Originally Posted by
aaronmcd
Well, upgrading as much as possible is a good goal IMO. Also, by definition, if one is mediocre, they are in the correct category.
Yeah, having a social aspect would be a world of difference. I've got some friendly teammates and some not so much. But it really doesn't make a big difference if I don't feel like it's a social thing. It might be different if I grew up and hung out with and made friends with ppl that also race bikes. Other than social aspect, it's just competition. Which is great - I've always been one of the most competitive ppl I know. And you have to be either ridonkeylously competitive or hella beastly just to get to cat 2. But if competition is where it's at, there comes a point where you can see the result of the overarching competition and see if, in a year or two, you still won't be mixing it up in the final 200 or riding away from a 28 mph pack. And if neither of those is happening, and you don't have a best bud you want to win, it might not be worth spending precious hours of one's life on the thing.
I agree that the goal is to upgrade, and that's OK. I just meant that once one reaches one's terminal category, as many of us have, there can be a sense of "what now?" after a few seasons.
The social aspect means more to me now that I'm in that stage of my racing life. I enjoy having teammates, and I'm lucky that we've purposefully built a team of people I like to hang with, and would even if we didn't ride bikes. I like watching them improve, too, and helping where I can.