Why so few people road racing nowadays in the USA?

Hello,

I started college in 1983, I was lifting weights and read a book where
the author recommended that lifters do cycling for endurance. I already
had a Motobecane to ride to classes with so I started riding. I bought
my first Winning magazine, the issue where Greg Lemond won the Worlds.
That got me interested in racing.

Then in 1984 the US Cycling team did really well in the Olympics. I
started racing in 1985 and there were quite a few more people doing it
back then. Greg Lemond won the TdF in the late eighties.

When I upgraded from CatIV to Cat III around 1990 I would have to
preregister for almost every race. The 100 rider field limits would be
reached in almost every Cat III race and a lot of the Cat IV races would
fill up also. Why is road racing so much less popular, at least in this
area, than it was 15 years ago? The average age of club racers is
probably late thirties / early forties.

Is it mountain bike racing that's luring them away? Maybe the fact that
there's no big domestic stage race like the Tour de Trump / Tour Du
Pont? A lot of people think that getting more Juniors is the key. I
think that most of the top racers start as Juniors, but I think that
during the eighties most people started racing, like me, while they were
in college. I don't see as many college kids racing now, even though
there are college teams. There's all this U23 stuff too, it doesn't
seem to be helping.

Also, should they drop the Cat V class in the USA? They started the
class to try to keep people from having to do their first race against
the Pro-IV type folks, but as fields have shrunk, I wonder if it would
make sense to recombine Cat IV and Cat V.

Has the popularity declined in other countries as well?

-Eric

In article . net, E
Goforth wrote:

Hello,

I started college in 1983, I was lifting weights and read a book where
the author recommended that lifters do cycling for endurance. I already
had a Motobecane to ride to classes with so I started riding. I bought
my first Winning magazine, the issue where Greg Lemond won the Worlds.
That got me interested in racing.

Then in 1984 the US Cycling team did really well in the Olympics. I
started racing in 1985 and there were quite a few more people doing it
back then. Greg Lemond won the TdF in the late eighties.

When I upgraded from CatIV to Cat III around 1990 I would have to
preregister for almost every race. The 100 rider field limits would be
reached in almost every Cat III race and a lot of the Cat IV races would
fill up also. Why is road racing so much less popular, at least in this
area, than it was 15 years ago? The average age of club racers is
probably late thirties / early forties.

Is it mountain bike racing that's luring them away? Maybe the fact that
there's no big domestic stage race like the Tour de Trump / Tour Du
Pont? A lot of people think that getting more Juniors is the key. I
think that most of the top racers start as Juniors, but I think that
during the eighties most people started racing, like me, while they were
in college. I don't see as many college kids racing now, even though
there are college teams. There's all this U23 stuff too, it doesn't
seem to be helping.

Also, should they drop the Cat V class in the USA? They started the
class to try to keep people from having to do their first race against
the Pro-IV type folks, but as fields have shrunk, I wonder if it would
make sense to recombine Cat IV and Cat V.

Has the popularity declined in other countries as well?

-Eric


What part of the country are you in? Your observtions don't match the
reality. Last year USCF finished the year with a record high number of
licensed racers at just under 38,000. The previous record for USCF
membership came back in 1992 with about 35,000 licensed racers. In
Northern CA we had a record high of 3,700 licensed racers at the end of
last year and this year we are already over 3,600 licensed riders. Our
Cat 5 fields fill up on a regular basis and so do our Cat 4 fields and
our 35+ 4/5 fields. In some cases the fields might appear smaller now
but this is only because we typically run more categories now than we
did back in the early 90's. At least in Nor Cal we are seeing long time
races attracting record numbers of participants both last year and this
year. Based on the numbers road racing is more popular now than at any
otehr time n the last 50-60 years.

Are you retarded??

Elite nationals filled up in less than a week. USPRO can now host and
all American field. Races are needing two cat 5 fields so there's not
120 cat 5s in one race.

Yeah OLN is down because every non cyclist only knows Lance, but the
cycling scene is stronger than ever


E Goforth wrote:
Hello,

I started college in 1983, I was lifting weights and read a book where
the author recommended that lifters do cycling for endurance. I already
had a Motobecane to ride to classes with so I started riding. I bought
my first Winning magazine, the issue where Greg Lemond won the Worlds.
That got me interested in racing.

Then in 1984 the US Cycling team did really well in the Olympics. I
started racing in 1985 and there were quite a few more people doing it
back then. Greg Lemond won the TdF in the late eighties.

When I upgraded from CatIV to Cat III around 1990 I would have to
preregister for almost every race. The 100 rider field limits would be
reached in almost every Cat III race and a lot of the Cat IV races would
fill up also. Why is road racing so much less popular, at least in this
area, than it was 15 years ago? The average age of club racers is
probably late thirties / early forties.

Is it mountain bike racing that's luring them away? Maybe the fact that
there's no big domestic stage race like the Tour de Trump / Tour Du
Pont? A lot of people think that getting more Juniors is the key. I
think that most of the top racers start as Juniors, but I think that
during the eighties most people started racing, like me, while they were
in college. I don't see as many college kids racing now, even though
there are college teams. There's all this U23 stuff too, it doesn't
seem to be helping.

Also, should they drop the Cat V class in the USA? They started the
class to try to keep people from having to do their first race against
the Pro-IV type folks, but as fields have shrunk, I wonder if it would
make sense to recombine Cat IV and Cat V.

Has the popularity declined in other countries as well?

-Eric

Casey Kerrigan wrote:
In article . net, E
What part of the country are you in? Your observtions don't match the
reality. Last year USCF finished the year with a record high number of
licensed racers at just under 38,000. The previous record for USCF
membership came back in 1992 with about 35,000 licensed racers. In
Northern CA we had a record high of 3,700 licensed racers at the end of
last year and this year we are already over 3,600 licensed riders. Our
Cat 5 fields fill up on a regular basis and so do our Cat 4 fields and
our 35+ 4/5 fields. In some cases the fields might appear smaller now
but this is only because we typically run more categories now than we
did back in the early 90's. At least in Nor Cal we are seeing long time
races attracting record numbers of participants both last year and this
year. Based on the numbers road racing is more popular now than at any
otehr time n the last 50-60 years.

Casey,

As I remember, there were approx 33,000 riders in 1985 (also an
all-time high). 21 years later, with 10 TDF victories won by Americans
during that time, you'd think that the numbers would be higher, don't
you? With the massive boost in population during that same period, I'd
say that cycling has actually slipped.

The Cat 4/5 fields fill up so fast because of the field limits (often
less than 50 riders). After Greg started to podium at the tour, it ws
not uncommon to see fields of 200 cat 3 and 4 riders in 1986-87.

E Goforth wrote:
Hello,

I started college in 1983, I was lifting weights and read a book where
the author recommended that lifters do cycling for endurance. I already
had a Motobecane to ride to classes with so I started riding. I bought
my first Winning magazine, the issue where Greg Lemond won the Worlds.
That got me interested in racing.

Then in 1984 the US Cycling team did really well in the Olympics. I
started racing in 1985 and there were quite a few more people doing it
back then. Greg Lemond won the TdF in the late eighties.

When I upgraded from CatIV to Cat III around 1990 I would have to
preregister for almost every race. The 100 rider field limits would be
reached in almost every Cat III race and a lot of the Cat IV races would
fill up also. Why is road racing so much less popular, at least in this
area, than it was 15 years ago? The average age of club racers is
probably late thirties / early forties.

Is it mountain bike racing that's luring them away? Maybe the fact that
there's no big domestic stage race like the Tour de Trump / Tour Du
Pont? A lot of people think that getting more Juniors is the key. I
think that most of the top racers start as Juniors, but I think that
during the eighties most people started racing, like me, while they were
in college. I don't see as many college kids racing now, even though
there are college teams. There's all this U23 stuff too, it doesn't
seem to be helping.

Also, should they drop the Cat V class in the USA? They started the
class to try to keep people from having to do their first race against
the Pro-IV type folks, but as fields have shrunk, I wonder if it would
make sense to recombine Cat IV and Cat V.

Has the popularity declined in other countries as well?

-Eric

I started doing public races in 1983, licensed racing in 84. In 1985,
it was not uncommon for us to have junior (16-17) fields that hovered
around 80-100 riders (California). Back then you actually had to
qualify at districts in order to even ride at natz.

I would not blame mountain biking. They have more racers than they did,
but still nothing explosive. Junior and college aged kids have a lot
more distractions now. Sports is not high on their list.

Remembering back to age 16, I have to admit, if I had the opportunity
to get laid all the time just by having a simple "myspace" page, I'd
probably have less incentive to train as well.

triumph wrote:
Are you retarded??

Elite nationals filled up in less than a week. USPRO can now host and
all American field. Races are needing two cat 5 fields so there's not
120 cat 5s in one race.

Yeah OLN is down because every non cyclist only knows Lance, but the
cycling scene is stronger than ever



Dumbass -


It depends upon which part of the scene you're involved in. SoCal
definitely peaked in the early 90's. Cat IV's had to fight to get into
a race back then. That hasn't been true for over a dozen years now.

Pros, sure, we're better there than ever before because of the
maturation of the training/racing in N. America, but in amateur
participation there's definitely variation.


thanks,

K. Gringioni.

On Thu, 13 Jul 2006 12:59:51 GMT, E Goforth wrote:

Hello,

I started college in 1983, I was lifting weights and read a book where
the author recommended that lifters do cycling for endurance. I already
had a Motobecane to ride to classes with so I started riding. I bought
my first Winning magazine, the issue where Greg Lemond won the Worlds.
That got me interested in racing.

Then in 1984 the US Cycling team did really well in the Olympics. I
started racing in 1985 and there were quite a few more people doing it
back then. Greg Lemond won the TdF in the late eighties.

When I upgraded from CatIV to Cat III around 1990 I would have to
preregister for almost every race. The 100 rider field limits would be
reached in almost every Cat III race and a lot of the Cat IV races would
fill up also. Why is road racing so much less popular, at least in this
area, than it was 15 years ago? The average age of club racers is
probably late thirties / early forties.

Is it mountain bike racing that's luring them away?

Over at MTBR.com the discussion is "why are there so many road riders and
racers?"

Ron

In article .com,
wrote:

Casey Kerrigan wrote:
In article . net, E
What part of the country are you in? Your observtions don't match the
reality. Last year USCF finished the year with a record high number of
licensed racers at just under 38,000. The previous record for USCF
membership came back in 1992 with about 35,000 licensed racers. In
Northern CA we had a record high of 3,700 licensed racers at the end of
last year and this year we are already over 3,600 licensed riders. Our
Cat 5 fields fill up on a regular basis and so do our Cat 4 fields and
our 35+ 4/5 fields. In some cases the fields might appear smaller now
but this is only because we typically run more categories now than we
did back in the early 90's. At least in Nor Cal we are seeing long time
races attracting record numbers of participants both last year and this
year. Based on the numbers road racing is more popular now than at any
otehr time n the last 50-60 years.

Casey,

As I remember, there were approx 33,000 riders in 1985 (also an
all-time high). 21 years later, with 10 TDF victories won by Americans
during that time, you'd think that the numbers would be higher, don't
you? With the massive boost in population during that same period, I'd
say that cycling has actually slipped.

The Cat 4/5 fields fill up so fast because of the field limits (often
less than 50 riders). After Greg started to podium at the tour, it ws
not uncommon to see fields of 200 cat 3 and 4 riders in 1986-87.

If you are correct and there were 33,000 USCF members in 1985 ( and
that 33,000 number would include officials, coaches, mechanics as well
as riders) then there wasn't much growth since there were only 34,993
USCF members in 1992 ( again a number that included all USCF members
not just racers). The 38,000 number I quoted above for last year is
just for licensed riders. There are additional USCF members who are
coaches, mechanics nd officials so the total USCF membreship number is
probably closer to 41,000.

I think there are several factors that helped keep USCF membership down
between 1992 ans 2005. Poor leadership within USCF/USAC, lower gas
prices and the dot com boom probably all played a role as well as
several other factors. A problem is that no one really knows what
affects the growth of racing in the US.

Casey Kerrigan wrote:
In article .com,
wrote:

Casey Kerrigan wrote:
In article . net, E
What part of the country are you in? Your observtions don't match the
reality. Last year USCF finished the year with a record high number of
licensed racers at just under 38,000. The previous record for USCF
membership came back in 1992 with about 35,000 licensed racers. In
Northern CA we had a record high of 3,700 licensed racers at the end of
last year and this year we are already over 3,600 licensed riders. Our
Cat 5 fields fill up on a regular basis and so do our Cat 4 fields and
our 35+ 4/5 fields. In some cases the fields might appear smaller now
but this is only because we typically run more categories now than we
did back in the early 90's. At least in Nor Cal we are seeing long time
races attracting record numbers of participants both last year and this
year. Based on the numbers road racing is more popular now than at any
otehr time n the last 50-60 years.

Casey,

As I remember, there were approx 33,000 riders in 1985 (also an
all-time high). 21 years later, with 10 TDF victories won by Americans
during that time, you'd think that the numbers would be higher, don't
you? With the massive boost in population during that same period, I'd
say that cycling has actually slipped.

The Cat 4/5 fields fill up so fast because of the field limits (often
less than 50 riders). After Greg started to podium at the tour, it ws
not uncommon to see fields of 200 cat 3 and 4 riders in 1986-87.

If you are correct and there were 33,000 USCF members in 1985 ( and
that 33,000 number would include officials, coaches, mechanics as well
as riders) then there wasn't much growth since there were only 34,993
USCF members in 1992 ( again a number that included all USCF members
not just racers). The 38,000 number I quoted above for last year is
just for licensed riders. There are additional USCF members who are
coaches, mechanics nd officials so the total USCF membreship number is
probably closer to 41,000.

I think there are several factors that helped keep USCF membership down
between 1992 ans 2005. Poor leadership within USCF/USAC, lower gas
prices and the dot com boom probably all played a role as well as
several other factors. A problem is that no one really knows what
affects the growth of racing in the US.

Casey, et al...

Let's not forget the impact that the spin off of the various regional
associations. Here in CO, for example, the ACA is boasting record
numbers of members AND record participation in many events.
Particularly in the road races, it's not uncommon to have a full Cat IV
field, full 35+/Cat IV field, and a very large overflow field to handle
those who didn't get into their desired field.

While I can't say definitively how many ACA racers also hold USCF
licenses, I'd guess it's not an awful lot. Only the Pro/I/II guys, a
few IIIs and IVs who travel out of state often, and the guys who also
ride track.

I imagine that other areas with independent associations may be seeing
similar numbers. When you add all those together, the picture is quite
a bit brighter.

Scott

Casey Kerrigan wrote:


Ct 4 96
Cat 5 A 43
Cat 5 B 40
Master 35+ 4/5 75
Master 45+ 4/5 66
Master 55+ 4/5 14

for a total of 334 riders. Eventhough the race didn't have 2 groups of
Cat 4s fill up ( and probably have some riders who didn't get into the
Cat 4 fields in 91) a greater number of riders took part in this year's
Wente race compared to 1991. Also we have more races now than we did in
the early 90's which help limit the number of Cat 4 or 5 races that
reach their field limit.

As far as individual events, at some point, USACycling has to start
doing better analysis of its participation stats. Just like in online
media tracking, you need to distinguish the number of "unique riders"
versus "total entries". The masters fatties often stuff their plates
by riding in 2-3 events in the same day, often inflating the numbers of
the Senior Cat 5/4/3 fields. Heck, they even mess up the numbers of the
fattie masters fields.