Newbie USCF question

"Trip" wrote in message
...
Hi Folks,

I just joined the USCF and had a quick question about Categories that
I couldn't find an answer to on their web site. Since I am a new
member, I am a Cat V rider. I noticed in their documentation that you
can increase your category, but you can't downgrade back to a Cat V.
My question is this: is there any reason that someone would want to
downgrade to a Cat V?


Yes.


Any benefits to that category that are not
available to riders in other categories?



Yes.

....ah - never mind. A quick search on Google shows that Kurgan posts
so much that he can't possibly have time to ride a bike, so the most
appropriate karmic payoff for this troll would simply be a power surge
that zaps his computer and sends him offline long enough to step
outside for a few minutes.

For the real cyclists then, any comments on my original question
below?

Thanks,

Trip


On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 17:24:02 GMT, Trip
wrote:

I raced quite a bit in the late 80's, when most people thought of
hard-core cyclists as elitist a-holes. Good to know that helpful
people like Kurgan are helping keep that dream alive.

Here's hoping that karma gives him two flats in his next race.

Trip

On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 15:35:29 GMT, "Kurgan Gringioni"
wrote:


"Trip" wrote in message
. ..
Hi Folks,

I just joined the USCF and had a quick question about Categories that
I couldn't find an answer to on their web site. Since I am a new
member, I am a Cat V rider. I noticed in their documentation that you
can increase your category, but you can't downgrade back to a Cat V.
My question is this: is there any reason that someone would want to
downgrade to a Cat V?


Yes.


Any benefits to that category that are not
available to riders in other categories?



Yes.

"Trip" wrote in message
...
...ah - never mind. A quick search on Google shows that Kurgan posts
so much that he can't possibly have time to ride a bike, so the most
appropriate karmic payoff for this troll would simply be a power surge
that zaps his computer and sends him offline long enough to step
outside for a few minutes.

For the real cyclists then, any comments on my original question
below?

Thanks,

Trip


On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 17:24:02 GMT, Trip
wrote:

I raced quite a bit in the late 80's, when most people thought of
hard-core cyclists as elitist a-holes. Good to know that helpful
people like Kurgan are helping keep that dream alive.

Here's hoping that karma gives him two flats in his next race.

Trip

On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 15:35:29 GMT, "Kurgan Gringioni"
wrote:


"Trip" wrote in message
. ..
Hi Folks,

I just joined the USCF and had a quick question about Categories that
I couldn't find an answer to on their web site. Since I am a new
member, I am a Cat V rider. I noticed in their documentation that you
can increase your category, but you can't downgrade back to a Cat V.
My question is this: is there any reason that someone would want to
downgrade to a Cat V?


Yes.


Any benefits to that category that are not
available to riders in other categories?



Yes.



Hey Trip,

Your rejoinder to KG brightened my otherwise dreary, rainy day. Also,
because I'm bored, I'll attempt to answer your Cat V questions.

My question is this: is there any reason that someone would want to
downgrade to a Cat V?

Not unless you upgrade to Cat 4 on experience, find that you can't hang with
the 4's and wanna go back to the easier 5 races. If this is the case, you'll
probably not be wanting to continue racing anyway. As KG might say, "Maybe
you should consider chess."

Any benefits to that category that are not
available to riders in other categories?

The races are generally shorter and the competition may be less intense,
depending on who is entered. The one big disadvantage to C5 races is that
the majority of the racers are complete noobies and tend to be rather
clueless as to how to behave in a pack. In other words, they're squirrelly
riders. You know why they call'm squirrelly, don't you? You've seen a
squirrel dart out into the road in front of the car, stop, go back the other
way, stop, go back the other way and get flattened, haven't you? Well, some
C5's dart about quite unpredictably during their races.

Just FYI, the higher categories can "cat down" if there is sufficient reason
to do so. For instance, someone who was a C2 in his younger years may no
longer be physically able to keep up in the C1/2 races and just want to race
the 35+ races. However, some promoters will setup the category as 35+ cat
3/4 to keep out the pro-like 35+ C2 racers and give the rest of the fattie
masters 35+ racers a chance. This guy would then petition the USCF to cat
down to 3 so he could race the 35+ 3/4 races.

Good luck in your racing.

Vol

"Trip" wrote in message
...
I raced quite a bit in the late 80's, when most people thought of
hard-core cyclists as elitist a-holes. Good to know that helpful
people like Kurgan are helping keep that dream alive.



No one can ever make you feel inferior without your consent.



Here's hoping that karma gives him two flats in his next race.



Dearest Newb -


Don't get so upset, I answered your questions, politely no less.


Good luck in your next race. Glory is within reach! Seizure the day! Until
you spread your wings you have no idea how far you can walk!





K. Gringioni
rbr motivational speaker

Voltaire,

Many thanks for your patience and the excellent explanation. I have
this nasty habit of asking "why?" when someone tells me I can't do
something (like downgrading from a Cat 4 to Cat 5), and was wondering
if the Cat 5 folks got free beer at races or something cool like that


Trip

Thanks for the On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 18:39:41 GMT, "Voltaire"
wrote:


"Trip" wrote in message
.. .
...ah - never mind. A quick search on Google shows that Kurgan posts
so much that he can't possibly have time to ride a bike, so the most
appropriate karmic payoff for this troll would simply be a power surge
that zaps his computer and sends him offline long enough to step
outside for a few minutes.

For the real cyclists then, any comments on my original question
below?

Thanks,

Trip


On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 17:24:02 GMT, Trip
wrote:

I raced quite a bit in the late 80's, when most people thought of
hard-core cyclists as elitist a-holes. Good to know that helpful
people like Kurgan are helping keep that dream alive.

Here's hoping that karma gives him two flats in his next race.

Trip

On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 15:35:29 GMT, "Kurgan Gringioni"
wrote:


"Trip" wrote in message
. ..
Hi Folks,

I just joined the USCF and had a quick question about Categories that
I couldn't find an answer to on their web site. Since I am a new
member, I am a Cat V rider. I noticed in their documentation that you
can increase your category, but you can't downgrade back to a Cat V.
My question is this: is there any reason that someone would want to
downgrade to a Cat V?


Yes.


Any benefits to that category that are not
available to riders in other categories?



Yes.



Hey Trip,

Your rejoinder to KG brightened my otherwise dreary, rainy day. Also,
because I'm bored, I'll attempt to answer your Cat V questions.

My question is this: is there any reason that someone would want to
downgrade to a Cat V?

Not unless you upgrade to Cat 4 on experience, find that you can't hang with
the 4's and wanna go back to the easier 5 races. If this is the case, you'll
probably not be wanting to continue racing anyway. As KG might say, "Maybe
you should consider chess."

Any benefits to that category that are not
available to riders in other categories?

The races are generally shorter and the competition may be less intense,
depending on who is entered. The one big disadvantage to C5 races is that
the majority of the racers are complete noobies and tend to be rather
clueless as to how to behave in a pack. In other words, they're squirrelly
riders. You know why they call'm squirrelly, don't you? You've seen a
squirrel dart out into the road in front of the car, stop, go back the other
way, stop, go back the other way and get flattened, haven't you? Well, some
C5's dart about quite unpredictably during their races.

Just FYI, the higher categories can "cat down" if there is sufficient reason
to do so. For instance, someone who was a C2 in his younger years may no
longer be physically able to keep up in the C1/2 races and just want to race
the 35+ races. However, some promoters will setup the category as 35+ cat
3/4 to keep out the pro-like 35+ C2 racers and give the rest of the fattie
masters 35+ racers a chance. This guy would then petition the USCF to cat
down to 3 so he could race the 35+ 3/4 races.

Good luck in your racing.

Vol

In article , Trip
wrote:

Voltaire,

Many thanks for your patience and the excellent explanation. I have
this nasty habit of asking "why?" when someone tells me I can't do
something (like downgrading from a Cat 4 to Cat 5), and was wondering
if the Cat 5 folks got free beer at races or something cool like that


Actually Cat 5 is suppose to be for people who are new to racing so
they can gain racing experience racing against their peers. It would
kind of defeat the reason for having Cat 5 if riders with lots of
racing experience were allowed to downgrade to Cat 5.

Don't let the talk of all the bad riding in the Cat 5s scare you. In
reality it is the Cat 3s who probably have more accidents ( especially
accidents that result in injury) than any other category. Sure there
will be more movement and weaving in a Cat 5 pack but then again the
Cat 5s tend to ride farther apart, so the movement doesn't results in
that many crashes.

Also in many smaller regions ( in terms of rider numbers) the Cat 4s
and 5s ride together lots of the time so there isn't much point in
downgrading from 4 to 5 when the 4s and 5s ride together most of the
time.

Kurgan, Henry, or whatever your name really is,

Did you think I sounded upset? Perish the thought. I rather enjoyed
making you look like an idiot. To be fair, however, it seems that you
do an exemplary job of that without anyone's assistance.

If you're wondering, they're laughing AT you, not WITH you.

But seriously, good luck in Junior High School this year. I'm sure
that once you turn 15 and can get a job at Sack 'n' Save, you will
finally be able to earn enough for a bike, and will be able to leave
your computer behind. I assure you that I'm looking forward to that
day.

Trip



On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 19:03:21 GMT, "Kurgan Gringioni"
wrote:


"Trip" wrote in message
.. .
I raced quite a bit in the late 80's, when most people thought of
hard-core cyclists as elitist a-holes. Good to know that helpful
people like Kurgan are helping keep that dream alive.



No one can ever make you feel inferior without your consent.



Here's hoping that karma gives him two flats in his next race.



Dearest Newb -


Don't get so upset, I answered your questions, politely no less.


Good luck in your next race. Glory is within reach! Seizure the day! Until
you spread your wings you have no idea how far you can walk!





K. Gringioni
rbr motivational speaker

On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 18:33:00 GMT, Trip wrote:
I'd be happy to reword the question if it is confusing.

Not at all.

I don't like calling people a dumbass either, but flaming me without
reading the question is pretty dumb, n'est pas?

I wasn't flaming, or at least that wasn't my intention. The answer is:
to win. If one sport has different categories, it is to group people
with the same characteristics, whatever those may be. If the
categories are numbered 1-5 and all beginners start in 5 by default,
apparently the categories are ability graded. People who can race
equally fast will end up in the same category and will have the same
chances of winning. So people who downgrade have either become slower
and will now fit better in a lower category (the slow fat aging
master), or they have not become slower but value wins in inferior
fields above the joys of competing in challenging fields (the
sandbagger). Either way, they want to improve their chances of
winning.

But this is just my theory; I don't have a racing license, I have
never even been to the US, and I know nothing of USCF rules.

Oh, and it's "n'est-ce pas?".

Casey,

Thanks for the clarification. That's good to know about what to
expect in the Cat 4/5 races.

Trip

On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 19:44:25 GMT, Casey Kerrigan
wrote:

In article , Trip
wrote:

Voltaire,

Many thanks for your patience and the excellent explanation. I have
this nasty habit of asking "why?" when someone tells me I can't do
something (like downgrading from a Cat 4 to Cat 5), and was wondering
if the Cat 5 folks got free beer at races or something cool like that


Actually Cat 5 is suppose to be for people who are new to racing so
they can gain racing experience racing against their peers. It would
kind of defeat the reason for having Cat 5 if riders with lots of
racing experience were allowed to downgrade to Cat 5.

Don't let the talk of all the bad riding in the Cat 5s scare you. In
reality it is the Cat 3s who probably have more accidents ( especially
accidents that result in injury) than any other category. Sure there
will be more movement and weaving in a Cat 5 pack but then again the
Cat 5s tend to ride farther apart, so the movement doesn't results in
that many crashes.

Also in many smaller regions ( in terms of rider numbers) the Cat 4s
and 5s ride together lots of the time so there isn't much point in
downgrading from 4 to 5 when the 4s and 5s ride together most of the
time.

Once again, that was not the question I was asking.

It has been answered by others in this thread though, so please don't
concern yourself with another response. The question you are
attempting to answer was not the question that was asked, and I'm not
sure why you thought you were adding value to the conversation without
knowing anything (as you admitted) about the USCF.

You're correct about my botched French though. I've always been
better with conversation than written.

Trip

On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 22:07:53 +0200, Ewoud Dronkert
wrote:

On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 18:33:00 GMT, Trip wrote:
I'd be happy to reword the question if it is confusing.

Not at all.

I don't like calling people a dumbass either, but flaming me without
reading the question is pretty dumb, n'est pas?

I wasn't flaming, or at least that wasn't my intention. The answer is:
to win. If one sport has different categories, it is to group people
with the same characteristics, whatever those may be. If the
categories are numbered 1-5 and all beginners start in 5 by default,
apparently the categories are ability graded. People who can race
equally fast will end up in the same category and will have the same
chances of winning. So people who downgrade have either become slower
and will now fit better in a lower category (the slow fat aging
master), or they have not become slower but value wins in inferior
fields above the joys of competing in challenging fields (the
sandbagger). Either way, they want to improve their chances of
winning.

But this is just my theory; I don't have a racing license, I have
never even been to the US, and I know nothing of USCF rules.

Oh, and it's "n'est-ce pas?".