Our club has been growing and we might be seeing a couple of our cat 3 men upgrade soon. Trying to figgure out what needs/expectations racers have of their team. I'd like us not to lose these racers (until they are ready for the next level). Can anyone enlighten me as to what is 'standard' for cat 2 racers?

Free bikes or wheelsets?

700 Squarefoot condo, free roadbike and TT bike, personal mechanic, a maid, and a team car.

Depends on the team, and depends on the riders.....Nothing is standard.
For example, our elite team gets bikes, wheels, kits, race entry, travel expenses (cheapest way.....4 guys in a car)
Other teams get less.
If a team produces, they get more.......if they don't, they get less.

basically, what's the competition offering?

basically, what's the competition offering?

thats what i'm trying to find out.

hoping to get it figgured out how we want to deal with it before we're in that boat. Hey, i'm optimistic for a few of our recent recruits!

Our team may decide thats not a bridge we want to cross and just make some phone calls to better 1/2 teams to help place the riders.

Gota find out what direction our sponsors (most of which are teamates) want to see us go. Status quo or grow...

I'm thinking a good goal would be to get a good group of cat 2 racers, get some results and hopefully put some riders on some top teams around the nation. A nice stepping stone if you will...

I know the best thing to do for them is providing teamates to work with, second, coaching, third might be on the equipment side.

Our club has been growing and we might be seeing a couple of our cat 3 men upgrade soon. Trying to figgure out what needs/expectations racers have of their team. I'd like us not to lose these racers (until they are ready for the next level). Can anyone enlighten me as to what is 'standard' for cat 2 racers?

My collegiate teammate also is cat 2 on a local amateur elite team. He gets a free sponsor's bike, race entry fees, and often transportation to races and a share of any winnings. However, he is also expected to work hard for the team's designated leader in the race, which is usually not him.

Our club has been growing and we might be seeing a couple of our cat 3 men upgrade soon. Trying to figgure out what needs/expectations racers have of their team. I'd like us not to lose these racers (until they are ready for the next level). Can anyone enlighten me as to what is 'standard' for cat 2 racers?

For most cat 2 small teams, generally, the deal is about the same. Unless you have a good contact with a bike shop, and or bike companies themselves, you might be able to get some frames for the guys, or something like that. For instance, a couple of years ago, racing cat. 2 for a local team, we had a team of 9 cat. 1s and 2s. The shop we were associated with had a good relationship with Giant, and the shop owner was able to get 9 frames from them for us to use. They weren't ours to keep, just to use, and if we left the team later, or whenever, the frames would go back to the club. We also got 2 full kits (bibs, jerseys, socks), and a helmet. Bear in mind, this took a lot of wheeling and dealing on behalf of our shop owner and he started working on this at the end of the previous season (October time frame), so that by the time the new season started, late February/March, we had the frame and the clothing and such. But it's something you need to work on. Something you need to foster and talk to lots of people. Most of the time, you can't just say, "Hey we have some cat. 2s, give us some stuff" Doesn't generally work. I think my team got a really good deal, but generally, that's pretty excessive I've found at least in my general area. We had to provide our own groups, shoes, and any other additional clothing, glasses, wheels, and what not. I think if you were able to get complete bikes, and wheels, damn, that would be pretty freakin' good, but don't count on it. We also had to do a lot of promotional stuff for the shop, hang around during big sale weekends, lead the rides leaving from the shop if we weren't racing on the weekends, and so on and so forth, in addition to doing volunteer work at the races our team/club were putting on throughout the year. Definitely not a free train.

ML has got it right. What he says is even more true if you've just got a few cat 2s and no 1's. I've never had a free bike or even frame just handed to me. I've gotten a team bike (that belongs to the team) and "pro" deal frames (it's mine, because I pay for it).

On a related note, I'm not sure you want to be in the business of attracting and retaining riders based upon perks such as gear etc. The guys on the team should be there because they like the guys they ride with and like the club. They see anything they get as gravy and perhaps even a blessing. Those are the guys you build a team around. There are a number of guys in every district that are perk chasers. They tend to jump around a lot.

We're all amateurs. There are relatively few out there that will make the jump even to a Continental squad. Additionally, there aren't too many squads out there handing out contracts to 25+ year old prospective neo pros.

Our club has been growing and we might be seeing a couple of our cat 3 men upgrade soon. Trying to figgure out what needs/expectations racers have of their team. I'd like us not to lose these racers (until they are ready for the next level). Can anyone enlighten me as to what is 'standard' for cat 2 racers?

I know some Cat 1 and Cat 2 racers on teams in your area. Since one of their sponsors is a frame builder, they get free frames. The same applies with helmets and eye wear. They get free kits (not sure about vests and wind jackets). They also get groupos at cost, along with serious discounts on a certain wheel brand (not sure about the rest of the components). I think that the elites got free bike fits (the $160 version) as well. Not sure about race entries. They are also get free wrenching and builds from the shop, but even some lowly Cat 4's like me get that.

ML has got it right. What he says is even more true if you've just got a few cat 2s and no 1's. I've never had a free bike or even frame just handed to me. I've gotten a team bike (that belongs to the team) and "pro" deal frames (it's mine, because I pay for it).

On a related note, I'm not sure you want to be in the business of attracting and retaining riders based upon perks such as gear etc. The guys on the team should be there because they like the guys they ride with and like the club. They see anything they get as gravy and perhaps even a blessing. Those are the guys you build a team around. There are a number of guys in every district that are perk chasers. They tend to jump around a lot.

We're all amateurs. There are relatively few out there that will make the jump even to a Continental squad. Additionally, there aren't too many squads out there handing out contracts to 25+ year old prospective neo pros.
My club is rather adamant about this (ride with us if you like; if not, don't -- but, either way, we offer only blood, toil, sweat and tears, not freebies). members with more experience than I insist that it's the only way to keep together a bunch of amateurs with jobs and families, etc. Every perk is available to every club member -- frame deals, discounts, etc.
I have to say, we had a few Cat 2's leave citing race fees, which we don't pay for anyone. For a twenty-something trying to make a go of it and spending more time on his bike than his job, and his job ain't much to begin with, I suppose that's something, but for a guy who makes a good living I thought it was rather a weak reason. Eh. People do what they want to do. I'm still friends with all of them.

I agree with making the team a good place to be as the selling point instead of freebies. You want guys that want to be in the club and ride for the team and not guys who want to race at an advanced level and get free stuff. Get a coach, work with the riders to progress as much as possible and attain their physical best. I think the promise of support towards progressing is more of a benefit than just having a few fast guys with free bikes.

I was recruited to race on a team when I was a junior and the team was trying to build a strong junior squad to race regionally. I got 2 free kits, pro-deals on bikes, and my entry fees were comp'd. But the junior thing never really took off for the team and while the older guys were awesome and supportive, it wasn't really the place for developement and progression.