USAC Changing Upgrade Policy

I’m stupid. I still can’t figure out where on the website it shows upgrade points. I have no idea how many I have. I can find ranking points, but not upgrade points. Where do they hide this information?

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And also the points are different now too, i.e. use points table instead of 10 mass starts = 10 points.

As far as I know, there’s never been a place that keeps your upgrade points listed, the USAC site just has your race resume listed under your profile (My Account > Racer Links). I’ve always just gone to the results, then calculated my points via my own spreadsheet. You can try road-results, but it may not be 100% accurate based on starters/mixed cat/etc

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Hmmmm. So this would essentially make it harder to graduate from Novice to Cat 4 as it’s about finishing high not just finishing in general. That actually kinda sucks because a lot of my local races have multiple opportunities for Cat 4 racing in one day, but only one opportunity for Novice/Cat 5 in a day. Guess I’ll be Novice forever. :joy:

You can self select upgrade from 5->4. Doesn’t get any easier than that :slight_smile:

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I wonder what the voluntary upgrade from Novice to 4 will do for points giving clinics.

This upcoming season will be my first road season and I am making an effort to go to races that have a clinic beforehand because I think I need the instruction, but also it would’ve given me more upgrade points. 1 point for the clinic, 1 point for the race.

I wonder how many people will skip clinics that they would have done without this change. Maybe the clinics aren’t very popular, so this doesn’t change anything, but I would think they would want to encourage new riders to go to the clinics and this might demotivate some.

It says that 10 points in 12 months are mandatory for the upgrade in the PDF from OP.

EDIT: Oh wait, unless that means that if you accumulate that many points you MUST upgrade. Not that you must meet that point total to upgrade. They should really clarify their language.

I went to clinics last year (my first year racing) and I would have done them regardless of if I earned an extra point or not. I thought they were very valuable and would encourage any new racer to attend them. (obvious caveat of n=1)

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I haven’t been to any but I totally agree. I’m worried this change might demotivate people that are on the fence about going to a clinic.

Do you feel most people feel the same way you do? And people will do them even if they don’t need the points cause they can voluntarily upgrade?

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“A rider may be downgraded by USA Cycling for the following reasons: unsafe riding”

Maybe we will see forced downgrades? Which I’ve never heard of before.

Not my experience at all. I asked for an early upgrade in 2018 after 6 races (5 podiums including 2 wins), 1 beginner rider clinic as well as an international drafting triathlon career (world series and world cup level) and I was denied. I was driving all over Southern California to get my 10 starts. It then took me just 3 races to reach the 3’s.

Since I literally just earned my last points for a cat 1 upgrade under the old system, I am a little bitter that it’s become so much easier to move up through the categories (so it appears anyway). With that said, I think it is a good move and won’t turn off more experienced and talented riders that are both strong and have plenty of “race” experience from hard group rides from doing a race here and there. Now with just a few races, they can be out of the 4’s if they’re strong enough.

So if someone is riding “unsafe”, USAC is going to move them into a lower category to race with less experienced riders who don’t have as much skill to avoid dangerous riders? That’s just dumb. If someone is riding so dangerously to warrant a downgrade, they should be suspended.

Before people say that these unsafe riders just need more experience in the lower ranks to hone their “skills”, I’ll call BS on that 95+% of the time. Most of the really dangerous riders (particularly Cat3 and up) are dangerous because they use questionable race tactics or they are too aggressive. Those issues are better addressed by more experienced riders correcting their behavior. If they don’t straighten out, they should e suspended. Using a lower category as the penalty box for these kind of people isn’t fair to the racers in the lower categories.

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I agree. As I said, I think the answer would be “no”, but I might ask anyway.

“Voluntary Upgrade at will”

The language under that makes it sound like you still need 10 points to upgrade. Meaning you could voluntarily remain Novice even if you had the 10 points. That’s how I understood that table. I understand that is wrong now but the editor in me feels if one person misunderstood that, then others likely will too.

I don’t see a restriction on acquiring points from junior races. I’m currently a cat 4 (on road), so I’m curious what results I can use towards my next upgrade?? [This will be my second season of racing and my goal is to be a cat 3 by the end of this road season.]

I certainly hope so! I’m going to some practice races this spring (I’m in MI, so race season is still a ways off :cry:), so it’ll be interesting to see the turnout for the clinics that are held on the same morning.

The Voluntary and Mandatory upgrade requirements are separate and don’t rely on each other. So for Road, going Novice to cat 4, it’s and either/or situation. You can upgrade at will OR you get a mandatory upgrade (theoretically this should be automatic) if you reach 10 points in a year. They’re mutually exclusive. The USAC chart on the website maybe makes it clearer because they’re side by side, but the two “requirements” are not together. Meaning you can stay Novice forever if you never reach 10 points in a 12-month span. USAC upgrades were like this in the past, with a Voluntary or Mandatory requirement, this isn’t new.

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Also, there’s a stipulation that you can use clinic points towards a 4>3 upgrade, and they’re not erased. So even though going Novice>4 you reset your points to 0, clinic points carry over. So hopefully, that incentivizes going to the clinic regardless of whether you take the immediate upgrade or not. So for somebody that would take the at will upgrade to 4, thinking they’ll do the clinics as a 4 to get upgrade points, they can do the clinics as a Novice and those points will carry over and still count towards a 3 upgrade later. Maybe get some people to do the clinics as a Novice before upgrading.

" Riders who have upgraded will start with a zero race points balance in their new category. Where indicated in the policies, clinic points may be carried over (road and track 4>3)."

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It used to be on there then it got removed a few years ago.