Guide › The meters
The meters
The meters show where your energy goes in the pack, in watts, built on measured Zwift physics. Less wasted here means more left for the last climb or the sprint.
How to read them
- Most meters are watts you're paying for nothing, on top of what your speed needs: 0 is perfect, and a bigger number is more waste. Holding is the exception: it can go below zero (see below).
- Yellow and red mean a meter is in its warning or alarm range. Each slot on the Grid has its own two numbers you can change in the Grid's settings; the starting ones are in the table at the end.
- The words ("back off", "step left", "drop back") are what to do about it. They all appear together in one place, the Director Sportif window's big line, so you don't have to look at every meter. A Grid slot can also show its own word underneath, if you switch it on.
- 0 or blank: watt meters read 0 and distances go blank when there's nothing to measure: riding alone, just after a teleport (a few seconds while power and speed settle), or on a bike that gets no draft (a TT bike in a group ride, or a time trial).
- Your drag matters. The meters use your bike and wheels (Director Sportif window ▸ gear ▸ You): set them, or the watts are only roughly right.
The five that matter most
A new Grid starts with these.
Position
What your spot in the group costs you, in watts, against the best spot at your speed, over the last 10 seconds. It's draft you could be getting and aren't. It reads the wheel in line, the same one as Wheel gap. The best spot is usually 3–4 m between wheels, a little further back at low speed; on a fast descent it's 2.5–4 m, not on the wheel, where sitting close costs a lot.
| Word | Means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| "stay" | A good spot: within a few watts of the best. | Stay there. |
| "back off" | Too close to the wheel. | Ease back to the best gap, or drift to the back of the bunch. |
| "drift back" | Boxed in close to the wheel. | Drift to the back, where there's room. |
| "close up" | Too far off the wheel. | Close up to the best gap. |
| "find a wheel" | No good wheel to sit on. | Get on one at the best gap. |
| "hold a wheel" | You're getting less draft than your gap should give: the wheel is moving about, or you're off its line. Under the meter only, if you switch its word on: it isn't on the big line. | Hold one wheel, in line. |
| "sit in" | You're on the front. | Sit in behind a wheel: the number is what it saves. |
| "gap opening" | A hole is opening in front of your wheel, or the next one. | Close it, or go round, before you're gapped. |
| "shattering" | The group ahead is splitting up. No gap advice meanwhile. | Do what you can: hold the front part, or the group you can. |
| "change wheel" | The wheel you're on gives no draft (a hand cycle or recumbent). | Find another. |
Holding
Your power minus what keeping your place needed: the air, the rolling resistance, Zwift's draft, the pack, matching your group's speed, and any speeding up or climbing. It's averaged over 10 seconds with one other rider and 20 seconds in a group. Within ±20 W, you're holding your place efficiently.
| Word | Means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| "hold" | You're spending what keeping your place needs. | Nothing: that's right. |
| "easy" | You're pushing more than your place needs. | Ease off: the extra goes nowhere. |
| "step left", "step right", "ease off" | The extra watts are going into the wheel ahead (you're blocked). | The same words as Blocked: step to the free side, or ease off with no room. |
| "moving up" | You're moving up through the group. | Nothing: the extra is the price of the move. |
| "drifting" | You're spending less than your place needs (below zero), so you're drifting back. | Fine if you mean to; push a little if not. |
Blocked
Watts that went nowhere because you pushed into the rider ahead, over the last 10 seconds. In a pack, power can vanish in single seconds when you ride into the back of a wheel instead of past it. It happens within about 1.5 m of the wheel, in line, closing slowly, and nearly stops further back or half a meter to the side. It's avoidable, and it doesn't show in Position: it's extra on top.
| Word | Means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| "step left", "step right" | You're held on the wheel, and that side is free. | Move half a meter that way, out of its line. |
| "ease off" | You're pushing into the wheel, with no room to step out. | Ease off. On a fast descent, drop back to 4 m or more between wheels. |
| "drop back" | You're stuck alongside a rider on your left or right, trying to pass. | Drop back and pass where there's room. |
Wheel gap
From your front wheel to the back wheel of the rider in line in front of you, up to about 23 m (blank beyond). Below 0 your wheels overlap, and Zwift cuts your draft for it. When it's named Est. wheel gap, it was worked out from positions rather than Sauce's own timing, and can be meters off. A decimal shows only under 10 (1.5, but 20). In feet if Sauce is set to imperial units.
- "beside": nobody is in line ahead; the nearest rider is beside you.
- "no draft": the wheel in front gives no draft (a hand cycle or recumbent).
- "no map": Sauce has no map for this road yet. Gaps come after a few seconds on it, measured from where Zwift puts you along the road, and show as Est. wheel gap.
L/R
Where you sit sideways against the wheel in front: "L 1.2" means 1.2 to its left, "R 0.4" to its right, 0.0 right behind it. The draft is best directly behind, and the outside of a bend loses ground. Feet by default; the Grid's settings switch it to meters. "beside" means there's no rider in line, so it's measured against the nearest one beside you.
More meters to add
Add any of these to a Grid from its settings.
| Meter | What it shows | Its words |
|---|---|---|
| Pack cost | The steady watts your spot in the bunch costs beyond Zwift's draft: tight to the wheel, riders close ahead, boxed in, your weight and tires, the size of the bunch. About 12 W at the back with room, up to 40+ W tucked in a crowd. | "front", "room" (the cheapest spot), "tight", "crowded", "boxed" |
| Passing | The closing speed when you creep up on a rider at the speed that gets you held (↑), or one creeps up on you (↓). 1–5 km/h faster gets you held; 5+ goes through. | "go harder", "go wide" (shown, not spoken), "drop back", "block left", "block right" (in a race) |
| Tuck | On a descent, the speed still needed to supertuck (about 58 km/h on −3% or steeper, out of the draft); 0 when you're fast enough. | In a race, "supertuck in 6" (seconds until you're fast enough) and "coast" (stop pedaling); "tuck", "in draft", "no tuck" (TT or MTB frame) |
| Tuck drag | Your drag in the supertuck against coasting, measured this session: clearly below 0% means the tuck helps. | |
| Surface | The watts the road under you costs your tires beyond pavement (wood, dirt, cobbles…). 0 on pavement. | the surface's name |
| FRC | Your reserve above FTP, in kJ, from your power: it drains above FTP and refills below. Set your FTP and FRC in the Director Sportif window's settings (You tab). | "low" (under 30%), "empty" (under 10%) |
| Burritos | Riders ahead of you in your race who still hold a burrito: each can take your draft for 20 s. Under it, how many have been fired. Blank with no burritos in play. | "move over" (one fired just ahead of you) |
| Demand | The power the best spot needs to stay with your group, over 30 seconds: what the pack asks of anyone, with the % of your FTP under it. | |
| Group | Riders in your group (riders no more than 1 s apart), you included. | |
| CdA | The air drag area the meters use for you: your bike type × your size from your Zwift profile, or the CdA you entered. | |
| Director | The one call to act on now: the same words the voice says. | |
| All words | The call, then each meter's advice, in one line: the same as the Director Sportif window's big line. Handy on a Grid you capture in OBS. | |
| A meter's word | Any single meter's word, shown big on its own. | |
| Power, Speed, Draft, Cadence, HR, Grade | The basics, straight from Zwift. Heart rate is only ever yours. |
How they fit together
- Your power = Demand + Position + Holding. Demand is what the best spot in your group needs; Position is what your spot costs on top of that; Holding is what you spent beyond even that.
- Blocked shows up in Holding as well as on its own: when you push into a wheel, those watts are part of what Holding calls waste, and its word turns to the same "step left", "step right" or "ease off".
- Position and Pack cost price the same spot from two sides: Position against the best spot's draft, Pack cost as the steady extra the spot costs beyond what Zwift's draft says.
- A quick way to see it working on a group ride: sit right on a wheel for a minute, then ease back to 3–4 m on Wheel gap and watch Position drop; ride into the back of a wheel and watch Blocked jump.
Starting color ranges
| Meter | Yellow from | Red from |
|---|---|---|
| Position | 7 W | 28 W |
| Holding | 20 W | 40 W |
| Blocked | 10 W | 30 W |
| Pack cost | 25 W | 40 W |
| FRC | under 30% left | under 10% left |
Position's come from the field in two races: a quarter of riders paid under 7 W, a quarter over 28 W. Change any slot's in the Grid's settings; a higher yellow than red flips it, so low numbers are the bad ones.
Next: The Grid · See also: OBS · The calls · Install and first setup · All guides