Actually, there's a bit more to it than that, but I will share one important nugget that's misleading in the excerpt. Not all riders start as CAT5. There is no CAT5 for women, so women begin as CAT4s. The significant implication of this system is the way men and women upgrade from their "beginning" cat (category).

CAT5 men must start 10 mass-start races (so time trials don't count). That's all they have to do, start 10 races. They can also participate in skills clinics to waive some of those race requirements.

CAT4 women (and men) can upgrade in two ways: 20 placement points in 12 months, or 25 mass-starts with 10 top-ten finishes.

So, you'll find there are lots of experienced CAT4 women who, for whatever reason (age, lack of training time, etc), will be career CAT4s -- in the beginning CAT for women.

However, for men, they don't have to stick to their beginning CAT (CAT5) forever, even if they finish DFL every race.

Can you tell I'm not completely thrilled with the current USCF system? NorCal campaigned to USA Cycling two years ago to add a CAT5 for women -- the proposal was rejected.

Oh, and the other exception to the excerpt below is that racers who hold a license from another UCI country can petition to race at the same level in the US (they don't have to start out as a CAT5/4).