threeteas

I was going to take out a USA Cycling license this year (I raced as a Cat. 3 many moons ago) but after seeing the cost and realizing that the federation is as elitist, bloated and basically corrupt as it was two decades ago I decided to opt out. The saddest thing about USA Cycling is how focused they are on elite racing and the pipeline to elite status and/or professional status. There is little emphasis on having fun or the grassroots part of racing. It is also so unbelievable expensive that of course it is an upper middle class/rich guy's sport.

I was able to do a State Games road race this weekend and it was such a blast. All age groups were there and there were few (if any) licensed riders competing. There was no involvement of USA Cycling and it was so much more fun.

Does anyone know of other avenues for competition in different states (road cycling/racing) outside of USA Cycling? Does it even exist? And I'm talking road stuff and not gravel (I do non-licensed gravel and cyclocross stuff, too). The health of the road side of the sport would massively increase if there were other avenues.

ksryder

Only if you live in Oregon.

threeteas

That is such a shame. I'll never get a USA Cycling racing license again, and god forbid that start ruining gravel racing.

dougphoto

there's these guys, they are trying to become national American Bicycle Racing mainly midwestern, lots of time trials, I've done a few of there events they are well run.
in WI there's these guys WiSport more grandfundo type events than races but still fun.

Seems like with Gravel stuff lots just seem to be organized by local clubs, they can be found on Bikereg

CliffordK

You could try other events such as randonneuring.

kbarch

What for? Why do you need a central organization if you just want to have fun? If you don't want to be a part of USAC, but you want to be involved in something, would you rather be a "brand ambassador?" I don't think it's realistic to expect another central organization to duplicate USAC style competition, only without the elitism and corruption as you put it. Besides, compared to what it costs to participate in competitions generally, I don't see how it's so expensive. For my local club, you can do your marshaling duties, or you can pay $600/year. If there weren't annual dues, the price of events would just be that much higher, so I figure the more events one participates in, the more valuable it is.

Also, I suspect how fun it is to participate in USAC depends on your team/club. Some are more about that "pipeline" than others - some are more about "the cycling community," and some are about nothing more than playing bikes. You can absolutely have a team that regularly participates in USAC races without paying any attention to points and such, just knowing which field to line up with on race day. Nobody says you have to race for upgrades, the categories are just a way to keep the competitions fair. Otherwise, if veterans want to race novices, there's always Cat 6 racing.

popeye

So just buy a day license for the event.

aplcr0331

The license is $70 for the year. In my neck of the woods the local criteriums are $20 per race. Road races average around $40-50. Doesn't seem prohibitively expensive.

I've had a license for only 2 years where do you get the "elitist, bloated and basically corrupt" thing from? As a lowly Cat 5/4 racer I never have contact with anyone from USA Cycling. I just go buy my license so I can race with my friends. Do you routinely interact with the organization itself? Plus, maybe I'm missing something but why wouldn't their focus be on developing the best young talent in the US for future cycling success? What other mission should they have?

How much did your State Games road race cost?

Abe_Froman

Reminds me, I need to go buy a license to race cross this season...

rubiksoval

A 65 dollar license is unbelievably expensive?

Do you ride a Huffy from Walmart?

TimothyH

Here is why one long time road racer left road racing altogether.

A Divorce from Florida Road Racing: by K-Dogg - Gravel Cyclist: The Gravel Cycling Experience


-Tim-

Marcus_Ti

To stay relevant....I think it is inevitable that USACycling sill sticks its nose into gravel racing.

Of course the small/club and grassroots level is why it has taken off like it has...especially in places like the Great Plains where paved roads are few, and in god awful shape.

ksryder

They're trying but I don't see it taking over the way they have with road/MTB/CX.

First, they're incredibly late to the game and playing catchup.
Second, there's so much gravel and gravel events out there that it would be pretty easy to avoid USAC races because there are so many options out there.
Third, the non-standard anything-goes nature of gravel roads themselves and gravel races (there's a popular local race that doesn't even have podiums because I'm not sure the organizer is aware of them) doesn't really fit with the USAC mindset.
Finally, I think the biggest obstacle is that there is no official international gravel racing scene, like there is with road/MTB/CX/BMX, so there is no incentive for organizers to play ball with USAC in order to get officially sanctioned.

About the only thing they have going for them is group liability insurance, but plenty of races operate with other insurance options.

DGlenday

If you can get into ultra distance cycling, there's the World Ultra Cycling Assoc. World UltraCycling Association

79pmooney

I don't and will not race. (TBI and many concussions.) But I love living two miles from an Oregon Velodrome. I sometimes just go on Wednesday nights to watch the lessons. What I see at OBRA events (Oregon Bicycle Racing Assoc.) is very good racing done in a low key style. Families come. There are events for kids. There is also racing at the local auto track on Tuesday nights. I don't go; clear across town and the river and criteriums aren't my style. Wed nights there's road racing up and around an extinct volcano.

I've struggled with USCycling since two name changes prior. I raced in New England. I had a license. Our District Rep was a woman who took racing safely seriously. We riders just took it for granted. It was a little odd that we had to drive north to southern New Hampshire to do our State Champ TT on a NH state highway but it was the perfect road for it. Flat, straight. little traveled on Sunday with a rotary that made a perfect turn-a-round. Two years after I hung up the race wheels, I read about the Nationals TT. Run on a back road, running a stop sign across a more major road. 6th grade girls were assigned to control traffic. No signs saying a bike race was happening were posted. When the defending champion came through, the girls were tied up with a car on one side of the road to be crossed. A cement truck came along the other way and T-boned the rider (Alan Kingsbury) on the way to a job, having no idea or reason to suspect that a bike race was happening. 30 years later, one of the brightest young talents hits a race motorcycle that had stopped on the curve of a mountain descent. This in one of the biggest races on the US calendar. Where was USCycling? Letting the race organization go with a bunch of Harley riders who don't get bike racing?

USCycling ought to encourage organizations like OBRA that bring people into the sport and raise awareness. In Europe, many countries have very visible cycling stars for kids to look up top and want to emulate. In this country, we don't. (Yeah, we have that character who shouldn't be named, but every mom really hopes their kid never follows his footsteps.) If we want a healthy racing scene, we need grassroots racing and participation at little league type levels. A rider who gets good and goes national might well come back a couple of times a year to race and be seen. Really cool for those kids. (And I've watched USCycling put in policies to do their very best to not let that happen.)

Ben

merlinextraligh

gravel racing is in part a reaction to the things the OP doesnt like about USA Cycling.

79pmooney

I like the trend toward gravel racing, but ... road racing on pavement is one of the great sports. It should be available to all who want to do it. The chess game of hills, sprints, accelerations, drafting and body types is a unique one. In my short racing "career". I got to do some incredible mountain descents, ride a hilly century+ in under 4 hours, take my body to places far beyond anything I ever thought possible and make some smart moves in that "chess game". And I could train for all this by stepping out the front door and riding a bicycle. I could buy a cheap racing license, show up, pay a not very steep race entree and race. (I belonged to a club but that wasn't expensive either.) Food and tires were my two biggest expenses. We should have this open to all teenagers and young adults (and older but the growth and health of the sport comes from the young).

Gravel is cool and in parts of the country, so available. But it is not available (at least not without a car) everywhere. So to have road racing as an exclusive, expensive sport and gravel as the populist sport is cool except that a large portion of the population is completely left out. Road racing shouldn't be a sport only for those wealthy enough. Some of our country's greatest riders came from very humble origins. The great Major Taylor and he-who-shall-not-be-named for two.

Ben

merlinextraligh