"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Help with what race to run...(masters or novice)

I'm running a race this weekend and have the choice to run in novice men (since I have done very few races) or my real category which is Master 30+ (I'm in Canada). The Novice race is only 42km and the Masters race is 105km. Should I do the Novice and do half decent and then move up for the next race or suffer the Master's race and just try to finish it.
As an aside, I'm a strong rider with good bike handling skills and am competitive. I'm far from being at the front of the Masters (at least I think) but should be able to keep up.
My ego says do the masters race and get it done but then my logical side says do the novice race and see how you do since you only get to move up, not down.
Suggestion?

I'm running a race this weekend and have the choice to run in novice men (since I have done very few races) or my real category which is Master 30+ (I'm in Canada). The Novice race is only 42km and the Masters race is 105km. Should I do the Novice and do half decent and then move up for the next race or suffer the Master's race and just try to finish it.
As an aside, I'm a strong rider with good bike handling skills and am competitive. I'm far from being at the front of the Masters (at least I think) but should be able to keep up.
My ego says do the masters race and get it done but then my logical side says do the novice race and see how you do since you only get to move up, not down.
Suggestion?

Novice.

+1 Novice.

+2

+3

novice.

this is a no brainer.

why are you running?

Something gonna be chasing you? Else, don't run. Bike.

... delete

novice.

this is a no brainer.
why are you running?

That was my reaction. Then I saw the thread is about a cycling race.

Ahh the english majors are out I see....
I will be biking not running and have gone with the novice class but feel a bit of remorse since I train with a strong team and think that I could do the 105km race. Anyway we'll see what happens and I'll report back on my results.
Thanks

In general your "real" category is your experience level, not your age.

M30 is for guys who are really strong who happen to be over 30. For example, someone like Lance Armstrong could race it. Not really, since he's an Elite, but he is over 30. So are a lot of other really strong racers, many of whom none of us have heard of outside their sphere of influence.

I'm technically a Master but I avoid those races. This is because I'm only a Cat 3 (and not sandbagging - I don't have 10 or 15 or 20 national titles to my name) and a Masters race is generally a Cat 1-2 race with everyone else contributing to the prize money.

cdr

So since its suposed to rain all day, I plan on doing the novice race which is only 42kms but if it turns out to be a nice day I'll do the masters race....

Why did you even ask the question? The unanimous response was to race Novice, but you're going to race Masters anyway. Why waste our time if you aren't going to take the advice?

Note that your masters race is going to be shorter than the novice would be (disregard the race flyer, as it assumes you don't get dropped).