waterrockets 

This is my first season out of "retirement" with a license again. I got reinstated as a Cat 3, and I mostly raced M35+. I've been hanging with the Cat 2s in the M35+, but I'm not to the point of beating them. I've gotten 2nd in a Cat 3/4 crit, and several top 5th places. I did six crits and one road race. Overall, I'm riding at a level even with, or better than, people who are training 4-6 hours/week more than me. The good guys who are in the 15 hour range are clearly stronger than me, but I still get into breaks with them and such (mixed cat training races).

I'll have a power meter at Christmas, so we'll see where my real numbers are then. I think I'll look good on the short end and average on the long end.

If I were to do a Cat 3 road race, I think the mileage (75 or so) would be a challenge for me. If I could get one long ride in each week, I'd fix that too, but that would put me up to 8 hours/week. At this point, I'm only planning on the M35+ road races at 45-55 miles, and I'm ok with that distance. I'm doing just fine with a 2/day crits at 26-28mph.

That said, I'm in no danger of turning pro or anything

If nothing else, this training schedule keeps me motivated. I hit the chipseal with an urgency to get as much out of those precious minutes as possible, and I live with a constant longing to ride more. That's so much nicer than searching for motivation to keep up with a 12 hr/wk schedule. I'm having an absolute blast, and I do it all on lunch breaks.