Road Bike Racing - Lower or upper grade?

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Falchoon
07-20-08, 05:49 AM
Is it better to finish say mid pack in a lower grade or near last in a higher grade? I thought I was getting stronger and faster so bumped myself up a grade but might have got my abilities confused with my ambitions as the first race I came last, the second I came second last (only because team mate had a flat) and today finshed fourth last (not including a bunch of DNFs). On the plus side I do seem to be getting better, I guess I should just stick with it and hopefully I will pick up a few more places in future races. Talking road races not crits.

pjcampbell
07-20-08, 06:35 AM
did you go from 5 to 4? what sort of races are these?
Falchoon
07-20-08, 03:57 PM
D to C which I guess is the same as your Cat 4 to Cat 3. Road races up to 100km.

swimmer88
07-20-08, 09:01 PM
its tough to say. once you get dropped from a group, you fall back pretty fast. So if you finished near last in a higher grade, its really no different that finishing mid pack with a lower grade. But then again, its hard to say because you probably did get faster and stronger, but just not enough to stick with the fast group. Getting dropped makes you finish look way worse than it actually is.
Frunkin
07-20-08, 09:05 PM
If you want to improve move up.