GamJams Survey: The Automatic Upgrade

One of the harsh facts about racing is thus: No matter how strong you feel on a particular day, only one rider gets the win. And, odds are, it won't be you.

The consolation prize is consistency. You may not win, but a steady showing throughout the season could mean a series victory when it's all said and done. And that, no matter where you live, usually means free entry fees in that series next season.

But alongside those series points, USA Cycling upgrade points are being tallied as well. And when you hit the magic number — 40 upgrade points in 12 months to go from Cat. 3 to 2 — you're out. Welcome to Cat. 2 ... and congrats to the new Cat. 3 series leader.

It's probably safe to say many riders are aiming for that Cat. 2 upgrade, but it's also likely many riders in the peloton want the series win. Should the rider have a say in upgrading if the ultimate goal is the series win? Or should it be a by-the-book interpretation of the rules?

Comments

[Anon]

This poll brings up an additional question: Is anyone somewhat mystified by how the upgrade process in MABRA works? We've all heard horror stories of upgrade requests taking weeks to process. Any thoughts?

[Karen]

We have a bad problem with people in the VA BAR not upgrading so that they can win the BAR... rules is rules.

[DJ Brew]

At what point does going for the bar become sandbagging? It seems like that line is pretty blurry.

[Tim C]

sandbaggers suck, end of story.

[Mike May]

Under the forced upgrade rules, the only way to win the BAR outside of the elite and age-graded categories is to either be not as fast as the people in your cat who got upgraded mid-season, or else to run up your points in races with BAR points but not upgrade points - principally TTs, but also races with smaller fields that don't carry as many upgrade points. In neither scenario is the BAR winner what anyone would think of as a Champion.

Here's an issue where USA Cycling and the Local Associations need to get on the same page. Particularly regarding Cat 3s (men and women), as they are racing not just for bragging rights, but for reduced entry fees the following year.

[cs]

I say get rid of the BAR, it promotes bad racing. ..here in VA it's more of ''attendence award'' than actually racing your bike. ..how can you get dropped from a race and still collect BAR points is beyond me.

[Tim]

I'll quote Pete:

"Some like to show their successes, others enjoy the struggle."

Upgrade!

[Fabrizio]

One or the other needs to go. Either the MABRA Bar needs to go away, or automatic upgrades have to wait until the end of the season after every rider has had the chance to participate a full season in the MABRA Bar series.

I don't think this is merely a Cat 3 issue, because I believe (i.e., I could be wrong) Jose, Brigham, and Jorge all received automatic upgrades last year and they were all less than 10 points away from the 150 total points required to win the Cat 4 Bar. Jorge ended up beating Jose by a point and I think the points were something like 143, 142, and 141 between those 3 guys.

Now, if a rider elects to upgrade in the middle of the season and has no intent on pursuing the MABRA Bar win (e.g., DJ), then so be it. That is their choice.

One other way to do it is to give the jersey and reduced entry fees to anybody that gets an automatic upgrade in the middle of the season. However, this would probably result in more than a single person within the category getting reduced entry fees next year (e.g., Wahl, Elliot).

[Tom]

Why not just raise the number of points required for a mandatory upgrade? For a 3-to-2 permissive upgrade, it's 25 points. A mandatory upgrade is only 15 more. That's not a big enough delta for guys who have families and jobs and don't want to go to the elite level but still want to be competitive and win a few races each year.

[BJ]

Maybe the rule just need to be changed to say if you get more than X points in 12 months, the rider must upgrade before the start of the next season.
I have a little issue with riders being forced to upgrade, mostly for those riders who may be consistent, but have not gotten an actual win. Working with riders at all levels, I have seen how different they will race once upgraded if they have actually gotten a W versus a bunch of top 5s.

[Fabrizio]

Tom,

There are ways to avoid the automatic upgrade. Once you get close to the number of points, if you don't want to upgrade but want to have some fun racing, try to help out those teammates that want the upgrade points. Nothing like giving a leadout to a teammate or chasing down a break for a teammate. Or, just try to help other teammates get on the podium even if they aren't close to an upgrade. Me, I've got 15 upgrade points right now and over 10 top 10's to go from a 4 to a 3, but I've hardly been riding since RSR and only have 800 miles total in this year, so I am hemming and hawing about going from a 4 to a 3 because my son was just born 2 months ago and my daughter just turned 2 three months ago. Life is busy.

BJ,

The rule is a USCF nationwide rule, with I believe an exception to it if you request in writing a "pass" or whatever it is called because you are pursuing a title. I read the rule a month or so ago when Wahl was being upgraded, but I cannot remember all of it. So, this would have to be a rule change at the national level, or the MABRA upgrade coordinator would just have to look the other way regarding upgrades, until that sandbagging Cat 3 wins Nationals. A lot of race results are available online, so it isn't too hard to see who the sandbaggers are.

Me, I wonder if upgrade points are kept track of as closely as BAR points are kept track of. It cannot be easy to keep track of upgrade points when racers can race all over the nation. Anybody know if there is some sort of national system to track upgrade points?