Originally Posted by
79pmooney
UCI only has jurisdiction over those (race organizations and riders) who choose to operate under the UCI banner (or the national organizations that choose to operate under UCI. Anybody can create a race, a full competition. It may well be that nobody will show up because riding it would invalidate their status as a racer of UCI events but that doesn't prevent someone for creating the race. (The Red Hook fix gear criteriums may now be UCI sanctioned but they were not when they started.)
Ben
There are a number of longer-distance events that are not UCI- the 6/12/24 hour, 500 mile races, RAAM, etc. And some local shorter-distance events, usually of a more informal nature.