gtmandsager

I moved to DC about a month ago, and am planning out my training periods for the coming season. Last year I focused on the collegiate race calendar, so much of my preparation was planned to come into form in the spring. I'm trying to figure out my 2009 goal races so I can plan my peak accordingly.

I prefer road races, hilly is good, and am willing to give a short stage race a go (I will race crits as well, but they're not my 'A' races). My goal is to move from Cat 4 to 3, which I think was a possibility last year except graduation, the bar exam, and getting married took priority over training/racing. Given all that, what are some of the big area races that I should consider? I will look at the MABRA site for the 2008 schedule, but I wanted to get a perspective from the local racers.

Thanks.

Lithuania

Washington County Stage Race
page valley road races
jefferson cup
walkersville
poolesville
murad
coppi rr

aicabsolut

you might also like the tyson's corner circuit race for the uphill finish, but it is basically a crit run under circuit rules.

murad is pretty flat for a poolesville area race

there are definitely more crit options around here than road races

as a cat4, be prepared to set your alarm to sign up in the first 5 minutes that registration opens for races on bikereg.

MDcatV

Murad is by far the best race in all of the eastern US, maybe US anywhere. It's promoted by the best looking and coolest guys around.

Lith's list + lancaster area road races (about 2 - 2.5 hrs. away):

-turkey hill rr is top notch, it's always same day as the poolesville rr;

-tour de toona is an NRC for the pro/1s and also has a very well organized points race for amateurs.

-tour of ephrata, another classic in lancaster area

-tour of millersburg, havent done but hear nothing but positive about it.

note: all these stage races end with a technical crit. living in the DC area, you've gotta crit if you want to be part of the race scene. my favorite crits on the mabra calender are

1) reston town center grand prix;
2) csc invitational (unless you're 35+ you'll need to be a cat 3 by memorial day for csc).
3) Williamsport, MD (final stage of ToWC)

-ING Capital Criterium will be in its second year for 2009, I missed it in 2008, but have yet to hear a negative word on it.

lots of folks travel to NC for some early season road racing in that part of the world. wolfpack RR had some MABRA representation as I recall.

donotpanic

you're basically in the same spot as me (moved to the area recently, raced collegiate, trying to go from 4 to 3)

looking forward to there being a break in the race season - i've been going non stop since cross season started last year in NC.

defiinetly go down to Raleigh for the NCSU home road race - great course, great team.

aicabsolut

+1 The NCSU course was great last year. I hope they stick with that route. They even let the women get in some decent miles. Most of my road races last year didn't even count as road races on the USCF upgrade chart. It's a good way to start the season, provided the weather is nice like last year. Doing the crit the next day in sleet wasn't so comfy.

rizz

PA races are great -- they have climbs.

Just keep in mind that if you join a local team, PA races don't count towards your MABRA BAR points as PA is in a different district.

RudeSiggy

Yep. The earlier in the season, the faster the races will sell out for cat 4s here. I'm pretty sure the only cat 4 races that didn't sell out in an hour were Tyson's (cool open course) and the Southern MD Crit.

Heck, even the lower-category tradezone [early season training] races sell get capped after too many people show up in the morning. I raced a full field early in the morning in like 20 degree weather. Gross.

The number of cyclists in this area is awesome. It makes for a great community for cycling, great races, and you can always find folks to ride with. Sometimes it's hard to sign up for races but it makes it that much more competitive.

acorn_user

WVU helps put on some great courses in West Virginia. Some of those races are not that far from DC, and they usually have a lot of climbing. In any case, I've never ridden a course associated with WVU that was not hard.

I'd also recommend the Page Valley road race to you. It was the Virginia state championships this year. It has some significant climbing (both steep climbs and long climbs). Further afield, there are hilly races in North Carolina and in Eastern Tennessee.

rizz

Not being able to race because online registration opens up at midnight and is full by 12:05 isn't fun.

Really, though, too few races for the population in this region. And what's with the relatively lack of 3/4 and 4/5 fields?

Lithuania

sounds like a perfect opportunity for you or your team to put on another race

rizz

Team unattached represent. I did volunteer at a century earlier in the year, though. Race on, brothers!

RudeSiggy

...relatively close. Heh.



To be honest, none of that is true anymore. There was a huge discussion within MABRA about when registrations should open because some were opening uber early in the morning, some late at night, and some at just plain weird hours. And you know what? A variety is fair to accomodate different schedules. I remember that Jeff Cup opened up at 9AM and some others were at 8 or 9 PM. So it worked fine.

I don't race, but there are definitely enough to have your pick and even make some big goals out of some events. I did 6 races and only once did I drive more than 60 minutes out of DC. Heck, if you do some training races, you could have 10 races in by mid-march.

That being said, of course there's always space for more.

As per the 3/4 and 4/5 thing, that's ok. There are a handful of races with 3/4 (Tyson's... Carl Dolan... ) and a few have 4/5 too (Poolesville) but with so many racers, each category deserves its own races, IMO. I'm pretty sure that Tyson's, for example, had a Cat 5, Cat 4, Cat 3/4, and masters races. Not a bad selection and it leaves people the possibility to race more than once.

MDcatV

registrations typically open at 8 or 9 p.m. they are announced on the mabra list serve well ahead of time, so if someone wants to race, they know where they need to be and when.

aside from jeff cup and walkersville, where the 3s raced with the p12 set; and the csc invitational and ing capital criterium, which are big NRC criteriums in downtown areas with very restricted times that races can be offered; I cant think of one race that didnt have an opportunity for cat 4s and 5s to race at least once. most events have 2 opportunities for cat 4s to race, be it a 3/4, 4, or 4/5 offering.

gtmandsager

Thank you for all of the helpful responses. Now I just need to get out for some group rides and find a club that works for me. Hopefully I will see you out on the road.

MDcatV

https://www.dcvelo.org/rides.php

note: the 10 a.m. listed as a sunday ride actually goes on saturdays.