That paragraph mentioned "elite" national championship events, which leads me to believe it was focusing more on elite road nationals, elite U23 nationals, etc., where NRC points were offered last year, but no foreign riders are even allowed to start those (must be a USACycling member). The pro-only races at the USPro champs in September were not on the NRC calendar at all (and aren't again). So the pro-only Downers Grove race is only one of the many events they're talking about here. I think they did this for uniformity and fairness, but not so much for the embarrassment of the stars and stripes to second place once again, though that very well could be part of it!

I guess I don't have a bead on how teams prioritize their schedules. If you're a pro team, do you send your foreign riders to Louisville for the NRC points or will you send them to Downers to help get the national championship? Do you send your squad to the crits in North Carolina or do you go for the big money at Elk Grove? Will we still be able to draw the likes of Rock Racing, Slipstream and Toyota-United to our biggest races? Have we seen the last of the Cuban Missile and the Clarke brothers?

That's a great point. Surely Elk and Downers will still bring big boys in. So we needn't despair so much.

No NRC Superweek stages is really unfortunate, though. The event's history alone isn't enough to attract such a high level of competition. Plus, I think Rock Racing only came this year because they missed out on 'Toona. I really hope I'm wrong on this one, but the Superweek Pro/1/2 races may be pretty low-key this year....

Meh, this is kind of a non-issue for Chicago. I can't think of any Chicago-teams competative in the NRC.

If anything, Superweek might be more competitive for the local guys, now that they won't have to fight for Rock Racing's scraps. Unless you like donating to the pros every weekend.

Shouldn't we be a little pissed about this? More importantly shouldn't the organizers of these races be upset? These races take a lot of effort to organize and to not draw the best riders....... I don't know, but it is hard to understand why all of our top races in the area got the shaft from NRC.

all the more reason for you guys to come up to Minneapolis for the NVGP :)

Now only if you could get them to put on some cat3 events...:)

I don't have a lot of personal insights into the thinking at USA Cycling, but it looks to me as though they've left all of the national championships off of the NRC and the USA Cycling Pro Tour. They may be thinking (as we do for ROY in Minnesota) that being a national championship is a very high status and that they don't also need to be part of a series to be a draw.

They also may be thinking that they're leveling the playing field. Looking over the NRC, I think that any pro or elite amateur can enter any of those races, giving them an fair chance at the series. In the past, pro and foreign riders weren't allowed to enter the elite nationals road race, for example, meaning that they had no shot at those points. Consistent with this thought, the USPro road race and TT aren't listed on the USA Cycling Pro Tour for 2008.

David LaPorte
Nature Valley Grand Prix

There is nothing scheduled for the weekend of August 9th and 10th on the NRC calendar USAC has posted. Is Downers or Elk Grove going to move to it?

I'd also like to add that this is only the first revision of the NRC calendar. Traditionally there are some changes between now and January.

If Downers and Elk keep the same sort of scheduling they had for the last two years, they'll probably be 9/10 (Elk) and 16/17 (Downers).

I agree with Mr. LaPorte about his line of thought on national championship events.

Matt: I think the lack of midwest NRCs is an issue for pro development teams in the area because those are the stages on which guys can prove they're ready to go pro. ABD, Turin, VQ, and other teams with young riders looking to make the step from Cat 1 to Pro are going to have to get more money to travel farther and show themselves on these events. Yes, I'd concede no local elite teams dominate NRC racing, but they often work to help put one rider in the fray—ABD obviously put all their energy into Baumann's U23 jersey at Virginia and that scored him a few months in Belgium with the national team and a spot with Sakonnet this year. Likewise, Mumford didn't kill everyone at Nature Valley year before last, but having some teammates looking after him to get that amateur classification really helped put him on the map (along with other great results that year). Rankings in such classifications can sometimes get you more recognition with the pro ranks you're looking to join, as opposed to dominance in local 1/2 races. I think Ebert could attest to this, witnessing the riders ABD graduated to the pro ranks over the years, no?

There is nothing scheduled for the weekend of August 9th and 10th on the NRC calendar USAC has posted. Is Downers or Elk Grove going to move to it?

That's the Olympic road race weekend, which could explain the gap.

Downers Grove makes a little more sense now. (Thanks, Seth and David, for setting me straight.) But it's still a bummer to lose Elk Grove and Superweek. I'd hate to see them reduced to just the regional teams, love them as I do.

I worry also about the women's races. Local women might be the big losers in this. How big and competitive will those fields be without the presence of Cheerwine, Hub, Tibco and friends?

If Downers and Elk keep the same sort of scheduling they had for the last two years, they'll probably be 9/10 (Elk) and 16/17 (Downers).

Last I heard, Elk Grove was going to be the first weekend of August.

We're all so impatient. Guess we'll just have to wait and see and hope the competition shows. If not, we'll have to become the killer competition!

Seth:

I don't disagree with anything you've said, but I still think Chicago and the midwest is one of the best areas to be based for bike racing for amateurs. Local NRC races or none.

Want to get noticed? Winning Downers Grove (Elite Championship) has almost guaranteed a pro contract, historically (Leogrande, Huff, Pipp, Rahsaan Bahati, to name a few). And no travel!

Superweek will continue to be the largest and longest-running race-series in the US and draw a lot of fast pros. You have to be able to do well at Superweek before you can aspire to do anything at a full NRC race.

Josh Carter (ABD) (more local to St. Louis) won Bensenville and got second at Downer's Grove. If that won't get you noticed, I'm not sure what will.

Not to mention, if you're chasing a pro contract, you have to do well on a national level...which has always meant traveling.

Downers Grove is only one race, but I do agree with you on that.

However, as long running as Superweek is, Rock Racing was really the only pro team to show up there. And, again, they didn't go to 'Toona, where all the others were. Other solid pros who showed up to Superweek were doing it as individuals (e.g. Rapinski, Dawson, Bergman, etc.). Maybe they could see you there and then give a recommendation to their team directors, but I think you have to show yourself in front of, and against, entire pro TEAMS.

Who is Josh Carter racing for next year? ABD again. Now, this isn't an insult to Josh or ABD; ABD is an awesome team and Josh is an extremely good rider (I wouldn't have been surprised to see him go pro for '08). But the fact remains that Bensenville and his other exploits in the midwest did not get him that contract this year. To go pro, I think he (or anyone really) has to go to Nature Valley or some NRC race where all the big pro teams (full teams) are and show 'em that you can go head-to-head with them there.

Beating Dawson and some Germans who are coming over to race for some bucks and to up the form for other target races isn't going to make as much of a statement as beating a bunch of entire pro teams in form at a bigger race, in front of their directors, no less.

Of course you're right on having to travel to get to those races. Still, it'd be nice if they had a few more around Chicago if they have a bunch in the northwest, west coast, southwest, south, southeast, mid-atlantic, and northeast already. What's obviously missing? Oh well, though. I guess the proposals from around here just didn't fit in with USAC this time. I should stop complaining and sounding so entitled about geographical distribution, though. We're privileged to have the great people around here put on the great races we have.

Had to chime in on this: Carter's results did result in offers, but he's happy where he's at. :)

Will we lowly amateurs be able to get the same attention without any NRC events? Well, that remains to be seen. We were planning on traveling a little more anyway.

Really? No kidding!

In any case, I do think having more NRC events ups the chances to compete on that stage against notable pro teams (and hence have the opportunity at more exposure to them), but, like you say, we'll just have to do what we can and see what happens in '08.

Perhaps the absence of NRC races in our area should be attributed not to the lack of NRC teams locally but to the actual races themselves and the event organizers...

Looking at the NRC calendar one sees some pretty awesome courses and locales... Not to piss on what we have as it could be argued that for an amateur bike racer this area is healthier than most, but for those looking to compete on a larger stage the local terrain, races, and way of doing things just doesn't seem to cut it.

Perhaps the event organizers are more interested in 3 waves of cat 5's @ $30 a piece than holding an NRC race...

One consideration they use is how much media attention a race generates. You might think a place like Boise wouldn't be on par with a suburb of Chicago. But the Wells Fargo Twilight Criterium was televised LIVE for two hours on TV there. And more than 25,000 people showed up to watch.

Superweek? ha ha ha ha.. Those knuckleheads don't have a clue! It's a shame Otto has been railed by such pathetic losers that now run superweek.

Superwhat?