2011 Pro GRT Race Schedule

Wild Bill Kelso

2/27/2011 11:21 AM

This much snow in Truckee this time of year is not a really big deal. Now if we see storms like this in late April or May worry. My concern is this. I run a pro development team and the way that USAC has all the upgrade rules set up each one of my riders now has to have a perfect season with not a single bobble, puncture, or mechanical if they want to upgrade from cat 1 to pro. So let me be clear that my issues are not with Dylan whatsoever; it's with the system.

The way I see it regional events feed state events, and that feeds the national event numbers. Works for BMX, and Road quite well! Downhill in itself is a different breed. We have non-sanctioned races feeding a state championship series that is spotty at best. Heck in one of the larger demographics in the U.S. California does not have a USAC sanctioned state DH series. So yes we have a good scene building again, but we need to get them back under USAC to make them count for points. I am putting pressure on the management at Northstar at Tahoe to turn the series up here into the CA state series. If the guys that runs the winter DS series in the Sf bay area also goes USAC sanctioning then we have year around gravity racing that counts.

Now I know what you are all saying. "I don't want to give USA Cycling a dime I don't care for them because they don't care for us". A very true statement that I myself have repeated for years. That being said I feel it's up to us the riders to push this sport in a positive direction. The only way to do that is to show USAC the money. Two ways of doing that in this day and age. Find a cagillionaire that wants to invest a couple mil into the USAC gravity (HA!) program or the GRT (I'm sure JDD would be stoked on the latter). Let's cut all the BS and PC ASAFP OK. It's what the roadies did! Let's go a little further and say that we are not that crowd so what can we do? Increase numbers to our side of the "program". Get these local series back to USAC! They sure put a ton of energy our way back in the day when numbers were up... So let's all make an effort to get those numbers up. Simply sitting back boycotting races and/or USA Cycling has only hurt the sport.

Now before ANY of you sit there and think "who the hell is this guy and what has he done". Well I have helped pushed an entire mountain in a direction sometimes by force, formed a very large team to compete on the GRT, and help my fellow athletes with a spare part or a roof over their head any time. It's not about what I've done; it's about what I'm doing right now!

JDD had done a fine job of bringing back a national DH series from the ashes, and I'm sorry if my earlier statement did not reflect that. After many days of thought I came to the conclusion that it's up to the team managers / riders to come up with some sort of organization that represents us at USAC. As far as I know it's very loose, and I want the head cheese to be a gravity rider. Not an XC rider or a road rider. I just feel that the people that should be leading the sport (the team managers and the pro riders) need to be more collective and proactive as a group. Don't get me wrong I see team managers such as "Q" ruffling some feathers, but there needs to be more of them and they need to be on the same page. I am a project manager in aviation that has seen what happens when you get the right people together to meet a challenge. You can put a man on the moon before it was ever thought possible! Our task at hand is much smaller, but can WE put DH back into the spotlight. I think WE can!

D.Ironshirt

2/27/2011 9:44 AM

So lets look at last season, when did N* melt out?
How much snow is up there now?
Mammoth pulled out cause they are buried and know they wont be able to put on a good event!

dgodard

2/25/2011 4:02 AM

Thank you JDD! Your hard work is appreciated. See ya in Seattle.

Dylan Dean

2/24/2011 11:18 PM

no prob... that's what i'm here for!

PROs should also note, that the Pro GRT will have a bigger part with Worlds Selection since the US Champs are so late in the year! soooo..... *hint*hint* .... GET YOUR ASS TO THE PRO GRTS!!! :D

rb716

2/24/2011 10:27 PM

I see now. I knew that UCI points matter to the Pros, but I got a bit confused by the Category thing. Thanks for the clarification.

Dylan Dean

2/24/2011 10:22 PM

thanks guys!

UCI Cat = UCI Category (1, 2, 3... those are the levels). they're only important if you're a PRO racer. You can earn UCI points at these events, in which you need 20 to participate at a World Cup.

if you're an amateur, it's not really that important to you you directly. indirectly, this helps bring pros to the races, which in turn helps build up the series & provide a great atmosphere for the amateurs to race!

rb716

2/24/2011 10:02 PM

What does it mean that the Northstar round is UCI Cat 2 event?

kidwoo

2/24/2011 9:16 PM

Whoa. Early. Hope those last two dates have melted out. Cuz uh.......they're in the mountains n' stuff.

Either way stoked to see the success of the series. JDD killing it again.

Dylan Dean

2/24/2011 8:32 PM

should be a great season.. the World Cups jacked us up as far as scheduling goes... couldn't really have anything in August since every other weekend is a World Cup in Europe. july isn't really any easier with N.A. World Cups & crankworx back to back. I had an event scheduled originally for Sept, but they decided to postpone til 2012. You wouldn't believe the work that goes into putting this altogether. yes it sucks that it's gonna end in June... but as ballr said, there's a bunch of other great racing in the US.. unfortunatley it just couldn't work out logistically.

ballr

2/24/2011 7:46 PM

Plenty of cool racing in the US this year, even if it's not all on the GRT calendar. Should be a good year. Nice work JDD.

Wild Bill Kelso

2/24/2011 7:21 PM

National season done in June?! Then two months until national Champs? Sounds some solid planning.

TEAMROBOT

2/24/2011 4:28 PM

Thanks for getting the calendar out. This is a huge help! Bummer about mammoth, I was hoping we would just run Kamikaze, take the visors off and get some TV coverage.

Dylan Dean

2/24/2011 4:16 PM

BTW, Plattekill is a UCI cat 3 event & Northstar -at-Tahoe is a UCI cat 2 event!

jhart15

2/24/2011 4:10 PM

dang oh well looks like im going to colorado now

Dylan Dean

2/24/2011 4:09 PM

pushed to 2012

jhart15

2/24/2011 4:07 PM

what happened to mammoth? didn't pull through?