[racersdad]

Our friends at USAC have changed the eligibility requirements for Collegiate Nationals gravity events.

For mountain bike, to race the gravity races (DH, Dual, MTX, or DS) at MTB Nationals, a rider must have raced the gravity races at their conference championships as an “A” category rider in addition to one other gravity race that current season as an “A” category rider. Riders who do not participate in their conference championships must have competed as a category A racer in their final three gravity conference races during the current season.

 

[mattmatt86]

I wasn't even aware there were different category Collegiate riders for the Gravity Events. Thanks for the Info, I will pass it along to my teammates.

 

[ridiculous]

i guess that makes sense. good thing we are hosting a conference championship.

 

[manimal]

i have no idea what all that means. but i do have a question. do you have to attend a college that has a cycling program to compete in the collegiate series? ...or do you just have to be a college student?

 

[erastusboy]

Have to attend a college that has a team, but they're pretty easy to start.

 

[ridiculous]

i have no idea what all that means. but i do have a question. do you have to attend a college that has a cycling program to compete in the collegiate series? ...or do you just have to be a college student?

You can race with us anytime. Bring Noah too!

 

[ridiculous]

now that i think about it that rule really kinda sucks if your from the south east circuit.

 

[mattmatt86]

Yea, considering we only have 3 DH races scheduled before conferences.

 

[MtnbikeMike]

Kinda sucks for the WCCC. The races are all far away, we only have 3 races before Nats, and conference champs are a few weeks after.

 

[T-Pirate]

So what happens if my injury isn't healed in time for me to do anything but the championships? With the lack of races in this part of the country that actually could force me to not race. Damn shame considering nationals are 15 mins away from me. We'll see.

 

[mattmatt86]

So what happens if my injury isn't healed in time for me to do anything but the championships? With the lack of races in this part of the country that actually could force me to not race. Damn shame considering nationals are 15 mins away from me. We'll see.

All it says is "race" in A, not place or anything. If you can at least coast down the course in A then youll be fine.

 

[danielsapp414]

you just have to finish the regular race....you can walk down the course and it's still finishing.

 

[WBC]

What about us on the westcoast with no collegiate races available to race? Does racing Open Cat @ non-collegiate regional races count? It seems unfair to us in the PNW who have maybe six races total within 400 miles all year - none of which have collegiate classes.

 

[MtnbikeMike]

What about us on the westcoast with no collegiate races available to race? Does racing Open Cat @ non-collegiate regional races count? It seems unfair to us in the PNW who have maybe six races total within 400 miles all year - none of which have collegiate classes.

You can make a trip down to hella norcal...

 

[Beast]

What about us on the westcoast with no collegiate races available to race? Does racing Open Cat @ non-collegiate regional races count? It seems unfair to us in the PNW who have maybe six races total within 400 miles all year - none of which have collegiate classes.

Or Colorado, I think we've got 8 collegiate DH and 3 DS events this fall.

 

[bizutch]

All it says is "race" in A, not place or anything. If you can at least coast down the course in A then youll be fine.

This is 100% true. You can register, 1 arm coast the whole course and get a finish time(remember it's rider AND bike), so bring your bike too.

This happened at a UCI event years back in Alabama for Bump and Grind. Somehow Bump & Grind had UCI points being awarded. Guys like Bosch, Kyle Ebbett and a few others went b/c they had a tiny DH race and there were two UCI World Cups in the US that year.

Two riders got jacked up bad in practice b/c of the only hairy section...1 rode down with his arm literally in a sling, the other went home. One got UCI points and got to do the World Cups...the other didn't.

 

[kona-rider]

i know the schedule for the atlantic conference but is there any way to tell what races, ie DH, will be held at each event??

 

[ridiculous]

we have that posted on our website here

http://www.clemsonfreeride.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=91

 

[motomike]

Two riders got jacked up bad in practice b/c of the only hairy section...1 rode down with his arm literally in a sling, the other went home. One got UCI points and got to do the World Cups...the other didn't.

Would that be the "blood rock" section by any chance? love it.


Honestly, I think its a good idea(at least this year), considering how technical the DH course is gonna be at the National Championships. I'd hate to see some dude on a xc bike trying to ride the top sections just trying to get points for the team.

 

[kona-rider]

we have that posted on our website here

http://www.clemsonfreeride.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=91

thats the schedule for the south eastern conference.. I'm looking for the atlantic conference. all thats posted on the usacycling is

2007 Fall MTB Schedule

MTB Fall 2007 Schedule:
Sept 1-2 ASU
Sept. 8-9 WVWC
Sept. 15-16 WVU
Sept 22-23 JMU
Sept 29-30 NCSU
Oct 6-7 VT
Oct 13-14 Conf Champs @ WVU

i think NC is split up between the seccc and the accc so since I'll be in eastern NC, Chapel Hill, I'll be in the accc...or at least thats what i've gathered from talking to other people

 

[ridiculous]

whoops saw your sig and thought it was the same

 

[bikenweed]

three races? What's the point of that? I don't see any reasoning in that.

As a collegiate rider, my focus is on college, not on bike racing. We've got the three races here in the WCCC, but the 8+ hour drives make them really tough to pull off with a busy class schedule. grump arg grump

 

[ridiculous]

wow the accc just looks like its better for dh based on school names and their location

 

[mattmatt86]

Damn, Clemson needs to get into the ACCC. They look like much better venues.

 

[Eren]

yes! so basically next year ill be screwed as im going to college in the PNW lthumbsdown:

 

[bikerpunk98199]

ft. lewis here i come

 

[noskcaj]

If the DH scene for 2007 is anything like previous years, there are very few collegiate DH races in the ACCC series. We are trying to get something going at VT with some shuttle trucks, but there is so much red tape to work through to do anything at all. I think our team goes to ETSU usually and we try to make a few snowshoe races/trips each season.

 

[mattmatt86]

We had a few issues at Clemson, but we worked through them all and now we are holding Conferences this year.

 

[WBC]

WWU and plundeR? are doing what we can to get more racing up here in B'ham. I blew up my knee this summer and am out til spring, so we'll be actively working to get at least a few races going up here. We have a perfect venue. 4 minute DH w/ steeps, drifts and just enough pedaling.

The riding is strong up here.

 

[ridiculous]

If the DH scene for 2007 is anything like previous years, there are very few collegiate DH races in the ACCC series. We are trying to get something going at VT with some shuttle trucks, but there is so much red tape to work through to do anything at all. I think our team goes to ETSU usually and we try to make a few snowshoe races/trips each season.

Im told you guys can get arrested if you dig or cut a tree down where you all normally ride, is this true?

We had some issues but most of ours were locals complaining over some really stupid things and horses taking out drops. I thoguht for sho we would see way more red tape than we did. Alot of that avoidance was probably due to me dropping USA cycling as our insurance carrier.

 

[kona-rider]

mattmatt86 and ridiculous...when i get to school at Chapel Hill I really want to get a mountain bike team started up, right now they only really have a road team but i was told that the club would cover mountain bike race entry fees, so hopefully it wouldnt be too hard to get a mountain bike specific team started, since I'll be starting as freshman I'm not too sure what I'll encounter but other than that what were your biggest problems in putting together a team and building a DH course?
Kyle

 

[ridiculous]

mattmatt86 and ridiculous...when i get to school at Chapel Hill I really want to get a mountain bike team started up, right now they only really have a road team but i was told that the club would cover mountain bike race entry fees, so hopefully it wouldnt be too hard to get a mountain bike specific team started, since I'll be starting as freshman I'm not too sure what I'll encounter but other than that what were your biggest problems in putting together a team and building a DH course?
Kyle

Hardest things w/building a trail
getting people to help you build a trail
getting materials/money for your trail
finding time to build and go to school
in some cases getting permissions ( we have a bike friendly director so i guess we lucked out)
getting word out
People stealing your tools half way through doesnt help
Locals complaining didnt help
Dont get discouraged, continue to ask "why not?" when things go south

As long as you can get a group of dedicated souls together you should be able to do whatever you want

As far as forming the team for collegiate racing if your school is already registered for the road team you can just race with them. For the fall semester we race with our road/cycling team because they are registered with USAC but I started a seperate club at Clemson, Clemson Freeride that also operates independently in the off season ( spring and summer). Obviously it caters more towards the DH and FR people as we want to keep riding all the time. Our school required at least 12 people be interested and their student IDs. Filled out like 5 forms and about a week later we were a club, now we are a club sport as well as a non-profit social organization. This allows us to get our own funds from the school and accept donations. So really check into your school club hierarchy and see whats best for you and what steps you need to take with the school. Having a school club before you go ask to use school land will help you immensely. Or transfer to GA tech they give out money to their school clubs like its nothing, their paintball team has a $40k budget.

if you need more help IM me.

 

[JRogers]

Hardest things w/building a trail
getting people to help you build a trail
getting materials/money for your trail
finding time to build and go to school
in some cases getting permissions ( we have a bike friendly director so i guess we lucked out)
getting word out
People stealing your tools half way through doesnt help
Locals complaining didnt help
Dont get discouraged, continue to ask "why not?" when things go south

As long as you can get a group of dedicated souls together you should be able to do whatever you want

As far as forming the team for collegiate racing if your school is already registered for the road team you can just race with them. For the fall semester we race with our road/cycling team because they are registered with USAC but I started a seperate club at Clemson, Clemson Freeride that also operates independently in the off season ( spring and summer). Obviously it caters more towards the DH and FR people as we want to keep riding all the time. Our school required at least 12 people be interested and their student IDs. Filled out like 5 forms and about a week later we were a club, now we are a club sport as well as a non-profit social organization. This allows us to get our own funds from the school and accept donations. So really check into your school club hierarchy and see whats best for you and what steps you need to take with the school. Having a school club before you go ask to use school land will help you immensely. Or transfer to GA tech they give out money to their school clubs like its nothing, their paintball team has a $40k budget.

if you need more help IM me.

Agreed on most everything there. I raced for 4 years on my club team- DH and DS. Usually, I was the only person racing those events and often the only person from my school at the race (road was bigger for the team and I went to a small school- Middlebury College in Vermont). We would never have been able to run a race simply because we lacked the volunteer numbers to do it.

From my experience on the team and being the copresident of another club on campus, getting in good with the campus activities people is key. Often, they have very convoluted processes for getting funds, being recognized, etc. so getting to know the rules, following up and staying on top of administrative stuff is key.

 

[JRogers]

Oh, and back on topic, I'm not sure how I feel about this new rule; I certainly don't know the reasoning behind it.

And the complaints and questions from everyone made me happy that I went to school in the NE. Some of the races were pretty far, but we always had at least 3 races I could do within about 3 hours of campus.

 

[SuspectDevice]

This is hardly a shocking revelation. In my collegiate days ('99-'03) this was the rule. Suck it up kids.

 

[meatboot]

mattmatt86 and ridiculous...when i get to school at Chapel Hill I really want to get a mountain bike team started up, right now they only really have a road team but i was told that the club would cover mountain bike race entry fees, so hopefully it wouldnt be too hard to get a mountain bike specific team started, since I'll be starting as freshman I'm not too sure what I'll encounter but other than that what were your biggest problems in putting together a team and building a DH course?
Kyle

As an alum, I think your biggest issue is going to be lack of elevation.

There's already a dedicated cadre of builders in the area that I'm sure would be willing to pitch in if you were serious. UNC owns a large tract of land close to campus that's already liberally seeded with bandit XC trails and freeride stuff; they've decided to preserve most of it for recreational use (including MTB) rather than develop it. They're even taking about maybe possibly leaving some of the jumps alone, but I'll believe that when I see it. Having an active student group using them certainly wouldn't hurt the cause. Unfortunately, there's maybe a 100' elevation drop to the whole tract.

I'm not even sure that you'll need to start a new club. I was on the road team and still get their list serve; I know at least some of them do the local collegiate XC race in their Carolina jerseys.

You'll want to read www.trianglemtb.com and get involved with TORC.

 

[kona-rider]

thanks for the info meatboot. I guess i'll shortly find out if i can devote as much time to this as i would like.
Sorry for hijacking this thread.

 

[ridiculous]

thanks for the info meatboot. I guess i'll shortly find out if i can devote as much time to this as i would like.
Sorry for hijacking this thread.

of course you can, just add another year of school