Letting the CAT out of the bag...

Is it just me, or do others get excited when they hear the weather man mention that there are 'oppressive heat indexes' in the forecast?  I prefer road racing to be like a battle field, where the soldiers fight it out until the last man standing... a war of attrition.  Sure its prefered if I am one of these 'last men' that make it to the finish line, however, I still find it rewarding to have given it my best, even if  'my best wasn't good enough'.   So, if the battle field includes heat, wind, hills, and fierce competitors... "I'm in!"... at least until "I'm out!".

To that end, I have found 10 "battles" (uh... I mean road races) to do this summer.  Of course, a handful of criteriums mixed in there as well but I no longer have the same incentive to 'chase points' by entering some races that simply don't interest me... why? might as well let 'the cat out of the bag'...

Yeah, that's right, after 2 and half seasons as a Cat 3, I have earned an upgrade to Category 2.  Does this change my racing calendar?... not really.  I will always have a master's option, and quite a few races are Cat 1/2/3 anyway... Trust me, I made this decision with much deliberation.  For the most part, I will simply wear my Category 2 upgrade like a badge of honor, and leave it at that. If they ever start offering Cat 2 races, however, I would be very interested to compete at that level. 

This should make for some interesting race reports so check back to see what kind of wacky predicaments I can get myself into now that I am licensed as a USAC Category 2 Road Cyclist.