Cat vs Junior

Demosthenes

Would a 16-18 Junior race be faster then a Catagory 5 race? Or is it pretty much a toss up for whoever shows up.

KeSs

For the most part it depends on who shows up. For instance, I have done a race where juniors and Cat 5 were in the same mass start and none of the juniors were able to stick with the lead group. However, it also depends on how long the race is too. I did a race last week and they had juniors go after the Cat 5's. The junior race was only 10 miles (1 lap) and the Cat 5 was 20 miles (2 laps). A group of 3 juniors caught up to our group in about 6-7 miles. They all bonked when they hit the hill but im sure they were putting down a average well over 30 mph to catch us. Like i said, it just depends on what Juniors are racing and what the race layout/course is like.

Hope this helps

-Sam

gee.bike

it depends, i know some 16 year olds who win pro.1.2 races regularly.

whoawhoa

In my area, the speed of a tough junior race is similar to cat 4, a bit faster than 5. But that's because the group is so much smaller, the guys that win usually race cat 3 or above. I'm not a 3 yet because I haven't raced enough senior races, but at a big crit this year there were numerous kids that raced cat 3 getting popped in the junior race.

Yippie Kye Ay

I think the 4/5 men are slower than the juniors. In a smaller race the juniors and the men started at the same time. We were instructed to fall back at the king of the mountians sprint so we did and within 5 minutes we caught back up to them with junior gears.

Nathan Brown

Where I live in Tennessee The 4s are faster then the juniors.

Nathan Brown

cyclingcarve31

First hand account, I have raced junior and it is much easier than Cat 4 or 5. Junior is from ages ranging anywhere from 14-19, Cat 4 or 5 is any age and you will usually find some fast men in those cats.

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TREK 5200
G.T.

It dosent get any easier for the pros they just get faster"

Yippie Kye Ay

CAT 4/5 crits are oober sketch in every one I have raced there has been at least 1 crash. Most recently there was a crash that took out the entire field. Junior races are much safer and fun.

Demosthenes

Around here, early in the season there arnt alot of juniors that show up at races. Last race I was at they combined the junior's with the cat 3/4's which wasnt all that fun. Made me want to race cat 4/5 instead. Theres no way Im keeping up with cat 3's in a race. If more juniors showed up it would actually be fun but until then...

ckel101

I hate racing juniors, you have to pass that damned roll out test. It's better to race cat 5, you get faster and better.