Quote Originally Posted by Eden View Post
One thing that is very different from men's cycling is though there are different categories, you will find that in very few places are there more than 2 races that are actually run. When you first start, you will likely mostly race with other beginners (cat 4's) after that its kind of like being thrown in with the sharks...... (one of our popular early season stage races out here had the field stacked with the likes of Mara Abbot!) Some states have combined cat 3 & 4 races, but most of the time after you are out of the 4's, the fields consist of everyone from pros to cat 3's. If you are in California you may find some separate 3's races, but most places don't have the numbers to support it.
The thing that is not different is that those who have a chance of going pro usually show it quickly. For men that means going up through the categories very quickly - a guy out here who was able to be picked up by a domestic pro team went from a cat 5 to a 2 in one season (he was considered to be fairly old to be new to the sport, in his mid 20's, but had been an elite cross country runner). For women it usually means that they are out of the 4's pretty quickly and remain dominant players even when thrown in with the big girls.

And then sometimes, like here in Florida, you will either be racing with the men(at local crits) or if it is a state points race, you are looking at one race for all 1-4 women. Which can get frustrating, but stick with it!!

I started racing late in the season last year, and was either with the cat 5(sometimes 4/5) men or if at a florida points series race with 1-4 women. They placed the 1-3s together and then the cat 4s, but when you are out there in that race it can be hard to remember that! All of a sudden you and a few others get dropped and it is frustrating, but then you need to sit there and say hey- majority of those are elite women! be proud that you hung on for as long as you did.


So go out there and have fun!! ENjoy it and keep us posted.