harolddelaney

What is the unwritten criteria on which race to do when an event is split into Men's A and Men's B? Categories, experience, etc...

So there's a road race. A is 30 miles. B is 15 miles. At what point does a person become overqualified for the B race? Shouldn't that B race be reserved for actual beginners or dudes who don't get out much but wanna taste racing every now and then?

MDcatV

1 - where is this?
2 - is this road racing or other discipline?

in U.S. road racing, there should be a race flyer that provides the rules that apply as to what USAC license category can race in which race. at a local race in Greenbelt, MD that uses the ABC distinction, the A race is category Pro1/2/3; B race is category 4/5; C race is category 5.

TheKillerPenguin

If there are two fields and one is say, a 3/4 and one is a 4/5 (B and C races, respectively), and in this hypothetical you're a 4, if you want experience you go for the 3/4 race, and if you want upgrade points you go for the 4/5 race. Just IMO.

Wylde06

Assuming this is the case, the 4/5 race wouldn't be long enough for upgrade points

Doge

Collegiate racing used A, B, C, and I think D

AMFJ

There is a training race series in Alabama that breaks it out into A, B and C. It is on the USA Cycling calendar, but they don't report results at all, and you can sign up for any race you want regardless of what CAT you are.

In general though it goes: A: Cat 1,2 and a few ambitious 3's. B: everybody else who has done a race at some point in their life. C: First time racers.

Best to read the flyer, and then talk to either someone who has done the race before or the race director to get a feel for who signs up for what.

globecanvas

Often there are written criteria, such as "A race for category 1-3 racers, B race for category 4-5 racers. Qualified category 4 racers may participate in the A race at the promoter's discretion." That would be a very typical situation. In fact that more or less describes a lot of organized group rides that have A and B fields.

If there are no written criteria, ask somebody.

TheKillerPenguin

Word, I assumed the race distances were hypothetical. A 15 mile race better be a time trial.

harolddelaney

Well, in this specific case it's more of a training race (United States). So, yeah, upgrade points and such don't really come into play. I was just curious what the general guidelines are for which category someone should be in. The one I'm doing doesn't specify. I'm doing the A race, but it seems strange to me that experienced Cat 4's, who finish near the top of the field in other races, choose to do the laughably short B race. But they all do it. Wasn't sure if there's some kind of rule where you can't do the A race unless you're a Cat 3 or something.

And the lengths weren't hypothetical. Actually, even shorter. 26 miles for A and 13 for B. Road race. So, really, not legit whatsoever. But you'll have your strong 4's jumping in the B group and stomping on the actual beginners. Pisses me off.

Doge

The rule of thumb for the juniors is don't upgrade until you have won the lower class or half those you race with have moved up and you are finishing 3/4 of the races in the top half. There is a jump when eating and drinking comes into play, but that is on longer rides than 30 miles.

AMFJ

If it's a training race and someone really strong drops down to a lower group--it doesn't matter. If he solos off the front and wins, the rest of the group is still there to do their training race. He has zero impact. If he sits in, and then sprints to a win--doesn't matter rest of the group has their race to do.

In the Alabama series, the last race there was an individual in the B race that went off the front at about mile 8 of a 45 mile race to never be seen again. There was a bit of chasing early on to catch him, but after a bit everyone just went back to racing as if he didn't exist. I'm not real sure what he got out of doing that, but it had no effect on us.

carpediemracing 

We have a Tues Night series around here, the "Rent". Until 2013 it was As (P1234) and Bs (45s), and if you did okay in the Bs you got moved to the As.

In 2014 the promoters changed and the new ones said As (p123) and Bs (345). We had a few pro level riders show up regularly (two pros were clients of the new promoter who is a coach and one brought his BMC friend now and then), plus a bunch of Cat 1s. THe A race was sick. I wasn't super fit (I am a 3 now) so I decided to do the Bs. "Not super fit" means I did 47 hours in the May-Aug that the series ran, so about 12 hours a month - on many weeks the Tuesday was one of two rides, sometimes the other was a weekend race. I decided to try and help the others rather than do well for myself, because what's doing well in a B race prove to me, right?

I got shelled a few times in the Bs, usually after doing a bit too much work, once because I just couldn't hang, and I tried to teach teammates how to work together a bit more. In the end one of my teammates, who won a B race and upgraded to 3 and then only did the A race, did the B race specifically to help me win. Most of the riders behind me when I won were 3s - it seemed that many of the regular B racers had upgraded to 3 by the end of the summer.

Technically I was a Cat 2 once (in 2011, after a spectacular 2010 year), although I was never a "Cat 2" in terms of fitness/training, I just sniped some good points using my guile. Some of the guys in the 2015 B race were Cat 2s and still regularly, and I mean regularly, win or place in Cat 3/M40/M45 races.

What I'm saying is that the Bs aren't always about strong riders stomping on the weak. You can work together with the weaker/newer riders. The A races are a challenge for me, for sure. In 2010, when I earned the points to upgrade to Cat 2, I struggled to stay in the A races. Here and there I'd manage to finish one, but all too often I was in the 2nd or 3rd group.

2010:
Upgraded to Cat 2 the day before so super motivated. Main reason I upgraded? We wanted to start a family. Plus I'd been chasing a Cat 2 on my license since 1983.

2012:
A race. Spectacular finish for me, Junior was about 4 months old so I wasn't sleeping much, I had an unexpectedly good day, and a lot of the strong guys didn't show or the other strong guys neutralized them (by keeping them within reach):

2015:
B race Heavy D wins (he was a 4 when he won, upgraded the next week or something):

B race Aaron wins. He had just, and I mean just upgraded from Cat 5. He's still a 4, I didn't realize that until the winter, and in fact he'd only done 3 weekend races as a 4 by the end of 2014, although I think of him as a 3. He's a friend, he hit the deck hard at the first Bethel, he's recovering and expects to be on the bike asap:

B race where Heavy (now a 3) works for me. Record 10 or 20 min effort for me, it was about as hard as I could go. Most of the riders around me were 3s.