Originally Posted by
Doge
NO disagreement from the observations.
So would you have them stay Cat 4/5 and TT to wins or upgrade to race with and learn from the big boys?
Race more is good advice.
He said he was tentative. Did you see where he caused any risk to others?
Going back to old posts my comment was that having elite road cat 1/pro riders start track Cat 4/5 was silly. They may not know the skills, but in cat 4/5 they just TT.
A good rider just watches and learns - they are tentative.
What is the point in not moving to at least a Cat 2 to learn how to race.
The choice you didn't consider - stay in a lower category and learn to ride in a pack. A rider who is fit enough to ride away from the pack, but is too timid to stay in it should not upgrade to higher CATs. Someone who is fit enough to ride off the front will learn much more in the lower cats because they are relaxed, and aren't riding scared. They can stay near the front and watch what the more experienced riders are doing. Lower category racing doesn't necessarily mean that the quality of the tactics is lower, they just don't have the engines that Elites do. I learned far more racing with masters when I was young than I did sitting in with the Elites. With the Elites, all I was able to do was sit in, near the back of the pack, and watch what the other guys were doing who were barely surviving. Not much to learn there, and the risk of crashing is greater at the back of the pack.