age group or cat 5?



hestilowt

New Member
Dec 24, 2004
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im comin up on my first race in a week (it's a beginners race, just sign up when i get there) and i dont know what category to put myself in. im 16 years old so i could go into my age group, however, i may just want the experience of the cat 5 race. anyone got a guess as to what i should do?
 
It depends on how much expirence you have riding in groups and how confident you are. If you have never ridden in a pack before, chances are youll have a hard time jumping into a full fleged Cat. 5 race. If racing where you live is anything like over here, there probibly wont be very many juniors. I suggest you race in your age group the first couple of times to get some confidence and expirence, then move up into a much faster Cat. 5 race. It will make things much smoother.
 
haha, I'm 20. I've been racing for little over 1/2 a year now. Last Fall when I was racing, I was the youngest kid there in the Cat 5. I swear the next closest age was 25. Majority of guys/girls 25-30. It may be different for your area, but who cares, I was having fun racing!!

Go race, have fun, and realize it's some of the most fun you'll ever have.

I was the youngest guy there, got my butt whooped, but didn't come in last, (some guys didn't even finish), and now I know how to train myself and all that jazz. Each race is a learning experience.

If it's your first race, I would do just your age group. Cat 5 may be the beginning racing category, but it is INTENSE. Maybe too much for a 16 year old. But go with what you feel is right for you!

GOOD LUCK AND Let us know how you do!

TD
 
i was thinkin that, i found out the 15-16 age group is early (8 or 8:30) and then at about 10 or 10:30 they have a junior boys open (not sure what that is, if you know i would love the info) and then at 12 is the cat 5. i could definately do the 15-16 and cat 5, still not surea about the other
 
Well, had the race today and of course, im an idiot. i got up and made the worst decision of the day by eating...cereal, cookie crisp to be exact. well, the race went ok, felt fine, got tired a ways in and got 6th place. only thing is, there were only six people in the race (this is the 15-16 category by the way). after the race i congratulated the other racers (im a nice guy:D ) and rode slowly to my car trying to cool down. got to my car, got off the bike, felt dizzy, sat down, felt worse, stood up, felt like i was gonna hurl, walked towards grass, hurled, hurled again, one more time, a last time for good measure, followed by a dry heave!! awesome!! cookie crisp tastes a lot better the first time. well, besides the after-race festivities i was lucky enough to enjoy, the race went fairly well. no crashes, and i wasnt expecting to do any better. i'll throw out a few excuses now. i recently moved so i havent been riding a whole lot lately, im a little sick with some sort of cold/flu virus or something, and it was my first race. oh well, im sure with about 600 more miles in the saddle i'll be ready to place in another. maybe. i didnt do any other races today though (the vomiting told me to stop) but thanks for all the help!!
 
hestilowt said:
Well, had the race today and of course, im an idiot. i got up and made the worst decision of the day by eating...cereal, cookie crisp to be exact. well, the race went ok, felt fine, got tired a ways in and got 6th place. only thing is, there were only six people in the race (this is the 15-16 category by the way). after the race i congratulated the other racers (im a nice guy:D ) and rode slowly to my car trying to cool down. got to my car, got off the bike, felt dizzy, sat down, felt worse, stood up, felt like i was gonna hurl, walked towards grass, hurled, hurled again, one more time, a last time for good measure, followed by a dry heave!! awesome!! cookie crisp tastes a lot better the first time. well, besides the after-race festivities i was lucky enough to enjoy, the race went fairly well. no crashes, and i wasnt expecting to do any better. i'll throw out a few excuses now. i recently moved so i havent been riding a whole lot lately, im a little sick with some sort of cold/flu virus or something, and it was my first race. oh well, im sure with about 600 more miles in the saddle i'll be ready to place in another. maybe. i didnt do any other races today though (the vomiting told me to stop) but thanks for all the help!!
You raced. You finished. WELL DONE! It's all a learning process. The fact that you threw up isn't so bad - you're going to do that a lot if you ever ride TTs :D
 
NullPointer said:
You raced. You finished. WELL DONE! It's all a learning process. The fact that you threw up isn't so bad - you're going to do that a lot if you ever ride TTs :D
im not worried that i threw up, i was just making fun of myself cause i should've known better than to drink milk before the race. but otherwise yeah, i think i learned a few things from the race and i should do a lot better at my next one.
 
hestilowt said:
im not worried that i threw up, i was just making fun of myself cause i should've known better than to drink milk before the race. but otherwise yeah, i think i learned a few things from the race and i should do a lot better at my next one.

Hi, I haven't even raced seriously but I TT reasonably well and I did the Etape last year (managed a silver) and consider myself an endurance cyclist. I always breakfast on dry oats (no I'm not a horse), sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and grapefruit (low Glycaemic Index therefore slow release energy). I can manage 50 to 60 miles of fairly intense riding on just that for fuel, well actually I did 78 the other day on hilly terrain with only a fruit juice/water mix. Fueling is very important but miles in the legs will help you make best use of it :)