jrennie

Wow, uphill sprint finish and that is the guy who gets second he must be 200+. Come to California WR.

jrennie

Yeah, this thread doesn't have much suffering in it anymore. First post says no smiling.

waterrockets 

Hey, I nearly puked on my phone telling my wife about it. You're looking at the end of 54" at 722W, which I went into from FTP. Don't hate just because I can smile in pain

That guy in 2nd I had picked to win if I didn't. This was his first race as a Cat 3. I've seen his power files. His 5" power is over 2000W, and his 1' power is 1000W. His best Kilo is 1:12 with clip-on bars on his track bike (good enough to podium if he was a Cat 2 on the track). He used to weigh 400+ lbs, then discovered he has some really strong legs. He's raced against RX on the track, who will attest to his strength.

You think I'm racing slow pokes, come to TX and show me. I don't travel more than an hour or two to race.

MDcatV

^congrats on another "W", WR

you lookin' lean.

jvan12345

I fully agree with WR's assessment of the guy who got second. Having ridden with him and raced him all last year in crits, I tell you that boy can flat sprint.

waterrockets 

Thanks. The lower weight is paying off.

ridethecliche

Awesome job WR

rankin116

WR, does your bike match your kit?

Congrats on the win!

waterrockets 

Thanks. It does match, but not by design. It's a used team bike from a local team that has good Trek sponsorship (one of those guys is back in the pack somewhere on his new Madone )

botto 

feeling lazy. give me time.

btw - you do realize that last years kit was better, right?

waterrockets 

Yeah, the white Austinbikes kit is my all-time favorite kit. This one matches the bike much better though

The_Convert

cat 3s are, by definition, slow-pokes.

What's funny around here is that the people that shouldn't upgrade calculate how close they are in percentages while the people that should have upgraded long ago start countless threads about the last cat 3 race they decimated.

waterrockets 

By that definition, everyone is a slow poke unless they have triple-digit UCI points in August. Everyone should upgrade until they suck. Screw enjoying a victory.

I tried to upgrade at the end of 2008, and they wouldn't do it because I didn't have enough points. Even after Saturday I don't have enough points (2 pts. short). If I go with the technical requirements for upgrades, I actually need 18 more points, because my last two crit wins are ineligible because of race distance. ATT they cut short because they needed to set up hay bales so we'd have something to crash into in the rain. For ToNB, the crit just turned out to be 19.52 miles, according to my power file.

So, I think I've got the speed to upgrade and not get dropped from a P12 event (unless it's a shattered field due to climbs or wind). I just don't have the points. The upgrade official told me, very clearly, that to get to Cat 2, I needed to actually earn the points.

To top it all off, all I want to do is race M35+ with the Cat 1 and Cat 2 badasses. TXBRA bumped it up to 40+, so now I'm stuck with Cat 3 racing as my only option, at age 38.

So, in my 2008 and 2009 races as a Cat 3, I've come in 2nd, 1st, 1st, 1st, and 1st. (three of those are weeknight crits). But I can't upgrade.

I'm not going to apologize for how I pin my numbers on, or how I keep my head low and look under the brim of my helmet, or race with hairy legs. I will decimate more Cat 3 races if I can, and upgrade when it's time. I think my points may start expiring because I can't carry a full race schedule, so this may go on for a while.

tonyzackery

trolls are, by definition, ...

umd

So you're a pro?

umd

Here's another good one...

The_Convert

I'm closer than most, but I also don't try to be a BF demi-god.

He specifically mentioned the guys he was racing against are not slow-pokes. I am just pointing out that their category itself indicates they are average at best. Yes, until you are winning world's, there is always another category. You can assume though, when you are in the p-1-2 category, there are occasions where you race against guys with some actual palmares on a national or international level....not just the big heifer with strong legs.

umd

Yes, we had some really high profile racers in our P-1-2-3 crit yesterday, including the national crit champion. Too bad I'm just a 4, I couldn't do it. Looked fun. There are some good pics here... scroll backwards to see the finish.

The_Convert

Exactly. It's not the Ronde, but it would be quite a stretch for someone to call that race slow, (though I'm sure a few of Euro pros would if they read Bahati going on about it).

umd

I timed a few of the roughly 1K laps at 1:10, or over 30mph. Pretty sure the average was over 30mph. Nearly every lap there was an attack with someone different off the front. Never saw Williams until the sprint though. I think I could have held onto the race. I would have loved to try. That's why I keep a cat-3-o-meter

The_Convert

That's Williams eh, man it's hard to tell those two apart.

JoesInBoston

That's an awesome picture, umd.

By the way, which rudy project helmet is that and how do you like it? I was looking at the Kontact, but am thinking I might spend the extra money to get the actyum.

Flatballer

He has both. I know because I asked this question too. He likes the Kontact more. I ended up getting the Actyum and I like it a lot. The Kontact wasn't in stock at the time, and wouldn't be for some months.

I don't think you can go wrong, but the Kontact is cheaper and umd says it's more comfortable. Probably a personal thing.

unbelievably

Looks like you're racing a bunch of linebackers...

waterrockets 

I agree. Pros, 1s, and 2s, are better competition, and I'd rather race with them. (though I do have an issue with the length of the road races -- which is why M35+ is perfect for me: 1s and 2s with less distance)

My comment was was on the big guy and the hill. It was (almost) a sprint finish in a crit, so clearly that wasn't actually a hill, and the big guy happens to be able to sprint with the P12 guys on the track. So we're talking about the same level of strength.

The original comment implied that if that's what 2nd place looks like then TX racing is a joke. I don't think 2000W in TX is any less power than 2000W in California. Maybe there are more Cat 3s in CA with a 2000W sprint than there are here, but that wasn't the implied argument.