Masters 40+ 1234 Race
 

Hey fellow racers,


Cat 4 here, 3rd season, and I'm doing my first Masters 40+ 1234 race next Sunday (Roger Millikan Crit in SoCal) and I'm curious on what I should expect. I've never done a race with this many categories so I can only assume that:


1) each field will be scored separately

2) the pack will blow up before long due to the different abilities. Looking at the roster, there is a 6x California State Criterium Champion 2x Silver Medalist at Master National cat 1 in my race.


Sooo anything special I should consider?

Roger Millikan has a slight uphill kicker so if you're not fit you're going to get dropped. A lot of people crash on the turn after the descent (turn 3?). I'm not sure how they're going to do that but that's a really fast line up for the 45's and 40's. It shouldn't be too hard to sit in but the last few laps its going to get fast.

1) no

2) yes

Expect pain - but you'll learn a lot!

Just hang on for dear life. Don't sit all the way on the back, or someone will open a gap in front of you and your race might be over.

Any race like that is basically a 1-2 race with pack filler 3s and 4s. I watched some telling video of a race I did in SoCal, Red Trolley (Feb? 2011?). The 3-4 race was a lumpy bunch, as you'd expect. The M35? M40? race was single file, it looked like they were on motorcycles.

As a 3 I avoided, and still avoid, M40 or younger races. You're racing against really strong 1s and 2s that happen to have a ton of race experience. They're good at sitting on wheels as well as strong enough to rip your legs off.

Nailed it.. Most Masters races are full of P/1/2 racers with kids/jobs/both that don't have time to get the extra 3% needed to make the podium in a non-Masters P/1/2 field. I raced Masters as a backup when the course didn't suit my strengths or I hadn't been training enough.

Roughly the fastest race of the day (well top 2 or 3 at least). 4 only added because of the doped up agro masters who felt that racing in their category and earning upgrades was beneath them when they started. When asked what category they race they will respond "masters" because they don't want to admit they are 4's. They occasionally go back to 4's races like once or twice a year in the hopes of grabbing points to upgrade to help prevent their future embarrassment but then they get caught up in some sort of melee near the finish and blame it on everyone else in the field while saying, "I'm never racing 4's again. this is ridiculous" missing the irony that they were most likely the cause of the issue.

oops....I think I said too much. The Masters Illuminati will be coming for me...

Seriously though - super fast race. It's your a pack fodder 4 then you might enjoy the first bit and maybe even through an attack or 2 but the odds of finishing with the race is extremely low. If it's like around here it will be a bunch or seriously old looking guys that you find out afterwards were a bunch of ex-olympians and pros.

Yup, two or three ex-pros in our recent masters field. Sometimes includes former/current national and world champions (amateurs).

We've been getting torn apart by an immense talent that seemingly came out of nowhere only for us to find out he had been a BMX World Champion in his late teens I believe. Had a lot of life obstacles and has come back to road and cross. Wonderful guy and great to have around but he'll step on your throat if you toe the line against him.

Tim Strelecki - he's 2nd in this throw back clip.

Thanks for the feedback!

I decided to be prudent and realistic and opted to switch my race from Masters 1234 to the 4/5 race later in the day.

No point racing against Cat 1 State Champs...I know how that will end up for me. I know this is like jumping out of the fire into a messy frying pan...but at least I know what to expect in that frying pan.

:thumb:

Honestly I think there is immense value in dipping your toe in the water, just to see what it's like. Eventually anyway.

Sometimes people make 1/2's races out to be like pro races, and they aren't in general. Especially not a masters race with 1/2's in it.

In theory that may be your category some day, so you might as well find out what it'll take!

I'm a Cat 3. I did two weekend 40+ 1/2/3/4 crits last year. First one I finished about 13th, but it was not a good one to judge, as it rained during the race (not good for me). The 2nd one ended up being a long drawn-out sprint, and I finished 9th or 10th. So it was a good experience for me, I learned that I can stay in the field. And help my teammates in the 40+ category. But am I going to win? Probably not.

Matt - great feedback. I'll need to venture into this field sooner or later.

Hack - I would consider it if the events were not 6 hours apart.

I'll almost always double up if the timing works out. I'll pick one to race, and the other for training /working for a teammate / trying stuff out.

I miss doing that. The first 3 laps or so in the second race always sucked but as soon as that was over I seemed to always race better and feel stronger.

Guess it just means I wasn't warming up enough for the first race.