Originally Posted by
furiousferret
Seems like a slippery slope...we have a lot of weekends where there is a big race all the names show up to and another that has a relatively light 1/2/3 field.
I get what you're saying though. A Cat 1 should get their points via premier events, but that also punishes some regions (and masters). Personally, I don't think there are enough Cat 1's out there for it to be an issue. Than again, I'm not a Cat 1.
I don't know about punishing regions. I mean, I didn't race much in TN the year I got my upgrade because we didn't have fields big enough at that point (even today, for most races). But I feel that kind of represents what a cat 1 is; a regional to national level rider. Winning local weekday crits is alright and everything, but it doesn't necessarily say anything about anything. You may be beating out national level riders, or you may be beating out local cat 3s who have never raced out of their city. There's a big variability there.
Having minimum races in a 12 month period or something like it used to be meant that you were hitting the road, seeking out the good races, and getting legitimate results. It was kind of a big deal. Now, eh.
At the end of the day, everyone pretty much knows what's up, of course, and you've got legit cat 1s and pretender cat 1s and it's pretty evident once the race starts, but still.