New for 2013 USA Cycling rule change:

1E6: Category 5 established for men in cyclo-cross and upgrade system changed to resemble the road more. There will be voluntary upgrades and mandatory upgrades based on points. Cat 5 to Cat 4 upgrade by experience only.

Full upgrade section with new rule changes:

1E6. Cyclo-cross Upgrades and Downgrades

Cyclo-cross categories are upgraded similarly to road category upgrades using the system below:

(a) Requirements for upgrading:

5-4: Experience in 10 races is a mandatory upgrade.

4-3: Voluntary upgrade with 10 points. Fifteen points or two wins if the field had at least 30 competitors is amandatory upgrade.*

3-2: Voluntary upgrade with 15 points. Twenty points or two wins if the field had at least 30 competitors is a mandatory upgrade.*

2-1: Voluntary upgrade with 20 points. Twenty-five points or two wins if the field had at least 40 competitors is a mandatory upgrade.

*Juniors are exempt from this mandatory upgrade

(b) Points awarded for Cyclo-cross Races

Number of Starters Placing 5-10 11–20 21–50 50+ 1 3 4 5 7 2 2 3 4 5 3 1 2 3 4 4 1 2 3 5 1 2 6 1

(c) USA Cycling may add additional requirements for upgrading at their discretion. Any such changes shall be made available on the website.

(d) Cyclo-cross Conversion

Cyclo-cross (CX) categories may also be upgraded by conversion from a rider’s earned road or mountain bike (MTB) cross country (XC) category. If during the season, a rider upgrades his or her road or XC category, the cyclo-cross category can be upgraded to match the road or XC category shown below by request of the rider or by request of the administrator.

Complete USA Cycling Rulebook can be found here: http://www.usacycling.org/forms/rules/2013-USAC-Rulebook.pdf