Being new to time trials can someone help me understand classes in this club?
Cat 1/2/3 and Cat 4/5 are the main ones I have questions about. My understanding is CAT 4/5 is for beginners but if you look at the results the guys at the front of that class are as fast or even faster times than the CAT1/2/3. Am I missing something here? I would think the CAT1/2/3 times should be faster than the 4/5. I have gone back though a lot of the results and it seems like this has been this way for a long time. As I looked at the guys at the last TT that were looking at their results for the CAT 4/5 were talking about racing together at a local UC campus. Should they not be racing in a higher class? I am not looking to win one of these anytime soon but coming from a motorcycle racing background I like to set goals in a class and then move up to the next level once I complete them. The way it looks to me the next level is about the same times with less people in it.
You gain no upgrade points for doing well in a TT. So while you might be excellent at time trialing, you’ll remain a 4/5 if you can’t sprint and do well in crits and RR’s. Plus, good Cat 4 TT’ers most likely do a lot better than mediocre Cat 3 TT’ers. Especially the ones that gain their upgrade points in hilly/mountainous RR’s like me. Also, if those guys you overheard were collegiate riders, we don’t get much chance to race USCF until after May and by then, our form is usually dropping a bit while everyone else is headed toward their peak.
What I’m really saying is that USCF category doesn’t really apply in TT’s until they make it separate like Track categories.
The fastest CAT 1/2/3 TT riders are much faster than the fastest CAT4/5 riders. If you look at the times for TT’s at major stage races, there is a nice progression in speed as you go up in category. In stand alone TT’s the fields tend to be much ‘weaker’, so the results often don’t fit the USCF rating.
I guess I don’t understand. The race on 11/13/04 Cat 1/2/3 top 3 times were 27.22, 28.41, 29 min & the CAT 4/5 were 28.22, 28.28.49, 29.06 and on the 3/13/04 race the CAT 4/5 rider was was 19 sec faster than the Cat 1/2/3. Does that not sound like they should have been in the same class? The motorcycle racing that I come from a rider that was going the speed expert or pro class would be bumped up. It just seems like this is not the case here.
There are some guys who upgraded from 5 to 4, but never beyond because they primarily specialize in TTs. They can forever stay cat4 if they choose, as long as they are not placing in any crits or RRs. I don’t agree, but those are the currrent rules.