Karsten Hagen
OK
There¹s a lot of racing out there for masters 40+, but very little for
30-39. When I raced in Wisconsin, the masters 30-39 fields were
consistently full, fast and fun. The races were shorter to accommodate the
fact that many in the field worked long hours, tried to be good parents and
thus found extended training sessions impossible. Plus, most importantly,
we were getting older and slower. I don¹t think I¹m the only guy in his
30¹s in Oregon trying to balance work, family and his addic....um....racing.
I understand adding yet another category to local crits, road races, etc. is
a major headache, but consider this example: Banana Belt¹s final cat 3
sprint craziness would have been a lot less crowded, slow and dangerous if
the field was much smaller. I¹d guess half that field could have raced a
masters 30-39 category. The danger is, of course, that we could soon have
separate masters 32-34 right handed vs. left handed fields further divided
into astrological signs and eye color, etc....but I don¹t think that¹s
ultimately necessary.
I¹m just saying that, in general, a large group of masters men could have
their own viable racing field pretty consistently all season long.
Karsten Hagen
On 4/1/08 5:09 PM, "Greg Bruce" wrote:
> Since OBRA land is such a grace filled, open, accepting and tolerant society
> of cycling enthusiasts, I thought I would offer up an observation. NOTE, I am
> making an observation only and will leave it to others to offer up their take
> on why it might be so.
>
> Here it is: Taking a look at the bigger early season road races so far this
> year (Cherry Pie, Banana Belt Series, Piece of Cake), I have noticed that the
> inclusion of a Masters 40+ cat 4,5 field has resulted in huge fields for that
> category. In contrast, the Masters 1,2,3 fields have been pretty sparse by
> comparison.
>
> I then look at a race like Willamette Valley SR, where the Masters category is
> open to all 40+ racers regardless of category. In other words, there is no
> break out of category. If you are a Cat 5 Masters racer, you will be fighting
> it out with Cat 1 Masters racers and vice versa. Now, I am unable to look up
> the most recent count, but at last count a couple days ago, there were like 13
> people pre-registered to race Masters 40+ at Willamette. Clearly, more people
> will show up and race, but there probably won¹t be the 60-80 participants that
> there could be.
>
> So, what to make of all of this. Maybe nothing at all. A few things are clear
> though. There are a lot of Masters 4,5 racers out there and they clearly enjoy
> racing their bikes. OK, I am going beyond observation here and inferring some
> things?actually, I may be opining a bit---
>
> These Masters 4,5 racers might even enjoy racing their bikes with other people
> of their category and fitness level and when that opportunity presents itself,
> they show up. When lumped together with people who are so much faster, they
> might tend to decide to take that week off from racing. Maybe? Or Maybe it is
> just a coincidence?
> Two years ago at the Willamette Valley SR, they broke the Masters up into 2
> different races: a 1,2,3 and a 3,4,5?There were 49 people who registered for
> the 3,4,5 Masters race that year. Interesting, I think.
>
> Frankly, I am not sure what to make of it all. Some of the folks on my team
> who are Cat 3 Masters are kind of stuck in the middle. We have been opting to
> race with the open Cat 3¹s of late, in order to be a part of a bigger field of
> racers, as opposed to feeling like we are traveling great distances to
> participate in a race field that is more like a glorified group ride (in terms
> of size).
>
> I am not suggesting any change to anything, because I am not sure there is
> anything that needs fixing. I am just sharing an observation. But, if I were a
> race promoter/organizer, I might find this data interesting and worth
> considering.
>
> With the April Fools and Sprint dialogue dissipating, I thought we might all
> enjoy another potential topic of discussion.
>
> Lastly, at Cherry Pie and the Banana Belts, there have been an additional
> 20-23 racers in the Masters 50+ category. So, we seem to be getting 80-100
> participants showing up for all of the different Masters Categories at the
> early season races.
>
> Has there been any consideration to standardizing the Masters Categories for
> all the races? Some races have Masters 40+ open; some have 3 different
> categories (1,2,3?4,5 and 50+), some like King¹s Valley only have Masters
> 3,4,5; 2 years ago, Willamette had a 1,2,3 and a 3,4,5. Silverton has done a
> Masters 35+ cat 3,4 (2005) and a Masters 40+ Cat 3,4 (2006) of late. Others
> opt to lump everyone together, but score them separately. It is all over the
> place: JUST AN OBSERVATION.
>
> Anyway?..
>
>
>
> Event: 2008 Masters 4,5 # of Participant finishers Masters 1,2,3 # of
> Participant finishers
> Cherry Pie 61 23
> Banana Belt 48 28
> Banana Belt 2 42 20
> Banana Belt 3 41 25
> Piece of Cake 55 25
>
>
>
>
> Greg Bruce
>
> Hutch¹s- Bend, OR
>
>
>
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