"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - What does "Senior" mean in category descriptions (as opposed to master)

If you were a 42 year old Cat 5 (and don't you wish you were:) ) , what category would you race in in the event below? What is "senior" compared to "masters? Does senior just mean "not junior"?

CATEGORY DISTANCE START TIME FEE PRIZES FIELD LIMIT
Junior Open 10 miles 8:00 AM $5 Medals 50
Senior Cat 5 20 miles 8:45 AM $20 Prizes 50
Masters 50+/60+ 20 miles 9:45 AM $20 $75/5 $75/5 75
Senior Wmn's Cat 4 20 miles 10:45 AM $20 $150/5 50
Master 30+/40+ 20 miles 12:15 PM $20 $200/5 $200/5 75
Senior Wmn's Cat 3/Open 20 miles 1:15 PM $20 $200/5 $500/5 75
Senior Men's Cat 3/4 20 miles 2:15 PM $20 $500/5 75
Senior Men's Cat 1/2 30 miles 3:15 PM $20 $600/5 75

-Junior 10-14 will be scored separately from Junior 15-18

What is "senior" compared to "masters? Does senior just mean "not junior"?

That's pretty much it. Most masters races are 35+, and juniors are, well, juniors.

master = faster

especially at the 30+ and 40+ levels, those races are often as fast as the 1/2/3 event, as the pace is being driven by seasoned Cat 1s and 2s, with competitive 3s sprinkled in, and 4s getting shelled or hanging on for dear life. 5s are usually not allowed to enter masters races.

nevermind. i assume this is leonardtown

yeah, Leonardtown.. What's the story on this race? Are you DC/MD/VA types doing it?

I never considered myself a "senior" before. Maybe I'll hit the 5 pm early bird special at Appleebee's for a pre-race meal the night before....

id like to do it but i will probably be upgraded to a cat 4 by then and not ready to race with 3s.

How do you go about registering for races when you arent sure what cat you will be by then?

FYI,
Cat 5 = new inexperienced rider.
Masters = potentially a former 1,2, or 3.

Masters races are always faster than 5 races. There can be some wicked fast guys in the master's races.

Leonardtown.. What's the story on this race? Are you DC/MD/VA types doing it?


It's on my wife's birthday, so I'll probably miss it but do Elkton the day before. I like the race, it's a difficult technical course - not as much as the UMD course, but still hard, and faster. Below is the typical race announcement description they use. IIRC, the 120 deg. turn is slightly off camber.

Course is a .7 mile, flat, triangle in the downtown part of Leonardtown. Two long legs, one short leg, two 90 deg. turns & one 120 degree, "use it or lose it" type turn followed by a short big ring grade. Road surface is smooth asphalt

id like to do it but i will probably be upgraded to a cat 4 by then and not ready to race with 3s.

How do you go about registering for races when you arent sure what cat you will be by then?

When I catted up last year I signed up as a 5, then contacted the organizers when I got upgraded and they moved me to cat 4. Then I ended up sick for that race anyway. :(

You should do Leonardtown either way. We've got a posse forming for the 3/4 race, so it should be pretty fun. If nothing else we can suffer together in the ranks of the pack fodder. :beer:

What are the details on the elkton race? That sounds like it might be near where I grew up so I might want to check that out.

Pete, I most likely be there.

I don't know about the Elkton race. My cat 4 teammates and I just kinda decided that we'd do Leonardtown. Apparently the course is a little more fun/interesting.

speaking of interesting courses i might go out to iowa for the snake alley crit