End of my Pro GRT campaign... but there's more...

Fellow MTB friends & colleagues,

Some of you may already know this by now, but I wanted to officially let you all know that I have resigned as director of the Pro Gravity Tour (Pro GRT). I have been extremely blessed to have worked with you all creating this great series here in the states, however I believe my path for US racing lies on a different course than those of the Pro GRT.

With that said, I will be creating a NEW and IMPROVED series for 2012! A majority of the design is still structured around my original proposal I had implemented in the tour several years ago, but now that I am able to have full control of the direction of the series, you’ll be seeing A LOT more of me (scary huh?), as well as a collaboration of ideas from many people within the industry. I will refrain from going into too much detail at this time, but feel free to contact me any time for further details.

Whats’ in store? You’ll be seeing a number of familiar resorts in this new series (and several new ones), as well as a bigger & better festive atmosphere for amateurs & spectators alike! One of my goals is to start bringing our sport back together. Although the series will start out as a gravity influenced series (DH & “real” Super D), I’m planning on implementing other events as the series develops, including slalom/4x, and cross country racing! I’m also working on a couple of BIIIG projects that I’m hoping to implement next year as well. With your help, we can bring US racing to the forefront of the MTB world!

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me any time!

Best regards,

Dylan Dean

trib said:

Have you ever thought, 'maybe this season I'll just step back'? Best of luck with everything

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why stop back, when i can move forward.

donno if anyone noticed, i've actually cut back on a lot of my projects (painting, photo, optics, etc)

my main projects now are the (new) series, team & shop. & not saying that i've been the only one to do it, but i have not seen anyone step up to create a US series. if there's someone better than i, i'm more than willing to step back.

the PRO GRT will still exist. i'm starting a new series. the design of the GRTs was my idea, & i'm sticking with that layout. so far the venues that look to be on board will be similar & better to what we've had in the past.

Obviously i'm biased to my new series, but i feel it will replace the Pro GRTs. teams, sponsors, riders, venues are already following my lead. Will the Pro GRTs dissolve? probably not.. but i'm not going to be involved any longer. i'm done with it.

no, i'm not replacing UCI/USAC. although i wish i could, it would take a ton of cash, lawyers, insurance, etc to create a new federation. i'm just done working with USAC. i think my goals, objectives, etc differ than USACs. (there are other reasons i won't get into on an open forum).

hope that somewhat clears things up.... or makes ya more confused!

will it conflict? probably. but i'm not concerned. like i said, riders/teams/sponsors/venues are already following me. there may be some overlap as well. but we'll see how it all works out in the end.

Darner isn't taking over as president. it looks like he'll be the new Pro GRT director though [RETRACT: apparently Darner isn't. & hasn't been contacted about it. he's just listed in the elections... maybe fore something different? http://www.usacycling.org/news/user/story.php?id=6927]

i'm pushing hard for mammoth.. we'll have to wait & see

alpine slug said:

I bet there are enough riders out there with day-job access to venture capital.

I bet there are enough riders out there with day-job experience as being a lawyer for a large, complex organization.

I bet there are enough riders out there who know plenty about insurance.

I bet the alternative could be created a lot easier than you imagine. All you'd have to do is get the discussion rolling.

Not saying it's your job to get it rolling. Not trying to tell you what to do.

Just making observations about what is possible.

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oh i agree, the "possibilities" exist.. but it's not likely any time soon IMO... hopefully one day!

Full Trucker said:

First off, best of luck with this new adventure, Dylan! Stoked to see you give 'er a go, you did a good jorrrb with the ProGRT so hopefully this series will get some traction.

One thing that concerns me is what I see as the answer to this:



My concern is, without the backing of USAC (which is the sanctioning body officially recognised by both the UCI and the USOC) won't it be d@mn near impossible to prep/send U.S. riders to the world stage from this new series? Basically, no matter how badd@ss the series gets, or how many sponsors/teams/riders/venues are on board, it will always have to play 2nd fiddle to the ProGRT, so long as the ProGRT exists? Or are you not worried about that in the short term?

As much as everyone hates on USAC, the ugly fact is they are who the USOC recognizes, and the sanctioning body UCI deals with.

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answer is easy.. first, i'm not concerned. yes the points leader (at a certain date) will be an automatic selection to Worlds, but that's about it. all the other considerations come from International races.

second. even though i'm no longer a part of the Pro GRT, we'll still be working with the USAC in some fashion. Events have the options to be USAC sanctioned (mainly for insurance reasons). in fact i do encourage it. with all the hate on USAC, they do have a good insurance policy (for the most part), although some people have had horror stories (Griz).

I hope to have UCI sanctioned events at some of the events eventually.. but that's not my focus at this point anymore. we need to build the state of racing here in the states first, then we can work on getting UCI points to help riders make the world cups.

again, you may see some overlap w/ the series. i would only imagine that USAC would try & utilize the same venues i established for the Pro GRTs.

regarding the UCI events... in all honesty at this point i would rather see events outside my series be the ones to offer UCI points. unless the venues are able to offer UCI cat 1 or maybe 2 ratings, it's a mute point. my series have been attracting enough World Cup riders, or top US riders with enough exisiting UCI points. these riders typically eat up the available UCI points, making it pointless for anyone trying to obtain uci points.
but don't get me wrong, i would love my events to be UCI sanctioned.. just not a priority anymore

beaverbiker said:

Yea, BRING BACK MAMMOTH

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i'm tryin!

..also gonna try to bring back yo lazy ass foo!

bizutch said:

So you're actually looking to create events at venues through a series where the actual series is not OWNED or dictated by USAC, so that you can eliminate that step. But still provide USAC points and rankings for racers that value it's pluses (and avoid their negatives).

I'm assuming this is to avoid what we all used to complain about with Blue Wolf. That USAC didn't exert any form of required payout for the venues and rather than be their own marketing engine, they simply slapped the USAC badge on the series and took home revenues.

The current format pays the promoter & venue but riders are forced to follow to get points, not money. If I understand what you're hinting at, I assume you're looking the venues to take on more of the fiscal load for the events. You're wanting to legitimately build a brand image, market it and us it to grow sponsorship funds for your series and in turn increase the payout to riders.

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nah.... i'm looking to embezzle the money & flee to Fiji