Women's C Race Category, too broad for good race experiences?

All of the current categories, for men and for women, are too wide. A “D” rider at 2.50 w/kg moving into “C” stands no chance of competing against riders at 3.19 w/kg. Even worse for a “C” rider moving into “B” and trying to hold onto riders capable of maintaining 3.99 w/kg. 0.79 w/kg is a massive jump.

Hopefully tools are coming that will allow race organizers to define their own category metrics, and everybody can find a race where they can be competitive.

1 Like

alice is spot on though… the 20 min baseline doesn’t do women any favours because the real difference between male and female physiology is anaerobic capacity. it starts to become really obvious at the top of B because the fastest B riders can do a 9wkg minute (not unheard of in women’s cycling, but very rare at the elite level) yet are only capable of an FTP in the low 4s. and of course with a higher anaerobic ceiling comes the ability to repeat efforts at a high intensity more often too

with that said, most male cyclists are allergic to barbells, and the ones that aren’t are generally allergic to long climbs, so i think unless you want to or are forced to race as cat A mixed as a woman then you can do just fine

1 Like