jimf
Active Member
The cat 3 results were posted as I was leaving, attached is the 40-49 field (sorry crappy bb camera could not fit the whole thing in one shot)
I was torn over the shorter cat3 distance and was on the cusp of upgrading to cat2 simply to ride a longer distance. The problem is, I know I am a cat3 racer(at best) so while I can make the cat2 distance without any trouble, I cannot do it at a race pace(race pace being relative to my fitness level here). In fact, I doubt I have tried to go hard for 5 or so miles before today. So I opted to go Cat3, I think it was the right call. I went hard(again, hard being relative) for the entire loop and finished 7th out of 15 in 40-49, A big jump up from my first cat3 race where I finished 11 out of 12 in the same group at the leaf blower in the fall.
Overall a great event, good call by the organizers on the shorter distance for cat3, I think this will work to bring more people in who normally would not consider doing this.
Kudos to Black Bear for getting the course in shape after the rain, the little rock bridge they built right at the end of red dot before the first of the two bridges was much needed, that little hole they filled in is way deep and does not look like it. Although it did eliminate my home trail advantage(I knew to stay hard right in the water there, most first timers would opt to stay left because of the trees and bushes and get bogged down)
EDIT: Sorry, the picture is garbage, I should have previewed before posting. I will try and fix it and re-post
I was torn over the shorter cat3 distance and was on the cusp of upgrading to cat2 simply to ride a longer distance. The problem is, I know I am a cat3 racer(at best) so while I can make the cat2 distance without any trouble, I cannot do it at a race pace(race pace being relative to my fitness level here). In fact, I doubt I have tried to go hard for 5 or so miles before today. So I opted to go Cat3, I think it was the right call. I went hard(again, hard being relative) for the entire loop and finished 7th out of 15 in 40-49, A big jump up from my first cat3 race where I finished 11 out of 12 in the same group at the leaf blower in the fall.
Overall a great event, good call by the organizers on the shorter distance for cat3, I think this will work to bring more people in who normally would not consider doing this.
Kudos to Black Bear for getting the course in shape after the rain, the little rock bridge they built right at the end of red dot before the first of the two bridges was much needed, that little hole they filled in is way deep and does not look like it. Although it did eliminate my home trail advantage(I knew to stay hard right in the water there, most first timers would opt to stay left because of the trees and bushes and get bogged down)
EDIT: Sorry, the picture is garbage, I should have previewed before posting. I will try and fix it and re-post
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