Saw this post about James(Rolex) Bautista at mtbnj

[jontotman]

Hey if H2H assure you that you bagged the 1st spot in Cat3 overall I suggest move up to CAT 2 in Ringwood and finish your year as a Cat2. This is also a good way to guage your fitness level, compare your performace to the top 5 Cat 2 peeps and see how you stand against them. So on your training season for next year, you know what you need to do. As for me, all I need to do is lose like a gazzillion lbs. and ride at least 2x a week and I will be alright....but there's always a BUT... as of now, I think my riding hours will keep on shrinking. : ( I may ended up to be a cheerleader and photographer for all of you fast folks.

[erwin455]

Thanks Jon! But it's ok I realized this is not my career, so I'll just stick to their rules. I don't have the face to
line up at the starting line when everybody is looking at you and saying to themselves. Here comes the sandbagger again. Lol! I'm done with cat 3, I'll take whatever overall standing I get. The rule is very clear 5 top 5 finishes and you need to move up or else everybody will call you a sandbagger. Wahahahahha

[jontotman]

This will be fun! You, Poisonarrow, Bigboy and myself will be lining up together on the last race of H2H. Good for you man! Since you are joining us in Cat 2 maybe mtbnycstyle will make it to the podium in Cat 2 and our age group this year. ; )

[erwin455]

Wahahhaha lol Jon! First of all since I'm back to work, my saddle time is cut substantialy. So no more weekday ride for me, if there is it will be on my trainer. Second of I saw those lap times in cat 2 racers and it scares the hell out of me. Lol I'll just test myself there and well see how it goes.

[jontotman]

lol we can do a tag team, i will crash myself and block the fast cat and all 3 of you ran for the gold. lol

[D]

Hope jon last long enought to crash in front of fast cats not in front of us at the starting line -_-; Nice move erwin.

[erwin455]

Hey Danny, what I'm doing is like a marine dying in Vietnam with honor. LOL!

[grnamin]

Thank you for the valuable tips, Erwin. I've lost 26 lbs. so far with all the riding since I started in September of last year. I want to lose 26 more.

Jon, sali ako sa tag team. I can crash in the beginning to thin the pack.

[soundz]

Erwin, the thought of you as sandbagger has never crossed my mind. I think it partially has to do with my finishes. For example, at Blue, if you weren't there, I would have finished 10th instead of 11th. I guess at 909, I would have podium'ed if you were Cat 2, but I was still 2-3 minutes behind you guys, so I don't really feel like I deserved it. The more technical the courses become, I seem to be getting slower. Lewis Morris, I really felt was my race, but we all know what happened there.

Plus, you're not like blowing away the 2nd and 3rd place guy by 5 minutes. It looks like you are fighting it out with the leaders to the very the end. Plus, it's evident from your Wawayanda result that you worked very hard during the season to get where you are now, and you weren't blowing away people from race #1. For some reason, I don't have the same gains as you this summer even though I've been riding a lot. I had the most gain when I rode through last winter.

If there was ever a sandbagger in Cat 3, it was that guy who finished 1st in the first 4 races of the season. No one was beating that guy and when he moved up to Cat 2, he still podium'ed!

For myself, if I was neck and neck with you guys at the 909 race, I probably would have moved up, since I don't think I would had anything else to prove in Cat 3 and I wasn't contending for the overall. Then Blue confirmed that I should stay in Cat 3 until the end of this season. I will probably move up to Cat 2 next year, but I will have to pick just a few races to race because of my Sunday time constraints.

Having said that though, people have told me that moving up to Cat 2 will give you the most gains as a cyclist .. since you have to work that much harder, so you may want to consider that. There is something to be said about personal improvement as a cyclist, rather than looking at the results.

Don't you have a pretty good chance of getting the overall even if you move up now?

[erwin455]

Thank you Jimmy for your input! Good to know that you checked all my progress from the start of the season. All i can say is that i worked so hard for all of these during winter all the way to my summer break. All my wins i gave it all i had except for blue which i really didn't care anymore. I just raced that just to keep my overall standing, didn't really care about getting first there. The mission was to stay top five but of course i'll take first if given the chance. Honestly i have no idea about these rules until i read willy's rant about James Bautista sanbagging. Lol! And also Jon texted me and explained everything to me. Now i know the rules! It's very hard to stomach when you're lining up at the starting line and everybody is calling you a sandbagger. Lol! So i'll pass the throne to you and good luck at JH and RW. Go kick some butts!

About my overall standings, i really have no idea if i'll miss the last two races if i'll be able to keep my no. 1 overall.

[jusluv2bike]

so much drama!!! i would have stayed on cat3 also to keep the over all position!!! you trained hard all year and give 100% in each race!!! so i don't think anyone will see you as a sand bagger!!!

[erwin455]

Lol! I hope everyone thinks like you Rob.

[BB_NY]

Sandbagger oops I said it again lol

[soundz]

Erwin, the updated H2H results are out:

h2hrace.com/results10/category3.html

If you do 10 hrs Paydirt, you still have a chance of keeping your #1 w/o racing Cat 3 at RW. It depends on if the other guys do Paydirt and how they finish at RW.

[erwin455]

Thanks Jimmy, do they add all your points from the 8 races for the overall standings? I don't have time to do the 10 hrs paydirt. I'll just accept what I'll get from the races I've done.