The club I am in now (since moving) rates the weekly/daily rides on a Category basis, in a descending order. Cat 1 is the hardest, typically many hills, 19-21 MPH pace and you'll be dropped. Cat 2 is a little easier but same deal with being dropped. Cat 3 is typically 14-16 MPH average which gets progressively harder each week. The early season Cat 3 rides are no drop, mid June you'll be dropped on some of them. Cat 4 is the easiest, 10-14 MPH average, about 20 miles in duration, easy hills; the other club rates them A,B,C,D.
Last night there were about 30 Cat 3 riders and no Cat 4 so I was going to ride Cat 3. One other person showed up and she wanted to ride Cat 4, so, since I was signed up to lead Cat 4, I did. She wasn't wild about the route I mapped out so we ended up taking part of the original route, reversing part of it and then adding in two other loops. 1 hour later, 16.8 MPH average and going neck and neck the whole time, I have a nice knot in my right quad; she totally sandbagged me. The nice thing is I was able to to stay on the big ring the entire time. I also managed to kill my speed/cadence sensor and my rear wheel reflector shot off when they all made contact. Cheap zip-ties:hate:
My goal is to enter and complete within the upper half of the field of the NJ Gran Fondo. I was going to enter the Philly one, but wasn't really impressed with it.
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