Tell us about your weekend ride

Anyway, we split the group coming up to the Hogsback and I went with the group led by Cliff, BC's Cat 3 racer.

Airtime Al, a non-forumunger friend, and myself foolishly went out on a Kingston Wheelers 'training ride'; i.e., the one that the racers go on to keep in shape. The ride was led by a guy who rides in cat 3, and about 2 or 3 others out of the 9 or 10 of us raced I think.

Ferocious pace (on a pancake flat route) for the first 40ish miles; around 21 mph. Us three were just clinging on to wheels for dear life. It was challenging, and not particularly enjoyable at times, but a really good insight into what's required if you want to give racing a go.

Cat 3 riders are nothing special. If anything they're the scary group. You only need something like 8 points to be in Cat3 and you can't drop back out without stopping racing for years. It can contain anything from the mediocre middle of the group nothing special rider to the guy with all the flash bikes who knows how to ride but limits himself so that they don't get promoted to Cat2. You often have to go further afield for races which permit Cat2 riders to people don't want to be promoted.

Tl,dr : Anyone can be a Cat3 rider if they race.