Earlier this month, Cyclingnews solicited our readers for questions for USA Cycling's CEO Derek Bouchard-Hall. The requests ranged from shrinking local racing, to elite racing, doping and why cyclo-cross Nationals are in January. Bouchard-Hall gave extensive answers to a select group of queries. We apologise that we could not get to them all.
Why does the US have Cyclo-cross Nationals in January? Since the move from December to January there has not been an large increase in races. Most people would enjoy to have their season end before Christmas. (Sean W)
Derek Bouchard-Hall: We have gotten this question a lot, and we are revisiting the timing of the event. Having the event in December created challenges in terms of school and holiday conflicts. Many also believed moving Nationals to January would lengthen the season and increase the number of races. But we need to look at the reality of what is happening with it in January and pros and cons vs. December.
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Our National Events team will survey the affected membership and key stakeholders, and based on what they learn we might make a change starting with 2019.
With the growing gran fondo, gravel grinder, unsanctioned 'race' scene, traditional race participation seems to have dropped off, along with the accompanying membership in USA Cycling. In light of this, are there any changes that are being discussed to put traditional races back on people's calendars? For myself personally, if I was able to race my usual category (Cat. 3) with a one day license, I would definitely toe the line at a handful of races every year. As it stands, I don't race enough to justify buying an annual license, but I'd love to race a few times. The rules as they are written now, effectively prevent me from racing at all without an annual license. (Chris E., Denver, CO, former USAC member)
DBH: You correctly identify a very important trend in cycling today – the shift in participation toward non-traditional events like gran fondos and gravel grinders. While this is challenging for traditional racing participation, and for USA Cycling given our business model being based on traditional racing, I would like to emphasize that this is actually a positive trend for the sport of cycling overall in terms of providing a wider array of event types to introduce people to cycling events.
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