. Absolute nightmare getting it on/off the rim, used a new (10 year old) tube to find it was duff. 
