carpediemracing 

I must have not completed my thought in my long post above.

Basically I'm saying that many Cat 5 racers are plenty strong enough. A coach for fitness/speed? Probably not necessary. If you can go 20-22 mph on a training ride then you're way stronger than me - I'm going 3-5 mph slower than that on a good day. On a less good day I might be doing 12-15 mph and think I actually made an effort doing it. I normally get shelled close to first when it comes to group rides and stuff, to the point that a non-racing 50+ woman asked me if I was really trying when she rode me off her wheel. I was absolutely redlined and the terrain (20-30 minutes of climbing) didn't allow me to use any tactics/techniques, it was all about w/kg. However, when it comes to racing, I can hold my own in flatter events.

Many Cat 5 racers don't know how to race. Coach for that? Would be well worth it. I bet that a moderately fit racer can go from even not finishing to being top 10 in a couple races (and in a field of 50, not of 12). The few fit Cat 5s I've helped have gotten, at worst, 3rd in the first race they did after they asked me for help. Some 5s, and 4s, have won within 2-3 races. One Cat 4 I helped won three Tues races in a row and then got 3rd at a target race that took place at about that same time. Previously he hadn't won a Tues race and I don't think he ever got a top 3. He's since won an A race (I worked for him that day), got 2nd in that same target race as a 3 (I tried to work for him that day as well).

Issue is that a coach type rider normally can't race with Cat 5s so they can't watch you race. You're left with using a coach that will review bike/helmet cam footage (helmet preferred, at least for me) along with an accompanying power or HR graph that includes speed/cadence. This would allow a coach to really see what you're doing, when, and how it's affecting you physiologically.

My clip above is from the Tues Night races around here. The races were reformatted to allow 3s in the traditionally 4-5 race. This allowed more experienced teammates to race with their newer racers. Two teams in particular did this, my team being one of them.

Bottom line - fitness isn't everything like it is in time trial type events (time trials, triathlons, anything with running, climbing hills longer than 30-60 seconds long, etc). How you apply that fitness will make much more of a difference in your results, at least initially.