Originally Posted by
spectastic
I'm probably one of those 8 people. I should be a cat 3. I wish I were a cat 3. But I'm fine going by the system, because it works, and if you let one guy cat up faster, it's only fair to change the system for everyone, and that's just not going to happen.
also, yes there are tri athletes with incredible endurance, but it's quite likely they've never raced in a group, and letting them shoot up the ranks is a disservice to both the rider and the pelotons, because he doesn't get the practice he needs, and the racers don't want a guy who doesn't know how to handle packed tight corners in cat 3 or higher.
lastly, lambra isn't responsible for upgrading people, usacycling is. it's possible for someone in cat 5 to upgrade to a 4 without 10 races, provided he/she does well with podiums and/or wins. (that's what I did). but it's the individual's decision to cat up or sandbag. It's not lambra's responsibility
This is LAMBRA not the texas or west coast, request an upgrade and you'll probably get approved. Taco went from 5 to 4 with 1 race and 4 to 3 with 1 race. If guys are racing solo in cat 5 and have no pack history then they aren't going to get it riding by themselves either and pulling the whole field isn't helping anyone else either.
The crit course was very tame with slow turns and no elevation change. However last year at the vuelta they let a much tighter course with elevation continue with people lapped and double lapped with hardly anyone pulled. This is the same race director but varying application of the rules?
The crashes i was just throwing out there for the race and had no determination based on category or upgrade. Every single category had a wreck in the road race and the 1 in the 5 the guy hit someones wheel looking back grabbing a bottle for no reason and only had another guy looking at a cow run into him.