Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
(by staying in cat 4 this year)
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
(by moving up to cat 3)
Actually, the slings and arrows of cat 4 are not too bad. But am I a sandbagger? I do well in cat 4. I haven't won a race, but I have three top six finishes and three more in the top ten. But I would like to win one...just once. After much thought I have decided that at age 43 with only two years of racing under my belt (and 2 1/2 years of riding) that it is ok for me to hang out in cat 4 for a little while.
The problem is that I don't think I have the time to train the way a cat 3 rider needs to train. And so, when I do move up, I fear that I will spend the rest of my racing career not contending for the win. In cat 5 and cat 4 I have felt that in almost every race I had a shot at winning. I'm definitely not the strongest person out there, but I'm a contender.
And so, I will start out the 2009 season in cat 4. Maybe half a season. Maybe a whole season. We'll see how it goes.
