Masters Racing Defined: By Tobi Schultze

Masters Racing-

I remember racing category 3-4 races dangling off the back of the group looking forward to racing 35+ Masters thinking that it would level the playing field. As I was moving up through the categories I was racing against younger riders with little responsibility other than focusing on training and having time to recover properly. I simply wanted to race against other riders who had similar schedules and responsibilities to make it fair.

Masters racing is defined as 35+, sometimes 30+, with a valid category 4 or better license. So if you have a USCA license are 30+ and have raced enough to become a cat 4 you can race in the Masters category.

My definition of Masters racing includes having a family, preferably multiple well adjusted children, a healthy relationship with your spouse, and full time employment that includes some stress with occasional irregular working hours thrown in. If you can check off each of the above you are a well qualified Master.

The reality of New England Masters racing is that we have a very strong field, typically the second fastest race of the day behind the Pro race. The group is filled with outstanding athletes from various backgrounds including international level nordic skiers, national champion triathlete, world class rower, ex-NFL player, many top level cyclist competing at the highest level “back in the day”, and National Champion ex-professional cyclists. The depth of fitness, competitiveness, experience, and talent is outstanding.

The common thread is that all of these athletes ride to supplement their life quality and to create a balance with family and work. We all love riding our bikes. The thrill of racing and the satisfaction of training bring all these riders together in the Masters category. This is quality racing where for the most part wheels can be trusted as everyone has to go to work Monday morning and no one has to win a prime for gas money to get home. Good, fast, safe, and predictable racing.

We are fortunate. My guess is that we all want to become better bike riders and to get better we need to ride with faster, more experienced riders. Just like there is a continuous flow of riders upgrading and improving in the category 4,3,2,1 fields that they join, the Masters field gets bigger and better with each cat 2 or 1 who turns 35. And recently there have been really good additions to our field and as a result the races are faster.

I am well aware that there are only so many hours in the day that are available to train, and when training needs to be sandwiched into busy schedules there is a limit to those hours. I have learned how to get up early so that workouts do not interfere with the rest of the day.

I mention this because there are riders who seem to object to the talented new riders in the Masters field. My suggestion is to keep training and that you will continue to see improvement and the prior to now full time athletes will get slower as they struggle to juggle and find the balance of life with training. If you were to graph the two there will come a point where the two lines intersect. There are only so many hours available and it is up to you to make the most of them. Ultimately the playing field will achieve equilibrium and that is when the 55+ races will be really fun and really fast.