Quote Originally Posted by velogirl
Where are you located? Do you have a link to the race ad? Although you haven't raced, have you done fast-paced group/pack rides in the past? Have you ever spectated a women's crit?

Don't worry about being a sandbagger. If you've never raced before, you're entitled to race in the beginner's race if you want. Althought the distance sounds short, a 10k crit would be about 20 minutes long -- just enough to get your feet wet and get a feel for what a crit is like (kinda). Depending on the field size, if it's small, you might not really get a true crit/pack experience.

Cool that you have CAT5 women's racing. I'm in CA (we have the largest population of women's road racers in the US) and last year we petitioned USAC to instate a women's CAT5 but no one else in the country wanted it. Is this race sanctioned by an organization other than USAC? The cool thing about CAT5 is that you upgrade based on experience (10 races), not placement. So, everyone in that race would have fewer than 10 races under their belt -- don't worry about them racing all season for this reason.

I LOVE CRITS! There's something completely exciting to me about riding in a strong pack, attacking, moving around, recovering, working together, blah, blah, blah. I just love the speed. In CA, our women's crits average about 22mph -- what a rush! And crits are great for spectators too!
Thanks velogirl!!! I need to move to CA!!! That's where the best racing scene is I've heard.

That's just it, I'm not sure how many beginner women will show up and racing against one or two other girls isn't my idea of a good time. I ride with a local club every weekend and can hang with the best of them. I even ventured to hanging with the faster group and could hang with them for a while. I've never spectated a crit either!

I've been wanting to do a race all year and now that FINALLY a beginner-friendly race has opened up, I want to do a race longer than 10km???

Anyway, I think it's a good idea as you suggest to give it a try first and then see how it goes.

Thanks again for the great advice!