USA Cycling statistics show there werenearly 72,000 cyclo-cross race starts this year – double that of fiveyears ago. That number is predicted to rise dramatically when the UCI Cyclo-Cross World Championships takes place in Louisville, Kentucky in 2013.
The sport has gone from a rugged off-seasonpastime to a fully fledged professional season consisting of 381 events on theUSA Cycling calendar and 56 UCI-sanctioned events across the country.
The boom in the number of participants isn't down to the Elites, who are limited to 80 riders per field, but the growing number of category level racers – Masters, Men’s Category 3 and4, Women and Juniors – who flock by the hundreds (in some case thousands) todabble in the weekend fun.
The question is: how much fun can a categoryracer have while competing against 150-plus racers on a standard 3km course? Furthermore, are these people receiving thequality experience that they're paying for?
Major growth, if unexpectedly
When approached by BikeRadar, USA Cycling’s chief executive officer, SteveJohnson, said there had been several consequences of thefast growth of cyclo-cross as a competitive discipline in the US. He wenton to outline some of the strategies that the sport's governing body isdeveloping to maintain (and even improve) customer satisfaction.
“Cyclo-cross offers a great venue because you can see thewhole race. Significant others and spectators can come and watch everybodyracing, and that's unique,” said Johnson. “The lengths of the races are very rider-friendly,ranging from 45 minutes to one hour; a nice brisk workout.
“But we’ve had an interesting evolution ofcyclo-cross as a discipline. No-one ever contemplated that it wouldturn into such a large-scale participation discipline. We're very excited about that, and I believe a lot of the growth andinterest in the non-UCI categories was driven by the UCI calendar growth.”
UCI-sanctionedElite races have undoubtedly done their bit to raise the profile of the sport, and USA Cycling governed areas such as New England and California remain hotbeds of 'cross. But there's also been rapid growth in cities such as Portland, governed by the Oregon Bicycle Association (ORBA), and Boulder, Colorado, governed by the American Cycling Association (ACA).
“Lot of factors have contributed to the growthof this sport across the country,” Johnson said. “What we're running into atthis point in time are issues associated with our own success and how we haveto handle those. The problem now is that we need to create structure around asport that's grown so dramatically. Cyclo-cross came from a time when itdidn’t need a lot of structure to a time – now – when it does.”
100 riders, a default limit
The UCI(International Cycling Union) considers a field size over 80 riders ‘unethical’. However, it's common forAmerican promoters to allow 150-plus riders in category level events. USA Cyclingrecently announced that it will enforce a 100-rider default limit for categoryfields in the 2011-2012 calendar year. According toJohnson, that number can be increased with the agreement of the chief officialon-site at any event.
“We decidedthat 100-rider default was reasonable,” Johnson said. “It does become an issuewhere the promoter will need to work with the chief referee based on thecharacteristics of the course – how long it is, how difficult it is and the timeof the lap. Together they determine whether or not the course can hold morethan 100 riders. Everyone must agree that it can hold 100 without degrading therider’s experience or making it too complicated to accurately score.”
One of the many massive fields of racers associated with Oregon's Cross Crusade
Similarly,the ACA, Colorado’s licensing body, currently enforces a 125-rider field limitunless otherwise stated by the promoter or chief referee. According to ACA executive director Jon Tarkington, the number of riders permitted on course is best determined by the amount of time it takes to complete onelap, with seven-plus minutes being the optimum.
In response to the rise in entries, the ACA have announced several changes to thestructure of their sanctioned cyclo-cross race weekends for the 2011 season.These include: sub-dividing the Senior Masters 35+ from Cat 4, whichfrequently approaches more than 100 racers; separating the Senior Masters 45+from the Senior Women Open; and allowing for clear and distinct courseinspection times, while ending the practice of allowing riders to warm-up oncourse during other races.
“We're trying to figure out a way to encourage thecontinued growth of fair, competitive racing by exploring options that allow atentative two-day format to have no more than 80 racers total, in one to tworace groups, on the course at any given time,” Tarkington said.
PacificNorthwest: Mass participation versus fair competition
ORBAgoverns the Portland-based series Cross Crusade – a good example of the wildgrowth in participation, with 200-plus racers lining up in eachcategory, totaling approximately 1,100 racers at a venue in one day. Series director Brad Ross is opposed to enforcing field limits at his events because the aim is to provide an entry-level cyclo-cross experience, not ahigh-caliber competition.
“I thinkoffering field size limits depends on what kind of a race you're putting onand what the promoter’s motive is," Ross said. “The Cross Crusade’s motive isto promote the sport of cyclo-cross and show the sport to anyone who might beinterested in coming out and giving it a try. It's against our charter for usto impose field limits in our races. We want to introduce this sport topeople.
“On theother hand, UCI races and series like the US Gran Prix of Cyclo-cross needfield limits because they're races of a different level and a higher profile. Our series is an entry point and as an entry point event we can’thave field limits. Our events are about having fun and for us, it’s a goodplace to make friends with other people; they race and then later on they cancheer for the other categories while drinking beer and eating a bratwurst.”
Courses: Timing is everything
The UCI established a standard course length of 2.5-3.5km that is generally followed in category level eventsheld prior to Elite races. However, USA Cycling’s Johnson noted that theamount of time it takes to complete a lap of the circuit is more important thanthe distance when determining field sizes.
“An eight- to 10-minute circuit can easilyhandle 125 to 150 riders per category,” he said. “Complications arisewhen promoters allow large fields on courses that take less than eight minutesto complete.
"In speaking with organizers and riders, there's a lot ofvariability between the length of the course and the number of riders that thecourse can hold. If the course is a six-minute lap then 100 riders are aboutall you can hold without degrading the experience of the participants.”
Wider, less technical courses help promoters deal with fields inexcess of 100
Ross designs his courses to accommodate hundreds ofparticipants. His circuits areroughly 4km long and take around nine minutes to ride perlap. They're also wider than average to provide ample room for riders to move around, andless technical, to avoid injuries.
“It’s just because we have so many people on course and we're always concerned with safety,” Ross said. “The reason we make our courseslonger and wider is so that the people who start in 100th place can still getthemselves into a situation where they're competing in the race.”
The price of balancing the books
With the exception of Cross Crusade, some of the biggestcategory fields in the nation are held in conjunction with events that alsohost UCI-sanctioned Elite races, such as the Cycle-Smart International inNorthampton, Massachusetts and the Boulder Cup in Colorado. Promoters rely onregistration profits from the large number of category racers to pay for thecost of putting on the event. USA Cycling and ACA’s enforcement of smallerfield sizes could potentially limit the amount of money a promoter can make.
The fees associated with running a cyclo-cross raceinclude the cost of the venue, fencing, timing, officials, rider insurance andprize lists. For example, the Verge New England Championship Cyclo-cross Series(NECCS) sets a standard entry rate between $15 and $35 per rider – an amountthat will allow its promoters to pay the event’s expenses. Series directorAdam Myerson operates NECCS rounds five and six at the Cycle-SmartInternational event on a $40,000 budget and expects to make roughly the sameamount back from entry fees.
“We judge the market and what it costs to put our races onwith what kind of turnout we expect because we don’t want to lose money,”Myerson said. “We have a small amount of sponsorship that helps cover the costof running an event and then I have to raise the rest of that in entry fees. Mygoal is just to not lose money and it isn't to profit on the race.”
However, paying the entry fee does not always guaranteea quality experience, especially if the promoter allows a largenumber of riders on a course that's of an inadequate length. Riders who startnear the back of a 150-rider field can be pulled from the race by officials ifthey're lapped by the lead riders, sometimes within the first thirdof the event.
“You can’t really make a profit off of registration fees,unless you have thousands of riders in a day on a grassroots style course,”Myerson said. “But when you start to approach 200 riders per field, ethically,the promoter should start thinking about designing longer courses or having asmaller field because riders are trying to race for results." He added: "Large fields mightwork well in a place like Portland where people are really wanting to go outthere and just have fun.”
Chiptiming technology: A better experience?
USA Cycling recently approvedchip timing as a legitimate scoring method to accurately identify racers andcalculate results. The technology helps officials keep better track ofparticipants in a large field and could be the solution that allows riders tostay in the race without getting pulled.
However, while it may keep riders from getting pulled, itadds a new element to the races, especially for those contesting the win. Thoseleading riders will be forced to negotiate lapped riders as well as theircompetition and the course. If a promoter chooses to use chiptiming, they'll still require an official to hand score results at the finishline.
“Ibelieve the introduction of chip timing is a nice technical benefit for boththe riders and the officials,” said Mark Legg-Compton, Masters racer and husband to multiple national 'cross champion Katie Compton. “The officials can use it for scoring riders,although I’ve seen what happens when timing chip failures occur and theofficials didn’t run a manual scoring of the race. The result was a lot ofuncivilized behavior from the riders.”
“The traditional method of scoring is visually, with spottersand officials trying to figure out who's on what lap every time the racerscome around,” Johnson said. “The natural tendency is to just start pullingriders to make it simpler. Frankly, our preference is to let people stay in therace, enjoy the full 45 minutes and finish on whatever lap they finish on.”
According to arecent press release from USA Cycling, the chip scoring systems are designed tocomplement what officials already do at the event and add value for the riders. The chips add another layer of identification every lap that allowsthe officials to verify the information they've gathered or to fill ininformation they may have missed. This stilldoesn’t address the issue of faster riders needing to ride through the tail endof their field.
“The80 percent rule is working well to prevent lapped riders from interfering withthe front end of the field and I believe removing it or allowing lapped ridersto continue will interfere with the running of the front end of the field,” saidLegg-Compton. “Either direction we go in, whether it’s allowing lapped ridersto continue on course or pulling them, it will remain the paradox of Masterscyclo-cross racing without a clear and balanced answer for all athletes. I onlyhope we don’t burn both ends of the field and lose them from participating inraces like the USGP series.”
A bettersystem: National rankings in the works
UnlikeUCI Elite men and women, who are seeded and started according to points,category racers don't line up on the start line in any particular order,unless they've racked up points by racing the event’s corresponding series.Some promoters line riders up based on series points, others base it on when they register or draw random race numbers to determine startspots. USACycling is in the process of developing a nationwide points system that rankscategory riders appropriately throughout the season.
“There's an issue with how to start riders,”Johnson said. “From our perspective, one of the solutions going forward is todevelop a more robust ranking system to generate points and rankings foreverybody so that we can begin to line folks up in a rational and thoughtfulmanner, at the non UCI category races. We're working hard withcyclo-cross promoters and our internal staff to develop that technology.”
USA Cycling is currently working on two typesof ranking systems. The first will allow racers to accumulate points in USACycling-sanctioned events across the country, much like the UCI’s pointsstructure. The second will involve a penalty based scoring system, similar to skicompetition. "We're looking at both structures right now,”Johnson said. “Over the course of the next few months we'll make a decisionon the points structure and start to do the necessary programming to have itready for next year. We'll introduce it for 2012.”
USA Cycling will be hard at work over the next few months developingthe national points ranking system, chip timing technology and consideringcourse standards with respect to large field sizes. Theemphasis is on providing its members with the bestpossible bike racing experience. “Fromour perspective, we're certainly aware of the growth and we want to make surethat we take every step possible to ensure that the quality of the participants'experience is maintained and even enhanced,” Johnson said. “We're focused onour events and the quality of the customer experience.”
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