For a brief moment, just before the pandemic, I thought I might race again. I raced for 7 years in my 20s but I’m 55 now. I went to my club’s crit and it was a scary crashfest. That turned me off to ever doing a crit again. The other issue is that there is never a 55+ masters cat 4 category, so any race I’m in is going to be with a bunch of youngsters.
I’m thinking that 3-5 fondos or more fun oriented “races” per year will be more my style.
That said, there is a super casual Wednesday night mountain bike race series now. I’m thinking of trying it just for fun even though I’ve mostly been a roadie all my life.