Originally Posted by Ttoc6

Little bit of rambling below, but too tired to edit it into cohesion.Main point is I just want the sport to remain pure at the low level. High level competitive is a different beast. Grassroots is going to cause the sport to grow and cross (where I've raced) exemplifies that.

Going back to the discussion about cross getting people out. By imposing all the crazy rules on the lower level fields it just makes people not want to come out and race. The beauty of Cross in my eyes is you can have the whole family out there. Mom/Dad who is a competitive racer. The other jumps in beginners category or something low. The kids get to hang out with other friends at the park and then ride their bikes around.

Take a look at some of the writing Steve Tilford (RIP) wrote about cross rules regarding the 80% of the race time. And I think he wrote about (but can't find now) nationals a few years back in Texas and how USAC just completely screwed over the junior fields that were left to race. If my memory serves me correct they combined M/W 13-14 and pulled all the women as soon as they were about to get lapped. Leaving 1 girl to take the championship because she lasted just a little bit longer.

Ever since watching USAC try to put on cross races, the local non-sanctioned stuff is much more enjoyable. People that you never see on bikes come out and enjoy the sport. Drink beer on a Saturday or Sunday in a park and have a grand time in the mud. As soon as people have to shell out 40$ to race BEFORE a usac liscense, they don't show up anymore.

I watched a 2 days UCI series race a couple years back. I did the USAC cat 4 division which had a field size of about 10, normally the cat 4 field on a non-sanctioned weekend was pulling 50+. The UCI race was extremly well put on for the pros. High level officials, proper call ups, good course marking. The USAC race felt expensive for what I was getting and a side thought. The sanctioning provides nothing over a race promoter making it their own.