gtrob

Its a pretty big ask. I dont know what the numbers are but the US must see 10,000+ new racers a year? Thats a lot of clinics, and you have to run them all year. Of course it can be done, of course you can find X amount of people who want it, but its a massive cost and you clearly have people (like myself) who are skeptical how effective it can be. Its not like there are a list of rules people need to hear and suddenly become safer riders.

VanceMac

Nirvana Fallacy. Just because a proposal does not completely and perfectly solve a problem, does not mean it should be dismissed out of hand. No one is saying this is a perfect system. But something is better than nothing, and this seems pretty reasonable to me. I personally think there are two significant issues with lower level racing, and neither has anything whatsoever to do with barriers to the sport (why is everyone worried about barriers when we have ENORMOUS cat 4/5 fields?). First, an almost complete lack of formal education/instruction/guidance. And second, an almost complete lack of accountability for "mistakes" (both intentional and unintentional). I believe the proposal above at least pays lip service to the first. And I think some regions would make it extremely effective. And I'm sure in some regions it would become a rubber stamp... which is exactly what the 10 cat5 race requirement is now.

gtrob

A better approach would be to implement it on a small scale and show USAC the benefits. Like I said, how much do you think it would cost to implement this year-round, country wide? Prove it on a scale (not just mentoring a single club) year round for a large area that it is effective and affordable.

Or get an internet petition, those things are a lot of work too.



I used to race cars and have been to plenty of mandatory schools. Regional road racing here requires a 2 day class every year for everyone, not just new racers. But racing cars is nothing like racing bikes, not even close.

gtrob

to be clear, Im not against the idea, and I don't think it would keep anyone from racing (assuming this class was available enough). I just think if people are serious about wanting it it will take more than an internet petition to get USAC to invest it in. Im sure the idea has been brought to them many times before.