Road Bike Racing - Question / Vent on choosing race reg cat

OK, so I'm late in trying to sign up for a race in 10 days...I'm no longer the monomaniacal endurance athlete I was 20 years ago, and needed to clear up other family plans first...but I was surprised / disappointed to find that the cat 4/5 field was full (75)...more surprised to see that the other cats were almost empty...like single digit empty in some cases.


Here's the question. How does someone who is cat 4 pick which race they are going to do? In this instance there are the open age groups (>35, >45, >55) for cats 1-4, as well as cat 3/4 and cat 4/5. I don't think there are 75 cat 5s who have filled up that field, so why would a 4 want to race against me?

Made sure to sign up for my next planned race 6 weeks ahead....cat 5 only and I'm the 7th to register.

I'm assuming you mean the Cyclonauts RR in Monson?

Yeah, that one's a bit weird to figure out. Usually there's a distance or start time difference between a 4/5 race and a 3/4 race, but in this case the times are only 5 minutes apart and the distance is the same.

Anyways, it's usually because the 4 doesn't think he's fit or smooth enough to ride with the 3's, or if there are teammates racing as 5's that they want to hang out with.

Our team is a 4/5 team so we tend to lean toward 4/5 races over 3/4 races when given the choice so that we can get the best representation and race together. I also think that many cat 4s looking for upgrade points/experience lean toward the 4/5 race over the 3/4 race as they figure their chances are better.

BK: yup!

92* hadn't thought of the team issue, though I'm not sure that explains the full issue....

I'm not sure how it is in other parts of the country, but in races here in Oregon, the more experienced Cat4+ riders mostly all register "day of", while the 5 field is full of pre-regs because the beginner racers panic at the thought that their field will be full. This occurs particularly for the "spring classic" races we have around here. Lots of cat5's, and a smaller field leads to pre-regs, while there are hardly any pre-regs with the cat4+ races.

This time of the season, most of those 5's are now 4's, and don't pre-register anymore.

most of our races only pre register now...

we only have a 4/5 option, 3's run by themselves, but we have small fields this year and no worries on signing up early.

Us NEBRA folks have it easy compared to the MABRA racers - the 4 and 5 races fill up in a couple of hours, if not minutes!