For other readers’ reference, amateur men’s road racing category 4 indicates a beginner cyclist regardless of gender. For interest, in the US is technically divided into, men's races have 5 categories. Beginners are cat 5. Cat 1 is near professional. For women, because there are fewer women, I recall therebut the only beingqualification to advance from cat 5 to 4 categories. Depending on the region and the number of people participating,is 10 mass start races may group categories together, e.g. a 3/4 race. Regardless of genderHence, the OP implies theymen's cat 4s are a relative beginner in road racingstill beginners.
At the lower level ranks, my impression is that theteam tactics usually don't make a large difference. The differences in strength between riders are fairly wide at the lower levels. Riders are also still developing racecraft, which I would translatetranslate as situational awareness and decision making skills under pressure. My recollection is that good team tactics are pretty rare in men’s cat 4. Because crashes are still fairly common, the good racers are trying really hard to upgrade to cat 3as well as basic bike handling skills in a pack of riders. The inherent disparity in rider ability makes it harder to achieve good team tactics, even if rider skill allowed itthe riders had learned to execute them. In any case, many riders are looking to upgrade as fast as they can. The entry level men's races at least are full of crashes. In any case, the OP would probably not have been hampered by the lack of a team. In any case, my recollection is that good team tactics are pretty rare in the lowest category.
It’s not possibleThe OP didn't really give enough detail for us to say ifinfer their functional threshold power to weight ratio (power to weight, for short). This might have let us tell how strong the OP has “a chance“was relative to entry level cyclists, which I assume means a chance of winning or placingif we were also given gender. However, FTP alone doesn't really decide races. Road races often don't go to the strongest person on the road. Many soft skills, as briefly mentioned above, come into play. Also, many lower level races end in bunch sprints. You have to be very considerably stronger than the top 10rest of the field to break away and stay away (and if you have professional-level potential, chances are good that you will do this). Also, the entry level races in the US at least don't typically get challenging enough terrain to force the field to break up. Sprint power and endurance are two separate physical traits, and to some extent you can have one or the other, or a cat 4 road racebalance of both, but you can't be excellent at both (relative to other riders of similar capability). So, if you aren't a good sprinter, you may get left behind (NB: in this case, you want to get into the US givenbreakaways, because you have nothing to lose!!). Also, the information presentedlocal racing circuit is likely to hold at least a few time trials, which tend to riders with endurance (more specifically, riders who can hold a high and steady power, rather than riders who can sprint well or who can do repeated, sub-sprint (VO2max) efforts well). I’d say that it’s unlikely that
In any case, if the OP will go straight from their current statewants to winning a cat 4road race, then safety permitting, they should try it! It can be fun. If you don't find it fun, there are other options to cycle competitively, discussed below.
Road racing can be a bit all or nothing
However, shouldOne thing I've heard about road racing is that matter? In traditionalyou have to work really hard just to suck at it, or to finish mid pack, or even not to get dropped. This can be demoralizing. Not everyone will want to stick with road racing, becauseunless they are very talented.
Because of the inherent nature of the sport, in a road race or criterium, we don’t care about your actual finishing time, we only care about relative placing. Specifically, you can draft off the pack. If it's a bunch sprint, you will finish at the same time as the pack unless you got dropped, hence we would only care about your finishing place. Hence, there's no equivalent in road racing to entering a marathon as an amateur, and attempting to set your fastest time.
I suspect that human cognition also plays a role - how many of you remember off the top of your head who placed 5th at the last Tour de France? How about 8th? In professional sports, we only really pay attention to the winners. In amateur road racing, we only really pay attention to high placings. The
Again, the OP should definitely try it if they are interested, but if you don't place pretty high, the experience may or may not be rewarding. It's possible to advance a category or two and help your teammates out. When I raced road in the US, I made the men's Cat 3 team, and riders were experienced enough to employ basic team tactics, so the experience became more complex as well. Nevertheless, if you don't derive enough interest from just helping teammates but you can only finish mid-pack, there are other competitive options.
There are other competitive and semi-competitive options apart from road racing!
However, readers should all be aware that manyMany in the wider cycling world are a bit dissatisfied with the inherently winner take all nature of pro and amateur road racing. There have always been other options for people, and that theynew technology or simple cultural change are seeking alternative formatsopening more opportunities up.
Riders have always organized local events, like century rides (which often have sub-100 mile distances). The more generic term is Gran Fondo (originating from the Italian for amateur competitionbig ride). These might beYou should ride these at whatever pace you feel like - but, realize that many riders do feel like riding these as simplefast as doingthey can. There will often be a metriclead group or traditional century ridea few lead groups, postingif it is a mass start. You will often be able to find a group of people at your preferred pace, whatever that is. With the Strava Recordfaster groups, you are likely to Redditsee some informal sprints as well. That is, competitive amateur riders can find an outlet here, and seeing how may upvotesneedless to say you getcan be as competitive or non-competitive as you please.
Many people have done these rides in groups or solo, and then shared the record on social media (e.g. Strava, Reddit, Facebook). During the pandemic, this sort of solo endurance challenge haschallenges have become increasingly common among many endurance sport communitiespopular. In normal times, you could enter a century of Gran Fondogeneral, just ride as hard as you can, and take the experience. You can even see how well you place in your age and gender group. On
Local cycling clubs often hold group rides. Some of these rides will often recreate race-like dynamics in an informal setting. The social engagement and activities are a nice bonus. For female beginner cyclists, there may be the roadissue that it's physically harder to keep up with more experienced men, and most cyclists are men. However, interest in women's cycling is increasing, and there are often specific clubs or organized rides for women. In my city, one of the bike co-ops holds one or more weekly rides for women only. In a previous city, the local large cycling club hosted one ride exclusive to women. These may offer newer female riders the opportunity to build fitness and soft skills.
It's my understanding that time trials are a popular race format in the UK, and probably in some other countries. Time trials are short solo efforts, perhaps between 10 and 50 kilometers. You are not allowed to draft other rides. This race format may offer people a relatively objective yardstick to measure themselves, and it is less dangerous and less winner-take-all than road racing because of it. There is the potential issue that if you are competitive, equipment can place you at a noticeable disadvantage, and time trials do require specialized equipment to optimize your performance. That said, the lower level amateur categories can be raced successfully on standard road bikes with clip on aero bars.
Randonneur and audax cycling is another alternative format. You attempt to complete a set route in a given time, possibly passing through checkpoints on the way. This format is open to non-competitive or semi-competitive formats like audax ridingcycling. There may be local randonneuring oriented clubs in your area, and they may be separate from the usual cycling clubs. In my state in the US, one example is the Minnesota Randonneurs. I am not sure if all of these types of rides are referred to as randonneuring or you can takeaudax rides; the North Star Bicycle Race is an event on paved roads, specifically from St. Paul to the Canadian border and back, but its site doesn't appear to contain either term. Also, many long toursgravel rides/races are conducted in this format. Speaking of this, while I necessarily don't mean to steer people in the direction of buying more bikes, gravel bikes can often handle rides on both paved and unpaved roads, although you may want to change tires.
Finally, building off the off-road theme, cyclocross races are conducted off-road, and are a combination of a criterium race plus obstacles. Although they are races - in fact, in the US, they're sanctioned under the same body that organizes road racing - they are much more relaxed than road races, and team tactics might only come into play at the very highest levels. As with Gran Fondos, social events are often organized after the race. Crashes are also not that infrequent, but racers typically spread out after the mass start, so they're less common, and the speeds are lower, and the ground is a lot softer, hence injuries seem a lot less common. NB: Learn to roll. In any case, cyclocross and gravel cycling are culturally a lot friendlier to beginners.