article on Outside magazine online about USA cycling and gravel racing

[bthornt]

Here's the link: https://www.outsideonline.com/240945...-gravel-biking

[madsciencenow]

I read this earlier today and it makes a number of good points and importantly, provides some good laughs.


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[fiamme red]

Basically, if you were to draw a Venn diagram of USAC members and Mazda Miata owners, the two circles would overlap like a pair of wheels in a Cat 5 race.

Good to see that Bike Slob is still around, still making lame jokes.

[dbnm]

Love this

"According to its website, 84 percent of USAC’s membership is male, 40 percent is between the ages of 45 and 64, and according to a 2013 membership survey, nearly half had an annual household income of over $100,000. Basically, if you were to draw a Venn diagram of USAC members and Mazda Miata owners, the two circles would overlap like a pair of wheels in a Cat 5 race."

[Heisenberg]

nica: this is the way.

go to a race. see it happen. go "oh g'damn".

[9tubes]

The article laments that USAC is not gaining membership. I've noticed that the race season starts earlier and earlier. There's a new team here in Seattle that's been active on Facebook to promote the team. They've been describing their 4-hour Saturday training rides since early December. Seattle has had over 80 days of rain since then. ("What!! That's almost every day!" Yes, you've done the math right.) For those seeking to train in the rain after work, it was dark at 5:44 today. Racing starts the first weekend in March.

I'll go out on a limb here and suggest to USAC that this is not alluring to potential members.

[Gummee]

This reminds me of the early days of mtn biking. ...and look what NORBA et al did to that.

No thanks.

Keep gravel gravel.

M

[echappist]

Originally Posted by Gummee

This reminds me of the early days of mtn biking. ...and look what NORBA et al did to that.

No thanks.

Keep gravel gravel.

M

what's the history there? did they "fight" IMBA for control?

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by echappist

what's the history there? did they "fight" IMBA for control?

IMBA is an advocacy group, and does not organize racing.

MTB racing started as a completely grass roots organization. Local organizations sprouted up, and then NORBA was created as the national organization group. NORBA was initially fairly benign, but then it was merged with USCF to form USAC, and then brought under the UCI umbrella.

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by dbnm

Love this

"According to its website, 84 percent of USAC’s membership is male, 40 percent is between the ages of 45 and 64, and according to a 2013 membership survey, nearly half had an annual household income of over $100,000. Basically, if you were to draw a Venn diagram of USAC members and Mazda Miata owners, the two circles would overlap like a pair of wheels in a Cat 5 race."

Except that USAC has done away with CAT-5 now, so his joke is quite stale...

[echappist]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

IMBA is an advocacy group, and does not organize racing.

MTB racing started as a completely grass roots organization. Local organizations sprouted up, and then NORBA was created as the national organization group. NORBA was initially fairly benign, but then it was merged with USCF to form USAC, and then brought under the UCI umbrella.

ah, gotcha. thanks for the primer

I somehow read the original post as what did OBRA (as in, Oregon Bike Racing) did

this makes much more sense

[9tubes]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

Except that USAC has done away with CAT-5 now, so his joke is quite stale...

As I understand it, USAC has replaced the Cat5 category name with the word "Novice" but everything else is the same (race length, upgrades, etc.).

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by 9tubes

As I understand it, USAC has replaced the Cat5 category name with the word "Novice" but everything else is the same (race length, upgrades, etc.).

Ironically, when NORBA and USCF originally merged into USAC, they tried to replace the road race category number system (5-4-3-2-1) with the MTB category name system (Novice-Sport-Expert-Elite). That didn't go over so well, so they kept the original USCF numbering system. But now it appears that both road and MTB have a mish-mash - road is now Novice-4-3-2-1-Pro, and MTB is Novice-2-1-Pro.