Candi Murray
I have been tracking results in all the fields. If a Cat 3 is winning the Cat 3/4 field I am giving him upgrade points to Cat 2. I look at each rider that gets 20 points carefully and send them a note. I add in the points that were earned in 2015 if that is an option.
Many riders have been riding 'down' and cleaning up. In my day we called the sandbagging. I am going to give the benefit of the doubt that this new system is confusing. In retrospect I wish we had just offered Cat 5, Cat 4, Cat 3, Cat 1/2 for the men like we are offering for the women.
Candi
-----Original Message-----
From: OBRA [mailto:obra-bounces@list.obra.org] On Behalf Of Brad Davidson via OBRA
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2016 9:43 AM
To: obra@list.obra.org
Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] CX Upgrades - something's missing...
It's not super clear, but the bit about scoring for combined fields is in the Road section:
"Points for combined fields will count only for upgrades from the bottom most category with the exception of 4/5 fields"
Since it's specifically under Road and is NOT repeated in Cyclocross, I would interpret this as saying that you CAN get points from either category in a mixed field at a CX race. Folks wanting points to upgrade from 3 to 2 can race in either a 3/4 OR the 2/3 race. I've complained off-list about this, as it does seem to encourage folks trying for an upgrade to race against folks with a lower level of skill. Why do we have anti-sandbagging scoring rules in Road but not CX? Is this a USAC thing?
I'm a Cat 3. If I want to upgrade to Cat 2, I could keep racing 2/3 like I am now - but I'll likely never get enough points for an upgrade. If I do 3/4 instead I'd probably get my upgrade within a month - but that's not really where I SHOULD be racing if I want to improve my skills. This puts folks in a situation where they have to beat up on the less skilled if they want upgrade points. The 2/3 field is now full of what were Cat A folks hoping for an upgrade to Cat 1, racing against Bs. The Bs that want upgrade points are racing against Cs. And so forth on down the line.
-Brad
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