In a similar vein, we like the relaxed standards around the number of starters required for pack finishes while completing a Category 4 to Category 3 upgrade. In our mind, if you lack the kick required to finish ‘in the points’ but are consistently finishing in the pack across 20 races (that’s a lot of races!) then you probably deserve an upgrade even if those races didn’t have the 50 starters required under the old rules. This is particularly true for women’s fields where we would guess the majority of races have < 50 starters. If anything, we wonder whether there should also be a ‘pack finish’ based option added for Category 2 upgrades - particularly for racers who face a lot of combined fields we could see “30 pack finishes in fields with 10 or more riders of a higher category” being a reasonable standard and one that would be more equitable for women racers who often face combined P/1/2/3/4/Novice or P/1/2/3 field structures (more on this point below).

Riders upgrading through the categories more rapidly, as predicted in the hypotheticals above, admittedly creates some fear around bike handling and crashes. But quantifying that risk is a challenge and our initial inclination is that allowing racers to progress more rapidly toward racing against their true peers (which seems to be a key tenet behind the existence of the category system) is a net positive for the new upgrade rules.

Category 3 and 4 Women’s license holders may still struggle to earn upgrade points. In the current landscape, where many race promoters offer only one combined Women’s field (aka W Category 1/2/3/4/Novice), Category 4 and 3 Women’s license holders may still find it difficult to upgrade via points. Consider this: if a combined field is scored based on raw finish across the line (rather than with separate scoring by category) then a lower category racer needs to beat higher category racers in order to earn upgrade points (i.e. in a Category 1/2/3 race, a Cat 3 racer will need to beat Cat 1/2 racers in order to earn points toward a Cat 2 upgrade). The alternative is to provide separate scoring by category, but in smaller fields the turnout may be insufficient to meet the minimum number of starters required to award upgrade points. As a result there are a lot of unknowns about how USAC’s new upgrade policy will impact Women’s racing, with much of the outcome reliant on how individual race promoters structure and score their races. More flexible definitions around pack based finishes should help when it comes to Category 3 upgrades, but more broadly we hope that promoters also do their part with a thoughtful approach to field field structures and scoring options to ensure a more equitable and enjoyable experience for lesser represented categories.

Race field structures matter as much as upgrade rules. In addition to the combined field points raised above, it is also important to recognize that when race directors run combined categories the impact of allowing high performing riders to upgrade more quickly can effectively be offset by field structure (i.e. a high performing Category 4 who upgrades to Category 3 would still race in the same field if a combined Category 3/4 structure is used). This is particularly true for Women’s racing where combined categories are the norm in the sport today - a Women’s license holder who is cracking terrific results could in concept upgrade faster under these new rules, but if the only field on offer is one combined Women’s Open Field (aka Category 1/2/3/4/Novice) then the overall race experience isn’t going to change under the new USAC policies - the remaining Category 4 riders will still be forced to compete with higher category/faster riders.

Everything is retroactive. Keeping with the simple is good theme, all of these changes are retroactive (subject to the 36 month look-back period in some cases), meaning you don’t have to try to calculate your points under the old system. In fact, with these changes some riders may have already qualified for the upgrades that they finished last year chasing. Two of our racers fit this description - so if you were close to an upgrade, check your points!