You may elect to downgrade. However, if you do you have to earn your
upgrades to get back up.

"A rider who wishes to downgrade may request a downgrade. Such
requests will be evaluated individually. In no case will a rider be
allowed to downgrade to category 5."

Thus, men can only downgrade to Cat 4. Women can downgrade to Cat 4.

Cat 1's must maintain their Cat 1 status year to year.

Anything below you can return to the category you last raced in.

T. Kenji Sugahara
Executive Director
Oregon Bicycle Racing Association
503-302-4935

On Apr 30, 2008, at 5:48 PM, Vicki Schroeder wrote:

>
> OK so this whole sandbagging debate has raised a question: Someone
> raced
> for several years (say at Cat 3 level) but has not raced in a few
> years - what category should they begin racing in?
>
> As far as I have understood it they must start over again at Cat 5
> (Cat
> 4 for women, bottom Cat for Masters) in which case an experienced
> racer
> is bound to be accused of sandbagging. Is this the case? Or can you
> elect to start in a higher Cat? If so what evidence would you need to
> prove your case?
>
> What is the protocol here?
> Vicki
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