cat 2/ cat1?

In my opinion a "pro" rider is anyone who is being paid to ride a bicycle... that would be the defining line between amateur and professional. You could be a REALLY REALLY fast Cat1, and if nobody is paying you, you are still just an amateur cyclist (a F***ing fast one), but still amateur.

Now, if you are referring only to USCF, the highest you can be is a Category1... and most of those guys often race in "pro" races... so they are often grouped together.

Well... Pro is basically a guy that gets paid for racing. He may be a domestique on a tream, he may have corporate support promoting their products, etc. The most elite of this field is actually the Cat-1 guy, very, very few guys ever make it to Cat-1; most cat-2's turn Pro as their "upgrade". You just sign a contract and accept a check, cycling-performance and results have nothing to do with it.

On the other hand, becoming a cat-1, I only know a couple out of the hundreds of cat-2 and pros I know, that's a real special performance. Most of the guys I raced with at UCSB made it to cat-2 pretty easily. About 1/4 of them went Pro without ever getting results to make cat-1. Only two guys were able to get enough points to make it to Cat-1.

I'm a cat 2, and far from being a pro. Although I have raced with division 3 pros in some races. IMO you are a real pro when you can make a living from racing, which means being on at least a division 2 team. I know a lot of div 3 guys who are really just cat 1s who get team bikes and stuff like that, no real paycheck.

Another way to look at this is that in order to get to Cat-1, you gotta beat Cat-2s and Pros... 🙂 Being able to train to that level without getting paid to ride is simply incredible, talk about passion and dedication.