USA Cycling recently posted the following announcement on www.usacycling.org:
Colorado Springs, Colo. (September 12, 2008)—USA Cycling announced today the development and implementation of a new mountain bike category system set to take effect for the 2009 season. The modification to the existing structure comes after significant analysis and dialogue by the national governing body and the National Off-Road Bicycle Association (NORBA) Board of Trustees.
In pursuit of its mission to provide a high-quality racing experience for members across all ages, skill levels and genders, USA Cycling will apply these new categories beginning December 1, 2008 in order to strengthen professional fields and add depth to amateur categories at the grass roots level.
The new categories, which closely resemble those used in other disciplines of competitive cycling, have been created to offer USA Cycling mountain bike members a more competitive racing environment. The previous license categories will be replaced with a new system which include Category 1, 2, 3 and Pro designations.
The previous structure, which consisted of five categories – Beginner, Sport, Expert, Semi-Pro and Pro – has been condensed to include four categories. Like the categories they’re replacing, Categories 1, 2 and 3 will also feature age groups classes.
“This change has been discussed, studied and considered in some form for the last two years,” explained Lisa Nye-Salladin, President of the NORBA Board of Trustees and mountain bike race promoter for the Texas Mountain Bike Racing Association. “Ultimately, the NORBA Board of Trustees spearheaded this evolution in order to make racing more competitive and create a clear distinction between amateur and professional athletes. The names of the categories were also revised to better reflect the new levels of racing. The terms ‘Beginner’, ‘Sport’ and ‘Expert’ carry little relevance outside of the mountain bike community, which makes it difficult for sponsors and the public to relate. The simplicity of using numbered categories brings with it a universal understanding.”
One of the most synonymous names with the sport of mountain biking and Industry representative on the NORBA Board of Trustees, Gary Fisher, was also a major proponent of the change. He references the need for a more competitive environment domestically in order to improve the United States’ level of success in the pro ranks globally.
“We want bigger pro fields in the National Calendar events so our racers can better prepare for international competition like World Cups and World Championships,” said Fisher. “Our pro fields are tiny compared to our European counterparts. We have the numbers in terms of ridership, but we’ve been referring to them as Semi-Pros.”
Olympian and four-time USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Cross Country Champion Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, who also sits on the USA Cycling Board of Directors as the NORBA athlete representative, also sees the change as a positive step forward in the evolution of off-road racing in the U.S.
“Throughout the last several years, we’ve been discussing ways to improve the quality of races in the U.S. and increase competition,” said Horgan-Kobelski. “This change will result in deeper pro fields, but will also produce an extremely competitive atmosphere among amateurs. The Category 1 designation itself becomes a more prestigious field with talent indicative of up-and-coming pros. The change also simplifies things for race organizers who can now offer fewer categories, while at the same time improving their event.”
Another benefit of the consolidation is that it presents a better opportunity for the development of professional athletes, according to Marc Gullickson, USA Cycling’s National Mountain Bike Development Director.
“The Semi-Pro category was originally created as a place for U23 athletes to compete before making the jump to the professional level,” explained Gullickson, “but now, the elimination of that category will help accelerate the progression of athletes who should theoretically be competing against stiffer competition on a more consistent basis. From a development standpoint, the Semi-Pro category became an unnecessary middle ground that made it difficult to assess talent.”
The change raises several topics that all USA Cycling mountain bike members should familiarize themselves with – most notably the conversion process. The switch will be simple and automatic. Members currently categorized as Experts will automatically become a Category 1; Sport members will automatically be converted to a Category 2; and Beginners will automatically become a Category 3.
Members currently categorized as Semi-Pro may choose either Category 1 or Pro designation for the 2009 racing season. When renewing their license, Semi-Pro members will be offered an automatic upgrade to Pro throughout the 2009 licensing period which runs from December 1, 2008 to November 30, 2009. To take advantage of this upgrade, Semi-Pro members must purchase an annual license during this time as this automatic upgrade will only be offered during the 2009 season. Therefore, if a current Semi-Pro member does not purchase a 2009 racing license, he will automatically default to Category 1 status beginning on December 1, 2009 for the 2010 racing season. At that point, regular upgrade procedures will apply.
The new categories will be converted on December 1, 2008, the first day of 2009 license sales. If members wish to upgrade or downgrade at that time, they may do so online through their My USA Cycling account.
In order to provide its members with a comprehensive overview of additional subjects affected by the new categorization system, USA Cycling has developed an online FAQ page. Here members can find additional information that pertains to qualification for the 2009 USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships, definitions of the new mountain bike categories, an outline of the conversion process and rules regarding the combination of categories at events.
Additionally, USA Cycling has developed a document that explains the Pro upgrade requirements and transition for Semi-Pro’s in Endurance, Gravity and Ultra-Endurance disciplines. That document can be viewed by clicking here.
For more information regarding the new categorization system, USA Cycling members should contact USA Cycling Mountain Bike Events and Program Director, Kelli Lusk at klusk@usacycling.org or 719-866-4668 or drop by the USA Cycling booth at Interbike, Sept. 24-26.
According to a statement posted on September 9th on his livestrong.org website, Lance Armstrong has decided to come out of retirement:
I am happy to announce that after talking with my children, my family and my closest friends, I have decided to return to professional cycling in order to raise awareness of the global cancer burden. This year alone, nearly eight million people will die of cancer worldwide. Millions more will suffer in isolation, victims not only of the disease but of social stigma. After the passage of Proposition 15 in Texas, a $3 billion investment in the fight against cancer which is helping to make this disease part of the national dialogue in America, it’s now time to address cancer on a global level.
The excitement is already building as Armstrong gets ready to take a shot at winning his 8th Tour de France. Armstrong will reveal the details of his revived cycling program and the international Livestrong strategy on September 24th in New York City at the Clinton Global Initiative.
Thanks to photographer Glenn Acker for sharing a ton of cool pictures from the 2008 edition of the Subaru 24-Hour Champion Challenge (a.k.a. the 24-hour race at 7 Springs, PA).
Glenn was positioned at the top of “the big climb” and his photos capture the effort (and joy) on the riders’ faces. For your viewing pleasure, we’ve posted his pictures in this Dirt Rag Gallery.
Click here to visit photographer Glenn Acker’s website. For for inquiries or prints, e-mail Glenn.
Since the last installment in this series I suffered a bit of a setback with a knee injury, Race Report 5. After Nationals I finally got in to see my orthopedic, the fabulous Doctor Palumbo. After explaining what’s been going on with it, he took a look at it and immediately noticed that one of my calf muscles’ had atrophied. By one centimeter, which is a lot when you’ve got skinny legs like mine. Then he jams a finger into the back of my knee, “does it hurt there?” Uh, yeah! So, he figures that I tore where one of my calf muscles attaches to the back of the knee, probably while trying to sprint to a finish on a singlespeed, so I guess the pedal boat is off the hook.
It seems to be healing well, just doing some physical therapy with the crew at Orthopedic Associates in Allentown, and no racing for now. Oddly, riding the singlespeed seems to be easier on it then any of my other bikes. So I’ve been taking the opportunity to just get out and do some fun, lower intensity rides. The ironic thing about racing is that it means I don’t usually get to enjoy riding the trails around my home, in Jim Thorpe PA, much in the summer, in the last 2 months I’ve really enjoyed getting back to them.
Since both my wife and I race, her at the international level, we don’t get a chance to take many non-racing vacations. She is still training full time, but I was free, so what the hell, vacation time! I kicked around a few ideas, road touring in Northern PA, motorcycle touring in the Adirondacks, Kingdom Trails. In the end I decided to do some of each of the outdoors stuff I like. I loaded up the biodiesel wagon with a road bike, mountain bike, flat water kayak, backpacking gear, camping gear, mosquito spray, a couple boxes of food and a cooler. The loose plan was to head up to the Adirondacks, from the southwest corner, and make my way roughly towards Kingdom Trails in Vermont. I had some NY MTB maps, a GPS, and no reservations.
I headed out early on a Saturday morning, kissing my wife and dogs goodbye, ok the dogs just got a pat on the head, and warning of a lack of cell phone coverage. If she didn’t hear from me I was more likely still alive then not. I drove up through Northern PA and into New York State via some secondary roads. A perfect summer day’s drive through beautiful, hilly, farm country, although it certainly would have been better on a motorcycle. By early afternoon I was in Old Forge NY inside the loose boundaries of the Adirondacks, which covers 6 Million acres, yes 6 million. I stopped in at Adirondack River Outfitters for some extra Primus fuel, maps and trail info. I had gotten some info on mountain bikes trails in Old Forge off of www.bikekinetix.com and wanted a local opinion. The owner hooked me up with a map and a disclaimer, yes it was about the worst map I ever saw, and it proved to be worse than useless on the trail, downright misleading. The one off of BikeKinetix was much better. Surprisingly for a park the size of the Adirondacks, there is almost zero legal singletrack, the Old Forge Trails are all snowmobile trails and gravel logging roads. Well, I was happy to just be somewhere new, so I headed down to the trailhead across from a tourist railroad and got ready for some BikePacking. BikePacking seems to be gaining momentum lately and I wanted to give it a try. The idea is to pack light so that it’s more like a regular ride then a fully loaded touring expedition. The extreme version is events like the Great Divide Race and the Colorado Trail Race, self supported epics. I was going for the 1-2 day version, mostly because on the East Coast it’s hard to string together more trail then that. I basically went with my ultra-light backpacking setup, just with a different pack. I strapped my solo tent with an inflatable sleeping pad wrapped around it to the handlebars, and put the rest of my gear in an old Camelback backpack. Clothes, sleeping bag, coffee and cook stuff, food, and water. I admit to slipping a beer in there too, I only wish I had some in cans.
The trail started with a steep uphill, and on the singlespeed with the added weight I was questioning my decision. After it leveled off a bit and I got used to the pack it was not so bad, I had done a trial run at home and knew it took a little getting used to. I ended up riding about 4 hours and while the terrain was not too exciting the scenery was great and there was not another person to be seen. Eventually I cut a sidewall of a tire while doing some trailbreaking and decided to make camp rather than fix it then; Stan’s sealant makes quite a mess. In the Adirondacks, like many other public lands, there is a pretty wide open regulation regarding backcountry camping. Pretty much as long as you are 150 feet from a trail or waterway you can camp there. It free, and if you aren’t into having a set schedule, like me, then it’s a really flexible way to travel. I found a small clearing between a trail and a stream and setup camp for the night, making a quick dinner, hanging my food bag away from bears, and getting to bed. In the morning I awoke to the sound of loon’s cries and made a nice cup of coffee and ate some granola. Then I fixed my flat and packed up camp, making sure to leave no trace of where I had slept. Once packed up I got riding through the still dewy trails and enjoyed a morning on my bike in the woods.
Over the next 9 days I ended up following this routine for 5 nights, 2 were spent kayaking, and one backpacking. All were backcountry camping, some in great old WPA/CCC lean-tos.
Old Forge, Santanoni, Stoney Pond, Upper Lake Saranac, Middle Lake Saranac, and Burke Mt./ Kingdom Trails. I really came to enjoy finishing my day with a ride into the woods and making camp for the night, then having a relaxing morning in camp before starting the day with another ride. Next time I’ll cover the Kingdom Trails part of my trip.
After one lap of the course, on which I consumed two beers and a shot, I decided to bail on the next two laps in favor of continuing the party. I decided to film some of the festivities, and have put it all together here in this video. Enjoy!
Bike racing for me has always been a sort of identity. From racing around the neighborhood to retiring my BMX career to my current love of mountain biking, racing has defined my life. I began writing this at three in the morning after racing slalom at the U.S. National MTB Championships @ Mount Snow, VT. I was in a mood…
After getting burned out on BMX, I turned to this new sport of mountain bike racing in 1988. I did my first NORBA National mountain bike race in 1989 at Vernon Valley, NJ (which is now, ironically, Mountain Creek) competing in both trials and downhill. On the same bike, as we all used to do it in the day. I started a bike company in 1991 in a garage/barn, started writing for Dirt Rag, started organizing a trials series, built NORBA National slalom courses and started this whole ride of my new identity within the sport. It became my life and my family, pursuing points, races, places and faces—it was the addiction, the reward, the chases. Gunfighter mentality, chasing titles, taking them down, building it up, life on the road, riding and racing with this traveling circus which was headlined the NORBA US National Championship Series, the most prestigious series in the world.
Nick Van Dine on a vintage EWR, racing to one of many podium’s @ Mount Snow, from back in the day
I had heroes, and I could face them down on the road all summer. I used to ride trials, and I competed heavily in that as a means of self support and fulfillment, as well as to generate more exposure for my bike company. We traveled the country and competed in the most killer locations, living the dream and experiencing life. I’ve competed with the best riders in the country and had been on that level for a few years, sweated, bled and reveled in the liberty of youth, optimism and the pursuit of clean lines. I’ve done ridiculous road trips, seen amazing things and met amazing people. I’ve been to dinner with Hans Rey and learned all about Noodleschlappen. I was there when Libor Karas came from Czechoslovakia and brought a whole new level of riding ability that we’d never seen, and he’d also brought tar. Yes, tar, the stuff on your roof that he put on his rims to make the brakes stick and we all got really squeaky. When racing Dual Slalom @ Nationals, there would be 70 plus people trying to qualify for the program, back in the days when there was no practice before qualifying. I’ve seen and raced with young upstarts Eric Carter, Brian Lopes, have been awed to line up against John Tomac and Guido Visser in the gate, been scowled at by Shaun Palmer trying to intimidate me at Seven Springs, watched Lars Tribus bend his forks backwards from shredding a berm so hard in Utah, and yelled at countless racers and friends as they tried their best to get into the finals. I screamed so hard for Lance Armstrong at his first mountain bike race back from cancer in 1988 in Park City that I lost my voice. I watched him drill the climbs and fumble the singletrack, but he was a contender and a huge animator in the race who’s pace forced points leader Rishi Grewal to drop out (and subsequently loose the national title). Last year I watched Greg “Fergie” Fergusen race the short track at Mount Snow in Mens 30+ Expert; a major race animator, he drilled and drilled the pack into the last few laps, laying his heart all out there making the best and most emotional race I’ve personally ever seen as I lost my voice. I’ve had tears of emotion well up as Mike Yozell was called up to the line before the start of the men’s Pro Cross Country race, also against a huge international field in the ’90s, also at Mount Snow, when he was racing full-time and chasing his dream. I’d also watched him crumple to the ground from fatigue and cramps with his hand defiantly thrust in the air as he crossed the line last year, winning the Expert Men’s Veteran XC National title. Racing is drama, passion, heart and a universe of other things, but most of all it is pure. You, one on one. Unless it’s, well, 4X.
True Grit—Mike Yozell, 8:00am XC @ the US National Champs, Mount Snow
Now I see these young kids, some that I’ve coached, racing up through the ranks chasing their dreams and defining what this racing business means to them. I’ve ridden with a three year old Nick Van Dine when he used to sit on a seat his father Galen had duct taped to the top tube of his old Crotch Rocket holding onto the bars at the stem and resting little feet on little pegs on the forks. I’ve criss-crossed the country during the ’90s with Chris Van Dine when he was an upstart junior racing XC, SL, and doing trials in the Nationals. Now I watch them racing pro DH, win national titles, or watch then in the latest biking videos. I’ve helped coach tons of kids like Trevin Newpher, who now kick my ass in slalom.
I’ve been all around this sport as it has been all around me. If it is my life-blood, then Mount Snow is my fountain of youth. This year was its second and last as the USA Cycling National Championships, and I’ve been coming here since 1991 for Nationals and World Cups. This place has meaning to me. I’d trained hard for the last few weeks, did my program and thought I’d be a contender. I felt good in practice and qualified for the finals and the privilege of racing in the Saturday evening showcase. I thought I had the speed, but man, all these new kids have the talent. For me, raw horsepower I was never lacking—it is the more technical aspects that I could have been better at, like flinging myself into hub deep ruts at 25 mph in the 180° corners and not touching the brakes. I could not do it, be it age or ability, as the younger kids could. There, in front of all of my friends, I was racing my heart out, going through all those emotions and the elation of being in my element. There it is head to head, advance or be eliminated, do or die gunfighter-mentality racing. I had a disadvantage going into my second round, so it meant that I had to pin it in the last heat. I did, again getting the holeshot and leading the first straight. I lost ground and tried the last ditch slingshot going into the next to last berm, and blew up the soft corner, going down in flames. I’ve lived many lives within the 25 seconds that it takes to complete a slalom heat, and being eliminated brings reality crashing back… End of title chase.
Van Dine Clan—the legends of Jim Thorpe
Why do we do it? Why does anyone do it? I’ve been around for mountain bike racing’s heyday of the ’90s, and seen it dwindle to low numbers, as there are other things to do and racing is not on everyone’s radar so much anymore. I’ve happily seen the resurgence this year, which warms my heart as the numbers have shown a much needed upswing. This is our National Series, National Championships, and, well, this is our sport—mountain bike racing started here in the US of A! During the amateur qualifying at Mount Snow I watched young gun and U.S. hopeful JD Swangen stand around all night cheering friends and waving an American flag. That means something. I’ve coached, ridden with and screamed for youngsters Max and Ray Syron as they come up through the ranks this season. Will they be the next JD Swangen, or Gary Fisher?
Why do I still do it, after all these years? Perhaps “Fergie” summed it up best for me with his “Boobie Theory”. When he was young, he decided he liked, well, boobs! He then wondered what it was that he liked about them. He then questioned why he was wondering why he liked them and that freaked him out. So, he settled back upon the fact that he just plain liked them. Just like mountain bike racing, we do it not for money (most of us), but for our own reasons (all of us). It is our passion at whatever level we choose to engage, but it balances out our work lives, creates a community, fulfills a drive, and is perhaps our identity as a person. We train and race travel and put ourselves to the test, throwing our hearts down the hill chasing after them. Sometimes we get hurt, but we get back up and get back on the bike. I guess I am getting old, and how on earth can someone my age still be competitive in the young gunfighter game of slalom racing?
Of course Eric Carter winning the Pro Men’s Slalom Title at a ripe old age of 38 shoots my theory all to pieces. So much for self pity…
“Fergie” slumming across the line Mount Snow STXC 08, probably thinking of boobies…
