Originally Posted by
chasm54
...I'd been around races and bike racers a long time, but the intensity of that first experience took me by surprise. I found that, fit as I was, I couldn't hack it in a race. ...
... but the race seemed to consist of nothing but a series of intense sprints separated by very brief rest periods. They spat me out the back in fairly short order and once gone, there was no coming back. ...
...Which is a long-winded way of echoing the fact that a high VO2 max is a terrific thing to have in terms of potential, but being race-fit, in every sense of the word, is a different matter.
...One more thing. There are some freakishly fast old guys out there.
My experience mirrors his. After my first season of racing, I can finish in the pack with the cat 4s, but the Masters leave me so far behind that I just hope they'll send a postcard to let me know how things are at the finish line.
Basically, Cat 4 and 5 are chock full of people learning how to race and/or weekend warriors who enjoy racing, have some skills, but aren't looking to set the world on fire. That's who you want to learn to race with. The Master's division is full of guys who've been racing for 10-40 years, have legs of steel, ridiculous skills, and have forgotten more about racing than you can know. They may look like a bunch of geezers at the starting line, but don't be fooled.
Finally, it's been said several times already, but racing is about racing. Fitness helps, but it's no substitute for experience.
BB