Road race category question

Hi all,

I’ve never raced before but there’s one coming up next weekend. I’m a complete newbie when it comes to classifications so I’m wondering if anyone can give me suggestions on which category to register in.

Here’s the thing, I’m a 42 year-old man and I guess I would be categorized as a novice. There is no 35+ novice category at this race, unfortunately, only “Elite Men Novice”. There is a Master Men 35+ 3/4, but I don’t think I can race in that one.

Your advice is appreciated, thank you!

Hi,

What country are you in? There’s a TR blog post about US road racing categories here From Novice to Cat 1: How USAC Upgrade Points & Categories Work

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Just race the Novice category and enjoy. Your first race is as much about learning as anything else. If you get a result, great.

Have fun…it is addictive! Let us know how you do.

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Sorry it’s USA. I’ll check out the link, thanks!

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I tried to find out what “elite” means, but couldn’t find it in that link. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks!

TBH, I haven’t spent much time looking at the new categories since the changes came out…and I have not heard of of “Elite Novice” before. I would assume that it is the general “Novice” category, though.

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Race group naming conventions are confusing at best. Promotors have a lot of discretion on how they name fields, and with the name change from category 5 to novice it only makes it more confusing.

Most commonly ‘elite’ refers to an age group - meaning open to all ages. So you can have an ‘elite 3/4’ which would mean all ages, category 3 and 4 only. You can also have an ‘elite novice’ which would be all ages, novice category only.

Naturally, this progresses to 35+ 3/4 (race age 35+ category 3 and 4) or 35+ novice (race age 35+ novice category)

If you post a list of all the available categories I can try to confirm how they are naming things in that race (or just post a link to the registration page).

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