Originally Posted by
needmoreair
There's no reason to be in the 4s or 5s or even 3s more than one season. If you've been in the same category for more than one season, then that's what I'm referring to.
Of course, the qualifier here is It all depends pn how much you race. You can get all your upgrade point in a span of ten or fewer races or cobble together the points by doing 30+ races per year
Originally Posted by
needmoreair
Yes, you're right. I am being overly general.
But here's the thing about sprints in the upper categories; they really are not all about top kick or top speed. They're about not having spent too much energy.
You can still top 3 a sprint with a 900 watt sprint in a hard race where everyone has gassed themselves out if you play it correctly. Or in a long, windy sprint, uphill sprint, etc.
And that's where a lot of people take themselves out of the running, thinking they don't have a kick. The last lap of a crit or km of a road race is full on power. Even if your kick sucks, laying it down for a minute or two and getting yourself towards the very front will pull you into a good finishing position. Everyone is hurting at that point and you can make up a ton of spots even if you never kick it in properly.
And how many lower cat races are really that hard at the end? I've done exactly one such race. Six corners, windy, and not a lot of straightaway to move up. You end up in the top ten from two laps out, you end up in the top ten at the finish. But this is rare. Much more often you have a clumped field in the final lap.
Originally Posted by
needmoreair
I've seen guys waste entire seasons trying to "learning to make smart, winning attacks".
In my experience, they very, very rarely work, especially in the 4s and 5s, and even in the 3s.
So if it comes down to a cat 4 asking for advice on when to attack and having the choice of making all of these "smart attack" attempts hoping to pull off a rare winning break or sitting in and learning how to sprint (the most useful thing you can possibly do when trying to move up the ranks), I would say 100% of the time to sit in and go for it.
The only exception being in relation to my first post; and that is when strong riders make a strong move on a very difficult part of the race.
i don't consider myself exceptionally strong, but i've learned enough (much of it by reading thing from this place) to know when to attack and get a race winning break going. Barely at 4-4.2 w/kg when a third or more of the field (collegiate B) were probably comparable, but i learned all about attacking the cross wind, etc., that i recognize when to initiate/latch on while similar or stronger riders got caught out. That and doing specific workouts helped to give me an edge over others to whom i'd lose in a hill climb.