USA Cycling is pleased to announce revisions to its Category Upgrade Policy, taking effect January 1st, 2025. These updates were developed in collaboration with our technical director and in consultation with key stakeholders within the community, including athletes, coaches, and officials. The key motivations behind the changes are to enhance safety, ensure fairness, and support a consistent progression of riders across all levels.
The updated policy introduces a points matrix for Mountain Bike racing, awarding points based on a rider's finish placement and the category's field size, similar to how upgrade points are awarded in other cycling disciplines. The other notable change that will go into effect will be a minimum of five races to be completed prior to advancing out of the Novice Category in any discipline outside of Track. Categorized racing relies on an effective upgrade policy so that riders can compete and be grouped with riders of comparable ability levels, enhancing safety by minimizing occurrences of riders being passed on a downhill track or having mixed ability levels racing in the same field.
Read more about the changes to our category upgrades program here.
Review changes to Policy VIII here.
