Goal Tracking

My personal goal for the season is to cat up to 3 and then pack finish in a 1/2/3 race. I seem to be on track for at least the first portion of my goal...not sure about the second.

We all have different goals, but for the most part everyone who is on the course racing does so for one reason - to win, and for those of us who are relatively new to the sport, we are obsessed with justifying all of the time that we've put into training by seeing the fruits of our labor result in a promotion to the next category...referred to as cat'ing'-up. Some people prefer to ride an entire season in the category that they start out in. In fact, the MABRA tracks results by category and so people who win enough races to cat up and don't... have a better chance of placing high in the MABRA ranking for their category. Others "cat up" as soon as they possibly can. I think that I fall into the later category. I want to cat up as soon as I possibly can. I could be off in my points calculation, but this is where I calculate that I am to date.

Total Points Season To Date : 16 points
Top 10 Finishes : 4

3/29, Kirkwood Road Race (cat 4), 3rd, 7 points
3/30, Jefferson Cup Road Race (cat 4), 12th, no points
4/6, Tyson's Corner Criterium (cat 4), 5th, 2 points
5/3, Poolesville Road Race (cat 4/5), 4th, 6 points
5/18, So MD Criterium (cat 4), 6th, 1 point

There are 2 ways to upgrade from cat 4 to cat 3. One must either finish (10) races with top 10 finishes, or accumulate 20 points. What is a bit concerning to me is that I'm having fun in my quest and it seems to be nearly complete. Then, once again, the Peter Principle will set in. I will have been promoted to a level where I am less competent and it will start all over again. What sick person created this system ? LOL My goals haven't changed since last season. Last season, however, I was unable to finish even a single cat 4 event in the top 10.

unsolicited advice:
My explanation for the change in results this year is simply that it takes time for your body to catch up to your goals sometimes. Fitness levels and muscular endurance don't improve in weeks...it takes months and sometimes years. Experience in racing helps too...there is more to racing bikes than one may think...lots of different training methods...a bit of strategy and a bit of luck involved...although keep this in mind...."the harder you work, the luckier you get"

Introspective:
I wonder how long I can keep my motivation to race. This is not a sport that you do "to finish", it is racing. So as long as I am in the hunt, I suppose that I will have a chance to win, and that should keep me motivated. The obsession to upgrade will wane, my goals will change. On the last wednesday night ride, I was actually satisfied with my own moderate pace...wasn't concerned a bit as I watched the group ride off ahead of me down the road...was content to enjoy the solitude of my work at my own pace...of course, to stay with the group would have meant "bleeding from my eyeballs"...which is what I normally do on our wed night group rides. Which got me thinking...most folks don't have a desire to punish themselves on a regular basis. Are cyclists wired differently? I think we do this because we think that if we want to achieve our goal of winning the race, hard work is required. The goal is to win and to win a race means finishing ahead of everyone else in the race, which requires training harder and smarter than everyone else in the race. After all, this is racing.

Perhaps there will come a day when I am not motivated to win the race. I hope that is the day that I am put to rest.