"Ryan Cousineau" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:No. Tactical considerations mean that higher-cat riders don't gain much in general by racing any
faster than low-cat riders. It may be that a high-cat race has a relatively low average speed,
followed by a demon sprint at the end. Conversely, a low-cat race make feature an early break and
a chasing pack for a high average speed.
True - look at European pro races compared to amateur races. The amateurs are quite often faster,
but for shorter distances. The pro's sometimes cruise along at 30 km/h for 2 hours then go ballistic
for another 2-3 hours. The average speed ends up being 38 or something, but it's still a brutally
hard race.
Also in higher grades there tends to be more attacking and slowing down until the pack breaks up.
This is very hard racing, but doesn't lead to a high average speed.
The size of the field is important too: If a 100 rider Cat. 3 field averages the same as a 30 rider
Cat. 1 field, the latter race will usually be harder. Big pelotons can move very fast.
From personal experience, lower grades averaging faster speeds than higher grades is the rare
exception rather than the norm. I found that there was about a 2 km/h difference in graded races in
Australia, with the A graders almost always having the top average speed.
Do they run time based handicap races in America? Maybe it's an Australian phenomenon, but there's a
regular handicap crit in Sydney in summer that is split into three grades. 2 km circuit, 15 laps
total, C grade gets a bit more than a lap headstart on A grade, while B grade gets about 3/4 of a
lap start. A grade is always the smallest grade but also the fastest, and often catches the other
two grades if there is sufficient cooperation (not a given...). And when A grade does catch the
lower grades, a couple of B graders generally hang on but that's generally it.
(I'd say B grade is roughly equivalent to Cat. 3 in the US. A grade = Pro/1/2/, and C grade = all
the rest.)
Jeff
