I’m not saying this guy is going to sky rocket to cat 2.
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Even that is against the rules. You are not allowed to take a draft from a different field. The higher cat rider in your example would not be allowed to go to the back of a lower cat group and hang on. They are by themselves.
3B5. Taking pace or assistance from any outside means is forbidden, including holding on to
a motor vehicle or taking pace from riders in a different race that is concurrently on the same course.
And I should clarify my example only applies to Crits and not Road races. Lapped riders can’t sit in on a road race course. It’s a tad different in a crit. If in a crit, a breakaway catches a drop rider; the drop rider can sit on the back of the breakaway and be pulled to the peloton. But the breakaway can not accept any assistance from the dropped rider. This is to prevent a team purposefully dropping riders off the back of a peloton to pull the break to the peloton. But a race official can also pull out of contention riders at their whim for the safety of all riders.
Agree with this, but also would caveat that most people don’t prepare for their first race by doing race-type rides with experienced racers. In my experience those that do and who have become competent and accepted by the regulars on those type of rides tend to do well in their first few races. Not necessarily in terms of overall placing, but at least in terms of coping with the group dynamic, cornering, surging, not being a liability to other riders, and overall enjoying it. @bpm sounds like he’s one of those riders. Doesn’t mean he won’t get dropped, but does sound like he at least has the group riding skills and fitness (and humility!) to hold his own and learn something from the experience.
What rang alarm bells for Alen was that he seemed to be assuming he could hold his own in a race based on OK power numbers, having raced triathlon, and perceiving himself to be a good bike handler. Didn’t seem to have validated those assumptions by showing up at a club or fast group ride and mixing it in with people who race to see how he got on. And then doubled down by entering a weekend stage race instead of a local crit where standards might be a bit lower. So it was always likely to be a baptism of fire!
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Thats how I feel, had no issues riding fast in a large group on my first couple of races in 2019. Just didn’t have the fitness to be competitive.
The other side of this coin is if you have the fitness to win or compete in higher categories and skip cat 5 (ne novice). You don’t learn race skills and eventually get to a level where you need them and are way behind the curve. I’d argue that it doesn’t matter if you’re a + pack handler or a + fitness rider - you shouldn’t upgrade before doing a bunch of races at each level
I was able to brute force my way to cat 2 without learning much about racing - I upgrade too fast. It is very hard to learn how to race in cat 2 and I stagnated for a while before I figured things out and was able to get the results to move to cat 1.
I feel pretty strongly that people are too focused on upgrading quickly instead of learning the sport and the skills necessary
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Oh, I agree that bpm would stand a better chance of surviving a 3/4 race than the OP…his numbers are better and his teammates seem to think he is capable of doing it.
But as @trpnhntr just noted, there is benefit to working your way up through the categories from an experiential standpoint. And even if bpm does finish with the pack (or even do well!), that doesn’t mean he should have done it.
In a 3/4 field there will be a lot of much more experienced racers…thinking mainly of the 3’s. Bike handling, situational awareness, etc are all more advanced and you are throwing a rookie in with them…it can be a dangerous combination.
Just my $.02…
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Definitely not saying he can’t race it, just that some races are making you have the upgraded license. So, don’t take for granted that a Novice can just show up and race either Novice or Cat 4 at their whim.
- Thanks for posting the update. Takes some stones after the keyboard pounding you took, and largely discounted between December and race-day.
- Anyone who has ever raced on the road has had their teeth kicked in. No shame in it.
- It probably was their first race, or their first race after an upgrade. Your experience isn’t rare.
- I’m not here to wail on you, or your mistakes, but:
Sure, road running races can be surgey, but in the first 4 minutes of a 5k at any pace, the draft doesn’t provide anywhere near the same benefit as sitting on a wheel for the first 38 minutes of 60 minute crit, let alone the first 120 minutes of 150 minute bike race.
But running races, even un-rabbited championship races on a track or open road, are much closer to a TT than any bike race on the road. Just remember the power (400w) you hit trying to stay with the group, that’s like surging to your mile or 2mile pace (or faster) during a marathon [I’m not re-reading this whole dang thread to find your estimated FTP]. No runner would every try that because the drafting benefit isn’t there to dig that deep at the halfway point of a 150 minute or longer race. If it was “just” your 10k pace, you probably could have hung onto the group, or you “just burnt too many matches” which equates to “this isn’t a TT or a spirited run from the high school to the college and back.”
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I am very sorry to revive this thread but I have a question that is a continuation of all this and didn’t want to start a new one.
So I finally figured out why my front derailleur wasn’t working on my TT bike at the race. It was not a battery issue at all. After I changed the junction box, the old junction box was in synchro mode but the new one I installed was in manual mode. I figured it out as I was reading about DI2 system and it hit me that this might be the issue and it was. But I can’t find anywhere how to change the front derailleur when in manual mode. Need to know the next time I’m stuck in that mode.
Thx
3 ways, by clicking the button on your JB A (check out mabual to see what exactly to click and how long/much)
Phone app if you have Bluetooth dongle
PC when you connect USB cable and use shimano software
No. I mean which buttons to push on the clicks to move the FD.
When I push the right one, RD moves right, and left one moves RD to left. If I hold them down, same thing. If I press them together, nothing happens.
#Cables4Lyfe
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Odd coincidence that this thread got revived today.
Sorry, can’t answer your Di2 junction box question because I don’t know the answer.
However, I entered my first 3/4 race this weekend and had my ass handed to me. My only goal was to survive and I barely did that. Ended up back of the pack in a crit, and then 44th out of 63 in a circuit race. I was one of the last riders to not DNF in both races.
I DNF’d my first three Cat 5 crits. Now I can hang in a 4 or 4/5 crit, and hold on for dear life in a 3/4 crit. I’m getting better, slowly. Remembering how demoralizing it was to get dropped on the second lap of a Cat 5 race, I have a lot of appreciation and respect for the sport. It’s immensely rewarding because it’s completely unforgiving. The barrier of entry is high and it’s unlike any other sport I’ve ever participated in, including MTB XC and DH.
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Yes. People think road racing is the pleasant type of fun. It’s not pleasant. It’s super fun. But it’s also miserable and - as you said - merciless. It’s just the nature of it. It’s a bummer that race trends are moving away from this style of racing with fewer and fewer out there. (I love road racing way more than crits.) But there is very little return on investment. I wish there was a way to make it more worthwhile. But since cycling isn’t popular here like it is in Europe, we just don’t have the cultural support.
I think this is true at the start line. But I have always felt like the collective risk that you get into with total strangers often makes for an incredibly friendly atmosphere after races. You can arrive at a crit in a new town a complete stranger, and things can get vicious during the race, but after the race? It’s the closest I’ll ever come to going to church—as someone pointed out to me recently not entirely without condescension. 
Before the race: You’re a random asshole that might crash me out.
After the race: You’re a random asshole that didn’t crash me out, making you slightly less of an asshole.
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It must be the contrast that feels like love!
The Church of The Big Ring.
Proud member.
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