Having won the UCA points race in the new 35+B category this last year, I would like to weigh in with my thoughts/opinions regarding the issue. At the start of last year I was a 40 year old racer who has been competing for about 5-6 years. I own a small company and have 6 kids. I often found it frustrating competing in the Cat 4 fields with very large fields, many independent riders, little sense of team strategy or tactics, all making it virtually impossible for a break to succeed. My best finish in about 3 years of racing as a Cat 4 I think was 5th. I started this last year racing as a Cat 4. My first race I did as a Masters 35B was the Downtown Crit which I did in this category due to a scheduling conflict that made it impossible for me to race in the Cat 4's. This race had a slightly smaller group than I was used to in the Cat 4 group. I had a team-mate off the front in a break the first part of the race. After he got caught another rider attacked and I joined him to form a 2 man break. This would have been suicide in the Cat 4's, but by working hard together we were able to stay away and I ended up taking 2nd. By far my best result as a racing cyclist and I was excited again to race in the new Master 35B category. In enjoyed success this year in the master 35B category, and have now upgraded to a Cat 3 and next year plan to either race as a Cat 3 or in the Master A category depending on the race and team mates that are racing and what races they are doing. I have a couple opinions and observations having competed in a number of events in this new category this last year.
1. I think it's imperative to have different age categories and allow races based on those age categories to exist. I think that as age categories go, you could either leave it at 35/45/55, but I think with the addition of the B category it would be better to have either 35+/50+, or 40+/55+, along with a B category. I think it's important to have certain age brackets, as I agree with Ken, that physical ability certainly decreases with age, and needs to be broken out by categories that recognizes this, allows for sufficient field size/competition, but also doesn't make a 65 year old who wants to race, have to race against a 36 year old, unless they want to. I think that the oldest age category should be given the choice to race masters B regardless of category if they choose, or race in the A category of their age grouping. But I think the A/B category is important. Being a 40 year old, I was fearful of racing in the masters category as I had heard that it was mostly comprised of experienced Cat 1, 2, and 3's and found this to be true in several races through the year. The B category gave me a category to compete in that was less intense, but was still competitive.
2. I think that results in the B category should count towards upgrade, and once necessary points are awarded, a B racer should upgrade to Cat 3 when able and qualified and then if a master choose between racing in the Cat 3 field or in the master A field.
3. I think the B category should only be for masters's Cat 4's and 5's, or for racers in an age category above age 50 if they choose.
4. For those who have indicated that someone who is masters age, is a cat 3, is out of shape and hasn't raced competitively for several years should be able to race in the B category I agree with them as well, but not as a Cat 3. My understanding is that you can request a category downgrade to a Cat 4 level. This should be done if someone is no longer able to compete in the Masters A or as a Cat 3 racer and would like to be able to race in the master's B category until they are able to compete again. This should be done on a case by case basis, approved by the person in charge of awarding category upgrades, and taking into account absence from racing in recent years due to life situations. The Chalk Creek Road race this year was the State RR Championship for Masters and because of this many Cat 3's races in the Master's 35B category instead of as Cat 3's or as master A. This resulted in one of the largest masters B fields of the year, one of the smallest Cat 3 fields of the year, and 1st & 2nd place were taken by Cat 3's who in my opinion should have raced as Master A's or as Cat 3's, having already acheived racing success and being awarded an upgrade. Again, preserving the integrity of the Master's B category as a category primarily reserved for those master rider's who haven't yet had enough race success to upgrade into a more competitive category. Upgrade from Cat 5 to 4 requires no race success, only competing in a certain number of events. Upgrade from Cat 4 to Cat 3 requires race success to upgrade.
5. I think it's imperative not to race together, but score separately. This defeats the entire purpose of having separate categories to allow separate classification of riders based on age or race success. Several times this last year, they combined the Master's 35B group with the Masters A group, or the Master's 55 group. I think this is very frustrating for the riders involved and defeats the purpose of having separate categories. It's very frustrating for either a 58 year old suddenly trying to compete against a 36 year old, or a less competitive Cat 4 or 5 38 year master's B racer having to try and compete against a cat 1 or 2 Master's A racer. I understand the desire to race the categories together to create fields larger than 5-10 riders making it easier for the promoter. This is where I think by creating only 3 master's categories you can obtain field sizes sufficient to support a separate race. Either Masters 35, Masters 50, and Masters B, or Master 40+, Master 55+, and master B categories. Whichever breakout would result in fields of 15+ racers, allow a B category for less experienced racers, but still maintain some age separation. And even if a master 55+ category only has 7 racers in it, they may prefer to race against other similar experienced and aged racers, rather than being forced to try and compete in a race that has them racing against widely different ages.
I think those 5 points sum up my opinions of the discussion. I think that a master B category is important, but should be maintained for racers who are older and haven't obtained race success yet. Once success has been achieved due to race results, that racer should be upgraded and compete in either the Cat 3 field or their respective master A field.
Thanks for allowing me to add my 2 cents worth. Adam Catmull