2014 MASTERS ROAD CATEGORIES - UPDATE

The TBRA Board has made a slight adjustment to the Masters Categories for 2014. Here is a little background on Masters racing, some statistics, and some explanation on recent decisions, followed by the adjustment.

TBRA exists to help promote, develop, and grow the sport of bicycle racing in the state by helping race directors promote events, helping riders access the sport, and generating enthusiasm in the cycling community at-large. TBRA board members are volunteers, and promoters are rarely, if ever, promoting for the sake of making money. All of the board members have taken this extremely seriously and put significant amounts of time and effort into this discussion and decision, while still taking care of other board responsibilities.

Until last year (2013), TBRA Masters categories did not change for nine years. And before that, there is no evidence of any change since it started. And along with that, Cat 5s have always been a part of TBRA Masters racing. Always. Before 2004 there were no restrictions on categories for Masters. From when Cat 5s first existed they were allowed to race in any of the Masters races up through 2003. In 2004, when Masters changed from 35+/45+/55+, Cat 5s were not allowed to race in the 30+/40+ races, but they were still allowed to race in the 50+/60+ races. Discussion on changes to Masters races have been going on for at least the last five years, with 2013 being the first time during those years for a change to actually be implemented.

Some other relevant facts relate to Cat 5 riders and upgrades. Masters races count toward upgrades also. A couple limitations for mixed category races are explained in the rule book, but neither of those apply to a Cat 5 rider racing in a Masters race. So a Cat 5 rider can race in 10 Masters road races or criteriums (that meet the minimum distance/time) and be upgraded to a Cat 4. It is also possible for a Cat 5 rider to be approved for an upgrade before 10 races (Masters and/or Cat 5), and it is also possible for a Cat 5 rider to still be racing as a Cat 5 (in Masters and/or Cat 5) after 20-some races. (Hopefully anyone doing that with any success will inherit a “sandbagger” label and upgrade out of guilt and/or peer pressure if for no other reason.)

The overall participation in TBRA races went down 5% in 2013 compared to 2012. This is important to remember when comparing a sub-group of these numbers, as any particular subset that stayed exactly the same actually did better than the norm by 5%. Also, it is almost impossible to draw any direct conclusions from the overall entries being down 5%, as there are too many variables that can affect the numbers. For example, the absence of the River Gorge Criterium in 2013 accounts for more than enough race entries to cover the entire 5% decrease. There are still way too many other races and factors to ascertain whether there was legitimate overall decline or growth in participation from one year to the next.

Masters racing in Tennessee increased 27% last year over 2012 (compared to the norm, 22% based on raw data). Race entries for category 3 through 5 races decreased some (3% to 18%, compared to the norm, 8% to 23% using raw data), with Cat 4 having the biggest decrease. Even with the Cat 4 field decreasing the most, it was still by far the largest field in 2013 (and numerous years before that). Also, that is not necessarily a negative thing for the Cat 4 field considering safety. Regardless of the whether the numbers are raw or normalized, it does appear that the new categorized Masters for 2013 were quite popular.

As alluded to above, this past December’s annual meeting once again had a lengthy discussion on Masters categories. The two pronounced issues were safety and field sizes, which are somewhat related. The two Masters fields in 2013 were fairly unbalanced on the road, with the Elite Masters comprising 36% of the total Masters and the Masters 40+ comprising the other 64%. Removing the 30-34s out of the Elites (which was part of all of the suggested configurations) would have changed the balance to 31% versus 69%. Some of the Elite races, especially road races, already had numbers in the teens and low 20s, and taking out the 30-34s would have changed a few of those race numbers into single digits. This obviously is not a safety issue, but it does not make for much of a race. On the other hand, the Masters 40+ fields had very large numbers, especially compared to average Masters fields from previous years (from either age group). For road races, field sizes roughly doubled, with 2013 races averaging 50 riders per race, whereas previous years averaged 22 to 29 riders per race.

Safety issues were also discussed in terms of Cat 5 racers in Masters fields. Although it was assumed that Cat 5 racers were the cause of most or all safety issues, this is unlikely. Cat 5s have been perceived to cause a crash when there were no Cat 5s in the race. Cat 5s made up only 8% of riders in the Masters 40+ field. Using the average of 50 riders per road race, that would make the average number of Cat 5s in each race four. That is 4 out of 50. And remember, Cat 5s have always been a part of Masters racing in Tennessee, and have not been assumed to be a safety issue for Masters racing before, at least to the point of wanting them removed from all Masters racing.

The demographic with the largest potential for growth is Masters riders. Masters riders consistently make up around 2/3rds of USA Cycling members, measured both via the rider databases and USAC surveys. The rider database shows that Tennessee is consistent with the national numbers. New riders in that largest demographic need a place to start racing, i.e., an access point into the sport. Although Cat 5 races are obviously an option, it is not very enticing for them to race against beginner teens and 20-somethings, who are quite often much more willing to take risks than Masters-age racers. Masters-age racers are also much more concerned than the younger riders about getting to their jobs in one piece on Monday, so having races that appeal to Masters-age racers is very important. Feeling safer by not having to race against younger racers is one huge appeal, and the competitive nature of Masters races is another appeal, where they feel they have a chance of hanging on much longer than if they were competing against 20-somethings, even if it’s not to the end.

The change to categorized Masters in 2013 was a unanimous consensus at the December 2012 club meeting by all that were still there at the end of the discussion. The change drew some negative responses, a few of which turned into apologies a few months later when things turned out much better than what was initially perceived. The 2013 change also garnered positive responses (keeping in mind that people happy with something usually have little to no reason to comment), including some that said they were not going to race at all in 2013 until they saw the change. This year has some adjustments to the categorized Masters of last year, with similar responses – some negative, some positive. As much as the board has tried, it is impossible to make everyone happy.

The board listened intently at the December meeting, but also had to consider perspectives that were not represented at the meeting, as any decisions made affect all of TBRA, not just those represented at the meeting. All of the ideas at the meeting were looked into in greater detail, so it is important to propose and discuss ideas at the meeting. Masters racing was not the only item discussed at the meeting, and there was excellent feedback given on a number of other topics in addition to Masters.

Although there were a number of proposed configurations for Masters at the December meeting, none of them balanced the field sizes, which the data shows to be the main contributing factor to safety issues, and only some proposals appealed to the largest demographic of potential new racers. Existing racers were not ignored either, as some ideas would have put large groups of existing riders at perceived disadvantages. Therein lies the problem. With around 350 TBRA Masters racers, it is not possible to make all of them happy. No matter how Masters are configured, and whether it is perception or reality (and it is probably some of both), some group(s) are going to feel they have an advantage, and some group(s) are going to feel they are at a disadvantage. Masters mixes age groups and/or categories – someone will always feel they are at a disadvantage in any Masters configuration.

So, based off of the popularity and success of the categorized Masters in 2013, and to keep the appeal to the largest demographic (hence the biggest potential for continued growth), and to make the smallest change possible that would address the field size and safety issues, a proposal that unfortunately was not thought of before the December meeting was presented at the TBRA board meeting. Basically, some Masters riders need to race in the Elites instead of the 40+ to solve the field size/safety issue in the 40+ races, which would also solve the issue of fields being so small in the Elites (which would be even worse this year with the removal of the 30-34s). The group to move up cannot be the slowest group – it has to be the group that should be the fastest, which is the Cat 3 40-49s. This change, coupled with removal of the 30-34s, results in the Elite Masters comprising 47% of the total Masters, and the non-Elite Masters (40+ 4/5, 50+/60+ 3/4/5) comprising the other 53%. Some 40-49 Cat 3s were already racing in Elites last year (24% of race entries of all Masters Cat 3 40-49s). Obviously the remainder of this group will feel slighted, but there had to be a compromise somewhere, as there is no perfect solution.

After the announcement of the Master categories for 2014, it was brought to the board’s attention that the 40+ configuration violated USA Cycling rule 1H9(i), which states in part that “A Race Director may offer races for combined classifications and categories but the categories in a given race must be the same for all age groups.” Although multiple promoters and officials were involved in the discussion and decision, and the decision was explained and discussed with our USAC representative before announcing it, no one caught that it was violating that rule. It was completely unintentional and inadvertent. Stuart Lamp suggested to discuss it with Shawn Farrell, as the intent of that rule was not targeted at this situation. It was discussed, both by phone and e-mail to make sure he had all of the details, and an exemption was granted. So, to be clear, Shawn Farrell, Technical Director of USA Cycling, has granted an exemption to rule 1H9(i) for TBRA’s Master 40+ BAR Series races. He stated that the reason for the rule was to avoid unsafe groupings (i.e., Juniors combined with Cat 5s), and this configuration does not constitute an unsafe grouping of ages and categories.

Now (finally), for the adjustment. Sometimes perception trumps reality, so if a promoter is concerned about allowing Cat 5s in the Masters 40+ field for safety or any other reason, this adjustment will let them decide either way on that without sacrificing the attraction of being a TBRA BAR race. Although both participation and demographic data indicate race entries would be higher when allowing Cat 5s to race in the Masters 40+ field, TBRA is giving promoters the option to not include Cat 5s in the Masters 40+ field and still have the race count as a TBRA BAR series race. So, the 2014 TBRA Masters Categories will be as such:

Elite Masters

35+ (Cat 1-3)

Masters 40+

40-49 (Cat 4-5*)

50-59 (Cat 3-5*)

60+ (Cat 3-5*)

* - Promoters may choose to not include Cat 5s

With the new 2014 Masters categories, Cat 5s would comprise 11% of the race entries in Masters 40+ (based on 2013 numbers). Not including Cat 5s would split the two fields on the road 50/50 (versus the aforementioned 47% Elites/53% 40+). The Masters field sizes should be safe and competitive either way, but now the Promoter can decide whether to potentially have more riders in the Master 40+ field or not. Master 40+ Cat 5 riders will need to check each flyer to see if they can race Masters or not.

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