This will be my first full season of time trials here in the Midwest, just looking for some insight. I’ll be racing in the MATTS/ABR series, which offers both age groups and your typical Cat 1-5. Any recommendations (or at least things to consider) on which to enter? As far as I know, upgrade points cannot be collected in TT. When looking at the starting list, it appears there is an even number of riders in both my age group (30+) and my category (4), so maybe I should just pick one and see how it goes?
If you are just starting TT’s, I would recommend going by Category. There are some pretty fast guys in the MATTS / ABR series and if you go by age, there is a decent chance you’ll get your teeth kicked in. 
Race your Cat, see how it goes and then if you are doing well, you can race by age in later races.
Enjoy!!
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This was exactly the type of insight I was looking for. I appreciate it 
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Seeing the dates of all those time trials I am super jealous. Living in Ohio there is nothing like that…
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Is it possible to race both? The experience from the extra effort could be beneficial.
I went from hating TT’s to actually really enjoying them. As a Cat2, most of the road races and Crits are so dependent on having a strong team but the TT is completely individual.
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MATTS / ABR will let you do multiple runs…but you can just as easily look at your time from a single run and just see how you would have placed in your Age Group.
Of course the times could be compared. For me it could be a good opportunity to make a small adjustment, equipment change, etc… to compare times on the same day in similar conditions.
How long is the course?
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Depends on the day…anywhere from 20-40k usually, getting longer as the season / series goes on. Most are ~20K this time of year.
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It’s 9 miles I believe for the first event. Most seem to be your typical 20k, 40k, ect. To be honest, making multiple runs didn’t even occur to me. I won’t be able to this week, but I’m going to consider that for the next race. It would be great training for a TT newbie like myself.
Here’s the schedule for anyone in the area and might be interested.
That’s awesome you guys have a nice series. We only have one series and the annual state races. Our series is only 8 miles and the state races are only 25k.
Keep us updated with results and improvements!
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It won’t matter. The guys looking to win the series overall titles will have already sorted which class they should enter for best results and all the classes will be competitive if there are enough riders to fill them out.
In TTs since there is no upgrade path you’ll find Cat 5 guys with Cat 1 power (and equipment and positions).
In our series we offer a cat 4/5 group and an Open group along with masters classes. But we only allow a rider to place top 3 in 4/5 for the series in one season. Once they do that they have to “cat up” to the open group, or the age groups if old enough.
$0.02 if I were you I would enter the cat 4 and stay in the group for a full season. With Cat 4 you don’t have the Cat 5 TT only guy who is world class but won’t race open or age groups. You’ll have cat 4 “sandbaggers” but that’s life. Use the year to learn the series and the race courses. Forget about doubling up until you have more experience. You don’t want to hold back (even unconsciously) in race #1 because you are worried about your second run and your second run will always be affected by your first. After a season and getting to know the races and the racers you’ll be better able to judge what to do next year.
Most of all have fun - these TT series are wonderful. Ours is on hiatus for another year but we normally offer between 10-14 races. Supplemented with another 4-6 that are independent or part of stage races. We will probably end up having 6-8 events but no series. Anyway, TTing well is hard, takes dedication, but is a ton of fun.
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