I recently did my first road race, CAT 5 @ Devils Punchbowl, which included 52 competitors.
Here are some power numbers, with the time in minutes on the far left…I weigh about 71-72kgs.
00-10 — Normalized 275 — Average 243
10-20 — N 305 — A 288 (This section included the main hill)
20-30 — N 227 — A 146 (What do you know, this included the main downhill)
30-40 — N 257 — A 237 (Mainly flat, sitting in the top 5 of the front pack of ~20)
40-51 — N 242 — A 222 (Through the first circuit in 45:54, and to the base of the main hill)
51-61:30 — N 347 — A 345 (This is where I made my move, and put about 2 minutes on the rest of the field)
61:30-71:30 — N 230 — A 166 (Not much pedaling on this 50mph tucked downhill)
71:30-87:30 — N 312 — A 306 (I looked back a few times, never saw them, but kept thinking they were right around the corner, or just about to crest a roller. Turns out I put another few minutes into them on this section and won by right around 4-5 minutes. No official times.)
You better be a CAT 3 by the end of the year! Or at least a 4. I would check the rules and see if you can get on the fast track to a 3.
You have the bug now, you are hooked, and are a marked man in the CAT 5 field.
You need a club, go to SoCalcycling.com and look at some in your area. With your physical ability, paired with a group of riders who can lead out and block for you, you will have a good career at this. Did you get your TT bike, or clip ons? State TT is May 28th in Palmdale, if you show up, good chance you will win it. Practice that aero position though, Palmdale course is flat.
You better be a CAT 3 by the end of the year! Or at least a 4. I would check the rules and see if you can get on the fast track to a 3.
You have the bug now, you are hooked, and are a marked man in the CAT 5 field.
You need a club, go to SoCalcycling.com and look at some in your area. With your physical ability, paired with a group of riders who can lead out and block for you, you will have a good career at this. Did you get your TT bike, or clip ons? State TT is May 28th in Palmdale, if you show up, good chance you will win it. Practice that aero position though, Palmdale course is flat.
-g
WTF? That should be very solid for Cat 3 at worst. More like Cat 2. Holy crap, and you are a 5???
Next week, work some humility intervals into your training plan.
Worry not my friend, I havn’t forgotten how far ahead Bjorn was (real far) when we did an informal, somewhat impromptu, TT up the local climb.
Why so much emphasis on “catting” up so quickly? I’m in the same boat as soujerner - started some bike racing this year, and have placed in every race, including winning 2 competitive training crit circuits. I still don’t think that strong legs, however, translate 100% into quality racing. Wouldn’t it be better for guys like soujerner to work his way through the 5s and 4s learning race tactics and even better bike handling? That’s my philosophy, and I have just disregarded advice to cat up, including one RD that wanted to put me straight into the 3s. That’s just crazy. Now if soujerner can ride off the front of every race - not just one - then I’ll shut up!
Another question Gary, I’m doing a 3-stage race at the end of June. Starts with an RR (48 miles) in the a.m., TT (12 miles) in the p.m. and crit the following a.m. In order of strengths, I will say my best is TT, RR then crit. I think I can win the TT outright, but do have some concern about how my legs will be for the crit. Any thoughts on how to approach the TT in a stage race?
Depends on how important the TT is in term of points. If it is an Omnium, then the TT is no big deal, if it is time based, then hammer it. As for CATting up, Sojouner wants to go pro, so I told him a month ago that he has to get to CAT 1 first, I give him two years until he is a CAT 1. By then, he will be competing on a National level. He just needs to find a team to develop his race tactics and skills. Plus this team can help him to win stages.
For 06, we will have a CAT 3 team, four of us, and I believe that my main job as the TT guy will be to pull our leader, and call out all the sprinters to wear them down in the RR.
If you have the legs to upgrade then do it. In terms of bike handling and safety, the lower categories aren’t even close to cat 3 and up. And race tactics? There is no such thing as race tactics in a Cat 4 or 5 race, most are unattached and if they are with a team have no idea how to race as a team. When you race by yourself against a 2 or 3 field with teams riding to win is when you really learn how to race. It wasn’t until I raced collegiate A’s with pro1/2’s that I really learned how to race; because the races are so difficult and most people are hanging on for dear life you learn how to race most efficiently to save the most energy. I learned more from one ridiculously hard race as an A than I did in every cat 3,4,5 or lower collegiate category race I ever did. Also, prize money goes up so if you can place in a higher cat race then go for the money, cycling is expensive, might as well get your race fees paid for.
Wouldn’t it be better for guys like soujerner to work his way through the 5s and 4s learning race tactics and even better bike handling?
I think it depends on the racer considering that Tom Danielson was about to upgrade from Cat 3 when he signed his first pro team contract. You will also find that sometimes good bike handling skills are not always essential to racing success - way back in a time before there was such a thing as Categroy 5 races (aka ciziens race back in the early 80’s), when I started racing I was able to progress from a Cat 4 to a Cat 2 with only a background in sports such as football, baseball, and tennis. But I then spent a considerable amount of time actually learning to race (between 1-20 years depending on who you ask) and now some 25 years later, I am still amazed by the results that some high level racers achieve despite their nearly complete lack of basic straight line handling skills (not going to list names, but one of them races for Monex and other racers tend to give him a pretty wide birth in a pack :^D). In fact, often times many of the most successful racers tend to violate all the things that I had always considered to be hallmarks of good bike handling/form. Tyler Hamilton for example, I know sore subject for some, but often times when he is generating high power/torque it is kind of like watching a train wreck in motion as his bike tracks side to side - and people wonder why he crashed so much! Although he is not really someone you hear much about these days, in the late 80’s Roberto Gagioli was considered one of the most feared men when it came to domestic criteriums but not as much for his blinding speed as for his complete lack of pack riding skills - well there is also his famous interpersonal skills that brought him a lot of unwanted notoriety last year!
Superdave was telling me about some pros with an SRM who finished a flat Tour de France stage with an average power output of only 85 watts. They sat in the entire time.
nice race for sure. I also live in socal and do all of the same races. I was going to do punchbowl, but wildflower LC was last weekend. I’d really recommend upgrading as fast as possible. I think you know the potential of the CAT 5 guys. CAT 4 is only marginally faster. The key is to get to CAT 3. The speed at the front of the 4’s is the same as the 3’s, but the riders are more tactical and better sprinters. The good thing about 3’s is that a lot of times they group Pro’s 1/2/3 together. I’ve just upgraded to 3 and have already learned way more in a couple of months than I have since I started racing. Riding with the heavies definitely gets your leg speed up. You’re not (well at least I’M not) going to beat up on the pro’s endurance wise, it teaches you to race smart. Are you racing the Bario Logan and Bonsal? - e