shovelhd

It's a judgement call as an official. Nobody in my LA wants to pull Cat5 riders and deny them their finish. It is totally a judgement call. It depends on the course and what I see from the rider. If the course is generally safe, and they are OTB and even get lapped several times, if they listen to the marshals and officials and stay out of the way, I'll keep them in. If they are making a serious effort to race, I'll leave them in. It's the guys who have the awful body language, head down, sour look, keep looking back, etc., those guys I'll pull.

hack

Isn't it 10 starts and not 10 finishes?

I still think one of the cooler things a local official does with Cat5's is once they fall off the back he'll stop them. Once he has like 5 or 6, he'll restart them as a chase group after the main group has passed. Keeps guys learning to ride next to one another and is better than just having them ride around solo and sad.

edit: I'm wrong...it's finish 10...

Doge

For upgrades it is the number of starters.
Here is a trick I saw Sunday. Promoter had a T-shirt, cargo pants, loafers without socks and pinned a number on, put on a helmet and started with the Cat 2s (he is a Cat 2). There were 21 starters in the race with him. That was good for 5 points instead of 4 points.

shovelhd

Not Cat5.

shovelhd

The rule changed in 2013 I believe.

Ygduf

cat 3s are just cat 4s with 20 pack finishes who are cat 5s with 10 races.

shovelhd

Plenty of Cat3's don't take the 20 finish route.

Doge

I worded that wrong. For upgrade points.

Matt2.8NJ

To the OP, the Gila is a silly reason to upgrade. The most fun I had racing was Cat 4 & 5. The pure joy of learning a new sport. Why rush through any of it?

globecanvas

I don't know anybody who upgraded out of the 4s on pack finishes, actually.

Ygduf

I'm just trolling

shovelhd

Fify

gsteinb

As a general rule posting that you're 'trolling' isn't a great idea, and actually has been used to ban folks in the past. It's good to keep in mind that there are a lot of mods and admins on BF and occasionally they pop in other places and **** hits the fan.

topflightpro

Actually, he moved to California, and I think he is spending most of his time running and doing tris. Or at least that the impression I get from his Facebook posts. We don't talk much anymore.

Here is some background for more context: He finished med school many years ago but put off doing his residency for about five years to be a professional triathlete. Between his wife's salary as a resident and what he was taking in from triathlons, they were doing well. But, he was hit by a car and shattered his leg. After his leg healed, and while he was rebuilding his strength, he decided to focus on bicycle racing. That's when he joined my team and quickly went from a 5 to a 2 in one season.

(Per Doge's comment, I will say that his bike handling skills could have used some work. He crashed in probably his first four 1/2 races. He always blamed it on someone else, but when it keeps happening over and over again, you have to start wondering, maybe it was him - but I digress.)

After that one season though, he had to get back to the whole being a doctor thing and moved to California to do his residency. Also, his wife finished her residency at that time. On top of that, they had their second kid.

Based on his USAC results, he hasn't raced since that one year.

My other teammate who went from a 5 to a 2 in one season did it by the book.

grolby

And plenty of us who did who don't actually suck all THAT much.

valygrl

I know 2 women who did that. Mistake, IMO.

valygrl

Your digression is the point.

valygrl

i know 2 women who upgraded really fast - not the ones I mention above, these upgraded on wins, not finishes - who are 2s and who are both now miserable and making the people around them miserable b/c their bike/pack handling is so poor compared to their fitness. THey crushed the lower categories by just being strong, but didn't learn how to race or how to be in a pack. Now they have crap results and the 2's complain about racing with them b/c they are scary.

OP: Patience. Do your 10. I bet you can get them done before Gila.

caloso

I took the 10 top 10's route. I would get close to 20 pts and then a handful of points would expire, so I was just running in place in the teens. I was on a small team where everyone else was a 3 but me and I was impatient to upgrade.

shovelhd

There are snowflakes everywhere.

Ygduf

• badinage
• chaff
• chaffing
• chitchat
• derision

• dissing
• exchange
• fun
• gossip
• jeering

• jesting
• joking
• joshing
• kidding
• mockery

• persiflage
• play
• raillery
• repartee
• ribbing

• ridicule
• small talk

these are OK, though, right?

Doge

When Puppy was a Cat 5 he was in a race where a rider was having a lot of difficulty handling his bike.
Next year riding on his brand new Di2 (10 speed) that same rider crashes taking Puppy out.
During the whine session - mainly over scrapped brake levers, I made it clear to him he was/is responsible for the wheel he chose and in that case he had the information to make a better choice (besides it was my Di2 that was scrapped). That stuck, his riding changed. Despite often being criticized by adults and others for riding too near the front/doing too much work his replies have been along the lines of he'd rather push the wind than push the pavement.

I think you get those lessons in Cat 5 more than experienced categories. The cost of a crash is *usually* less in Cat 5.

revchuck 

fify.

gsteinb

yawn. I'm just trying to help you out. do what you want. you can of course always go back to your other board.

Ygduf

since the rules aren't posted I feel like asking questions about the rules ought to be tolerated. Sorry to make you so sleepy!