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Note to Cat 5s re Maclane Pacific races.
Tue, 01/03/2006 - 5:20pm
Just a heads up to any Cat 5s older than juniors who may be wanting to ride in the McLane Crit or road race this year. There are no races for Cat 5s older than 18 to ride in at the McLane Pacific events this year. If you are currently a Cat 5 and you want to ride at McLane you need to earn your Cat 4 upgrade before the race. In order to upgrade you are going to have to meet the upgrade requirements ( ie 10 mass start races worth of experience). By attending all of the Early Bird training races even a brand new Cat 5 can earn an upgrade to Cat 4.
The details of the McLane races can be found at
http://www.mclanepacificcyclingclassic.com/grandprix/
Chris Phipps wrote:Gene
Actually I took the basic skills clinic in December, which is worth 5 races for a Cat 5. I was under the impression that I could also do the early bird crit clinics for more points, but was informed that a maximum of 5 of the 10 points can come from clinics. So I'll still do a couple of the clinics, but I won't get any more points for them.
I've got 6 points with the clinic and Mt. Tam (it counts for a Cat 5 to 4 upgrade because it's over 75% of the 15 mile minimum), so I only need to do 4 more mass start races to be a Cat 4.
After that I just need to do a few more races by July to move up to Cat 3, which I have been told is what I need to be to ride in the RR at Nationals.
Chris
Chris,
If I didn't already see your results at Tam and San Bruno i'd laugh at your suggestion that you'd only need a few more races to Cat up to 3 and ride nationals. Of course, with the times you put up, you shouldn't have many problems upgrading after 3 or 4 races. Definitely don't assume you can outsprint all of your rivals in the 4s, however. There's always a pure sprinter out there lurking about who can make even your jump look pedestrian by comparison. Good luck.
Gene
Actually I took the basic skills clinic in December, which is worth 5 races for a Cat 5. I was under the impression that I could also do the early bird crit clinics for more points, but was informed that a maximum of 5 of the 10 points can come from clinics. So I'll still do a couple of the clinics, but I won't get any more points for them.
I've got 6 points with the clinic and Mt. Tam (it counts for a Cat 5 to 4 upgrade because it's over 75% of the 15 mile minimum), so I only need to do 4 more mass start races to be a Cat 4.
After that I just need to do a few more races by July to move up to Cat 3, which I have been told is what I need to be to ride in the RR at Nationals.
Chris
Chris,
It is cool you are so excited to be racing. There is this strange compulsion that comes over people to "get out of the fives." As was stated by Warren, you can knock out the upgrade doing the early birds, get some training and credit for ten races, even though you are only doing five. This doesn't get you any road racing experience, but will teach you how to ride around in a circle in a big group really fast. If you can't make it to all of the early birds, I count eight early season races before McLane. These are a mix of road racing and crits, so you would get some varied experience. There are actually three road races before McLane, so you don't even have to wait until Spring! Once you get your upgrade to four, you may notice something strange. You will still be in the pack many times with the fives you were hoping to leave behind.
Have fun!
Gene
I commend your eagerness and enthusiasm to race and upgrade, just temper it a bit with some more experience, the Early Bird crits/RR/ and track are a great learning environment, and if there's one or two events that you might miss this year due to category requirements, don't worry, you probably can do it next year and (thanks to the promoters) there are so many events in the road season that there will be plenty of other opportunities to race on all sorts of courses all over California.
Actually all of my races ever, all 2 of them, have been hill climbs. Not by choice, but only because those are the only 2 races I've known about since I began cycling. I've been itching to race for months, but unlike running when you can race year round, there don't seem to be any races in October-December. Yes, there is cross, which I probably would be decent at since I have a trail running backround, but I just dropped over $2K on a road bike and I didn't have any spare cash for a cross bike. Maybe next year.
I'll be doing several of the Crits this month.
I really can't wait to start doing the longer road races in the spring.
Chris
If most of your mass start races are hill climbs, maybe you need more time in the 5's to get more practice riding in a pack of 100 guys who all think they can sprint at the end to win. That's the way McLane for the 4/5 has ended the last two years. There were at least four accidents (that I could see in front of me) in the last two laps each of those years.
How about if I add the 12.4 miles for the Mt Tam Hill Climb to the 3.5 miles for San Bruno. That's over 15 miles, does that count as a race? :D
Chris
Chris Phipps wrote:I'm a Cat 5 rider who wants to do McLane. Does the San Bruno Hill Climb count as 1 of my 10 races?
Chris Phipps
Since San Bruno is well short of the 15 mile minimum race distance ( as outlined on the NCNCA upgrade page at http://www.ncnca.org/upgrade) for a road race that would be a no for San Bruno counting towards upgrading
I'm a Cat 5 rider who wants to do McLane. Does the San Bruno Hill Climb count as 1 of my 10 races?
Chris Phipps
To clarify, EB's offer 5 "races" for experience and each mentoring session is worth another race of experience, so there's a total of 10.
-Warren