I heard either Watopia or Richmond.

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no sponsors | no races | nothing to see here

There is a non-zero percent chance of that happening. :) I’m hoping for something live since it’s not until August.

Both years at Cedar City were canceled? I thought it was just this year.

Both. Apparently Cedar City canceled the contract.

I just found a thread on trainer road where someone had asked the same question. Someone else said they had contacted USAC and that there was nothing certain yet and they were hoping to announce by the end of November, so hopefully we will hear soon.

Its was my understanding that Cedar City didn't cancel this year, they were ready to go but rather USAC thought it was unsafe.

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BoulderCyclingCoach.com

I asked Tara McCarthy if masters road nats will take place in 2021. She said she expects it to take place. She wouldn't disclose where or when at this time. She said she'll have information she can share by the end of the month.

She made it sound as though the only thing that would stop masters nats would be covid.

That's certainly possible. My understanding was that they canceled the remainder of the contract - it was supposed to be in Cedar City 2020 and 2021 and it will not longer be there for 2021 now.

Anybody have any updates on this? Would be nice to have a date at least. Gotta get the work PTO arranged before my coworkers steal the slot. I'm probably too late as it is :(

I haven't heard anything, either. I can only assume they're having trouble finding someone willing to host.

What, you mean cities everywhere aren't scrambling to host a few hundred crotchety old men (and like 3 women) for Cycling Nationals Fantasy Camp? :)

I am woman, so make that 4 of us. :)

I think the host needs to find a good sponsor for it to not be a huge money losing proposition and I suspect that is a little more challenging these days!

I just followed up with Tara McCarthy. No new information really, apparently there is an issue with a course and they can't disclose a date or location until that is worked out in case it all needs to be changed.

She is hoping to be able to announce something by the end of January.

Thanks for update!

any inside word yet, even ballpark date and location? Obviously I checked the website (daily) but nothing there yet.

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Mike Plumb, TriPower MultiSports
Professional Running, Cycling and Multisport Coaching, F.I.S.T. Certified
http://www.tripower.org

I think the ballpark date is August, but I don't know anything else.

I emailed Tara McCarthy asking for an update (or at least an idea of when we might recieve an update) and will post once I hear back.

Nah, they instead jockey to host the illegal drafting and course cutting summit. ;-)

Now she's saying hopefully end of February. This is getting ridiculous.

trying to be patient, I know it is hard lining up a site etc especially in these times with restrictions, but....

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Mike Plumb, TriPower MultiSports
Professional Running, Cycling and Multisport Coaching, F.I.S.T. Certified
http://www.tripower.org

x2. I'm never shy about anti-governing body criticism, but I'm giving USAC a full pass on this one. Permitting and insurance are a huge hassle in the best of times. They're a nightmare right now.

I talked to a race organizer and he was saying he had to delay or postpone for this year. What us participants probably don't understand very well is that it takes a pretty sizeable chunk of change to organize a race. You have permit costs, port-a-potty resevations,.... These expenses are typically paid by the title sponsors, which more often than not are tourism and entertainment related. These guys have taken big hits in the last 12 months and the last thing they want to do with their limited resource is bankroll something that isn't going to happen or won't bring in much additional revenue. I think you need to look for sponsors that actually did OK during hte pandemic, like Amazon or Zwift, but I am sure everyone has the same idea.

...and finally. Albuquerque, Aug. 5-8. (from USAC 'book post)

Any details?

This was sent by USAC 5 days ago: "For Masters Road, the expected host community was forced to withdraw due to COVID-19 impacts, and we immediately began working with other possible hosts. Fortunately, a promising host city stepped up early this year, and we have been working closely with them to ensure a safe and exciting experience."

Unlike every other state around, bike races are still cancelled in NM... so I figured the "expected host" might have been in NM...

Well their Twitter feed is saying if you want actual details you have to wait until May 26th. To just dump a date 12 weeks out and not provide any other details and expect people to just make it work is pretty lame.

They posted NM today.

It will be one lame national championship if held that’s for sure. I’m sure the very large majority of us already organized plans to race elsewhere.

Really? Are there any major event conflicts? I never plan anything that far in advance. And 12 weeks is enough time to get in racing shape.

Most Albuquerque races are over the mountains east of town... good, hilly terrain IMO, ~6-7k ft elevation. The Moriarty TT course is just a little farther east.

One negative is that early Aug is definitely still "monsoon season". PM thunderstorms are pretty common.

Albuquerque isn't much of a hub and doesn't have a large bike racing catchment area. Not particularly easy to get to. In terms of lameness though, I can guarantee that there will be a significant Colorado presence coming down to make things hard. Plenty of people from Arizona and Texas as well. I'm sure lots of californians will make the road trip as well. It'll be as competitive as any other Natz.

Looking forward to it.

Will there be any left turns there? :)

If they use Moriarty for the TT there is a good chance that every age group record could be reset. A pancake flat 40K with passable pavement (20K pavement could be REALlY good), 6000 ft above sea level, probably the top 5 TT riders in every age group, and all the recent technical advances.

Heck, if weather is good for the 40ish age group I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see the overall National record get creamed. A 300 watt effort by a medium sized rider is probably enough to crack into the high 47s and the overall fastest time in Colorado was done on 360ish.

There is a good chance Nations could epic, rather than lame.

I know few people who've organized much for August in terms of national class masters racing. Tour of America's Dairylands is in late June, no real conflict there. Sea Otter is in October.

I think it's a reasonable job of USAC to get almost all of their national championships back online at roughly the same time that many much smaller regional race promoters are getting their events up and running.

The Moriarty course is the most obvious location for the TT. I would love to see it on that course. Certainly if weather permits, a number of national records will fall. However, I'm going to be careful not to get my hopes up that the Moriarty course will be used. I guess we have a few more days of waiting unless someone has an inside scoop?

Too bad I already wrote it off after waiting months to hear something. I’m going to be mad at myself if Moriarty is the TT course.

Do you know if a smooth layer was eventually put over the chipseal? It would be an excellent course if that was the case.

The northern few miles was resurfaced with asphalt, rough chipseal, and a smooth layer several years ago. In 2019 the rest was resurfaced with rough chipseal, but thankfully the shoulder was swept so it wasn't too bad. Don't know if anything else was done with it. Rough chip and an unswept shoulder would not be too good...

They like to have a 40k for nationals and Moriarty seems the logical choice. But... it's possible that traffic would be an issue for that many hours of racing. The annual 40k is early on Labor Day Sun&Mon for a reason; it's a fairly busy road.

I've been wishing someone would make a 40k course on the Spaceport Road, starting east of TorC. That isn't close to Albuquerque though.

I’d heard from a friend in ABQ, who may or may not have a clue, that the TT will be held on the Double Eagle course, the RR will be on the 505 Classic course, and the Crit will be at the balloon park.

The Double Eagle course is super smooth, a little rolly, but not too rolly if you’re inclined to run a fixed gear. It’s unfortunately not really suitable for a 40km course. I’ve only done the 20km course there, not sure just how much longer they can make it, but most certainly they cannot add 10km to the turnaround.

Haven’t done that road course, but the profile looks pretty tough.

Sadly I have to request vacation days way in advance to make a trip such as this. Really really tried to have an idea of location and date but I had to give in a few months ago with my official PTO requests for work. I’ll be at the gran fondo nats in Asheville instead but dang, I really wanted to race the TT and road race for masters nats.

We've done a certified 40 km from the usual Double Eagle starting point sometime in the mid 90s. 20 km puts the turnaround just about at the entrance to Ventana Ranch off Paseo del Norte. The extra 10 km adds a quite a bit more climbing to the course though.

Are you still in the area? If not, you should know there’s been a crap tonne of commercial growth out there, to include an Amazon distribution center. Frankly, I won’t be surprised if they don’t use that course, given the traffic out there.

I rode it Saturday. You asked how much longer they could make it; I answered.

Not for nothing, but there's more to it than just how long the road is. My concern is whether it's feasible to extend the course that far. I know how long the road is. What I don't know from first hand experience (haven't been down there in two years, so I'm going off what a friend who lives in Rio Rancho tells me) is that the typical traffic down there during the week is horrendous. In fact, he said he doesn't believe they can hold the race there unless they can convince Amazon to shut down operations for a day. He's probably exaggerating.

On the map I see the Amazon stuff and other businesses at the south end, but the race could start north of that, and their traffic routed to the freeway. That leaves only the airport and shooting range that would really need to use that road, all the way N then E to Ventana Ranch. Maybe not 40k, but close anyway. Seems like it wouldn't be hard to semi-close that section of road, and cut the traffic way down.

https://www.google.com/...3D100!7i13312!8i6656

I’ve not been on the north end of that road, but from the look of things on satellite view on google maps, it seems that once you get north of the small lot right there at the I-40 exit, there’s no parking unless you just stick cars out in the desert.

I’ve never ridden the course used for the regional TT championship. Would that course work?

Parking in the desert looks very good to me on the east side of the road. And further back you can park on pavement. Having nice paved parking at a race start is pretty rare IMO.

The state TT course is a good one, but isn't 40k either, and quite a bit further from town (south in Belen). Parking there is in front of people's houses on residential streets.

Courses were announced today. 20 and 40km TT courses along Atrisco Vista all the way to Rainbow Rd. for the long course. Road race is 33 mile loop once or twice depending on age group using Heartbreak Hill loop. Crit is at Balloon Fiesta Park. Video description is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dioykGu89gE with links to Strava route in the description for the video.

Strava link for TT: https://www.strava.com/.../2831992934160663452
Strava link to an activity that shows most of the course: https://www.strava.com/...20/analysis/870/1143

Good course! The climb averages 1.6% for 5.3 miles and there is a 1.5 mile section that averages 2.5%. According to my calculations the climb slows down the average speed for the course by a little over 1 km/hr (for me) vs a perfectly flat road, but I still think it will be fast. An important factor is pavement quality which is very good; way better than Moriarty has ever been IME, and much better than the CO Springs course. The first turn is very sweeping and shouldn't be an issue at all. No idea what they'll do on Rainbow Rd, but they could make that safe and easy.

In case anyone didn't get the memo, registration is now open... plus this is the last day for discounted entry; $90 vs $115 after today.

https://usacycling.org/...sters-road-nationals

https://s3.amazonaws.com/...GMyi670WFS5absDdd3JU

and now we get to start this all over again. Anyone have insight into 2022 location, back to ABQ? I wouldn't be opposed to the races returning there for another year.

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Mike Plumb, TriPower MultiSports
Professional Running, Cycling and Multisport Coaching, F.I.S.T. Certified
http://www.tripower.org

Mike Plumb wrote:

and now we get to start this all over again. Anyone have insight into 2022 location, back to ABQ? I wouldn't be opposed to the races returning there for another year.

Quote:

We want to thank the City of Albuquerque, the Albuquerque Sports Commission, and Bernalillo County for being a tremendous host for our 2021 Masters Road National Championships. 2021 continues to be a challenging year to host events and the local support we received allowed us to hold a successful event, said Tara McCarthy, Director of National Events for USA Cycling. “Our participants had an amazing time and are excited to return in 2022.”

(source)

Were there any left turns? :)

I think 'Left Turn Nationals' will be happening at Velo Sport Center next year.

2022 masters track nationals in L.A.? (asking seriously)

... rumor has it.

Left turn in Albuquerque...Bugs Bunny

didn't see Bugs but swear I saw Wile E chasing the Roadrunner on the TT course.

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Mike Plumb, TriPower MultiSports
Professional Running, Cycling and Multisport Coaching, F.I.S.T. Certified
http://www.tripower.org

LOL…nice!

So maybe this should be a separate thread, but there is a rumor going around that they are going to change the TT course to the Moriarty Course. Now that would be a great Nationals.

How many records would be broken at that event ?

EDIT to add: If US Cycling had its marketing down, they could create a rivalry between the Triathlete TT Rider and the Road TT Rider for Record bragging rights on the fastest 40K course in the country. 'Dual in the Desert'!

I'd say that's premature. Randy, the promoter of the Moriarty TT has spoken to Abq. Parks and Rec. about moving Master Nats. out there, but as far as I know, Parks and Rec. hasn't responded one way or the other to the idea.

Would be cool, but... traffic control? It's a popular trucking route; fairly busy road to close for ~5 hrs. For most of the 2021 course, closing to traffic was easy. Maybe someone can chime in on the likelihood. I've only seen this years course and the one in CO Springs (which was in the boonies).

Ha, isn't the best Rumor the one that is premature ? When did facts matter ?

I thought this years course was pretty good except for some bumps before the second turn. I dropped my chain which caused a bit of panic but didn't have to stop to get it back on. Given that the difference between third and fourth was less than a second that was a good thing!

Anybody got the inside scoop? Still no course listings for the races this year... which makes me think there may be changes.

https://usacycling.org/...sters-road-nationals

Locations are on the schedule document. Crit and RR are the same, but TT is TBD.

I've got no info on 2022. I didn't like what I saw on line for 21/22 and ruled that location.

Know if they're going to (or already have) release(d) a 2023 location yet? I need some motivation.

That schedule document doesn't list the location for the TT, but the City website that's linked on the USACycling page shows the TT course as the same as last year. https://www.visitalbuquerque.org/usacycling/

I happened to have been in ABQ yesterday and drove much of the TT course heading north, then east. I have raced the Double Eagle TT a few times on basically what was the 20k course, but hadn't seen the longer course.

Leave it to USAC to insist on a 40km course, ostensibly for the purpose of letting people shoot for a record, then choose a course that would never result in a record anyway.

As for record runs, they either gotta go to Moriarty or forgo the idea altogether, IMO.

Moriarty has the best pavement in probably a couple decades. If you want to shoot for a PR or record in the 40k that's the place. Every Labor Day weekend, Sun and Mon. Randy's always kinda late getting it on the schedule...

Looks like the course is up now, and it's slightly different than last year. Instead of making a left turn at the bottom of the hill on Paseo Del Norte, there is a turnaround. So it's skipping that bit in the residential neighborhood. Maybe they added to the airport out-back leg?

Makes you wonder if he's trying to keep the registration numbers down?? For the life of me, can't understand why he doesn't list the race on the NMBRA calendar or put it up on BikeReg.

As for the Natz course, looks like the S/F is a tad farther south (maybe). If that's the case, that could be where they make up the distance.

So I haven’t race in a pure bike race since 2001. How do you qualify for nationals? I looked on the registration rules and I can’t find the qualifying requirements. Surely it’s not just an open registration?

Ah, but it is. There’’re no qualification races. As long as you’re in a high enough category, you just sign up.

Aren't enough active bike racers in the U.S. to have qualifying races for any national championships.

How deep do the cats go? Cat1-4? Or just masters in various age groups?

Just age groups, no Cat.

Sorta… for the TT, just age groups. For the RR and Crit, for the 50-54 AG and younger, you have to be car 3 or higher.

Only qualifications needed are a USAC license and associated (free) UCI ID. US citizens and permanent residents.

TT is open to everybody, RR and Crit are cat 3 and higher. M 55+ and F45+ are open to all cats.

looks like 2023 Masters Road Nationals will be in Augusta GA. No date yet just says Fall of 2023

https://usacycling.org/...-dates-and-locations

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Mike Plumb, TriPower MultiSports
Professional Running, Cycling and Multisport Coaching, F.I.S.T. Certified
http://www.tripower.org

Does anyone have any insight into the probable road course that will be used for the Augusta Nats? Or the TT course? There is nothing on USAC and I don't expect that to change.

I suspect they'll use the same course as previous editions but I'm only speculating.
One thing is certain, it'll be hot and humid.

-SD

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https://www.kickstarter.com/...bike-for-the-new-era

any dates yet? i'm too lazy to check myself. i think '17 and '18 nationals were there in case you can strava stalk some rides for the courses. the road course on the closed to traffic military base seems VERY likely. the TT was at a Dam a liitle ways away but quiet roads.

Yes, Aug 8-13 for track in Rock Hill then Aug 23-27 in Augusta. It'll be a busy month for me.

-SD

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https://www.kickstarter.com/...bike-for-the-new-era

just did a search on ridewithgps.com and found this from 2017, https://ridewithgps.com/...tes/18831435/preview
No idea if this is what will be used this year

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Mike Plumb, TriPower MultiSports
Professional Running, Cycling and Multisport Coaching, F.I.S.T. Certified
http://www.tripower.org

Thanks! Coming from Texas so the heat shouldn't be a big shock just wondering what the profile looked like.

this is close to me - I may have to go; the course doesn't look bad at all!

btw, do they check UCI legal TT bike position? does anybody knows?

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The entire event (IM) is like "death by 1000 cuts" and the best race is minimizing all those cuts and losing less blood than the other guy. - Dev

No there are no bike checks for Master's racing. The only exception is if someone sets a national record on a course, the bike must be legal.

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Heath Dotson
HD Coaching:Website |Twitter: 140 Characters or Less|Facebook:Follow us on Facebook

USAC deletes or hides many old courses. Annoying.

The TT will be a version of these two, using Range Road and possibly McDuffie Road. https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26874004 and https://ridewithgps.com/routes/42666955 The dam route went away after 2017. In 2018 the TT was on base.

The RR will be a loop on base. Probably https://ridewithgps.com/routes/17505446, which they've always used in the past.

and on ever so lovely chip seal on that base

shortish TT :'(

I was expecting a 40k

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The entire event (IM) is like "death by 1000 cuts" and the best race is minimizing all those cuts and losing less blood than the other guy. - Dev

What about amateur nats? Not masters.

Amateur Natz are jigged.

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Heath Dotson
HD Coaching:Website |Twitter: 140 Characters or Less|Facebook:Follow us on Facebook

It’s always been a thing for u23 and juniors. I’ve never had my bike measured there. Did they change the rules?

All has been revealed. Schedules, courses, co$t, etc. Not sure how long it's been up. Registration opens next week.

https://roadnats.usacycling.org/masters-road

It'll be a busy month for me.


I might see you 2X in August this year, Dave! :-)

Busy Month for me to:

- Aug 3 - 9, Announcing at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships, in Glasgow, Scotland

- Aug 12 - 13, Announcing at L'Etape Edmonton (Alberta)

- Aug 15 - 19, Commentating for FloBikes for the Vuelta Burgos Stage Race (Remote from home studio)

- Aug 23 - 27, Announcing with Bill Ellison at the U.S. Masters & Para Road Championships, in Augusta, GA

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog