I’m planning on participating in my first Time Trial event this Sunday and emailed the coordinator to see if beginners are welcome. I’m confused about her response though…
“You certainly can. If you’re relatively new to racing we can put you in as a CAT4 or CAT5(citizen), which ever you prefer. You could also do your age level if you like, but if you’re new I would recommend category. Let me know what you would like to do”
I just assumed I’d be put in an age group (30-34). Is there an advantage for me to doing one or the other? Since it’s a TT event I’m just racing the clock, right? I’d just like to get some Time Trial experience and see how well I can do, and if nobody shows up get a medal
It depends on what you are racing for … if it’s just to compete against yourself, training, etc. it really doesn’t matter which you race in because in the end you are racing against yourself.
If however you are looking for a result … it is a race after all … picking the right class to race in can make a big difference.
Age group is open to all categories and it’s only standard is age. So you could be racing against a bunch of CAT 5’s or a bunch of CAT 1’s getting a major whoopin put on you. Category racing you know the others have similar experience to you and through you might have a strong racer or two, you have a better shot overall.
Basically … Masters racing is “Very” fast, especially in the 40-49 group, many times just shy of the CAT 1/2 fields.
For a TT it does not matter except if you care about relative placings within a category. Usually age graded is tougher competition than a lowery category than cat 4 or 5.
I’m planning on participating in my first Time Trial event this Sunday and emailed the coordinator to see if beginners are welcome. I’m confused about her response though…
“You certainly can. If you’re relatively new to racing we can put you in as a CAT4 or CAT5(citizen), which ever you prefer. You could also do your age level if you like, but if you’re new I would recommend category. Let me know what you would like to do”
I had thought you were only eligible for Cat 5, you need 10 mass starts (TT’s don’t qualify) to be eligible for Cat 4.
Cycling has 5 categories 1-5. You can also participate in the masters inside of your category ie 35/45 Cat5. Generally they will combine results of Masters Cat4/5
Standard Cat5 would be considered open to all ages. Very different from tri where there is a huge disparity of skill among the participants but since your not in a pack it’s relatively safe. If you were to race a crit or road race they would not combine you with the higher category masters racers for safety.
It used to be you could race any category you wanted in the TT but I think those rules have changed so you will have to race against 5s or in the combined 4/5 field .
Cycling has 5 categories 1-5. You can also participate in the masters inside of your category ie 35/45 Cat5. Generally they will combine results of Masters Cat4/5
Standard Cat5 would be considered open to all ages. Very different from tri where there is a huge disparity of skill among the participants but since your not in a pack it’s relatively safe. If you were to race a crit or road race they would not combine you with the higher category masters racers for safety.
It is the reverse.
Now you can race in a higher category, used to be you could not.
It used to be you could race any category you wanted in the TT but I think those rules have changed so you will have to race against 5s or in the combined 4/5 field .
for usac you are correct, however the individual is inquiring about ABR. they don’t have the same rules and they do have separate road and TT categories.
for OP, just look at results from past races in the series and decide from there, ie are the 4/5s faster or the 30-34? really, it does not matter. only thing that matter from a category perspective is if you were doing enough events in the series to qualify for the year end overall prizes. I think that requires 8 events, in same category. you could also double up and do both. one run at 30-34 and one at 4/5s it’s only 33k afterall
also, Harvard on sunday does not have a turnaround, lucky you, just a lollipop shape and one chance to miss a turn(road curves but there is a road that goes off on tangent, stick to curve, early on, first 2 miles, I believe)
ABR is nice and low key. anybody will talk to you and they even have recumbents. fully faired one at an event last year.
Thanks everyone for the responses. I think I understand now.
Based on previous results, it looks like the 30-34 age group and the CAT 5 age group have similar times. I’ll probably just sign up for the CAT 5 group and give it a shot.
I’ll probably put the route into my Garmin Edge 800 just to be sure I don’t miss a turn
Now I’m super excited about my first race!
