Ygduf

furiousferret

USAC's most Wanted:

1. Lance
2. Jancouver

Ygduf

Jancouver sounds a lot like Vancouver. Get him!

Jancouver

Well, considering most of the dopers that snitched on Lance got six month suspension, my 3 months suspension for being a pain in the butt is quite a considerable punishment. Not to go into too many details, but apparently I crossed an invisible yellow line on a road with no line. Then got DQ and suspended

Either way, around here, the only promoter has everyone in check and the officials are doing everything they have to just to keep him happy. As he wants to fill his races, the upgrading official (very nice guy btw) will upgrade anyone to Cat 3 as that is the preferred category of the promoter. Having very small fields around here, is the official reason why anyone would be eligible for an upgrade to Cat 3. He is not as generous with 3>2>1 but still much easier than at any other place.

BTW, the promoter decided that this year all the masters categories will be Cat 1-5 and that's how it is. I have been opposing this change for safety reasons, as we all know that a first time Cat 5 racer can cause a major crash and injuries just to be told to stay home if I dont like it.

So there you have it

tetonrider

hi, jancouver! nice to see you here.

IMO that is pretty lame. riding in those fields one should expect *some* level of accomplishment of a rider. upgrading to 3 without 10 races is a pretty big leap. i know some people move fast (i moved out of 5s with <10 races so perhaps i am not one to talk), but skipping TWO levels is quite a bit.

when we're elbow to elbow, we sort of have to trust that the coordinators did their job in vetting riders...at least a bit.

FWIW, i've raced in many regions of the country, and the word in another region (i won't say which) is that many riders get to 2 (or even 1) because fields are small and 2 HUGE teams dominate races....like having >50% of the riders in the fields. they can arrange it so the riders they want get results--not guaranteeing a win, mind you, but getting people into the points.

honestly it showed in some of the riding, so it hurts them later--but it also can hurt others (literally).

Ygduf

you can say connecticut

furiousferret

Sounds harsh for a penalty, was it the violation or did you piss him off?

Regardless, I need to go to this fantasyland where people go from gran fondos to cat 3. Here in California we got national champs 3 rows deep and half the field flats from discarded syringes on the course.

Jancouver

Hi,
I was just stopping by to ask a question about Q rings calibration and somehow got into this

You are very correct about the one dominating team. BTW that team around here is also the team sponsored by the bike shop/promoter ...

BTW their favorite (and only) trick is to send those in need of upgrade points up the road and completely block the road by putting 6 or so of their riders abreast and slowing down the field to 10mph as nobody cant get around them unless you cross the yellow line and get DQ.

While blocking may be a common practice in other races, here it is just beyond any sportsman conduct. When I contacted USAC regarding that, I was told the race ref has the final decision. Obviously the official is hand-in-hand with the promoter/sponsor of the team so you can imagine this practice is widely tolerated.

Once again, if you dont like it, stay home I was told.

Doge

So I was told by a director (whom I believe) of a team that does NRC races that in general when they want a rider the category is not important. They can make the phone call and get the upgrade. Made sense to me. Was Lance ever a Cat 1 (I really don't know)?

UmneyDurak

Ok...

mattm

true story.

merlinextraligh

My district rep counted my masters results to upgrade to Cat 3.

And they should. The few podium finishes I have in Masters against Cat 1-4 masters were much harder to come by than finishing in the points in a Cat4-5 race.

globecanvas

I have to say that various things about this narrative do not pass the smell test.



Having said that, when I have raced in less-populated parts of the country, I have been unimpressed with field quality. Seems self-evident that the average cat whatever racer from a densely populated area will have had to compete against higher quality fields to advance, compared to the average same-category racer from a less populated area.

No geographical offense meant to anybody, just talking about averages. Any individual racer can transcend whoever is around them.

topflightpro

Around here, there are fewer and fewer 35+ races. Everything is going to 40+. Apparently turnout for 40+ races is much higher than 35+ because guys in their 40s don't want to be racing against cat 1s and 2s with a racing age of 35.

At the same time, I'm also seeing more and more races lumping cat 3s in with the P/1/2 fields.

himespau 

Sounds like, if you have no chance anyway, staying home would be an appealing option.

Yep

This. In my hood, all the races are P/1/2/3, so I really had to take a deep breath before upgrading to the Ultimate Category. It's basically a jump from 4 to 1/2.

topflightpro

But your signature says you have one upgrade point to Cat 2?

gsteinb

that's funny. y'all don't block those things?

mattm

nothing to be afraid of, besides extra white space.

furiousferret

I've noticed this too but didn't really want to point it out. I know people sometimes chuckle at hammerfests, but being in a populated area means you do your Cat 5 race on the weekend, then race with a mix of people including pro's on weekdays. Someone in North Dakota may ride with Bob and Bill, and how fast the 3 are is the ceiling. TJ got there and he's from Montana so sometimes that trio can be fast.

Another reason there should be more 3/4 races.

To me and most others, 40 seems like a good delineation point for masters. People are going to race what they feel gives them the best chance to win. I doubt many people think 30 / 35 year olds need to be parsed out of the fields due to a drop off in ability.

Yep

Yep.

topflightpro

I complete misread your original post - thought you said you have to consider whether to move up, not had.

gsteinb

for 50 year olds 45 or 50 seems better.

caloso

Those are still relatively unusual here. Just as well for me: the few times I've done them it was all I could do to hang on.

furiousferret

I suppose it would =\