In the fall of 2016, Cycling BC sought to simplify our licensing by offering two kinds of licences: a Provincial RIDE licence, which covers folks for club events, novice and grassroots racing where self-seeding is available, and the BC RACE (UCI) licence, which allows folks to race in sanctioned events at the A, AA, and AAA level, according to their licence categories, and to gain upgrade points, series points, and compete for BC Championship titles. Grassroots racing remains unchanged from 2016: all Provincial RIDE and BC RACE (UCI) Licence holders are able to race in categories as determined by the race organizers.
Early this year, we received feedback from the XCM organizers, specifically around premier series race participation levels being negatively impacted by restricting category level racing to UCI licence holders. Given that this was the first year Cycling BC offered XCM races, we worked to reach a compromise wherein Provincial RIDE licence holders and One-Day licence holders could race in their age category along with BC RACE (UCI) licence holders, but would not qualify for series points or the provincial championship. As XCM races within the province currently operate with age-delimited categories, we concluded that this change could be made without compromising the level or safety of these races.
We are now receiving similar feedback from the Cross community, sparked by the elimination of the late season UCI Cross-only licence. Since most cyclocross races within the province currently run self-seeded categories, we have concluded that a compromise similar to the one reached earlier this year is possible. For Premier Series and Provincial Championship races, Provincial RIDE licence holders may self-seed into ability categories, except ELITE, along with BC RACE (UCI) licence holders, at the discretion of the race organizer. Following regulations consistent with all other disciplines, RIDE licence holders will not be able to gain upgrade or provincial series points and will not be racing for the Provincial Championship.
For 2018, Cycling BC is considering the feedback we’ve received and will be bringing a membership structure proposal to an EGM to be scheduled in early October. We welcome your feedback as we go through the discussions and hope to see many of you contribute your ideas to changes we make for the coming year.
Sincerely,
Erin Waugh
Executive Director
Cycling BC