through the USA Cycling registration system or onsite at any USA Cycling sanctioned event and are valid for a single day of racing. One-day *beginner *licenses may only be *purchased by *the lowest category of racer for that discipline; i.e., category
5 men for road, track, and cyclo-cross, category 4 women for road, track and cyclo-cross, and category 2 or 3 for MTB.
One-day licenses may not be used for Championship events. No rider may purchase a one-day beginner license if he or she ever held an annual license with a category higher than any
of the aforementioned.
So in theory, no showing up for the occasional road or MTB race unless you want to race with all the newbies, and you can’t do it if you’re ever raced road competitively…
Interesting. So back in the day Joe Bike Racer was a 3 or even a 2. He’s since gotten fat and had kids over the last 10 years. But there is a race on his old training route and the wife said he can go race it for old time’s sake. But since he raced as a 3 (or 2) 10 years ago he now has to get an annual license, presumably as a Cat 4, to race once in a season? Or maybe even a Cat 5 annual license until he does his mandatory mass starts.
First, you cannot downgrade to cat 5, ever.
Second, it is worded that you cannot buy a one day license if you ever held a category higher than beginner.
He’ll probably still be listed in the system at what ever the highest cat he was at. He’d have to request a downgrade based on time…age…etc.
Isn’t this just a clarification of how things have always been? You’ve never been able to downgrade to 5… so if you were a Cat 4, you could not (legally) register as a one day racer unless you used a different name or something.
What really sucks is this screws a lot of people in the PacNW, if they’ve ever raced elsewhere - I’m a 3 in CX per USAC, but I’ve lived in Oregon for the last 3 seasons and haven’t paid a USAC membership since everything here is OBRA sanctioned. If I ever want to do a single race outside of the state - that’ll be another $60 in licenses…
First, you cannot downgrade to cat 5, ever.
Second, it is worded that you cannot buy a one day license if you ever held a category higher than beginner.
Sorry didn’t mean he could downgrade to 5, he could downgrade out of 2 on an annual if he bought one. Yes…“Ever” i.e. you’re in the system, which goes back to at least 97 since my college license info is in there.
Isn’t this just a clarification of how things have always been? You’ve never been able to downgrade to 5… so if you were a Cat 4, you could not (legally) register as a one day racer unless you used a different name or something.
Yes and no, you could buy a license for one day and race 5 on the road of a 4/5 if that’s what is was, and 4 in CX. Off-Road you could race 2 or 3(Sport or Beginner). There was no rule about previously having a license, that’s new.
They’re trying to force the occasional racer to by an annual, where it really seems to be aimed is at the MTB side of things, where you have a lot of casual USAC racers, since in a lot of larger areas you have more “outlaw” race series than USAC.
Sorry to dig up an old thread but I wanted to share my real-world encounter with this rule.
I had been a fairly amateur racer back in the days before I had kids. I was a Category 4 road and Category 4 cyclocross racer (men’s cat 5 cyclocross wasn’t introduced until 2013, well after I had stepped away from racing).
I wanted to race *one *CX race this season and intended to do so on a one-day license, as renewing my license would cost $70.
The long-and-the-short of it is that I’m not allowed to do that. Our local USAC head official informed me that:
Unfortunately the rule is the rule. It has nothing to do with whether bdcheung would be a cat 5 or a cat 4. Even if he were classified as a Cat 5 for CX he still wouldn’t be able to race on a one-day license. The one-day license is meant for people to try the sport out to see it they like it. Once you’ve held an annual license, you may only race on an annual license.
Though it has been a couple of years since you raced, bdcheung, you were active at that time so you are not eligible to race on a one-day license.
It is unfortunate but at this time, your choices are to either purchase an annual license or not race.
But since he raced as a 3 (or 2) 10 years ago he now has to get an annual license, presumably as a Cat 4, to race once in a season? Or maybe even a Cat 5 annual license until he does his mandatory mass starts.
They automatically give you the same category you last held. You need to ask the regional guy for a downgrade, but you can’t downgrade lower than 4. So no one-day passes for you.
That sounds like a great way to discourage people from coming back into racing, at least those who rarely race. I thought the purposed of sport governing bodies was to develop the sport, not drive people away…
That sounds like a great way to discourage people from coming back into racing, at least those who rarely race. I thought the purposed of sport governing bodies was to develop the sport, not drive people away…
But also sounds like a great way to keep things safe by discouraging people from entering a crit once per year with less than sharp skills in the bunch.
That sounds like a great way to discourage people from coming back into racing, at least those who rarely race. I thought the purposed of sport governing bodies was to develop the sport, not drive people away…
I agree with this. I raced a CX race last Oct. in the 3s on a 1 day license. I had no business being in the 1/2 field (my old category), nor any business being in the 5s. The 3s was perfect for my 2 weeks of training I’d put in and that was the only race I did the whole year.
But that race was so enjoyable I went ahead and got a full license for this year and have raced 20+ races. It was a good transitional race that I wouldn’t have been able to do under this new rule.
well look at it this way: the one-day is $15, annual is $70. For that $55 you get the benefit of allowing your wallet to casually open to your USAC license, thereby proving to your inferior tri-only friends that you are indeed a badass.
That sounds like a great way to discourage people from coming back into racing, at least those who rarely race. I thought the purposed of sport governing bodies was to develop the sport, not drive people away…
If I were trying to develop racing I wouldn’t be trying to target the people who race fewer than five times per year anyhow though. I think it sucks for cx, is a good rule for road and track, and have no opinion on mtb as I don’t race those.
Based on this, they get the majority of their funding from licenses (page 34) with entries fees a close second, and everything else making up a third.
Folks in bureaucracies focus on numbers and not the spirit of their purpose, though those license holder numbers are increasing, it’s anemic growth. https://s3.amazonaws.com/USACWeb/forms/media/2013-USA-Cycling-Annual-Report.pdf