USAC Ranking Points Explained﻿

USAC Ranking Points Explained

11/3/2015

Have you ever wondered how the USAC Ranking points are calculated or wondered how to improve your points? Look no further, we have created a document explaining the USAC points calculations.

USAC Ranking Points Explained

Keep this in mind if you plan on racing Cyclocross Nationals and take advantage of the non-championship Open Race this weekend at the WSBA Championships. The Open Race should prove to be a great race to help improve your USAC Ranking.

-Jim Wood
WSBA Cyclocross Director

4 Comments

Beddome

11/4/2015 04:36:01 pm

Very cool! Thanks for putting this together!

Doug Reid

11/24/2015 10:57:36 am

Thanks Jim, really insightful stuff, appreciate the great tutorial!

Hey all, I have a controversial comment to make regarding USAC points used for Nationals callups. I've spoken with dozens of other racers and most fully agree so I just want to get some dialog going and even just introduce the issue.

Its my belief that it would be in the best interest of CXers nationwide for USA Cycling to adopt a non-USAC point system that took into account all (qualifying) races (i.e. MFG, CXR, OBRA, etc) and not just those sanctioned by USAC. The big rub will be that the non-sanctioned racing might include too many anomalies or be unfair due to non-standard categories, but when the points algorithm revolves around the quality of the competition then sandbagging is not rewarded. The crossresults.com algorithm has proven incredibly accurate at combining ALL races and I believe that it would help restore/improve the legitimacy of CX Nationals. The reason is several: 1- its all about the start order/callups and its in EVERYONES best interest to have the fastest riders ahead of the slower riders. Fast riders at the back taking risks to move up create safety issues. Not only that, fast riders with a legitimate shot at a podium aren't going to go to Nationals if they can't get a decent callup and this is bad for the competition and spirit of the sport. 2- point creating shenanigans that many promoters around the country have employed creates an unfair bias of points to racers in those areas. A more universal point system would help level the playing field but hopefully USAC can crack down on that. 3- Masters and Juniors are amateurs and we shouldn't feel compelled to have to travel to far away locales to race for 20-45 mins just so we can get a few extra points-- Juniors need to be focused on local competition and school, and only the wealthiest parents can afford to jetset their kids around the country to cross races, i.e. its not fair to many deserving kids who can't afford to travel. Masters should be racing local and making their local scene better through association.

Many other racers around the country agree with this idea but I haven't heard much pressure put on USAC so if you agree, contact your local Rep or contact USAC directly. Many racers believe that adopting a more inclusive and fair point strategy will actually serve USAC and its constituents better. In the past USAC believed that they could change the CX scene through its policies which would trickle down to promoters, but its proven to be a bottom up scenario and promoters will only do what their customers, us racers, want. Example: the majority of racers don't want to race through December so most promoters don't put on races then, so for those going to Nationals in January there is at least 3-5 weeks without any racing.

This leads to my next rant, moving Nationals back to December: we don't want to have to train through the Holidays because its not fair to our families.

Ciao,
Doug

p.s. Go check out your score at Crossresults.com and see what you think. Punch in your name and have fun.

And good luck to all NW riders going to Nationals this year-- its a great event, race hard and have fun!

Scott Romero link

1/2/2021 10:20:04 pm

Thanks for this blog poost

Jim M

6/4/2021 05:49:51 pm

How many racers must participate in order for racers to receive USAC ranking point? I've heard the minimum is 3, but also heard the minimum is 5. If a category just has 3 racers, will they receive USAC ranking points?