Skankingbiker

Last year was my first year racing cx...raced on a single speed. very out of shape. had lots of fun and got in shape a bit. Did not come in last in any race, but got lapped and dropped the first race of the year, which is very hilly.

This year, I am not in much better shape than last. However, I have a converted 26 mtb to 29 1x9 I have been trying out. The bike rides pretty well and has disc brakes, but the bar end shifting is clumsy to operate and not quick. I did my first practice with the local college team--a community open practice session. Got smoked by everyone. I have a lot of work/practice to do.

Looking at the schedule, I am having trouble deciding what category to race. Last year I did Cat 5. To my surprise it was a very competitive field and not just filled with first timer noobs. Big field. They started the juniors after us and I often got dropped by some 12 year olds. We also have a 35+ masters class (cat 4/5). I am 38 years old.

I am trying to decide whether it is better to race in the cat 5 category again or masters 35+. The masters field is a bit smaller that Cat 5.

I am also going to give the single speed a try again and am wondering if it would be better to race in the ss category rather than cat 5.

Kopsis

Look at lap times for the different classes from last season. In my region, the Masters classes are *fast*. The racers aren't old guys who decided to pick up bike racing as a hobby, they're mostly elite riders with decades of racing under their belt.

Again, depends on your region. Here SS is usually an "open" class, so I get the privilege of being lapped in every SS race by a national champ For most, the SS race is in addition to, not instead of, their normal Cat. If you're only going to do one race, then you're probably best off in Cat 5 regardless of what bike you're riding.

ambro

Back in 2010 - I was in the exact same position you were in. In my experience - go where you can be competitive - which will likely be the open Cat5. Trust me - if you think that race category was hard - the Masters is on a completely different level - and may even have some ex Cat-1 racers who are new to Cross. It was a real eye-opener. Overall, I would say that the 35+ have the best times on the field. That being said - masters races are definitely much more chill than the open Cat4/5 - which are packed with college-age riders racing like there is no tomorrow.

Andy_K 

Let me offer a slightly different perspective. Around here instead of Cat 1-5 we have Beginner and then A, B and C with Masters varieties of each of the lettered cats. It's pretty much the same, I think. When I started out, I raced in the Beginner category for about a year and a half (four races my first year, then a full season). On average I was finished in the bottom third of the Beginner races, but sometime toward the top of the bottom third. At the end of my first full season I decided it was time to move on to Master C (I was 39 at the time). In my first few Master C races (with small fields) I finished last. Six years later that still happens on occasion, but in general I can usually beat about 10% of the racers at the back of the pack.

I'm fairly nonathletic and I don't train at all -- I just ride for fun and race for fun -- but when I'm in a race I enjoy really racing. Here's the thing: there are a small number of categories and out of everyone at the race only a handful have a serious chance of winning a race. If you've accepted, as I have, that you aren't going to win the race then category selection takes on a whole different set of criteria. At that point it's less about where you are going to place and more about who you want to race with. As long as there are a good number of people near your speed/skill level in whatever category you choose, then where you place hardly matters.

The Beginner race (or Cat 5 if you prefer) tends to have a lot of turnover -- people either stop coming or move to a different category. I like Master C because there are a lot of people at my level who keep coming back, race after race, year after year. There are a few people I've raced against more than 40 times. I have nemeses who usually finish just ahead of me but who I can beat on a really good day, and I have rivals whom I can usually beat but who are constantly chasing at my heels. Knowing who these people are makes the race more fun.

It's also worth noting that different categories have different dynamics. The beginner field is typically a nightmarish mix of people who are really fast but still working on their bike handling, people who are kind of slow but have good bike handling skills and people who are both slow and have poor bike handling. This mix makes for some nervous passing. Masters racers generally have figured out the bike handling, and if not they at least know how and when to get out of the way. A singlespeed race will usually have a few people who are blazingly fast and wizards on the bike. These people can pass you in a space you didn't think had room for your elbow. That can be scary, but the best riders can do it safely. Unfortunately, there will also be a few people who are almost but not quite at that level who will squeeze past you in places where there really isn't room.

Going back to my point about only a few people having a chance to win, I would like to suggest that the only people who should be winning a C race are people who have the potential to someday win a B race and are in the C's to learn the particular skills necessary to win a race. You might think that the top C's would finish at the bottom of the B's, but this generally isn't true. The C winners are typically fast enough to finish in the top 15% of the B's. That's something to keep in mind when considering "how fast" a given group is.

radripperaj

I know around here guys try do do multiple cross races because the races are so short it isnt that bad. What one guy i know does, is look at the times of the races and he will do a combo of 2 between cat3, cat3 masters, and SS. he tries to pick one that is early in the day and another that has enough of a break in-between that he can recover a good bit before racing again. SS here is open so what your competition is going to look like is just a matter of who happens to sign up for it. I find that cat 5 and cat5 masters usually have about the same lap times.

DinoShepherd

When it's possible to race Masters, do so. Lap times are going to be fast and you will suffer no matter what. The sport is filled with sandbaggers. :-)

Always best (read safer) to be racing with people who have jobs and a family and someplace to go the next day, rather than aspiring pros.

Enjoy and have fun.