How long to be a credible Cat 4 or am I just crap (road content)

Loved that. ALMOST thought about racing 3/4 last night – wrist still very painful at times. The standard of riding at Hillingdon is not too bad. Vets even better.

Will be back in a month I hope. Fitness levels are errr modest (E123 will be fun!). Coaching Surrey League in the meantime… But it’s just not the same 😥

Race of the year for me this Sunday, the Omloop Van der Drie Dorpen. Short, but only 60% tarmac.
Race of the year and still forgot to renew my 28c’s

Good luck oldgit, that sounds excellent ! 😀

Good luck Oldgit.

Off the Thruxton this coming Tuesday, I’ll let you know how I go…

Adam, might see you there. Which cat you racing at Thruxton?

Mr Blobby, I’m a 3rd. I’ve not been to the mid week at Thruxton, do they run 3’s and 4’s separately or in the same race? I’ll keep an eye out for a NRC rider!

They seem to have now permanently split the 3 and 4 races due to the size of the fields.

I’m already getting a bit bored with the predictability of the racing at Thruxton, but don’t have anything else on next week so may come have a play. I’ll be in the 4 with the NRC jersey. You riding in banjo kit?

Yep, I’ll be in Banjo kit.

From having read here and on the TT thread you seem to have a great engine, plenty enough to make a difference in the race and should be able to get a good few points. If what you’ve been doing hasn’t worked try something different – when you’ve got a motor like you seem to have put them to the sword at the most challenging times!! 😀

I’ll look out for you but if I we don’t see each other good luck!!!!

Haha, thanks Adam. I have a decent motor but no sprint! Hopefully get a break going with some help from other riders this time out. Couldn’t quite do it on my own last time out. Quite happy with progression though…

1st race: Woah I’ve no idea what’s going on, this is mental!
2nd race: Getting comfortable riding in and moving about the pack and sort of know what’s going on. Even quite well placed going into the sprint but get swamped.
3rd race: Nice and easy for the first few laps, went for it solo with a couple of laps to go, got a decent gap, almost made it too.

Is just a bit of fun but it would be nice to bag some points 🙂

I died in my XC race last night. Luckily as it was the last of the series it was more of a “showcase” race – no points.

We started at the bottom of a 200m 12% hill, and sprinted up from the whistle. To my suprise (I’m usually about 10th – 15th place off the line) I looked up to see 2 riders in front of me – two! However it was short lived. After half the first lap I realised I had nothing in my legs, and later finished with riders who I know previously finished 17/18th in front of me, so I was about 10 places out of position. The rest of the family have has a sick bug, So I think I’m afflicted especially as my HR showed about 10bpm less then normal across the board.

In other news Krytonjnr (6yo) did his first MTB race last night in the U12. All was looking good – serious face, rosey cheeks, legs spinning until he fell into a patch of stinging nettles. Cue much crying and we eventually cajoled him into finishing his 2nd lap (of 3). He got off and said straight away “daddy can I do it again, whens the next race”?

Proud dad time…

Nice work by Kryton Jr there 🙂

(6yo) did his first MTB race last night in the U12

Sounds like an evenly contested category! Well done the lad.

Top work by Kryton and the Junior version…

Ha Ha cheers. Apparently his bike – still adorned with number board – has suffered a puncture and I’m to return home immediately to fix it so he ride to school tomorrow and show his mates.

11th Vet for me, which given my performance was a surprise.

You seem to be making a habit of surprising yourself 😀

Nice one both to you and your lad.

I’m almost always disheartened after racing as there is always something you could have done better (unless you win of course!)

The thing I find useful is looking at the roots and rain website for percentages off the winning time, so long as that keeps going down I’m chuffed!

Enjoyed myself too much today on today’s race. Racing onto sectors is a real hoot, no downside at all, just that the ‘sponsored’ riders are proper fast.

4th. Compact for the off road and finish climb was a huge mistake. 53/42 would have been ideal.

If you managed 4th then i think that classifies you as proper fast too, well done!

Omloop looks interesting, might have a crack at it next time. Saving my LVRC debut for our ‘home’ race in September.

Settled in nicely at 3rd Cat now, some top ten finishes and trying to work out how to convert one. Racing off on the bell probably isn’t helping, maybe one day something will stick!

Thruxton last night was great, quite grippy for my inexperience with a bit of wind and blustery showers! It was good to very briefly meet Mr Blobby and he looked strong in the 4ths.

The speed was unsurprisingly a lot higher than the non ranking race at Hillingdon that I did last week. It took me a few laps to settle in after I nearly got dropped a couple of times in the first lap a half because a lack of attention!! Once I’d recovered from my early errors I had a little in the tank for a few bridging moves but not a lot more so made may way through the race relearning positioning lessons, making a few efforts and then sat up before the last chicane so not to get in the way of the sprint.

Great fun.

How is everyone else finding their road season?

Thanks Adam, good to meet you too. Sounds like you had a good race.

Bit of a frustrating one again for me. A fairly slow race again but with everyone seemingly chasing everything. Rode a bit of tempo at the front for a lap or so just to warm up a bit! Put in a big dig on the last lap to bridge over to a two man break but they just waved me through as soon as I caught them and then we got swept up within sight of the finish again. Someone said another break had actually got away but I’m not convinced as I’d been watching out for a decent one. Can be tricky to spot sometimes though as you have breaks and bunches from the 4, 3 and E12 on the circuit at the same time.

As fun as they are I don’t think I’ll be doing any more this year, need to get some more time in racing the TT bike. Though could be tempted by some road races, and the CX season isn’t too far away, then there’s some winter XC enduro… hmm seem to be coming down with a case of Krytonitis 🙂

Back racing! Made a few attacks, bridged once or twice, tried not to chase everything. May be just top third…just! 109 points in the red means I’m definitely lacking Short Term Muscular Endurance. FTP looks fine though. Power was from Powercal heart rate monitor as the Stages is on loan.

Good work TiRed, I imagine it’s nice for you to be back. You’ll back near the front before you know it.

I rode at Thruxton again this week and to be honest I felt rubbish, stodgy feeling legs that didn’t want to work in the wind so I was a bit boring as I needed to ride in the group and just rolled in at the end. On a more positive note though and Mr Blobby, you’ll be annoyed you weren’t there but a break of 2 went from the gun in the 4th cats race and stayed away, I was chatting to Phil Pearce who was one of them and his normalised power was 390w for the race!!

Good luck and keep smashing the pedals!!

a break of 2 went from the gun in the 4th cats race and stayed away, I was chatting to Phil Pearce who was one of them and his normalised power was 390w for the race!!

I’m not sure he’s actually human though 😯

It’s pretty impressive that he can win a road race on the Tuesday night after having just managed a 2nd place in the Nationals at Elite level two days earlier!

Didn’t try hard enough in the Nationals? 😛

Well that’s certainly doing it the hard way. I’m curious to know who in the cat 4 race went with him and could live with that sort of pace, suspect Phil P would have been doing most of the work there!

I’m pretty much done with playing at Thruxton for the year as Mrs blobby is now out Tuesday’s. Though may have an unfinished business itch and be back for a race or two.

Club TT for me last night which went ok. Course PB and second place but lost my way a bit in the middle third and was a bit down on power, should have gone faster really. Too many disturbed nights recently.

I’m finding it hard to find races at the moment so sticking to TTs. Best result yet in the club 10 mile champs the other night – only my second 10 miler so a PB wasn’t unexpected but I didn’t expect to come in only 8 seconds behind the ladies winner when I was riding a road bike with clip ons and she was on a full TT set up with disc wheel. I have another race lined up in September but until then I’m struggling to find cat 4 ladies stuff I can get to.

The bigger question is why the hell Phil Pearce is a 4th Cat?! BC have really dropped one recently by not tallying road to off-road any more and keeping each set of disciplines separate. Ian Field is (or was at the start of the season) a 3rd cat!
The whole point of 4th (and 3rd to an extent), is that it’s the entry level to the sport, Sunday League if you like. Allowing someone to ride who can smash 390NP out for the duration kind of defeats the object…

The bigger question is why the hell Phil Pearce is a 4th Cat?!

He won’t be there for long!

No doubt 😆

It’s a really good point LS, the system goes something like this; those who finish the season in the top 5 (maybe 10?) in the elite MTB rankings automatically gets a 2nd cat on the road for the following season but there are exceptions such as Phil and Ian who slip the net because Phil was an Expert last season and Ian probably hasn’t accumulated enough points in MTB to rank highly enough. These riders should be able to contact BC and get an ‘upgrade’ but apparently Jason Boutel (spelling, sorry Jason) tried this week and got declined despite his MTB elite ranking and the fact that he was running 3rd, behind Phil at the Nationals before a puncture.

It might make you feel a bit better to know that Phil raced 3/4’s at Eelmoor last night a came just 13th – maybe he is human!!

Excellent new TiRed! See from in September onwards 😈

It’s not that long ago that Elite MTB automatically got a 1st cat licence, Experts a 2nd etc. Ok, that threw up the odd problem whereby someone with no bunch racing experience found themselves with the fitness but completely out of their depth on the road, but avoided a bunch of beginners getting scudded by international cyclocross riders 😀
And it used to be that if you’d ever been higher than a 4th cat, you could never drop down to 4th cat. That’s gone too – I’m a 4th this season as I haven’t ridden on the road for ages, but I was a 1st not that long ago (I’m no less fast than then). Where’s the fairness in me riding with 4ths?

I guess the thinking is that if you’re good enough then you’ll work your way up to the right level pretty quickly. I doubt it happens in sufficient numbers to be that big an issue.

LS, all fair points but I guess as Messers Blobby says, it should take long for the odd extra strong 3/4ths to get promoted, yourself included by the sounds of things.

I’m surprised than you were given a 4th, I’m in a similar position; until 3 weeks ago I’d not raced on tarmac for about 4 years after the first full season away my 2nd cat was replaced with a 3rd and that’s where it’s stayed.

Yeah I’ve been a 3rd for a couple of years but for some reason got a 4th cat licence this year – someone obviously reset a database somewhere!

It getting to be that time of year again when all the top cyclocross riders come out of the woodwork and do a few crits/RRs on their cat 3 road licences – cyclocross ringers as I like to call them 🙂 In South Wales so far this year this includes Steve James rocking up to a local 3/4 Wednesday night crit.

Last August, whilst still a 4th cat and gearing up for ‘cross season myself, I raced a 4ths only crit in the pouring rain in which I got away in a break of three. The other two were far too strong for me and rode me off their wheels; I slinked back to the bunch and they went on to finish 1-2. Turns out one of them was Joe Lally (top 3 material in the Welsh ‘cross league, whereas I am propping up the top 20 on a good day) and one was an ex first 1st cat rider, now a french ex-pat, whose french racing licence made him eligible to race as a cat 4!

I’ve just had a read up and I had misremembered, the deal from BC is below:

A rider who, at the 31 December of the previous year, was listed in the top 10 in the elite men’s British Cycling Cross-country MTB Series rankings may also claim an elite licence.

It seems the rider needs to ‘claim’ their Elite road license, I read that as it not being automatic.

Anyway, back on topic – 3/4 cat circuits racing here I come!!

First race back on the road bike on Sunday, great to be back but was kinda disappointed! Def felt it in the legs during the end despite it being a short one, I’ve really only be riding for an hour and half max all year.

Anyway, it was windy as ****, a few riders went up the road but got reeled back in, at one point 2 were up the road and a team mate had a gap and seemed to be getting closer so I exploded off the front and bridged over to him and told him to come with me, was riding for maybe 3-4 more seconds when he shouted he was **** so I just sat up too.

Last lap came and a beast got off the front and solo’d for the win, mighty impressive!! To be honest I didn’t even realise anyone was up the road 😳 thought it was a proper bunch sprint!!

Finish straight is a fairly horrible one, 90 degree turn off the main road and a good enough gradient that you know it’s a hill with 3 distinct kicks but shallow enough that drafting is key, I tried desperately to not get boxed in (as I said prior to turning off it’s a main road and people were starting to take risks crossing the white lines far too much) but did anyway and came around the last corner fairly far down 🙁 still, at least I got the Strava KOM for the finish (kinda, it’s shared (ewe), same time as last years winner who incidentally got 2nd this year!) that’s all that matters right… 😉

8th