Texas Cat 3 is about to get ugly
 

There's a proposal in the works to eliminate M35+/45+/55+ categories and replace them with 40/50/60. There's this M35+ 4/5 category that's been taking big numbers, and most of the M35+ racers are going to be 40+ next year.

So, at 38 next year, I'm in the minority. I'll be forced to race Cat 3.

My goal was to upgrade to Cat 2 (maybe following a January road race), race M35+ for road races, then try to make something hapen in P/1/2 crits with the team. That would keep my time spent racing fun and fast, without too many hours away from the family on weekends.

Well, now I won't have a low-mileage road race option. Cat 3 is around 90 minutes longer than M35+ for a road race. And it's slower. That stinks. If I upgrade to Cat 2, it will get worse. Remember that I only train 8 hours/week. I can win on that, but moving to much longer races will complicate things. Tougher to get away, more torn up when I get home, family suffers more for my sport.

So, I've got two years before I can race 40+. I'm going to train to be insanely strong. Much stronger than 2008. I'll start taking a couple longer lunches to get some real volume in too. Then I'll sandbag the f*ck out of Cat 3. I don't race enough to be forced into an upgrade, so I can just milk it and get some complaints generated, and get myself and some teammates up on the podium.

I've got a strong team, including 3s. We have some great options to put some guys up on the podium week after week.

I'm still pissed though. I guess there just aren't enough 34-38 year olds this year to anchor M35+ for next year.

I always thought the idea of calling anyone in their 30's, "masters", was absurd.

Longer races for 3's? Eat a bit more food. You don't need to train anymore.

Great........

The ONE good thing about being the slowest man alive is that these details don't really impact me at the end of the day.

Yeah, I've done well in long races without long training rides. Didn't know if I could count on it though.

I remember when the 30's guys were called vets. Vets races were very hard. Crits were usually nearly as fast as the cat 2 races. I loved racing that category.
Sorry to hear they are thinking of changing the classes for masters and you are getting the door shut in your face.

take a look at it from the glass is half full viewpoint: you get to race in the ultimate cat a little bit longer.

Yeah, my haul from the AT&T crit was ~$450 cash and merch. That's good for the team, right there :)

RX will probably get back from Gruene tonight, catch up on his BF and send down Cat 2 upgrade orders anyway :roflmao2:

Aside from the fact that in TX one of most exciting race cats is 35+masters the real disaster is what they are trying to do to the TX Cup. The idea is that the TX Cup is too complicated with too many overlapping cats. Some races here have 3, 3/4, 4, 4/5, 5, 4/5 35+ along with the other cats. The promoters are complaining about small fields. They are trying to break the TX Cup into regions, so if someone were to win cat3 they would be the cat 3 champion of Central TX. Now since most of the really good races are in the greater Austin/San Antonio area if you were from Dallas and won a race here in Austin you couldn't use those points for your regional championship. This whole thing is absurd. We should do what national does and leave it like that.

Yeah, I find that funny too... Most "masters" races start at 35 here but there are a few 30+ races, so I will finally be able to 2-race-days :thumb:

I agree that Masters categories should start at age 40. Most Cat 1s and pros are just as fast at 36 as they were at 26. (Then again, I'm 40.)

Enjoy beating up the Cat 3s next spring WR, but don't stay there too long. Move up to Cat 2 and punish yourself for a couple years until you turn 40. When you are on the course suffering, it is a good feeling knowing the guys inflicting the pain are the fastest guys racing that day.

Waterrockets: the Dr. WJO of Austin? ;) All around.

And it looked like X was listed as a 3 on the results sheets from Gruene -- did I read it wrong or was it a mistake?

The category column is their own classification, not racer category:

Übergruppe ITT
(Fastest)
01. Men 34 and under
02. Men 35 - 39
03. Men 40+
04. Women 34 and under
05. Women 35 and over
06. Men 17 and under
Blitzgruppe ITT
(Faster)
07. Men 18 - 34
08. Men 35 - 44
09. Men 45 - 54
10. Men 55 and over
11. Women 34 and under
12. Women 35 - 44
13. Women 45 and over
Schnellgruppe ITT
(Fast)
14. Men 17 and under
15. Men 18 - 34
16. Men 35 - 39
17. Men 40 - 44
18. Men 45 – 49
19. Men 50 and over
20. Women 34 and under
21. Women 35 - 44
22. Women 45 and over

Ack, there's a general forum on the txbra web site, and I posted a new thread there to see if there were others in my situation (34-38 Cat 3s), to generate a little opposition to the prop. They pulled my thread down inside 5 minutes.

grumble grumble

That's because you're supposed to take it up with your TXBRA club rep.

I'm one of the slackers in 35+4/5, and I usually do the 2nd race in the 4's. I started a couple of 35+ opens this year and got shelled inside of 10 laps. So, yeah, all of those guys are fast enough to race with the 3's at least, and probably the 2's.

Yeah, my club knows where I stand, but I wanted to campaign.

get a fake ID stating you're 40, any teen ager should be able to hook you up.

I'm in same boat as you. I'll be racing age 38 in 2009, would rather race against 30+ or 35+ folks than Cat 3s, or especially 3/4 races, but the 30+ BAR around here is non-existent. Unlike you, I dont have the team or chops to be a big factor in the 123 race.

Yeah, sorry bud, but you know the deal - it's all about total racer count vs time available to lock down the venue. And even at the Div 1 Cup races this year, the 35+ field was one of the smallest ones.

Funny they left the other thread up. I posted my dislike for the proposal there. Besides the reps read TXBRA and they can measure the pro/con response from the threads. Since we (texas racers) are not privy to the exact details of the measure then how can one respond to ones rep? The worst part of all this is that it's being done in secret.

Yeah, that's because of the 35+ 4/5 division. I think Cat 5s should have to race together, possibly with a B race. The 4s can race M35+. I'd like to see the category breakdown of the M35+ 4/5 races (how many 4s vs. 5s).

On the other side, I can appreciate the numbers they're fighting, but why not just have 35+/50+/60+ if they're going to eliminate a race. Why strand anyone out there with 40/50/60? I don't see the point. Our state TT champ is over 40, so he can race with them. Who else are they scared of?

I hear ya man, I'm 42 and if my only option was racing 4's, I'd still race. It's a bit faster / deeper field than the 35+4/5 crowd, but still the guys that do well in one will do well in the other.

Maybe 45 or 50 should be the breakpoint where people get their own group?

Yeah, I'm fine with racing against Cat 3s (though I'm not excited about that much chamois time -- really, what's the point of a 76 mile race instead of a 52 mile race?). I want the opportunity to race the Cat 2s and 1s in races that aren't 80 miles long.

Maybe I can petition for an age upgrade :)

one more hour to weed out the pack fodder

Yeah, I need precisely one minute to do that.

Another hour is just filler like adding a romance storyline to an otherwise good action movie.

It was, on average 8 riders less than the 35+ 4/5. It was often combined with the 45+ so the time issue is a red herring.

Keeping the 35 4/5 and moving the open Master's starting age to 40 is oxymoronic. I'm 48, my dog in this fight is my teammates, who we brought on to race 35+ and who I was looking forward to working for. Really, if you look at the Pro 1/2 ranks and the top finishers of P1/2 races the age curve drops big at the 35 cutoff, not the 40.

And if I was in any of the 35+ races where you got shelled, I apologize ;)