goodall

I'm trying to Cat up as soon as possible, if nothing else for the later start times. Cat 5 races are always at like 8am and two hours away. Getting up at 4:30 to go to a race is not my idea of a good time. I don't anticipate winning ever, I'm happy just to mix it up each week, to be competitive.

2Rodies

Of all the reasons to cat up asap the start time one is the best.

TheKillerPenguin

+infinity. Always have trouble sleeping the night before and then I have to wake up at 5AM to go race

timmhaan

the early racing does suck. i usually get up at 4:30am. it's really hard for me to eat properly at that hour, and then the warm up is soooooo cold. brrrr.

DannoXYZ 

I tell ya, there's nothing that gives me wood better than winning a race!!! I don't buy the safety concern with 5s vs. 4s, they're both equally clueless; you just shout at someone and they'll freak out and fall off their bike ! Interesting that they changed the rules so you can't upgrade out of cat-5 on points any more. I guess they really want to have people get down the bike-handling and pack-manuveuring skills before moving up. That makes a lot of sense as this will create a larger differential between the cat-4 and cat-5 races (as it is now, they're pretty much identical).

When I started racing, there was no cat-5 so I just won my 1st three cat-4 races and moved up to the 3s. However, I had another buddy who came in with a very, very strong triathlon background. He could ride anyone on the team into the ground, even when we're drafting off him! He won his 1st three cat-4 races and upgraded with me as well. Here's where the problem comes in, he's got the fitness, but no bike-handling skills and can't deal with pack-riding very well. He wasn't good at sticking on the wheel ahead of him at full-speed going around corners, he wasn't good at identifying the stronger guys to follow around. His cat-4 strategy of just going off the front and hammering the whole race as a TT didn't work in the 3s because he'd just be pulling the entire pack behind him and they'd all rush around him at the end for the finish. His sprint-speed sucked and his sprint-strategy was non-existent. And he ended up crashing a lot because he couldn't deal with the shoving and pushing that occured in the 3s. He eventually dropped out after 5 races (3 crashes) and went back to doing Ironmans.

So I see a parallel with the 5->4 upgrades. By forcing you to complete 10-races, it at least ensures you get some pack skills down. This will make the 4s a faster and more skilled group as well. But the jump from 4s to 3s will still be much, much bigger than 5 to 4. And going from 3 to 2 will be an even bigger jump as well. They certainly need more points now to get into the 2s than when I was racing.

2Rodies

Learning to race and learning pack skills are paramount. Just having a big engine will only get you so far. One of the things that we did as a team was practice team tactics during our 5s races. We also work hard when we train together to learn how to draft off eachother etc etc. This year we have a lot of new guys on the team and as the weather gets better we will be working on riding skills as team.

Personally doing my time in 5s was just part of the deal. This year in my mind is to get as good and as fast as I can because next year it's all 45+ races for this geezer!

Cypress

Where I race, the 5/4's go at the same time. The 3/2/1/pro's all go together too. One big fustercluck if you ask me.

Warblade

There was a 102 mile CAT 4 road race in your neck of the woods Holy shenanagins! My Cat3 races are usually only 70-85miles. And the Pro1/2 races are typically around 100miles. I would hate to know how long the Pro1/2's race was...

Cypress

It was in Minnesota.

The Octopus 

What race is that? I'd make the drive to race that distance. That's my cup 'o tea!

SteveE

The Master 35+ 4/5 seems to be getting the most registrants here in NorCal. What I'm not understanding is that when the category fills up, they open up another field of 4/5's, so you wind up with two Master 35+ 4/5 fields. You'd think that they'd split the fields into a Master 35+ Cat 4 and a Master 35+ Cat 5.

SteveE

Another reason to race is to help a teammate win. Even if you're not ready to win a race, you can go out and work to get someone else on your team the win.

Voodoo76

5 to 4 asap I can understand. But if you dont win as a 4 what are your odds as a 3? I can also understand if you go a couple years in the 4's and arn't really close, your aspirations are going to change. Move up, find a better faster field to be fodder in. But a win at any level is a rush worth experiencing and will be one of your most memorable cycling days. If you are right there I would say at least give it a season.

Show of hands, how many here went winless in lower cats then won in 3's or 2's??

teetopkram

I'll chime in to say that maybe one doesn't need to win, but I have set a goal for myself to finish in the top 10 in ten races in Cat 5 before I'll move up to Cat 4. With a decent sized field (over 60 Cat 5s in my last road race), this will ensure I learn some pack handling skills and know enough tactics to finish at the head of the group. In my experience (used to be a Cat 3 back in the day), winning the race often came down to luck and happening to be on the right wheel just as much as ability. So as long as one can demonstrate a string of good finishes, the only thing not achieved by winning is that sense of satisfaction. I am not going to stay in a lower category simply because some guy outsprinted me by half a wheel...

Back in the day, I was in a rush to move up from Cat 4 (there was no Cat 5 then) to a Cat 3. Was riding well with enough of a motor to make it in the 3's, so my coach pestered the district rep and got me moved up. Never placed higher than 6th in a race as a 4, and only did this once...looking back, I did move up too quickly and would have been better served by learning more about picking the right wheel, sprinting, tactics, etc. So, although I could hang with the 3s, I never demonstrated any results, and quit racing within a couple of years.

This experience is, in part, why I set some performance goals for moving up to a Cat 4 now that I am getting back into racing.

Just my .02

Mark

$0.00/Gal

I'm a rookie, and like most rookies I am thinking to myself 'gotta get my 10 races in! gotta move up!' but my team is 90% cat 5 with a couple of fast 4s. We will probably spend our time helping the 4s and getting experience working as a team and hopefully all move up around the same time and close to the same skill level.

What's great about my team is we didn't know each other 3 months ago and now we're meeting up for "cat 4/5 bonding nights", talking bikes, racing, and getting to know each other. It will help with trust issues when on the road.

Vinokurtov

My advice? Get your 4 as soon as you can. I didn't get around to it and I found myself winning several 4/5 and 1/5 races...guess what? I just found out that none of those races will count towards my 3 upgrade, even though I was racing against higher cat competition.

Dookie.