Those Pesky License Cats
So I was re-reading the USCF post on license categories, and I started to think: What are promoters doing to handle this? So I went to look at all the reg. notes for various races (Surf City, Pilarcitos, US GP etc) and found this:
- Most races are still organized as "A", "B" and "C" events. Even the US Grand Prix maintains this format.
- If license categories are acknowledged at all, it's in the fine print and the cat. assignments are fairly loose (for example the Gloucester USGP lists A masters as cat 1-3; juniors are cat 1-4)
- You still need one of those UCI stinkin' badges to race the elite event at US GP.
So, what's different from last year except for the extra printing on your license card??
- Most races are still organized as "A", "B" and "C" events. Even the US Grand Prix maintains this format.
- If license categories are acknowledged at all, it's in the fine print and the cat. assignments are fairly loose (for example the Gloucester USGP lists A masters as cat 1-3; juniors are cat 1-4)
- You still need one of those UCI stinkin' badges to race the elite event at US GP.
So, what's different from last year except for the extra printing on your license card??
posted by Dave Carr at 6:53 PM
20 Comments:
I heard the ETC. series, I mean Sac, CCCX, East Bay, will also have self ranking category A B C, for racer abilty, so your right nothing will change except that USA cycling is watching you!
quit your questioning. the nazis in so cal not only are following the CAT but they have all but eliminated the opportunity to pre-ride the course before your event. XCross had an informal / fun yet competitive atmosphere - with had being the operative word - hope it doesn't change for you northerners.
what is XCross?
i do mtn bike racing as a beg. and my road rank is cat 2 but in cross i am be single speed!
and i have fun in cross on my mtn bike!
but on the road i usually place in the 1-2 races on my road bike!
Oh, I think I speak for So Cal cross when I ask to please not be called a Nazi....thats just wrong...and So Cal or any other district that applies cats. is just following the rules....everyone who paid attention when the cats. thing went down knew this would be a transitional year so yea, theres some looseness and interpretation on the issue. As for course pre-riding, everyone knows you ride where the officals can't see you and avoid the start finish line
Ames
the USCF can not count or spell the alphabet..........
so how can the stick with 123 and ABC ??
Or do like Colorado does and have 4, 3, and OPEN divisions.
or just don't worry about it too much....seriously, what difference (other than the aforementioned UCI Elite hassel) does it make...
Oh yea...whoever the "anonymous" guy racing Beginner MTB and Cat 2 Road - Dude..quit sandbaggin! Ok, now quit worrying..it's a joke!
I concur with the last comment - don't worry about it. I challenge you to find anything different or negative in this year's events, and even next year's events as we migrate to the new category system. The UCI issue is especially moot in CA this season and chances are, if you're serious enough to road trip to the NW, UT, CO, or MA, you're serious enough to plunk down the extra $ for the international license.
all your results in the past are out the window maile.
the only results we will use to determine your category are your single speed results when raced against other single speed racers.
only if you take a drug test to determine if your even legal to race.
So, does this mean next year, cross races will last all day like crits in road because we will have to have every category in the book. The cat 5's will start at 7AM?
Maybe we should go back to the year USCF tried to adopt Norba style designations for the road - novice, beginner, sport, expert, elite, ha ha.
John Elgart once came up with a great list of alternate road cats based on animals. Cat 4 is "squirrel", cat 3 is I forget, cat 2 is baboon ("watch my butt as I ride away") etc. Pro is still Pro.
So for cyclocross what would it be? How about:
4 - Tripping
3 - Panting
2 - Chasing
1 - Winning
--dc
what are you his wife??? look at the post...it was a total joke! you need to take a chill pill and lighten up! that was a joke because i of course know rich is fast so that is a joke you stupid!
lighten up and grip your handle bars a little softer!
when i win race, people joke, oh you better get drug tested!
so i laugh! i dont freak out!
why you act so up tight?? somebody hiding something out there???????
Steve
Yeater, your the real turd for taking that post seriously! it was obvious to me that the person was joking around with maile! this is babbble here......... so you need to take it all as babble! not the bible!
p.s. ill see you massaging Rich's legs before the next race!
How did this thread get on to dope? So up tight!
To quote the message that used to be painted on Foothill Expressway in Palo Alto:
RELAX THE BELLY
I think the big question is going to be about up-grading and down-grading.
what will be the protocol for up-grades??
will it be like road where you aquire points,or will it be like mtn bike where you gain top 5 placings to move up??
Carr do you have any input on this subject of how one will up-grade?
For people who want to know what the Cross upgrade guidelines are go to http://www.usacycling.org/forms/USAC_rulebook.pdf to get the USAC rule book pdf and then look on page 8 for Min field sizes and race lengths for each category.
I don't see USCF going through another mass Cross category reassignment next year. This is the transition year. This year I've been pretty easy on people asking for an upgrade. Next year upgrades will be more by the book. Since there is a Min race length in order for races to qualify for upgrade points the category you ride in A, B, or C may be determined in part on if your race meets the min length requirement for the upgrade you want.
for example to go from Cat 2 to Cat 1 for men the Min race length is 60 minutes so this means you will have to ride in the open A race since the master A races tend not to be an hour long. From 4 to 3 men the Min race length is just 30 minutes so a C race would meet the requirement.
Casey
Casey,
How do you forsee points assigment will be handled in races that include multiple cats?
Would a cat 4 junior have to beat all the 3s, 2s, and 1s in their race in order to earn an upgrade?
One thing we've tried to do this year in SoCal to "bridge the gap" between A,B,C and 1,2,3 is make the Elite men a 1,2,3 race the "B" men a 3,4 race and the "C" men a 4 only race.
Essentially, if you're a strong 3 you'll get points and upgrade to a 2. If you're a weaker 3 you'll end up in the right place (3/4). If you're a sandbagger who has been racing "C" you're stuck in a non-point-getting "beginner only" 4 race unless you decide to race 3/4 which is where you should be.
We don't have quite the number of riders in SoCal so this year we're running "cup" categories for:
1/2/3 Men
3/4 Men
35+ Men
45+ Men
55+ Men
1/2/3 Women
3/4 Women
35+ Women
Singlespeed
So far the only real change I've seen is that last year the B field was moderately sized while the C field was huge. This year the 4 field is smaller while the 3/4 field is the largest field.
Otherwise it's pretty similar.
If it is an open junior race then the Cat 4 junior would have to beat higher Cat juniors to earn upgrade points since upgrade points would only go to the top 6 places overall.. This is just how things work on the road. If the junior 4s are placed separately from the 1/2/3 juniors, and there are enough junior 4s to meet the Min field size then the Cat 4 junior would earn upgrade points based on placing against the other Cat 4 juniors.
Post a Comment
<< Home