No offense to women, and I know a few who can kick my ass, but a woman cat 2 is not the same as men's cat 2. I was in a race last year where the women 1/2 were combined with us (cat 4) as well as the 17-18 yr old juniors and all but 1 of the women were dropped by the end.
I'm asking for trouble now
Well, she claimed to have been around racing for a while, and it's her opinion most racers in this region don't train on many of the tougher hills. Based on my informal observations, this appears to be the case. Training groups seem to stick to more heavily trafficked roads, which just happen to be better paved and have more gradual elevation changes. I'm sure they also provide more opportunity for peloton training. But I very rarely see solo riders on some of the steeper grades I ride.
Could be that NJ riders are just wussy.