Racing?

[Eden]

Citizens category? We don't have it around here I guess. There is a series held at a local (car) race track that is not USCF (USACycling) sponsored that has a beginner category as well as cat 4 so I guess its like that. No one is required to have a racing license to race there since its not sponsored and its a really great way to learn if you have something similar available. We haven't had enough women racing to have a women's cat 5, but our fields are getting bigger and bigger so we can hope!

Oh, by the way Sulis -if none of the above made much sense- when you race there are 4 categories for women. You start as a cat 4 (men have a 5) and you move up either through experience (25 races with 10 or more particpants to go from 4 to 3) or points. Points are earned by getting a top 6 finish. Around here we don't have enough women to separate any fields except for 4's. After you upgrade the 1,2,and 3's generally race together and are scored together.

[RoadRaven]

As Eden responded to your question about whether you should ride every day, you MUST remember to build in rest days - its an important and often overlooked part of training.

When you come home from a hard ride, and your muscles feel tired and/or sore... it is because you have extended and stretched them and what you are feeling are tiny tears in the muscle. In the next 24 hours the muscles repair themselves according to the recent demands on them.

So recovery days and tapering and base training are all important parts of developing and strengthening your muscles so that they can respond effectively to the demands that something like racing will bring.

Sometimes I have ridden 7-8 days in a row, but 2-3 of those rides have been only about 10-20kms long, on flats, at low resistance and slow speeds. When I do very hard ride, such as hill reps or speed intervals or a road race or time trial - I HAVE to ride the next day at low intensity just to help disperse the lactic acid - my legs are too uncomfortable otherwise.

So build in rest regularly and if you cant take a day off every 3-4 days, then make sure you designate an active recovery day which is riding at low intensity as I described above.