Your perception of a cat 5 field is way off from reality. The level of competitiveness is much higher than you are expecting and it is not like a ‘glorified group ride.’ As @trpnhntr said, he’s a cat 1 and wouldn’t expect to ride off the front of a cat 5 race and that is his specialty. If you look at some race times for crits, it not uncommon for the cat 5 race to have the same or higher average speed than higher category races.
Oh so there is no crit? Road, TT, road? If the race happens, I’ll try to find you to say hi.
I just found out there is no crit. Is that true even on 2-3 hour road races?
I’m legit afraid of what the field is going to be like. I have some friends who are pushing 4.5W/KG + (and they are 70kg+) and still in Cat 4.
If crits come back in January/Feb, I’m not going to turn up to any in March. And I say this currently doing 14 hours a week on the trainer atm.
In my experience in Cat 5 it will be 15-20% unfit looking people (unfit compared to top level racers) who will end up being pretty fit. 50% fit riders with experience in hard group rides and such but are still learning about the closeness of racing. 10% some small juniors who will just attack all the time without the raw watts to back it up but they keep things spicy. And the rest are being smart, sitting in, and following moves until the end.
Most races I’ve done finished in a group that was 50% or less as big as the group that started. So even if there are unfit people at the start they would pretty quickly be dropped and then you are just racing with the fast guys. And if you think the racing might be boring then be the one to get things going!
That’s me!
First off, half a cat 4/5 field will be 4’s. Most of those are doing 4/5 instead of 3/4 because they think the can win or at least get upgrade points so it will be spicy. Very spicy at the front. As for cat 5’s, 1% or less are “dad bod” out of shape guys in over their heads. The rest are local group ride regulars who are pretty fast and have some skills. They’ve been “racing” informally for a couple years and know some basic tricks. And, the first race of the year, there is usually one young newbie stud doing his first race who will make it up to cat 2 by the end of the season.
Fine. You guys convinced me to do the 4/5
It’s those pesky 5’s that think every attack is the lethal one and don’t let anything get more than 100m up the road!
This has been a trend that I’ve noticed as things like TR, Zwift, and Sufferfest have become more and more popular. The level of fitness that new racers bring the the sport has gotten higher and higher in the past few years.
I honestly see it as a good thing as it pushes the level of racing forward and makes it more challenging, but especially once racing returns, I think we’re going to see a lot of riders with a ton of fitness and no clue how to manage it.
We are both roughly the same age, same weight, same ftp. I’ve got multiple seasons of racing cross under my belt, and have gotten dropped in each of the small number of 4/5 crits I’ve done.
No offense…but your perception of what a 4/5 field is going to look like is the best evidence that you need to be in the 4/5 field. Nothing wrong with being ignorant - everybody has a first race. But you need to acknowledge that there is a whole lot you dont know about racing.
Oh and my comment about failure…in the context I was using it in the other post…I would define it as having a bad experience or causing a bad experience for others.
That is something I like about racing also. There were like 3 races in a row last year I got staged and lined up directly next a couple other people. We ended up joking in the corral together every sunday. I was a bit bigger than them…they’d pass me every uphill, I’d pass them every downhill or flat section lol.
I miss racing 
You’re probably right. Though I’m not necessarily convinced the overall level of fitness is goijg to rise. For every person that becomes a lockdown zwift addict in their basement…there is probably a racer that threw in the towel on the year and will be trying to recover from a 100 watt ftp loss come spring/summer.
Yeah, I can see that. I do also anticipate that the number of riders who have the ability to outride much of the pack will go up too. Like you said, lockdown zwift addicts and all.
I’d imagine if a newer racer took advantage of the time off racing like myself and a few of my peers have, putting in 15-20/week over the summer and keeping 10+ avg over the off-season, their fitness would be through the roof once racing is back.
That was me for sure, didn’t think I’d be competative but at least sit in the pack… 3rd corner and they were gone!
I have participated in a few races in Japan in the lowest of the three categories (E3). According to American expats with racing experience in the states, the level is equivalent to Cat 3 and just going by W/kg that seems about right. To give you an idea of my fitness, when I started the 2019 season I was at 4.1 W/kg and at the end at 4.3 (at then 38 years old). My first race I was one of the last not to DNF. I did best in the hill climb TT (1,200 m of elevation, 20 km) where I was in the upper third of E3 and around the 50 % mark of E1 (it was a E1/E2/E3 race). I’m not surprised I did best in that race, because even though it was a mass start, you basically have to ride at your own pace, which is something I literally have decades worth of experience with. (Some of the masters who started after us overtook us with ease and finished with front-of-E1-pack times, they were blisteringly fast.) And in races where you need experience in, well, racing, I did less well.
To be honest, I wish we had a Cat 5 here just to learn the ropes and learn race craft rather than being pegged at 100 %. I don’t think you’ll be bored in Cat 5 at all. Another thing to be aware of, it isn’t just middle-aged dudes like us racing, but also people in their early 20s who are extremely fit, talented and have insane amounts of time to dedicate to the sport. Some of them indeed level up quite quickly. You definitely should not underestimate your competitors.
The way things work in the US with the mandatory category progression, that guy whose going to be racing the Tour in 2028 will be a cat 4 next spring 
But C5 isn’t mandatory anymore.
Wishing you the best here. I’m way too invested in your performance now because of this thread - promise you’ll post results (good or bad)?
edit - initially thought race was this weekend?
I think he’s gotten a bit off topic. Just saying that the requirements can slow someone down and the determining factor for upgrading sometimes is just the amount of racing you are able to do and not necessarily how good you are. Talking about any upgrade not just 5->4.
But also everyone has to start somewhere so you could run into a phenom and genetic freak in your first Cat 4/5 race who has to be there because of the system and not just because that’s where their fitness and skill puts them.