1. Mario, this upgrade wouldn't cost you anything.
2. goto
www.usac.org to see what the governing body looks like.
For road:
Cat 5: You learn how to not crash a bicycle in a group. You learn the very basics involved with racing.
Cat 4: You have an understanding of how not to crash your bike. You're learning basic racing tactics and gaining fitness.
Cat 3: You have a good fitness level, and a good understanding of tactics. You need to build experience in utilizing both of these together. This is about racing smarter, not harder.
Cat 2: This is your first wake up call. You either accept the fact that you're an amateur cyclist, and get fast enough and smart enough to hang in a 2 peloton, or you make a decision to look at the pro level. If you decide that you want to "go pro" Cat 2 is essentially the cat 5 of pro cycling.
Cat 1: You're committed wholly to the sport. You're traveling nationally to compete trying to build a RESUME of experience. This will be used to get a pro license. Cat 1 is the cat 4 of Pro cycling.
Pro: You go pro. You race nationally with your team. You are ranked. You're a working cyclist. You get categorized as a "type" (domestique, sprinter, tt, all rounder, GC, etc.) regardless of what you were before. You are contracted. You're racing for (essentially)...
A Continental Pro B (or C) team. You're basically an alternate to their alternate team. You need to work your way up their ranks.
Continental Pro A team. You're competing nationally at the highest (non international level) you are attempting to earn a spot on a professional UCI B (or C) team.
You get "called up" to race with a Professional UCI B team. You're building a resume on the international circuits. You're vying for a shot to race in one of the B tours (tour down under, tour of california, tour suisse, etc.)
Now you get selected to race one of the B tours. You need to impress by winning it or placing VERY high. You do this and move to a UCI B tour A team. You will be racing in classic races. Tour of Flanders, Paris Roubaix, Milan San Remo, Leige Bastogne Leige, etc. You need to win or place VERY high.
Now you move onto the A tours or "Grand Tours". Giro D'Italia, Vuelta D Espana, Tour De France.
You win all 3 and go down as one of the greatest cyclists to ever live. Eddy Merckx, Alberto Contador. Or you win 2: Fausto Coppi.
Notice neither Mario nor Lance Armstrong grace this list. There are many other great cyclists. My point is that Lance does great things, but as cycling goes... he's not all that decorated.