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 .

Short Track Not Included at Some US Cup Races

Interesting to see MTB promoters moving away from Short Track, especially as Cyclocross interest is growing:

After several years of inclusion in the national race series the Short Track Cross Country (STXC) will not be included at some events on the 2009 U.S. Cup circuit, including races that are part of the Pro XC Tour. Tom Spiegel, Director of west coast operations at the U.S. Cup said, "putting together a new series was a big undertaking time, money and energy were directed toward cross country [Olympic distance cross country]."

For that reason, races on the U.S. Cup and Pro XC Tour schedule will have the option of including Short Track in their events at the promoters discretion, it will not be required. According to USA Cycling's Kelli Lusk, "The Pro XCT is structured around XC-Olympic (XCO), so it’s the only discipline being tabulated into the rankings." Although Short Track will not be included in the Pro XC Tour it will be included in the Mountain Bike National Championships in Sol Vista, Colorado.

At this point, the Sea Otter Classic is the only race on the Pro XC Tour that will be hosting a Short Track race. The events in Fontana and Birmingham will not be including Short Track. Event schedules for the race dates in Colorado Springs, Mount Snow, Windham, and Las Vegas are not available at this time.

Via MTB Race News.

2009 RideSB Race Calendar

The good folks down south at RideSB have announced their 2009 Schedule.

Jan 1: 2nd Annual New Years Day at the Ranch
April 23-26: Santa Ynez Valley US Mt. Bike Cup
May 3: Cowpie Invitational (SoCal High School Race)
May 16-17: SG Dirt Club 24 Hour Mt. Bike Race
June 13-14: SGDC Summer Series Race #1
July 18-19: SGDC Summer Series Race #2
Aug 22-23: SGDC Summer Series #3
Sept 26-27: SGDC Summer Series Finals
Oct 30-Nov 1 24 Hours of Chamberlin Ranch
Nov 14-15 UCSB Cowpie Classic
Dec 5-6 SGDC Holiday MTB Weekend

While the Santa Barbara area is a bit of a drive, they are the closest non-Sea Otter US MTB Cup race.