last satruday night i was sitting around my house hanging out with my homeboy tom who just got back from racing the the Pro XCT at Bonelli Park. tom is fast. he raced hard and finished in the 40's out of 65+ riders in the pro field... and he was stoked and motivated. his excitement got me thinking after talking with him some i charged it.
i logged on to the USA Cycling page and requested an upgrade from cat 1 to Pro for XC MTB. i don't know if it was tom's excitement or the couple of jack and cokes we had, but i when woke up the next morning i kind of wondered if i had made a dumb move.
after talking with beth, ryan, tj, tom, and allison some more i knew i mad the right decision to try for the upgrade. it's not that i think i am faster than all the cat 1 guys i am racing now... i'm not. i race with superfast guys and have a lot of respect for them and a lot of fun banging heads with them at races. right now i just have the time and desire to train a lot and i know that this won't always be the case so i want to take advantage and see if i can race with the best guys out there. honestly winning doesn't mean much to me, but the chance to race against fastest guys and push myself to the limit is what i want to do.... and i want to race short track!
on wednesday i heard back from USAC and I was DENIED the upgrade. i wasn't really shocked or disappointed because i knew there were pretty strict upgrade requirements and i wasn't really banking on the upgrade... it was a spur of the moment thing. but that doesn't mean that i still don't WANT the upgrade.. I DO.
i found a blog by a guy that also got denied and he did a bunch research showing just how hard it is right now to upgrade from cat1 to pro in XC MTB. here are some his posts:
http://squirtgunshow.blogspot.com/2009/06/request-was-denied-on-2009-06-15-1444.html
http://squirtgunshow.blogspot.com/2009/06/getting-rid-of-semipro-class-does-not.html
http://squirtgunshow.blogspot.com/2009/06/why-cat1-upgrade-requirements-are.html
http://squirtgunshow.blogspot.com/2009/06/open-letter-to-usa-cycling_19.html
so the plan is do some more XC races and see if i can do well enough to "earn" the USAC's approval.
enough of that.
Vision Quest is satruday. the weather is looking great and my legs are feeling good! can't wait to race!
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11 comments:
I think this is awesome. I agree completely - I didn't get my pro card to win. I got it for the opportunity to race against the best girls out there and to see how much more I can push myself when given this challenge. GO FOR IT! I think you'll get it next time.
Dude, you will get there and you have the right attitude. Race for the challenge not for the prize
(I started stalking your blog when you were running a lot more...)
That sucks man. Based on your finishes, I would have thought that you would have had this no problem.
I suppose this will just add fuel to the fire to get there!
You dont sound too bum but if you happen to be, dont. I also know a BUNCH of cat 1 guys that got denied pro. You seriously have to be a PRO to race Pro. But keep trying and bitching at USAC and it will happen!
sorry to hear man. Let me know if you need a shoulder to cry on...
;)
see you on for 'recovery monday'!
a guy up here i know clint classin who was national champion last year and won like every race he entered just about, he also got denied for this year. lame!!
u should have applied to get ur off road tri elite lincese after ur steller year in 2008 then it prolly would have been easier to get ur usa cycling pro license.
either way, still sucks. sorry to hear that man.
Bummer, sorry to hear that but it looks like its better this way, for now at least. I think this post deserves a good beer, haha!
LC
James,
It's just a matter of time, you are dedicated and fast. Kill it on Saturday!
No worries homie. Next time.
You know how I feel about failure.
It makes you stronger.
Looking forward to following your quest!
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