Cat 4 or 45+?

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Permalink Reply by iworedettos on September 16, 2010 at 10:14am

ride the harder category, with faster lap times. once you upgrade to cat3 (or race down an age category in 35+), it gets a lot harder. another factor for me would be start times. one of the crappy things about racing cat4 in some areas is that you're typically the first category to go off. that may or may not work for your schedule. it does leave the day more open. but it often translates to not having much (if any) time to preview the course (because it's not ready or not open, or because it's dark) and typically, at least here in new england, much larger fields, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but is a thing. at any rate, go with the faster field. if the masters are more experienced you will have better wheels to follow, which can benefit your technique.

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Permalink Reply by John Mansell on September 17, 2010 at 6:48am

RIde the 45+, learn, suffer and get stronger. The top of the 45+ in CO are about 15% faster than the 4's. In middle of the season, if you want to try to rack up some wins, drop to the 4's. Many of the sandbaggers will have up graded by then.

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