UmneyDurak

Looks like USAC has changes it's upgrade points so now critiriums and Road Races get same points.
https://www.usacycling.org/about-us/...i#roadupgrades

Seems like a step in the wrong direction.

ntnyln

In the big picture I see it as an unfortunately necessary step to address the log jam and increased dropout rate due to the frustration of a lack of progression that is caused by fewer races on the calendar with ever smaller field sizes making it harder to accumulate points unless you go on a huge winning streak.

topflightpro

I think it's probably a step in the right direction. They've simplified the system, and the changes seem to reflect the new reality that there are not as many races as there were 10 years ago, and race participation is declining - on the road at least. Sure, some parts of the country are still going strong, but overall, things are not trending upward.

The people who participate in this thread are generally the exceptions.

burnthesheep

I agree with topflightpro.

Also, a lot of folks around here race a lot of crits. But, I'm not sure those same people are travelling a lot to go to a lot of road races out of town. Just not sure. I don't. I plan to do as much Herbalife crit as I can this year, but probably only one or two road races (TT doesn't count).

We had a team meeting last night, and something I heard surprised me when I heard it. I didn't know if it was true or not. If you show up to a race without your license, all you can do is sign up for a one-day license at the bottom of the barrel (4/5). That doesn't sound right to me for some reason. When I show up I've never even hardly had to show a license or ID of any kind for any race I've done. I think once at a fondo they asked if I had it so they could "activate" some free included insurance on you if you happened to be a USAC member.

UmneyDurak

Are you sure you are racing USAC races and not local training crits? At least here they always look for USAC ones. Also yes, at least for 5 you were able to get a day license to race. I think the idea was to encourage people to try.
I guess here there are still tons of races, although participation is declining. I do wonder how this will effect road races. If more points for RRs was an incentive for people to drive longer distances and do harder races.

I think for me although I *****ed sometime how hard it was to get the points in crits, in retrospect it was part of the appeal. Getting from 3 to 2 is suppose to be hard, and was probably close to the right points distribution. It's like when they made points to never expire for a year or two vs expire in 12 months. They went from one extreme to the other, but then changed to 36 month. Which I think is a nice middle.

Hermes

I have had to show a racing license at all the USAC road and track races in which I participated and I have volunteered for registration and if someone showed up that was licensed but did not have the license with him/her, we got online and checked the USAC website using the racers name on the other form of ID. So no one did not get to race due to lack of a license with them.

As a side note, I use the USAC phone app and have my license available electronically. Of course, one could forget ones phone.

topflightpro

A lot of our races have spotty cell service, so sometimes it's not possible to pull up your license on the app. I think they recommend screenshotting it for that reason. But if one forgets, which is possible as we just started a new year...

EDIT: And I just went to screenshot mine, and the App shows me as Pending even though USAC autobilled my credit card in December.

merlinridesagai

I had the same and had to go to the USAC web site to sign some waivers, after that Pending disapeared.

UmneyDurak

I can bring up USAC app and license info even when my phone is in Airplane mode. So don't think cell reception is required for it.

topflightpro

Thanks. I just went online to do that.

Doge

I tend to think it is the right move. USA racing is about crits. Road Races are Euro/Pro things and those that really are into it should move to where it matters. There are so few Road Races, due to burdens on promoters, and the length/time they are more a "that's nice" kind of thing these days. "Real" road racing is hard to find in the USA. IT think they are done more for the love of the sport than points.

Wylde06

The new point structure means that I now have 5 points in stead of 1

(that will "expire" this spring)

UmneyDurak

Got confirmation from USAC now in mix field entire field counts for upgrade to highest category.
So in 3/4 for 3-->2 4s are counted too. Before it was only 3s.

jtwilson

Suddenly I dont hate racing 3/4 anymore... and I just got a boatload of points from previous races. Cat 2 here I come...

TheKillerPenguin

Do we know if stage race points stay the same or do they also follow the new points schedule?

ntnyln

GC follows the same table as the individual stages. TT stages/races still don't earn points.

TheKillerPenguin

[fart noises intensify]

Ttoc6

Well I suppose I need to go redo my spreadsheet.

ntnyln

BOOM! Went from being a few points short to being 20 pts over.

The following request to change your USA/Road category has been approved and processed by USA Cycling:
ntnyln - 2020-02-03 8:59
License: USA Road
Request to change category from Cat 3 to Cat 2

Spesh

That whole "Get out of the 5's whenever you please" thing scares me a little bit.

caloso

I was wondering about that. My son is 16 and has been doing juniors races since he was 11. Last year I started letting him do Cat 5 and 4/5 races, and he’s done fine so I was looking to see if juniors races count towards the 10 races to upgrade to 4. Now that’s not even a requirement anymore?

Spesh

That's how I'm reading it, yeah.

aaronmcd

Just checked, I would have had 20 points toward cat 1 instead of 3 (from 2017, the last year I wasn't burned out and racing like crap). It's a HUGE change.

caloso

I remember. You were killing it.

hack

With the change, I've accumulated like a dozen new points. Still have a 10 point cap on masters points for a 2 to a 1.