I live in Japan and can't figure out how people in other countries rank races...
In Japan.
S class is the elite. then in alphabetical order from A to F A being next best after S F is the lowest rank. (I'm currently a 'D'.) X class is for people who don't know what rank they are. W is for women only....
What do people in the 'real' world call these ranks?
Is this what you all refer to as Category racing?
I'm only guessing unless somebody spells it out for me!
😄
One of my friends has gone from E class to B class within 6 months...competing in each rank and finishing in the top 3 each time.... if he goes at this rate he is a chance at the TDF...
Originally posted by JAPANic I live in Japan and can't figure out how people in other countries rank races...
In Japan.
S class is the elite. then in alphabetical order from A to F A being next best after S F is the lowest rank. (I'm currently a 'D'.) X class is for people who don't know what rank they are. W is for women only....
What do people in the 'real' world call these ranks?
Is this what you all refer to as Category racing?
I'm only guessing unless somebody spells it out for me!
😄
One of my friends has gone from E class to B class within 6 months...competing in each rank and finishing in the top 3 each time.... if he goes at this rate he is a chance at the TDF...
😎
In the US you start as a category 5 racer. After 10 mass start races you can upgrade to cat 4. After that you move up to 3, then 2, and finally cat 1 IF you get results at your current level.
In Japan if you finish in the top six of any race, you are automatically promoted to the next rank.... You are also allowed to enter any rank, but you will most likely be humiliated if you go in a class much higher than your ability and finish last well behind everybody else... a good time to fake a puncture and disappear into the crowds...
In Japan if you don't finish a race... Your result is
Humiliation aside, wouldn't safety be a concern. I imagine the main reason for the requisite 10 races for Americans to upgrade past the lowest category is so they get some experience being in a race situation. It's well known that the cat 5 races can get a bit troublesome with squirrley riders and host plenty of crashes. What's to prevent a really inexperienced rider from taking down experts in Japan? Or is it an honor system thing, where you don't race beyond your ability?
I guess honor....or fear of losing...or getting left behind early in the race so that you can't bring down anybody....
Racing in the lower ranks is very dangerous and I'm thinking of going one rank higher to get away from the complete novices....
Some beginners are good enough to be in higher ranks so racing in the lowest rank means you have to compete against riders who should be in higher classes from the beginning anyway....
A lot of top class riders return to racing in the lower classes while recoviring from injury.... they are still too good a lot of the time....
I've been in 8 races now so I know my class pretty well and the next class up seems more controlled and only a little faster, so I'm going to jump in.... ( Based on time alone I would have finished higher in my last race if I'd had raced a rank above)....
