I just got a USAC membership. There is a race in Feb that I want do but I don’t want to do cat 4/5 race. I would like to do the cat 3/4 race. What do I have to do? Ive never done a cycling race and this is very confusing.

I had said this back when the thread was first created but bike racing is not the local 5k that people sign up for to just have fun and finish. 75%+ of people of sign up for a RR or crit are there because they trained for it, like really trained, not rode for 3 hours per week. Bike racing setup isn…

[image] CaptainThunderpants: Hop on the road bike. With the length of the TT, the road bike will be faster than the small front ring. This. This is exactly what I would’ve done.

And there you have it. Unwilling to change and then there will be threads that will be started about why cycling is dying. Triathlon is like running. Most people are there competing against themselves but the front of the race is a race. How cool is it that Joe Shmoe can line up behind the world c…

[image] Alen: The novice category is supposed to be cat5 which dropped me like a dead weight. What part of that is novice? “Novice” isn’t a fitness level. It’s an experience/skills level. There will always be folks that are racing novice with a much higher cat power profile, but just don’t ha…

[image] Alen: The novice category is supposed to be cat5 which dropped me like a dead weight. Because you’re not trained for criterium efforts… You keep heaping criticism on the sport, but fail to look in the mirror. Take some responsibility for the outcome. Triathlon and running events hav…

The more I’m reading, it’s sounds like you signed up for a race but are expecting a Gran Fondo experience. Large group, racing/riding at whatever pace you want. Not sure exactly what you expected, but they’re not going to tell the group to slow down because it’s a Novice category. Edit: Also, anoth…

[image] TheCyclissimo: Because you’re not trained for criterium efforts… You keep heaping criticism on the sport, but fail to look in the mirror. Take some responsibility for the outcome. I think you misunderstand me. I am totally stating that I wasn’t ready for what I entered. Not deflecti…

Anyways. Those are my thoughts from the race. You guys can argue and discuss whatever you want. I entered something to try it. Didn’t workout. I have an IM race in June, and half marathon in September, and a 5k swim race in October, and then my calendar is clear. I’ll see if I will enter another r…

[image] CaptainThunderpants: Not sure exactly what you expected, but they’re not going to tell the group to slow down because it’s a Novice category. I have twice told someone in a race to slow down because they were going too fast and it worked! That’s some advanced race craft there :wink:

How can I race cat 3/4?

Racing

mcneese.chad April 26, 2021, 5:59pm 274

Yup, that and other great discussion related to the USAC rules changes, with aims to improve the experience for newer race participants, are available here:

USAC Changing Upgrade Policy

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How can I race cat 3/4?

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How can I race cat 3/4?

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