bike race listings - what do they mean?

On Wed, 28 May 2008 13:15:08 -0700 (PDT), didds <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

seen listings for bike races in cycling weekly magazine... what does

E?1/2/3/4 52 km mean?

E is Elite. That's professionals, semi pros, recently retired pros,
extreme racing snakes. Seriously fast guys.

1/2/3 & 4 are categories 1/2/3 & 4. The lower the number the faster
the rider. To progress up the chain I underatand you have to have won
a certan number of racesat the lower level.

52km is the race distance.

--

Tim

I understand very little of what's being discussed
but for some reason it's fascinating.

(Jon Thompson, urs)

Tim Hall said:

E is Elite. That's professionals, semi pros, recently retired pros,
extreme racing snakes. Seriously fast guys.

1/2/3 & 4 are categories 1/2/3 & 4.  The lower the number the faster
the rider.  To progress up the chain I underatand you have to have won
a certan number of racesat the lower level.

52km is the race distance.

Thanks Tim.

I'll need to do a LOT more practise before I bother yet :-)

Out of interest what might a level 4 do 52 km in roughly? Cycling
Weekly's results don;t seem to have times in them (or I don;t know how
to read them properly!) or possibly only have the first 10 to finish
which presumably would be the Elite/1 level cyclists.

cheers

didds

didds said:

Tim Hall said:

E is Elite. That's professionals, semi pros, recently retired pros,
extreme racing snakes. Seriously fast guys.

1/2/3 & 4 are categories 1/2/3 & 4.  The lower the number the faster
the rider.  To progress up the chain I underatand you have to have won
a certan number of racesat the lower level.

You get points for finishing in the top 6 IIRC, so many points and you
go up a category.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

52km is the race distance.

I'll need to do a LOT more practise before I bother yet :-)

Out of interest what might a level 4 do 52 km in roughly? Cycling
Weekly's results don;t seem to have times in them (or I don;t know how
to read them properly!) or possibly only have the first 10 to finish
which presumably would be the Elite/1 level cyclists.

The trick is to find some 3/4/W/J events. You might be able to keep up
in those. :-)

Actually the best way of gauging your fitness is to join a chaingang,
some of those go at one hell of a lick and can simulate racing quite
well. Actually I'd say it would be foolish to try road racing without
having learned to handle yourself in a bunch on a chaingang. Road
racing is a totaly different kettle of fish to time trialing. It's not
how fast you can go but whether you can hang on to or shake off the
bunch.
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

didds said:

Out of interest what might a level 4 do 52 km in roughly? Cycling
Weekly's results don;t seem to have times in them (or I don;t know how
to read them properly!) or possibly only have the first 10 to finish
which presumably would be the Elite/1 level cyclists.

4th cats racing? I would say somewhere between 1hr 30mins and 1hr
45mins but it depends on a number of factors. Time is not so important
in road racing, it's where you finish. Generally 4th cats would not be
racing against elites or 1st cats. The few who could stay with them
for more than a twenty minutes or so would not remain 4th cats for
very long.

--
Dave...

If you want to road race you need a road race license (an addition to
a BC membership).

Everyone starts as a 4th Category rider. You get points based on your
results in races. The number of points depends on your position in the
race and the category of race. A local regional C race might get you
20 points for the winner, a premier calendar event 150.
There is also a category of race for 4th cat only which is Go-Race for
which you don't need a license but don't get points.

If you get more than a certain number of points then you go up a
category. And you need to collect enough points to stay at that
category except once you are a 3rd cat always a 3rd cat or better.

Some races are restricted in teh category of rider that can enter in
order to improve the quality of the racing for all concerned. It is no
fun having a bunch of E/1/2 drop the rest of the field and cruise off
into the sunset, leaving the poor 4th cats shredded over the
countryside.

Our local club stage race this weekend was 2/3/4/J and had some good
racing. 48 miles in about 2 hours for the flat one, and a bit over for
the hilly one. Last placed rider was just over 52 minutes down.

The lower category races also tend to be shorter - better for unfit
numpties like me.

As has been said, if you want to road race, hook up with the local
club chaingang and make sure you are at least on terms with the 4th
cat riders there.

...d