2012 Rock N Road West Series Cup Announced

Big changes in the US Cup this year ...

The US Cup announced its 2012 calendar including the Rock N Road Cup West race series, the California state mountain bike championships, a 50-mile race series and a mountain bike gran fondo.  In contrast to previous news, the US Cup will be hosting one, not two rounds of the US Pro Cross Country Tour (US Pro XCT) ...

For next year, the US Cup will also offer an "amateur" version of the Triple Crown series in which Cat. 1 19-49 riders can compete against one another in short track, super D, time trial and short track events each weekend. The rounds of the Rock N Road Cup which will be designated as Triple Crowns are Vail Lake, Bonelli and Santa Ynez.

... Finally, the addition of the inaugural Catalina Island MTB Grand Fondo on May 12 will mark the first time the US Cup will be organizing a mass ride event. This will be the first time in the island's history it has hosted a mountain bike ride, and it will grant riders special one-time access to sections of the TCT (Trans Catalina trail) for the event.

2012 Rock N Road Cup West Series presented by Specialized
March 3-4: Vail Lake Triple Crown
March 10-11: Bonelli Triple Crown (also US PRO XCT round 2) 
March 25: Fontana (no longer a US Pro XCT round) 
April 1: Riverside 
April 28-29: Santa Ynez Triple Crown 
May 20: Sage Brush 
June 3: Big Bear & Series Finals

California State Cross Country Championships June 17 - Big Bear

Catalina Island MTB Gran Fondo May 12th - Inaugural edition

50-Miler Race Series
May 20: Sage Brush (also a US Pro UET round)
June 3: Big Bear (also a US Pro UET round)
TBD: Third race

Via Cyclingnews.com

US Cup Re-announced 2010 Dates

A little more clarity on the 2010 US Cup schedule:

The US Cup is pleased to announce the 2010 dates for its inaugural Triple Crown All Mountain Series.
 
The opening round of the US Cup Triple Crown All Mountain Series will be held at Bonelli Park on March 13-14.  The second round will incorporate the Mountain States Cup series at Chalk Creek Stampede May 15-16 and the final has been awarded to Massanutten resort on June 19-20th.  This concept embraces all parts of the country and we hope the racers will be excited to see a US Cup triple crown come to their home town race.

“The Triple Crown All Mountain series will test the rider’s ability in multiple disciplines to declare the Triple Crown All Mountain winner.  We have decided to make this series more appealing to the riders, sponsors and media by incorporating Cross Country, Super D and Short Track into the series concept," continues Kady.  “A rider’s best 2 of 3 events will be calculated to crown a winner at each race and ultimately the overall series Champion.” 
 
In addition the US Cup will continue with its network of Kenda Cup’s, that act as local and regional qualifiers. The Kenda Cup’s feature over 15 locations across the US, from Ashland Oregon to French Lick Indiana. The US Cup Invitational shootout will be on September 11-12, The US Cup will also manage a high level west coast based series that incorporates the Triple Crown opener, Pro XCT race and other California favorite venues.
 
Look for more details on Triple Crown scheduled payout and presenting and naming sponsors of this inaugural event as well as updates to our ever growing Kenda Cup qualifiers.

Via US CUP Mountain Bike Race Series

USAC and MTB Cup Split Over ProXCT

Oh, the drama.

If you haven't been following the interwebs this week, here is what you've missed:

The people behind the US MTB Cup (and the ProXCT, which is US mountain biking's one year old Pro Tour) and the USAC (USA Cycling, which used to sponsor NORBA and is the Olympic governing representation for US Cycling) had a falling out over the cost/scheduling of UCI (i.e. World Championship Pro Tour) events. USA Cycling (which I will call USAC from now on) wants demands them, US MTB Cup people say they are too expensive and only benefits a small handful of riders (both probably true).

You can read the expert analysis of the donnybrook at Velonews and CyclingNews.

So what does this mean for NorCal racers ? Probably nada.

USAC will have an abbreviated ProXCT Series to keep their precious UCI points (and save face):

USA Cycling will continue the 2010 Pro XCT with the nation’s three remaining UCI inscripted events: the Bump ‘N Grind in Birmingham, Alabama on June 5; the Subaru Cup, slated for June 26 in Wautoma, Wisconsin; and the Carmichael Training Systems International Classic in Colorado Springs, Colorado on July 10.

The US MTB Cup people will press on with their series also:

“The US Cup is now working on the soon-to-be-released US Cup Mountain Bike Racing League (US Cup MBRL),” said Tedro. “We have over 20 events committed to being a part of the US Cup MBRL and we are very excited about that.”
Tedro said that the company plans to release details of the series later this week.

This will probably include the first three events (all SoCal-based) from the earlier announced ProXCT schedule.

For 99% of MTB racers (and maybe 100% in NorCal), this whole kerfuffle means nothing other than the name of the sponsors on the banners. However, it does continue to demonstrate that MTB racing has failed to gain a critical mass here in the US (which may be good or bad depending on your view). This is now the third major split/reorg/failure of Pro MTB racing series in the last five years (NORBA, NMBS, ProXCT) ...

2010 US Cup To Add Venues

According to MTB Race News, next year's US Cup is expanding:

While the 2010 US Cup schedule has yet to be released MTBracenews has learned that two new venues will be added to next year's series. Included in the 2010 US Cup races will be Mt. Morris, Wisconsin and Bonelli Park, California.

Mt. Morris hosts the Subaru Cup and is part of the Wisconsin Off-Road Series (WORS). WORS is the largest mountain bike racing series in the United States. Just last week, WORS director Don Edberg told MTBracenews, "WORS has had another great year in 2009, for the first time since 2002 we are set to increase our numbers. Right now we are averaging about 680 racers per event."

Via MTB Race News: Eatough To Retire After Moab, US Cup 2010 Adds New Venues

Short Track Returns To US Cup

The Short Track pro races have returned to select stops on the US Cup circuit:

Short track, the fast and furious format of cross-country mountain bike racing, is coming back to the top end of American mountain bike racing.

The ShoAir-Specialized US Cup, the new 13-race series of cross-country mountain bike races nationwide, will feature three stand-alone short track events this year. The races will be held at the April 19 Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, California; the August 16 Yankee Clipper at Windham Mountain, New York; and the September 26 U.S. Cup finals in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The three-race series will be called the Trailwatch.net Triple Crown Short Track presented by Escape Adventures.

The US Cup received the resources to offer the three races from Trailwatch.net and EscapeAdventures.com. The latter is an eco-friendly cycling and multisport tourism outfitter.

Via VeloNews .

2009 US Cup Schedule Finalized

Details (and a schedule) have materialized for the 2009 US Cup, the successor to the now defunct Norba / NMBS series:

"California-based mountain bike race promoters have finalized plans for the 2008 U.S. Cup, a 13-race series set to become the premier cross-country racing series on American soil ... The U.S. Cup is comprised of previously established cross-country races, and is split into two six-race sub series, called the Kenda Cup East and Kenda Cup West ... All 12 races will operate under the wing of the U.S. Cup series, which will hold a series championship on September 26 at the Interbike trade show in Las Vegas.

Kenda Cup West
March 11, Bonelli Park XC Race. San Dimas, CA
March 28-29, Fontana National. Fontana, CA
April 5, Sage Brush Safari. San Diego, CA
April 15, Sea Otter Classic. Monterey, CA
April 25-26, Santa Ynez Valley Classic. Los Olivos, CA
June 6-7, Santa Barbara Bike Festival. Santa Barbara, CA

Kenda Cup East
May 3, SERC No. 5. Ducktown, TN
May 31, Bump and G.rind. Birmingham, AL
June 6, Massanutten Hoo-Ha. Massanutten, VA
June 21, Cowbell Challenge. Davidson, NC
August 8-9, Snow Shootout. Mount Snow, VT
August 15-16, Windham Cup. Windham, NY

August 26, U.S. Cup Unification Race. Las Vegas, NV"

Full story available at VeloNews | New American MTB Series for 2009.

While there aren't really any races in NorCal (other than the Sea Otter), the Las Vegas "Unification Race" sounds intriguing.

2009 Sea Otter Classic Schedule Published

The Sea Otter folks have published the schedule (PDF) for next year's kickoff down in Monterey, CA.

No major surprises but they have continued with the "let's get the slow amateurs off the course early" scheduling on the XC races again this year. Beginners (which I think are cat 3 now) are on a weekend-warrior friendly Friday afternoon at 1 pm and Sport (cat 2) start at 7:30 AM on Saturday. Super D is also on Friday.

NMBS Morphs Into US Cup For 2009

Here is a really good and in-depth article from The Cycling News about the death of the long running NORBA Nationals / NMBS series and the new US Cup series that hopes to take it's place:

"With the demise of the National Mountain Bike Series (NMBS) held annually in the United States, North American mountain bikers were left wondering 'What's next?'. Going into the 2009 season, Team Sho-Air's Scott Tedro has stepped up to lead an effort to create a new national-level series: the US Cup.

The proposed US Cup would include races in Fontana, Laguna Seca and Los Olivos, California; Fountain Hills, Arizona; Angel Fire, New Mexico; Windham, New York; and Mt. Snow, Vermont, many of which were popular NMBS venues. Nearly all of the races, running from late March through early August, would award UCI points. Furthermore, the series would pay equal prize money to elite men and women and aim to provide a 'very rewarding' experience for amateur racers."

The only NorCal events on this year's US Cup schedule are the Sea Otter Classic (Monterey, CA) and the Santa Ynez Cup (Los Olivos, CA).