Repost from USA Cycling Update January 1, 2025

Category upgrades are the foundation of USA Cycling’s competitive pathway, providing athletes of all ages and skill-levels a nationwide structure for continual advancement. 

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.

General Upgrade Policies

• Only races permitted by USA Cycling, another UCI affiliated National Federation, or another organization upon written agreement by USA Cycling will be recognized.
• Races for upgrades will be recognized that date back 36 months from the upgrade request.
• Upgrade points are based on the overall placing in the entire field, not broken out by category within the field.
• Riders who have upgraded will start with a zero race points balance in their new category. Where indicated in the policies, clinic points may be carried over (road and track 4>3).
• Junior and Youth riders are exempt from mandatory upgrades for points earned in junior and youth races.
• Juniors and Youth who earn points in Elite or U23 races in Road, Track and CX are subject to mandatory upgrades with those points only up to Category 3.
• Series: Riders who are more than halfway through a series of ten races or less may request a one-time waiver of mandatory upgrade with approval from the series director and USA Cycling.
• Professional: A Professional is a member of a UCI registered team in that discipline (note: “Pro” is an ability level in MTB, and a Professional would race in the Pro MTB category).
• A rider who feels like they have advanced too quickly may request a downgrade through their USA Cycling account, with the request subject to review. Riders may not downgrade to the Novice category in any discipline.
• A rider may be downgraded by USA Cycling for the following reasons: unsafe riding, lack of ability to compete in current category, or lack of placing within current category.
• If you are Pro or Cat 1 for Road, you are eligible to request an upgrade to Cat 2 for other disciplines (MTB, CX, or Track); these requests require approval from the upgrade coordinator before being granted.

Please Click view Upgrade Requirements per discipline: