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I'm a Cat4 rider that has pretty much maxed out my bike..(at least for what I can afford) at around 15 lbs. My body fat percentage is about 4-5% and I'm 5'9"...so I'm lean. I have finished top 5 with a win in a crit in the last 7 races I've done in Cat5..and now I'm moving up to Cat4. I am a school teacher so I have summers off. How do I take my Cat5 success...and turn it into Cat4 success. Old schoolers tell me: ride, ride, ride. Then the books say 3 days hard interval training...with 3-4 days off...and repeat. Does anyone have any thoughts?
How old are you? I upgraded from a 5 to 4 and then a 4 to 3. It took me about a season to adjust to the higher level and then did well the next season. I want to say that I trained on average about 12 hours or more a week. I had a coach that prepared my training. I raced maybe 12-15 times a season and was on a team. Are you attached to a team? What are your strengths and weaknesses? I was really strong on the flats and power climbs, and in crits, but was not above average on hilly RR. Just remember that with racing comes experience and that should be paramont before setting the bar to a higher catagory. It takes time on the bike and in racing before you advance both your skills and your VO2. If you can race in the masters it will give you a taiste of racing against 1's, 2's, and 3's. For example 35 plus age catagories have higher catagories so that you can see that it is quite a jump in fittness. Even us older guys can hammer. Having the summers off is a bonus if you can devote quality hours on the bike.
