[NMCycling] USAC upgrade question for cross

Mon Oct 3 04:24:22 MDT 2016

To race Masters at  cross nationals:  Up to racing age 54, you need to be at
least a cat 3 not 4.  Age 55 and above cat 4s can race cx nationals and I
think even cat 5. 

 The other way to upgrade, if you are a mtb racer, is to upgrade mtb to a
cat 1 and then that can convert your cx cat to a 3.  There is significant
sandbagging in the cat 4 group overall so there are some fast cat 4s as
well.  The problem in NM is that most of our fields are not large enough  to
force mandatory upgrades. I feel our State USAC organization should make
some strong suggestions to cat 4  racers who consistently finish in the top
3 to upgrade.

For cross series this year we will have a special "sandbag" award for
racer(s) who by  performance appear they are racing significantly above
others in the cat 4 group.

j

POINTS AWARDED FOR CYCLO-CROSS RACES

Number of Starters

Placing

5-10

11-20

21-50

50+

1

3

4

5

7

2

2

3

4

5

3

1

2

3

4

4

1

2

3

5

1

2

6

1

Cat 4 to 3: Voluntary upgrade with 10 points. Fifteen points or two wins if
the field had at least 30 competitors is a mandatory upgrade.*

CX CATEGORY BASED ON ROAD OR MTB CROSS-COUNTRY CATEGORY

ROAD CATEGORY

MTB XC CATEGORY

CX CATEGORY

Pro/1

Pro

1

2

1

3

3

2

4

4

3 (women only)

5

5

3 (men only)

5

From: Bike-racers [mailto:bike-racers-bounces at mailman.swcp.com] On Behalf Of
Bob Perls via Bike-racers
Sent: Sunday, October 02, 2016 9:55 PM
To: M. John Jordan
Cc: Bike-racers at mailman.swcp.com
Subject: Re: [NMCycling] USAC upgrade question for cross

John,

That is a great description and very helpful.  I guess the other question
is:  I am racing masters so why do I care about upgrading from cat. 4 to 3?
I wanted to move from 5 to 4 because officially I was not supposed to be in
the Masters racers as a Cat. 5.  When will it ever make a difference?  My
understanding is if I want to race Masters even at Nationals, I can do that
without upgrading.  Is that true?  Thanks.

Bob Perls

http://www.nmopenprimaries.org

 <https://www.facebook.com/NewMexicoOpenPrimaries>
https://www.facebook.com/NewMexicoOpenPrimaries

On Oct 2, 2016, at 9:06 PM, M. John Jordan via Bike-racers
<bike-racers at mailman.swcp.com> wrote:

Chris,

  First, please check what I am about to say for yourself in the 2016 USAC
Rule Book (online at
USACycling.org,http://www.usacycling.org/usa-cycling-rule-book.htm ),
specifically the subsections in main section 1E. Rider Upgrading and
Downgrading.

  If you desire to upgrade from a Cat 4 to a Cat 3, you must race with
others of similar category (Cat 4 in this case) or higher (Cat 3/2/1) in
sufficient numbers to qualify the event for upgrade purposes, but you must
also race and place sufficiently high with these similar category racers so
that you earn points towards a requested (by you) upgrade based on these
very same results.  So, if you continue to race Master's, it is more of an
age-based grouping rather than a specific capability-based,
category-specific grouping.  What this means is that when you race in
Master's class, you may be racing with Cat 4, Cat 3, Cat 2, and sometimes
even Cat 1 racers who prefer the camaraderie of "more experienced" racers to
the pure contests within a Cat 4, Cat 3, or Cat 1/2 race event.  So, in
order to gain points in the Master's races, you would be racing head to head
with some rather capable racers.  This is possible, but you will need to
bring your A game.  We have some pretty heavy hitters in the local Master's
races!  We even get some heavy hitting racers from out of state sometimes
and then things really can heat up.  So, if you want to compete in the
Master's while you seek to place highly enough to earn upgrade points, and
given that you are a Cat 4 and since there are no racers lower than a Cat 4
in Master's, then you are up against some pretty long odds to get enough
finish points to upgrade, especially since you have a time limit window
(last 36 months from time of upgrade request) to earn and accumulate
sufficient upgrade points.  

  What you should contemplate is racing in the Cat 4's, so that you have a
better chance of achieving high enough results to earn points relatively
quickly so that you can move up to a Cat 3 as soon as possible.  If you are
racing with the intent of gaining a higher Category, whether in CX, or Road,
Track, or MTB, then the common wisdom is that you're not getting any
younger, and racing against a more capability-based level-playing field like
the Cat 4's would give you a better chance of placing highly than going up
against a wide variety of levels in the Master's.  The challenge will be
that there is a wide variety of ages in the Cat 4's.  You might be out there
with racers from as young as 16 to as old as mid-50's or older.  

  So, you do have decision to make if you want to upgrade.  The best
strategy would be to really understand the USAC upgrade rules and work them
as best you can to your advantage (same applies to anyone wanting to
upgrade!) while enjoying your racing!

Cheers,

John Jordan, USAC Official

M. John Jordan (mjohnjordan at yahoo.com)

On Saturday, October 1, 2016 9:44 PM, Chris Sheehan via Bike-racers
<bike-racers at mailman.swcp.com> wrote:

I started racing CX last year and raced both Masters and Cat 4/5 most races.
Upgraded from 5 to 4. Wondering if I can earn points towards upgrading to 3
if I only race Masters.

Thanks! 

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