USA Cycling Officials

February Rule of the Month
Post: Feb 8, 2013 by Tom Mahoney under category "Rule Interpretation"

As mentioned in the February TD Update, here's our very first Rule of the Month post:

1H4(c). Riders may choose to enter single-day individual time trials in their proper category or any higher category, but not a lower category.

The purpose of this rule was to allow riders who really like time trials but don’t like to ride criteriums or road races to compete in a category that is more appropriate for them. We currently have no TT-specific categorization, and riders cannot use TT’s to upgrade, so a TT specialist will be forever a cat 5, yet might be quite strong. Unfortunately, the unintended consequence of this rule may encourage riders to continually ride on one-day licenses on the grounds that if a rider can ride up in category, then all races could be thought of as being open to cat 5, which would make all races subject to one days. That was not the intent. Therefore, as a clarification, this ability to ride up in category at a TT is a benefit of holding an annual license.

Michael Ruder commented on Feb 8 2013 @ 19:38:20

report abuse

If all I want to do is TT\'s could there be a licence for just the TT\'s. I want to get more triathletes to our TT events. Most of them already hold a USAT licence and do not want to purchase another licence for a season of TT\'s. We may only have 4 a season. I know the benefits of both. Any thoughts to this?

Reply to this comment

Shawn Farrell replied to Michael Ruder on Feb 11 2013 @ 20:21:38

report abuse

I am not sure what you mean. The rule we just described was designed specifically for that scenario. A triathlete could purchase a one-day license or they could purchase and annual and ride whatever category they want in a TT. Isn\'t that the same as having a license for a TT?

Shawn Farrell commented on Feb 11 2013 @ 20:30:49

report abuse

Here is a follow up question that came from this discussion -- should a cat 5 rider be allowed to ride up into the cat 1-2 race at the State Championships? If a triathlete buys a license and wants to ride with the cat 1-2 and wins, do the cat 1-2 riders have a legitimate beef or should they just train harder?

Reply to this comment

John Tenney commented on Feb 14 2013 @ 19:08:15

report abuse

I feel for the USAT guy. It would be great if there was some cooperative exchange between USAC and USAT but I don\'t think the insurance companies would go for it. I like the idea of a smaller 1-day event license, since you can\'t use TT\'s to gain category.

Reply to this comment

Become a:

Create a:

Programs

USA Cycling Officials

Archives

Categories