RapDaddyO, I've seen a lot of your insightful and knowledgeable posts, but this is the first time I think I've seen your numbers, which are impressive regardless of your age. I have to assume you haven't raced much with that kind of power, otherwise you would be at LEAST a Cat III. You could ride away from the Cat IV peloton putting out that kind of wattage, and that's here in SoCal! Do you realize they pretty much match up with the Cat I who posted from Ohio who is probably less than half your age? I guess the good news for me is that I'll be 37 next year, and they give me hope for many more years of improvement...sounds like I'll need it. Boy, power certainly is the measurement of truth, isn't it? Of course, it doesn't account for racing skills though.
For reference, I'm a 2nd year Cat IV in SoCal (whose lower power numbers will remain unpublished after seeing yours
) who is confident in seeing some podiums next year. If you come to SoCal for some Cat IV races, please let us know which ones in advance so we can look out for you!!!
I think I'll go ahead and make those my 'B' races. I'll get my anaerobic interval work done trying to stay in your draft when you breakaway.
As far as the Masters categories go, as I'm sure you know that's a whole other deal. With guys like Thurlow Rogers racing 3 or 4 crits a day on the weekends and going in often long and sometimes solo breakaways in all of them, and consistently placing top 10 (even in the Pro 1/2/3s), there are definitely VERY strong guys out there that ain't so young. Then again, I think he won the Road Race for his category (45-49) at the World Cup this year and he's also a retired pro like Wayne Stetina.
Suffice it to say I don't think you will have any problem upgrading to Cat III. I'd love to know more about your background. I'm hoping you didn't just hop on your back in March at 62; that would be rather humbling.
Cheers,
Ethan
