Here's what I see as the best way to approach the men's classes. The philosophy I would take here is that this better separates the beginner/sport/expert into appropriate buckets.
Cat 5: The beginner class. After 10 races you have to move up to cat 4, just like road racing.
Cat 3/4: The sport class. This is the meat of cross, where the cat 5 racers should want to be.
Cat 1/2/3: The expert class that's also open to the fastest sport riders.
Then you can have a single masters class:
Cat 1/2/3/4 master's 45+
The problem I see with cat 3/4/5 40+ is that you've then created a massive class that covers beginner, sport, and teetotaling expert. I'm not sure I see the value in this class as I think it's a black hole of never getting out. I like the cat 5-only as it is a true beginner/entry-level class for both over & under 40 years old. The point of cat 5 is to introduce you to the sport and then bump you up. Having said that, I can get on board with a cat 3/4/5 40+ if that's the only 40+ class. The other 40+ guys need to race the cat 123 class. I guess I think there should be a single masters class. You are old, or you are fast. Pick one. I can get on board.
This is what I would suggest for New Jersey. I have no opinion on any other series as I am not familiar enough with the race attendance numbers, and so on. Looking at the NoHo pre-reg numbers, I'd say they are doing just fine and don't need my input.
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Got on the Zwift today and the world was London again. I decided to hit the other 2 hills and aim for the PRs. I beat the first one, Leith Hill with a 7:30 time, previous best at 7:45. I then turned around at the bottom and did the other side, which is Keith Hill. I only had one effort in me today and didn't feel like giving it much more than that. At the top I realized that beating this PR should be doable but if I'm letting the ride come to me, today was not the day to be drilling it. In the end, about 8 minutes of work, which is fine 2 days before a race. In general I have adhered to not working much 2 days before a race but today I asked myself, has this pattern always worked? I don't know.
Tomorrow I guess I'll ride for an hour somewhere. I have no idea. I still need to get all the bikes ready for the weekend. I intended to do that today but then work was overly needy, then the rain meant i had to go pick up the boys early which derailed my day by about an hour all told. I was pretty aimless today and even as I sit here now writing this (it's 5:17 pm) I feel pretty aimless. It's been a sort of flavor this week, general aimlessness. I was going to edit 1 of the remaining 3 chapters of my book but again, my motivation is pretty low right now. This couch feels pretty much like all I feel like doing tonight.
The allergies have been pretty shitty for me this week. I've doubled my claritin/pseudoephedrine frequency the past few days. I've had a low-level headache all week.
Watched the Adam Sandler special on Netflix. I'm not a Sandler fan, or anti-fan for that matter. This was good, not great. If you're looking for something to watch you could certainly do worse. Put it on the list unless you hate him.
Tonight we will conclude the first season of Dark.
I'm just gonna submit this now and be done with it. I don't think I'm going to do anything creative for the remainder of today so I'll put this message in the bottle and throw it into the ocean.
Cat 5: The beginner class. After 10 races you have to move up to cat 4, just like road racing.
Cat 3/4: The sport class. This is the meat of cross, where the cat 5 racers should want to be.
Cat 1/2/3: The expert class that's also open to the fastest sport riders.
Then you can have a single masters class:
Cat 1/2/3/4 master's 45+
The problem I see with cat 3/4/5 40+ is that you've then created a massive class that covers beginner, sport, and teetotaling expert. I'm not sure I see the value in this class as I think it's a black hole of never getting out. I like the cat 5-only as it is a true beginner/entry-level class for both over & under 40 years old. The point of cat 5 is to introduce you to the sport and then bump you up. Having said that, I can get on board with a cat 3/4/5 40+ if that's the only 40+ class. The other 40+ guys need to race the cat 123 class. I guess I think there should be a single masters class. You are old, or you are fast. Pick one. I can get on board.
This is what I would suggest for New Jersey. I have no opinion on any other series as I am not familiar enough with the race attendance numbers, and so on. Looking at the NoHo pre-reg numbers, I'd say they are doing just fine and don't need my input.
*
Got on the Zwift today and the world was London again. I decided to hit the other 2 hills and aim for the PRs. I beat the first one, Leith Hill with a 7:30 time, previous best at 7:45. I then turned around at the bottom and did the other side, which is Keith Hill. I only had one effort in me today and didn't feel like giving it much more than that. At the top I realized that beating this PR should be doable but if I'm letting the ride come to me, today was not the day to be drilling it. In the end, about 8 minutes of work, which is fine 2 days before a race. In general I have adhered to not working much 2 days before a race but today I asked myself, has this pattern always worked? I don't know.
Tomorrow I guess I'll ride for an hour somewhere. I have no idea. I still need to get all the bikes ready for the weekend. I intended to do that today but then work was overly needy, then the rain meant i had to go pick up the boys early which derailed my day by about an hour all told. I was pretty aimless today and even as I sit here now writing this (it's 5:17 pm) I feel pretty aimless. It's been a sort of flavor this week, general aimlessness. I was going to edit 1 of the remaining 3 chapters of my book but again, my motivation is pretty low right now. This couch feels pretty much like all I feel like doing tonight.
The allergies have been pretty shitty for me this week. I've doubled my claritin/pseudoephedrine frequency the past few days. I've had a low-level headache all week.
Watched the Adam Sandler special on Netflix. I'm not a Sandler fan, or anti-fan for that matter. This was good, not great. If you're looking for something to watch you could certainly do worse. Put it on the list unless you hate him.
Tonight we will conclude the first season of Dark.
I'm just gonna submit this now and be done with it. I don't think I'm going to do anything creative for the remainder of today so I'll put this message in the bottle and throw it into the ocean.