I really think it would be a shame if we went down the path of splitting into different teams based on ability/level. If you are tempted to ride with a “B-team”, please reconsider riding (en masse, all of you!) with the existing team.
The whole event is designed to accommodate mixed ability teams. It really does work so that the “weaker” riders are as much a part of it as the “stronger” ones. And this is true even with quite a spread of ability. The basic format of Max 3 riders from your top category, and up to 5 weaker riders is perfect for a group like us, even more so if – as @weeksy thinks might be the case – there are more riders at the “weaker” end available to make the group bigger.
You don’t need to push anything like the watts that the stronger riders push in order to be a real part of the team and get to the finish line. The draft effect is dramatic. Some recent examples:
Here https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=991230 Our average w/kg finishing together after 37 minutes were 3.7 – 3.3 – 3.3 – 3.0 – 2.9
Or here https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=1003086 ave w/kg for a blob finishing together in 1:07 were 3.4 – 3.3 – 3.2 – 3.1 and 2.5
If you are in the middle there, you can definitely keep up. But there is space to extend that spread further still.
There is acquired skill involved – e.g. @Phil56 and @dangeourbrain do need to judge what the blob as a whole can sustain, and that 2.5w/kg ride in my second link was @zilog6128 who is really, really good at staying with a fast group (partly because of the practice he gets in the TTT?). Looking at that data, his ride would surely have been easier that day if an additional rider had done, say, 2.8 w/kg. That’s an example of where the existing team can be buttressed by riders who are hesitant to join because they see themselves as “too weak”. And the spread can continue downwards in w/kg whilst making us faster as well. Sure it is hard – when we get it right, the front go hard and the back, pushing much lower watts, have to go hard to stay with them.
We have tried to cultivate an approach to it which maximises the mixed ability aspects of the format. Some teams sacrifice their weaker riders by dropping them deliberately over the course of the race. We take more satisfaction from trying to get there together. It doesn’t always work – people do get dropped, but never (unless they insist) without an effort to get them back and sometimes we struggle, but often that’s because of the challenge of the event rather than the ability spread.
This is what I meant when I said we’re doing it wrong if there’s a move towards fielding a weaker team. There’s basically no such thing as not being at the sufficient level. With a group of 8 and some practice we could get a really massive w/kg spread around a flat course (4 w/kg – 2w/kg at least, I think) in a decent time. If you aren’t joining in because you are worried about keeping up, please just dive in. If you get dropped, don’t be shy about being rescued and then hanging on in there. And if you feel like you tried and it was honestly too hard say so and the format of the event really does mean, if we handle it well, that you can get to the finish without anyone getting any less of a workout overall.
