Quantcast

National Series for the USA

downhill mike

Turbo Monkey
Mar 23, 2005
1,286
4
What is the National Series for the US?

I say it's the USA Cycling Pro GRT where Logan Binggeli and Jackie Harmony just claimed the number 1 spot.
Your opinions please.......
 

downhill mike

Turbo Monkey
Mar 23, 2005
1,286
4
Oops then. My mistake. The next USA Cycling Pro GRT (finals) at Northstar should be very exciting. So cool when it comes down the finals! Very exciting!
 

epic

Turbo Monkey
Sep 15, 2008
1,041
21
Judging by the fields of the GRT and the Grand Prix that were held 100 miles apart on the same day, I'd gave to say the GP is the National series. It kind of sucks to have the thing split. ChampCar/IRL didn't do well that way.
 

MFrider

Monkey
Jul 10, 2009
138
0
The East
Sorry to say, there is no national series. Pro GRT comes close, the Grand Prix is trying but cannot be a national series if it is not requiring the races to be sanctioned. Regional series like the Mtn States Cup and ESC are what are driving racing in the U.S. right now.

Top pro's are only hitting events that fit into their schedule. If Mt. St. Anne was not next week, the pro turn out for both of these races would have been even worse. Whiteface had less than 15 pro's?? How many did Sugarbush have??
The U.S. is still trying to "find itself" for a national series. Even the National Championships have been some what of a joke lately.
At least we have Gwin, Neko, Rude and Strobel along with a few others to keep our hopes alive.
 

davetrump

Turbo Monkey
Jul 29, 2003
1,270
0
What is the National Series for the US?

I say it's the USA Cycling Pro GRT where Logan Binggeli and Jackie Harmony just claimed the number 1 spot.
Your opinions please.......
Is that what your opinion is based on?

Did you even look to see some of the big names that raced the GP? Like Leov, Mulally, Kenne, Ropelato, Benedict, Memmelarr, Warren, Holden, Daney, etc?

http://m.pinkbike.com/news/USA-MTB-Grand-Prix-Sugarbush-VT-2012.html

Or is it because you are the promoter at Whiteface and the Grand Prix conflicted with your event?

We can all agree that the two events on the same weekend sucked for everyone and hurt both series. But don't try to justify that one event was more legit than the other.... Especially when one of the events was yours.
 
Last edited:

stiksandstones

Turbo Monkey
May 21, 2002
5,078
25
Orange, Ca
Truth

Sorry to say, there is no national series. Pro GRT comes close, the Grand Prix is trying but cannot be a national series if it is not requiring the races to be sanctioned. Regional series like the Mtn States Cup and ESC are what are driving racing in the U.S. right now.

Top pro's are only hitting events that fit into their schedule. If Mt. St. Anne was not next week, the pro turn out for both of these races would have been even worse. Whiteface had less than 15 pro's?? How many did Sugarbush have??
The U.S. is still trying to "find itself" for a national series. Even the National Championships have been some what of a joke lately.
At least we have Gwin, Neko, Rude and Strobel along with a few others to keep our hopes alive.
 

SuspectDevice

Turbo Monkey
Aug 23, 2002
4,155
355
Roanoke, VA
Sugarbush had 54 pro men, 6 pro women and 30 amateurs.

The fact that you can see Whiteface from the top of Sugarbush is criminal and it was heatbreaking to know that less than 2 hours away there was another racing going on that had tons of amateur racers that would have been really stoked to be around a solid handful of World Cup regulars.
 

Eastern States Cup

Turbo Monkey
Feb 29, 2008
2,465
2
East Coast
USA Cycling holds all the cards. The USAC Pro GRT is used for selection for the World Champs and petition selection to the World Cups. That alone was enough to align the ESC with the Pro GRT. Add to that USAC is the natrional federation that the UCI recognizes and it seems to be an easy answer.

USA Cycling recognizes the ESC as a Regional Championship that hosts 5 State Championships. USAC has been very supportive of the ESC and easy to work with. The Pro GRT did suffer the loss of it's "director" and had to regroup earlier this year but good things are in the works for 2013. One of the goals is to make hosting UCI events more friendly to promoters, I firmly support that.

Any promoter can come up with a fancy name for a series and call it what they wish. However with out USAC's blessing it is just that, a "fancy name".
 

gemini2k

Turbo Monkey
Jul 31, 2005
3,526
117
San Francisco
Couldn't for the 2013 season they split it West/East and have 1 final race in ssay New Mexico, Colorado type deal....... I know that would take meetings and agreements but that should be possible I hope.

Bingo. 2 regional races series with a National Champs in Colorado (roughly middle). It's the only thing that makes sense in a country as big as the U.S.

No national race series is legit without a Southern/Central California stop, and a Colorado stop. No exceptions.
 

Eastern States Cup

Turbo Monkey
Feb 29, 2008
2,465
2
East Coast
Bingo. 2 regional races series with a National Champs in Colorado (roughly middle). It's the only thing that makes sense in a country as big as the U.S.

No national race series is legit without a Southern/Central California stop, and a Colorado stop. No exceptions.
You have to understand this: A promoter has to petition to host a Pro GRT race. None did from the regions you mentioned. Talk to your regional promoters or do it yourself, pretty easy solution.
 

gemini2k

Turbo Monkey
Jul 31, 2005
3,526
117
San Francisco
You have to understand this: A promoter has to petition to host a Pro GRT race. None did from the regions you mentioned. Talk to your regional promoters or do it yourself, pretty easy solution.
I'm not saying that's not true. But if the Pro GRT promoters aren't reaching out to these places...then they're beyond incompetent. If you cared about the race series you were promoting and trying to make it legitimate (which none are) then you would try to seek out the best venues, which clearly they haven't.
 

gemini2k

Turbo Monkey
Jul 31, 2005
3,526
117
San Francisco
How about Wisconsin??? NORBA fit them in one season.
LOL. You ever see videos of that DH race? Clay Porter had a section in one of his super old school videos. It looked like it actually had one gnarly section, but that was it. Oh the good old days. I don't miss riding in Wisconsin. Well, just a little bit.
 

buildyourown

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2004
4,832
0
South Seattle
We need to give up the idea of a national series. It works in Europre, but the US is just too big, especially with travel costs what they are.
Regional series. One race as the National Championship.
The more competitive regional series do more to develop racers than the Norbas ever did.
 

epic

Turbo Monkey
Sep 15, 2008
1,041
21
We need to give up the idea of a national series. It works in Europre, but the US is just too big, especially with travel costs what they are.
Regional series. One race as the National Championship.
The old NORBA Series did a pretty good job.

I also think that having DH and XC National Champs split apart is a travesty.
 

Cant Climb

Turbo Monkey
May 9, 2004
2,683
10
LOL. You ever see videos of that DH race? Clay Porter had a section in one of his super old school videos. It looked like it actually had one gnarly section, but that was it. Oh the good old days. I don't miss riding in Wisconsin. Well, just a little bit.
Wasn't that DH course built on a Garbage Dump (proper term landfill)......?
 

ChrisKring

Turbo Monkey
Jan 30, 2002
2,399
6
Grand Haven, MI
Wasn't that DH course built on a Garbage Dump (proper term landfill)......?
No. The top of the hill was definatly man made though.

It was a good course even though it was short. It was technically more difficult than Big Bear was during the same year. Just shorter.

Anyway, very few people are going to travel to a national series. Multiple regional series with a national championships is a much better idea.

The east coast needs to unify soon. As someone pointed out above, the IRL/CART type of thing needs to stop as no one is benifiting with the current situation. You have the Eastern States Cup, Gravity East, ProGRT, and several other "local Series" overlapping. Each promoter would be money ahead if they ran just one race with 500 people at it instead of 5 races with 125 people. USAC needs to take charge of this.
 

stiksandstones

Turbo Monkey
May 21, 2002
5,078
25
Orange, Ca
Old Norba national series DID have a few years of great success and praise from racers and industry. And Do not seperate disciplines, you are so right. Just like the F@cking world champs this year in different venues, sooooooo stupid.

The old NORBA Series did a pretty good job.

I also think that having DH and XC National Champs split apart is a travesty.
 

bizutch

Delicate CUSTOM flower
Dec 11, 2001
15,928
24
Over your shoulder whispering
Can I get a two column chart that tells me what venues and dates are in these two separate series?
I can't make heads or tails of it to even contribute snide comment. Visually I can't wrap my brain around this, but I wanna blurt out at least half an opinion!
 

Cant Climb

Turbo Monkey
May 9, 2004
2,683
10
One of the most destructive elements of our sport over the years has been "canibalism" of promotors.

No one can get on the same page and it hurts the development of the sport......locally, regionally and national.

Not taking sides here.
I think they all have a tough job to do...a job i couldn't do.
I'm just saying.
 

fro biker

Monkey
Oct 18, 2006
162
0
in the sticks
This thread needs to be scrapped. It was a toll post and will lead to nothing more than split opinions on regional potential and half-baked ideas on how to promote and run events. This is a recycled conversation that was boring and beat to death many internet moons ago. I'm not sure if this was a constructive post or not, but this type of thread is Busch League/Busted Spoke hay-day jibber jabber.
 

Ithnu

Monkey
Jul 16, 2007
961
0
Denver
Bingo. 2 regional races series with a National Champs in Colorado (roughly middle). It's the only thing that makes sense in a country as big as the U.S.
You'd almost need 3, CO is roughly 1,000 miles from CA. From Denver it's 1,300 miles to Seattle. Big freakin' country. But East/West definitely.
 

ods

Monkey
Feb 22, 2008
389
0
Port Angeles
You'd almost need 3, CO is roughly 1,000 miles from CA. From Denver it's 1,300 miles to Seattle. Big freakin' country. But East/West definitely.
One more vote for this. The good news out of it all is the general growth of the sport. We've had 1350 attendees through the first 4 rounds of the NW Cup. Unfortunately our finals (part of the USGP are the same weekend as the finals of the Pro GRT....bring on the hate) From the promoter side, it is getting harder and harder to dance around dates. This year we had races on Easter, Mothers Day and Fathers Day avoiding other dates. Didn't seem to hurt attendance, but considering changing from NW Cup to Holiday Cup.
 

Eastern States Cup

Turbo Monkey
Feb 29, 2008
2,465
2
East Coast
One more vote for this. The good news out of it all is the general growth of the sport. We've had 1350 attendees through the first 4 rounds of the NW Cup. Unfortunately our finals (part of the USGP are the same weekend as the finals of the Pro GRT....bring on the hate) From the promoter side, it is getting harder and harder to dance around dates. This year we had races on Easter, Mothers Day and Fathers Day avoiding other dates. Didn't seem to hurt attendance, but considering changing from NW Cup to Holiday Cup.
haha, The ESC had/has Memorial, Labor and Columbus Days. Good thing July 4th is a Wednesday.
 

ballr

Monkey
Apr 7, 2002
165
0
colorado
JMO, but until these series (USAMTBGRTGPBLAHBLAHBLAH) step up and start running themselves professionally, the sport in our nation will flounder. Thank God for Gwin (get it?) and some of the others who are experiencing success on the world stage and helping the sport's image at home, because there are certainly no promoters in the U.S. right now who are doing ANYTHING to DEVELOP our beloved sport.

USAC/PROGRT don't give a rat's ass about gravity and have proven it decade after decade now. To sanction a series and not require its promoters to carry UCI accreditation or offer a reasonable pro purse is criminal IMO. Call it whatever you want, it's still small-time without those. How in the hell is a pro (already past junior status) supposed to build a racing resume to promote himself to the next level in this country, never mind make a modest enough living to pay bills and get to the next race?

If this sport weren't so great, no one in their right mind would spend every last saved dollar to travel around the country to a series offering a pittance for a purse with no UCI points - all in the name of garnering enough attention from a governing body who doesn't give a **** about you to get named to a national team that you have to pay to be on. Think about that for a minute.

JDD and his new series is no different, except there isn't a shot of UCI accreditation.

Until the sanctioning body and its promoters sacrifice up front to develop this sport, it's doomed to be small time, IMO. This will never happen though, because they don't give a ****. I encourage all of you to speak with your wallets, continue to rage on your steeds, and only support racing that builds our sport and gives back to its competitors.

*I should give a nod to the boys out west with the NW Cup. They seem to get it and I REALLY like going to their races. Well run, great tracks, put on by riders.
 
Last edited:

IH8Rice

I'm Mr. Negative! I Fail!
Aug 2, 2008
24,524
494
Im over here now
Combine ESC and GES.

Make a race almost every weekend. Must attend at least ten persay to attend nationals.Nationals would lead to UCI points!
haha

having a race every weekend or 15+ races doesnt make a "national series" or help anyone. and having to race in 10 races to qualify for nats is a dumb idea. as is having the nats the only UCI paying race.