Originally Posted by
big dane
i want to start racing in the 2008 season as well. to start, what's the difference between a crit and a road race? from there i will probably have more questions.
Crit: Short course. 1 mile or less in length. Go around there real fast, generally for 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on your category.
RR: Longer course, can either be a circuit race, which consists of one or several loops around a circuit. or a point to point type race going from Point A to Point B. Most races in the US are circuit races, for logistical reasons. These tend to be much longer, from 20-100+ miles, again, depending on category.
To save you some time:
Categories:
-Everyone starts as a Cat5. You move up to the 4s after 10 races. After that, you earn points to move up to next category by placing well in races.
-The categories go from 5->4...->1, then Pro.
-Cat4/5 generally race together, 3s seperately, then Pro/1/2. Sometimes they'll have a Cat5 only race, and a 4s race. Or a Pro/1, then 2/3, then 4/5. Or a Pro/1/2/3 and 4/5. It varies from event to event.